Margaret Atwood's Personal Essay 'Ka-Ching'

792 Words2 Pages

In Margaret Atwood’s personal essay “Ka-Ching”, she achieves a nostalgic tone by writing informally, in a personal tone, by describing her challenges at the time in detail while rarely speaking of her successes and ending off the essay with a positive twist. Margaret begins to set a nostalgic tone in her personal essay by beginning with an introduction in which she speaks fondly of her previous jobs in an informal manner which creates a connection between the reader and Margaret in her past. She speaks informally of her previous jobs because she writes in the first person when she writes “I’ll pass over...I mean…..I was entirely unsuited”. She also uses expressions such as “I’ll pass over” and “mini-jobs” which demonstrate to the reader that …show more content…

By doing this, Margaret receives empathy from the audience because the audience may recall a point in their lives where they were faced with similar challenges which were very difficult at the time but now they hold happy associations with those times. For example, Atwood begins her second paragraph with “The year as 1962…It was summer, and I was faced with the necessity of earning the difference between my scholarship for the next year and what it would cost me to live.” This excerpt from her essay is critical to establishing nostalgia because for most young adults, money is a problem and many people can relate to this and they believe that it is the end of the world for them if they cannot make ends meet. However, as one grows older, they come to realize that there will be many more serious problems in life and managing finances as a young adult are among the smallest of problems. Throughout the essay, Margaret continues to retell her challenges such as her uniform misunderstanding, her struggles with the cash register and being harassed by the Greek cook, but she fails to retell any of her successes such as earning enough money or any times when she had dealt with pleasant customers. This helps the author to achieve a nostalgic tone because it reminds the reader that

Show More
Related

  • Fun Home Alison Bechdel Analysis

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    She brings light to an issue that divided her family from her father, his “obsession” with fixing up the house. She states, "I grew to resent the way my father treated his furniture like children, and his children like furniture" (14). She believes her father was detached, living his life through restoring old furniture and fixing up the family home, leaving little attention for the family that lived there. She was suspicious of her father’s décor saying, “they were lies” (14). This left much to be desired, often leading her to question whether her father even liked having a family. This feeling is expressed when she says, "Sometimes, when things were going well, I think my father actually enjoyed having a family. Or at least, the air of authenticity we lent to his exhibit. A sort of still life with children" (13). He occupied his life with fixing up his home almost as if he was trying to cover up the problems going on inside himself. Bechdel suggests that the antique mirrors decorating the home were meant to distract visitors from his personal shame. She says, "His shame inhabited our house as pervasively and invisibly as the aromatic musk of aging mahogany" (20). She states that this shame stemmed from her father’s closeted sexual preferences. This would later connect them in a very powerful

    Read More

  • Film Analysis On The Social Class In The Bridesmaid

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film reflects the class difference from beginning through the end, especially between Annie and Helen. Annie is a single woman in her late 30s without saving or boyfriend. She had a terrible failure in her bakery shop, which leads her to work as a sale clerk in a jewelry store. When Annie arrived Lillian’s engagement party,

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of A Speech At The Democratic National Convention

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    Early in her speech Mrs. Richards read parts of a letter written to her by a young working mother with a family she is trying to support. Mrs. Richards makes a point to take the time to read excerpts from the letter for the whole audience to hear. The young women is concerned, how is she going to continue to be able to support her family with the rising cost of car insurance, and other major bills. She, expresses concern that she cannot afford new clothes for her children if they have a sudden growth spurt between August and December.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    "At Peace with Her Past." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, vol. 299, Gale, 2011. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=txshrpub100222&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1100103469&asid=7f683946c2bc4511d88e9f5fa1560d26. Accessed 17 Nov. 2017. Originally published in News & Observer, 19 Jan. 2007.

