Mother and Daughter Relationship Exposed in Joyce Carol Oates Short Story, Shopping

1021 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Summary of shopping by joyce carol oates

Mother and Daughter Relationship Exposed in Joyce Carol Oates' Short Story, Shopping

The relationship between a mother and a daughter is one of complications, heartaches, and sweet rewards. This is no exception between Nola and Mrs. Dietrich, characters in "Shopping" by Joyce Carol Oates. The tribulations of their relationship are shown during their annual shopping trip. In the time spent together, Nola is obviously trying to break free from her mother and become her own woman. This coming-of-age path is expressed by her "private thoughts" and "answers in monosyllables" (Oates 834). As Nola desperately tries to acquire her own self, her Mrs. Dietrich desperately tries to hang onto the child in Nola. She tries to stay in her daughter's life by wanting to know "why are you so quiet" and "what are you thinking?" (Oates 834). In Oates short story, she develops Mrs. Dietrich's and Nola's relationship by showing the conflicting needs of mothers and daughters.

The shopping trip allows Mrs. Dietrich to try to penetrate her daughter's new adult life and surface the child. She is also simple trying to be a part of her daughter's life. As a divorced woman, Mrs. Dietrich finds Nola as her only source of love-her outlet to give and to receive love. Mrs. Dietrich even finds herself thinking "she is in love with her daughter" (Oates 834). These strong emotions are most likely why Mrs. Dietrich needs Nola to such an extent. Mrs. Dietrich wants to feel needed; she wants to be a mother. The betrayal of Mr. Dietrich causes Mrs. Dietrich to cling even more. However, she finds that Nola no longer needs her. Nola is becoming an adult. Mrs. Dietrich's memories of Nola as a child are now replaced with the images of her dau...

... middle of paper ...

...ong in her actions and her words. At the end Nola loses strength and becomes weak.

Joyce Carol Oates short story "Shopping" gives an excellent example of the trials a mother and daughter experiences. She shows that each a mother and daughter can have wants and needs in the relationship. These things can only be understood if the two communicate to each other. The story also presents the problem of how a mother wants her little girl, while the daughter wants to

be a young woman. Most importantly Oates shows the human tendency to be independent at times and at others dependent. Each character won and lost a battle, expressing the human complexity of sometimes being able to be strong but then at other times weak. This shows that in a mother and daughter relationship each is needed for the other person because each person needs someone to be strong.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing 'All The Years Of Her Life And A New Perspective'

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    The essay "A New Perspective" by Janice E. Fein and the short story "All the Years of Her Life" by Morley Callaghan have some similarities and differences with mother and child relationships. Both authors show a shift of attitude in the end of the written pieces.

    Read More

  • What Is Beautiful & The Societal Perception of Women

    597 Words  | 2 Pages

    Living in the world today is a totally different experience than it was decades ago. Today’s society has become judgmental and closed minded, seeing things for only what they are and not what they could be; it has become a society opposed to change, and obsessed with perfection. A major part of this societal perfection is being “beautiful,” but what constitutes beauty? Defining what beautiful is could not have been a simple task, because it is something based on personal perception. A perfect example of this was a line recited by the Prince in Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella: “Do I love you because you're beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you (1997)?” As individuals, determining what beauty is and why someone is beautiful is a complex, ever-changing process, with a rationale behind it no one seems to understand. Meaning, perception is subjective and therefore the perception of beauty is also subjective.

    Read More

  • 3rd Party Candidates

    350 Words  | 1 Pages

    In recent history no 3rd party candidates have come anywhere close to getting a substantial number of votes in the presidential elections. The last time a minor party was able to win a presidential election, was with Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. He was not truly campaigning under a minor party either; the Republican Party which he ran for had recently gained control of the congress and was becoming well established in the federal government. This is a key issue that 3rd parties must understand before they consider putting up a candidate for president.

