Mary Gaitskill's The Other Place

1024 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of society and media in creating gender stereotypes

Everyone has a choose to shun someone from their lives, but others decide to open to their inner thoughts to get to the bottom line even when it’s judge and shamed by others. People are quick to criticize someone’s fault before they realize they may face with the same situation, but when communication is open and honest then nothing is left unspoken. In Mary Gaitskill’s short story “The Other Place” highlights a father’s fight from a disturbed childhood, however, attempt to be there for his son during his dark world. The theme is influence and dominance in the story.
It’s easy to become influence by nature and the bad that are exposes in the world at an early age without adult supervision. Falling in a dark path because it’s a struggle to …show more content…

The good and the bad things that happens in the world expose people mean in the nation’s eye, but then again they are good influence that shapes people for the better. Even if the experience was self-alone or with a partner it’s good to know someone’s around to pick up the broken piece. According to Mary Gaitskill’s short story “The Other Place” quote, “Somewhere in him is the other place... I also know that he won’t be alone with it” (Gaitskill). The main character is stands behind his son’s actions, even when they share similar emotions around the same time as he’s son, he wants to establish an understanding he knows exactly what he’s son is goes through because that was him around the same way. Meaning the dad went to the stages alone and act as a passive-aggressive teenager. The dad extremely arouse for the brutal killing of the girls, his hitchhiking to allure women shows lack of parental figure. His mother does not know the son’s dangerous missions or seems to pay attention to her son at all which leads him into the path with redemption and peace that he was not able portray the thoughts in his head, if so, he would not be able to help his son with the same problem. Though he knows he would never speak to his son about the tremor, the justify feels his around for his son without words says a lot. The father did not have a mentor who knows how he feels or share his emotion. The mother did not show the …show more content…

The act of dominance is nice and trouble, not many discuss about this taboo topic due to its sensitive demands that comes with it. Instead society’s often to leave that power to the rich and successful men who’s are able to control the dominate trait and girls are likely to fall in-love with someone like that, but that’s false advertisement. According to Julia states “Domination is a powerful motif in “The Other Place’’ (Jenne). The story shows dominance has its own control to whoever dreams of such power. The narrator is dark place happens when he’s in the other place where the fantasies he wants to happen actually does. He’s not afraid to get caught because he’s subconscious would take the blame for the damage not him. In other word, since his birth the narrator never has a say, he learns he mother was an escort, his father is not around, he lack social and intrapersonal skills , however, that all change with his other persona take over, that present an taboo situation people are not able to talk about, the narrator lack of good prenatal figure is troubles him, he has no one to confine to before until he meets his wife and has a son who he knows share his other place persona, and for the narrator he understands he’s son and would be right there to guide him into the

Show More
Related

  • The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alexander Stowe is a twin, his brother is Aaron Stowe. Alex is an Unwanted, Aaron is a Wanted, and their parents are Necessaries. Alex is creative in a world where you can’t even see the entire sky, and military is the dream job for everyone and anyone. He should have been eliminated, just like all the unwanteds should have been. He instead comes upon Artimè, where he trains as a magical warrior- after a while. When he was still in basic training, and his friends were not, he got upset, he wants to be the leader, the one everyone looks up to.

    Read More

  • In the Fall, by Alistair Macleod

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    A misconception that we often have about family is that every member is treated equally. This fallacy is substantially portrayed in Alistair Macleod’s short story, “In The Fall”. Typically speaking, in a family, the Mother is the backbone for kindness and provides love and support with no unfair judgements. However, when we relate to the portrait of the Mother in Macleod’s short story, we perceive the portrait as a self-centered woman whose affection is only shown upon what interests her. The Mother’s unsympathetic persona is apparent throughout the story as she criticizes all that holds sentimental value to her husband and children.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Silence In Dagoberto Gilb's 'Uncle Rock'

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a restaurant, picture a young boy enjoying breakfast with his mother. Then suddenly, the child’s gesture expresses how his life was good until “a man started changing it all” (285). This passage reflects how writer, Dagoberto Gilb, in his short story, “Uncle Rock,” sets a tone of displeasure in Erick’s character as he writes a story about the emotions of a child while experiencing his mother’s attempt to find a suitable husband who can provide for her, and who can become a father to him. Erick’s quiet demeanor serves to emphasis how children may express their feelings of disapproval. By communicating through his silence or gestures, Erick shows his disapproval towards the men in a relationship with his mother as he experiences them.