    Read More

  • Up The Coulee

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    After a decade of not seeing his mother and brother, Howard returns to his hometown in Mississippi. It is evident how thrilled he is. As the train approaches town, he begins “to feel curious little movements of the heart, like a lover as he nears his sweetheart” (par. 3). He expects this visit to be a marvelous and welcoming homecoming. His career and travel have kept his schedule extremely full, causing him to previously postpone this trip to visit his family. Although he does not immediately recognize his behavior in the past ten years as neglectful, there are many factors that make him aware of it. For instance, Mrs. McLane, Howard’s mother, has aged tremendously since he last saw her. She has “grown unable to write” (par. 72). Her declining health condition is an indicator of Howard’s inattentiveness to his family; he has not been present to see her become ill. His neglect strikes him harder when he sees “a gray –haired woman” that showed “sorrow, resignation, and a sort of dumb despair in her attitude” (par. 91). Clearly, she is growing old, and Howard feels guilty for not attending her needs for such a long time period: “his throat [aches] with remorse and pity” (par. 439). He has been too occupied with his “excited and pleasurable life” that he has “neglected her” (par. 92). Another indication of Howard’s neglect is the fact that his family no longer owns the farm and house where he grew up. They now reside in a poorly conditioned home:

    Read More

  • Defining Moments in Life in Margaret Atwood’s Short Story, Weight

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout a person’s lifetime there are a few defining moments that determine the kind of person they become. In Margaret Atwood’s Weight marriage, careers, and children play significant roles in the lives of Molly and her friend the narrator. The narrator’s flashbacks provide insight into the highs and lows of her own life along with Molly’s. Weight is an enjoyable short story because the struggles and triumphs of the characters may resonate with the reader’s own life. Atwood’s Weight is an effective and thought provoking short story. A complex plot, point of view, setting, theme, and characterization deliver mechanisms to stimulate thoughts and feelings in the reader.

    Read More

  • A Mother's Helplessness in "I Stand Here Ironing"

    415 Words  | 1 Pages

    The mother is doing everything she can to make Emily's life worth living. However, because the mother is trying so hard to juggle more than one job at a time she has less time with her daughter. During the Great Depression it was next to impossible to find a job. The mother would have less stress in her life if she had a strong dependable job with flexible hours so she could be with her daughter. The mother cannot care for her daughter to her full potential when all she is doing is working just to keep her daughter nourished, healthy and safe. The mother's character is living in a world where the word well-off is next to impossible to comprehend, "[she] found a job hashing at night so [she] could be with her days." (p.158). The mother wishes making money would not have to be the life she lived just to be next to her daughter. During the Great Depression this wish was impossible to fulfil. Thus leaving the mothers character in a lack of hope for a better future.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Kate Chopin's A Pair Of An Hour

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mrs. Sommers used to have more money long ago, before her marriage, but she does not worry about the past or the future, focusing mostly on the present. With the money she does buy a few items for herself she would not usually spend as much on. Mrs. Sommers faces a minor dilemma that eventually becomes a conscious expression of her desire to return to a past that she can no longer have, reflecting her subconscious craving for the independence that she does not have while under the pressures of poverty. Mrs. Sommers does not simply seek to riches in the way of the individuals who have never had cash; rather, as Mrs. Sommers' neighbors note, she has in truth experienced more promising times and instinctively compares her childhood with basic extravagances, for example, silk leggings and

    Read More

  • Bored - Father

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another aspect that can be derived from this poem is Atwood’s father’s obvious intentions to give her an awareness of the many adversities life can obtain. He has made sure she leads a life that doesn’t result from a spoiled childhood. He made her attentive of a hard days work, which is probably one of the best things a father can teach his child. It is absolutely essential that parents in general teach their children the many hardships life may behold. This gives the child a better direction in means of future obligations.

    Read More

  • False Illusion Essay

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    People tend to forget the negative parts of the past, holding onto the positive and idealizing it to create nostalgia. It is easy to romanticize and live in the past in order to avoid difficulties in the present. The past becomes a false illusion and an enchanted safe haven from the corruption in reality. However, trying to apply false illusions into reality leads to isolation and corruption. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, investigates the detrimental effects of craving the false sense of security in the past. Gatsby’s obsession of a false hope and idealization of the past contrasts the Lost Generation’s attempt to find self-fulfillment after war and the American Dream disillusioned them.