    Read More

  • The Boat, by Alistair Macleod

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mother is a selfish and stubborn woman. Raised a certain way and never falters from it. She neglects help, oppresses education and persuades people to be what she wants or she will cut them out of her life completely. Her own morals out-weight every other family member’s wants and choices. Her influence and discipline brought every member of the family’s future to serious-danger to care to her wants. She is everything a good mother isn’t and is blind with her own morals. Her stubbornness towards change and education caused the families state of desperation. The realization shown through the story is the family would be better off without a mother to anchor them down.

    Read More

  • Our Secret by Susan Griffin

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perhaps no other event in modern history has left us so perplexed and dumbfounded than the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, an entire population was simply robbed of their existence. In “Our Secret,” Susan Griffin tries to explain what could possibly lead an individual to execute such inhumane acts to a large group of people. She delves into Heinrich Himmler’s life and investigates all the events leading up to him joining the Nazi party. In“Panopticism,” Michel Foucault argues that modern society has been shaped by disciplinary mechanisms deriving from the plague as well as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a structure with a tower in the middle meant for surveillance. Susan Griffin tries to explain what happened in Germany through Himmler’s childhood while Foucault better explains these events by describing how society as a whole operates.

    Read More

  • Our Secret by Susan Griffin

    440 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "Our Secret" by Susan Griffin, the essay uses fragments throughout the essay to symbolize all the topics and people that are involved. The fragments in the essay tie together insides and outsides, human nature, everything affected by past, secrets, cause and effect, and development with the content. These subjects and the fragments are also similar with her life stories and her interviewees that all go together. The author also uses her own memories mixed in with what she heard from the interviewees. Her recollection of her memory is not fully told, but with missing parts and added feelings. Her interviewee's words are told to her and brought to the paper with added information. She tells throughout the book about these recollections.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Fun Home By Alison Bechdel

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    Her family life is depicted with contradictions of order and chaos, love and animosity, conventionality and avant-garde. Although the underlying story of her father’s dark secret was troubling, it lends itself to a better understanding of the family dynamics and what was normal for her family. The author doesn’t seem to suggest that her father’s behavior was acceptable or even tolerable. However, the ending of this excerpt leaves the reader with an undeniable sense that the author felt a connection to her father even if it wasn’t one that was desirable. This is best understood with her reaction to his suicide when she states, “But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him. Maybe it was the converse of the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb.” (pg. 399)

    Read More

  • Ann Petry’s The Street

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ann Petry’s The Street In our society today, there are many images that are portrayed through media and through personal experience that speak to the issues of black motherhood, marriage and the black family. Wherever one turns, there is the image of the black woman in the projects and very rarely the image of successful black women. Even when these positive images are portrayed, it is almost in a manner that speaks to the supposed inferiority of black women.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Trust In The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nothing hurts more than being betrayed by a loved one, Christopher’s father has no trust in Christopher and tells him that his “Mother died 2 years ago”(22) and Christopher thinks his mother died of a heart attack. When Christopher finds out his father lied, he runs away to live with his mother and his father despritally looks for him and while looking for him realizes the importance of telling the truth. When someone betrays one’s trust, they can feel morally violated. Once Christopher finds his mother, she begins to realize how unfit her living conditions are for Christopher and brings him back to his father, bring him “[..] home in Swindon”(207) Christopher feels incredibly hurt and distressed he does not want to see his father. Whether a relationship can be repaired depends entirely on whether trust can or cannot be restored. Christopher’s father works very hard to regain his trust, he tells his son “[..] I don’t know about you, but this...this just hurts too much”, Christopher’s father is dealing with the result of being dishonest with his son and himself.

    Read More

  • Where or When by Anita Shreve

    1134 Words  | 3 Pages

    For my second reading selection I chose Where or When, also written by Anita Shreve. There are two main characters, Charles and Sian. Charles sees Sian's picture in the newspaper because she has just released another poetry book. They knew each other 31 years ago when they both attended a camp at The Ridge. Charles (known as Cal to Sian when they were younger) feels compelled to be reunited with her. They correspond with each other for a time and are reunited the Thursday following November 30, about two months from the first letter. Together they find what it is they thought they shared when they were 14 years old. There are many more complications now in their lives such as husbands, children, and tradition. They search for ways to overcome these problems and find the innocent bliss they once had reveled in. The struggle is not easy and ends unfortunately tragically.

    Read More

  • Beth Brant's This Is History

    216 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Beth Brant (Mohawk) “This is History,” the main theme in the story is to show readers that women came first and love each other in society. She is trying to find a identity for herself and have connections with things around her. She is willing to appreciate nature and earth. She is taking the beauty of everything around her. Including pregnancy and women. “First woman touched her body, feeling the movements inside, she touched the back of mother and waited for the beings to change her world.”

    Read More

  • The Shining

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    Early in the film , a psychologist is called in to treat the troubled child :and she calmed the mother with a statement to the effect that, “ These things come and go but they are unexplainable”. This juncture of the film is a starting point for one of the central themes of the film which is : how a fragile family unit is besieged by unusual forces both natural and supernatural which breaks and possesses and unites with the morally challenged father while the mother and the child through their innocence, love, and honesty triumph over these forces.

    Read More

  • Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through attention to detail, repeated comparison, shifting tone, and dialogue that gives the characters an opportunity to voice their feelings, Elizabeth Gaskell creates a divide between the poor working class and the rich higher class in Mary Barton. Gaskell places emphasis on the differences that separate both classes by describing the lavish, comfortable, and extravagant life that the wealthy enjoy and compares it to the impoverished and miserable life that the poor have to survive through. Though Gaskell displays the inequality that is present between both social classes, she also shows that there are similarities between them. The tone and diction change halfway through the novel to highlight the factors that unify the poor and rich. In the beginning of the story John Barton exclaims that, “The rich know nothing of the trials of the poor…” (11), showing that besides the amount of material possessions that one owns, what divides the two social classes is ability to feel and experience hardship. John Barton views those of the upper class as cold individuals incapable of experiencing pain and sorrow. Gaskell, however proves Barton wrong and demonstrates that though there are various differences that divide the two social classes, they are unified through their ability to feel emotions and to go through times of hardship. Gaskell’s novel reveals the problematic tension between the two social classes, but also offers a solution to this problem in the form of communication, which would allow both sides to speak of their concerns and worries as well as eliminate misunderstandings.

    Read More

  • Female Sexuality

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    Often in literature, there is a certain motivation to control through a female’s sexuality. These desires are used to drive a woman’s sense of power over a man to dominate, manipulate, and destroy. Others are eaten alive by the control it takes over them. Some become dependant on sex and do not know how to interact with men without giving themselves up.

    Read More

  • A Woman's Place by Naomi Wolf

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    "A Woman’s Place", the name of the commencement speech given by Naomi Wolf at the Scripps College graduation in 1992; contrasts the independent and the dependent woman. In today’s society, there are two different types of women: the woman who has a good head on her shoulders and knows where she is going in the world, and the woman who seeks dependence within the masculine world. Just as they were thirty years ago, women are still not considered to be equal to men. They are more or less looked at as being second to men.

    Read More

More about Mary Gaitskill's The Other Place

Open Document