    Read More

  • The Transition Of Getting Older By E. B. White

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    ThThe notion of getting older, one day has too frightened me. I wonder what could I have done in the past to change the future. I reminisce of all the things I have done with the people that I love. But, at the end the day, I look forward to getting older. I look forward to the memories that I will make, which one day will be stories told between two friends or family members about their crazy grandmother Gabriella. E.B. White 's essay represents the fears that adults, but mostly parents, face when seeing children grow up and experience life the same way they once did. These nostalgic moments turn to fear of losing their youth. I believe that White 's essay is a manifestation of a mid-life crisis that fails to show what life has to offer after

    Read More

  • Words And Pathos In Margaret Atwood's Letter To America

    1349 Words  | 3 Pages

    Atwood uses many emotional words and phrases to persuade her audience, and achieve her purpose. Atwood uses words and phrases that create emotions such as anger, but more importantly she creates a sense of reminiscing and missing the “good-ole-days” which is the emotion she uses to motivate her audience to take a stand and make a change for America. Atwood starts off her letter saying, “I’m no longer sure who you are… I thought I knew you” (Atwood). These statements make the readers sad as they come to the realization that America is changing since their childhood, which is what they consider, the good ole days. Atwood continues by listing some of her favorite memories from her childhood such as “the music [she] sang and danced to: the Andrew Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, the Platters, Elvis” (Atwood). This makes America seem like it is “a ton of fun” (Atwood). The list of Atwood’s favorite music and other memories serves as pathos, because it makes people miss the way America used to be, and it also makes them mad about how America is now. The list causes the readers to realize how corrupt and different todays music, movies, books, and television shows are, which makes the reader sad about how much times are changing and this causes them to want to act so that today 's generation can know an America that is similar to the America that they have previously known. When describing America today Atwood describes her “embarrassment” (Atwood) for the country, she describes how the government is “gutting the Constitution” (Atwood) and “torching the American economy”(Atwood), she describes how the American people are “easily frightened”(Atwood) because of all of the new policies and changes in current day America. Americans are very prideful of their country so when Atwood describes feeling of embarrassment for America,

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Rose For Emily And The Great Gatsby

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Gatsby’s house was still empty when I left — the grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine.” This use of figurative language helps us to understand when Gatsby acted like old money, he kept his lawn cut and neat. When he died and his cover was exposed his lawn was like Nick’s and we see how he was on the same social ladder with Nick. This maybe why Nick was Gatsby’s only friend. ”Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.” The use of this analogy reveals to us that Gatsby will not be able to get Daisy because he is considered new money and Daisy is old money and so is Tom. Daisy voice is full of money it’s sweet but it is selfish. The use of figurative language shows how Emily’s Father had raised Emily with a Strong old money tradition lifestyle that ruined her life. “So she vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell.” She did not correlate with the men of the town that were her age to care for her. Instead she only had her father and she held on to that. There was no way to go back to fix the meadow of the past. “The past is not a diminishing road but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches.” The use of figurative language differentiates new money and old money by comparing them to similar ideas. New money earns wealth and shares it. While old money is born with money and keeps it to themselves. New money did not carry the dignity of being rich and had been disapproved by the old money. "Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste.” Old Money preferred to keep to themselves and made sure they were perceived as they wanted. “We are private. I have never regretted keeping something to myself. I have savored personal victories with a solitary cigar and cognac. I have nursed my wounded pride– and

    Read More

  • The Pursuit of Wealth, Power, and Pleasure in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    684 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hugh Hefner once said, “I looked back on the roaring Twenties, with its jazz, 'Great Gatsby' and the pre-Code films as a party I had somehow managed to miss.” The parties of the Roaring Twenties were used to symbolize wealth and power in a society that was focused more on materialism and gossip than the important things in life, like family, security, and friends. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays the characters of Tom and Daisy Buchanan as the epitome of the era. The reader sees these characters acting selfishly and trying to meddle with others’ lives. On the other hand, Nick Carraway, the narrator, acts more to help others and act honestly. Initially the reader sees Carraway’s views towards Jay Gatsby as negative as Gatsby’s actions are perceived as being like the Buchanan’s. As the novel moves forward, the reader notices a change in Carraway’s attitude towards Gatsby. Carraway sees Gatsby for whom he truly is, and that is a loving person who only became rich to win Daisy’s heart. But in this the reader also sees how corrupt and hurtful Gatsby’s actions were to the love of his life. Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy reveals that just as Gatsby’s dream of wooing Daisy is corrupted by illegalities and dishonesty, the “American Dream” of friendship and individualism has disintegrated into the simple pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure.

    Read More

  • Margaret Atwood's Surfacing

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    when she says “they used to go over it as fast a possible” then later

    Read More

More about Margaret Atwood's Personal Essay 'Ka-Ching'

Open Document