    Read More

  • Sharon Olds' The Possessive

    1266 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ther is losing her daughter to time and circumstance. The mother can no longer apply the word “my” when referring to the daughter for the daughter has become her own person. This realization is a frightening one to the mother who then quickly dives back into her surreal vision of the daughter now being a new enemy in a world already filled with evils. In this way it is easier for the mother to acknowledge the daughter as a threat rather than a loss. However, this is an issue that Olds has carefully layered beneath images of war, weapons, and haircuts.

    Read More

  • Little Red Riding Hood by Bill Delaney

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ugur, Neslihan Guler. "Self-destructive forces in Oates' women." Studies in Literature and Language 4.3 (2012): 35+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

    Read More

  • An American Childhood Thesis

    414 Words  | 1 Pages

    To begin, In the text on paragraph 10 page 326 the author states”Mother regarded me warmly. She gave me to understand that she was glad I had found what I have been looking for, that she and father were happy to sit with their coffee and would not be coming down.”This is important because she realizes they

    Read More

  • Dangers of the two party system

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    The two party system has encouraged the idea that voting for anyone who is not ‘blue’ or ‘red’ is a wasted vote. This can be seen in the lack of votes that 3rd party candidates are getting, for example in 2012 between the three third party candidates there was a total of 1,570,767 votes.(IVN) This could be because only a little more than half of the voting age population actually voted. (GMU) Or it could be to the lack of media coverage that they get. Third party candidates, or any candidate for that matter need to get at least 5% of the vote in a general election to get equal ballot access and federal funding like the two big parties. Another reason this idea of a wasted vote comes through is because no one knows what these other parties stand for they just hear what people on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News say about them. For instance the libertarian party has been deemed nothing more than a bunch of pot smoking hippies just because they want to legalize marijuana. The big media outlets don’t look at the party as a whole and find one unpopular opinion they have and bash it into the skulls of their viewers as the truth.

    Read More

  • Paper On Grief And Grief

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    The grieving process as defined by Kubler-Ross is an important process that people experience in their lifetime. A person experiencing grief may have suffered a loss of someone or something that is of importance in their life. The grieving process has five stages which include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Denial is the first stage of grief in which the individual denies or do not believe in the reality of the situation. Anger is when an individual can no longer deny the reality of the situation. The anger may be aimed towards a person, family, friends, strangers or inanimate objects. Bargaining is making a deal with God by offering to change their ways. Depression is the stage where an individual feels sad, hopeless, disconnected and feels that they have nowhere to turn to. Acceptance is the last stage where an individual is coming into terms with the reality of the situation and is able to see hope in their new way of life.

    Read More

  • The Bridge Of San Luis Ray

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... of tragedy and lets her be the diamond in the rough. She is the one person whose vision is unaltered from the very beginning of the book and to her the other survivors draw their own courage.

    Read More

  • The Art of Invisible Strength

    619 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lindo has fought an entire misogynic culture to gain strength and to free herself, but ends up with this unhealthy bond to her daughter. Waverly is equally bound to her mother and perceives the world in black or white, lost in a world of endless choices, forever wavering (!) between extremes, unable to love people for who they are. Rich is caught in the fire between the two, without even knowing it. The final conclusion is that mother and daughter are forever caught in a war with no winner. It may be the art of invisible strength, but it lacks wisdom.

    Read More

  • Comparison of Single Parenting to Having Both Parents

    1422 Words  | 3 Pages

    relationship with a parent they do not live with and often do not see on a

    Read More

  • Persuasion Written by Jane Austen

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    The persuasive attempts in both literary works produce different results. The effectiveness of the mother’s guidance to her daughter is questioned since the girl cannot recognize the essence of her mother’s lesson. Despite that, the mother’s beneficial instruction serves as a standard for the daughter to reflect her future behaviors in order to live up to the community’s expectations. On the other hand, Anne’s value of candid expression and lasting relationship dissuades her from obliging to her family’s meaningless duty to place her love and interest above to experience fulfillment in life.

    Read More

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of Single Parent Household

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    way as moms and dads relationship? Being exposed to the dirtiness of a break up or separation

    Read More

  • Fathering Role Of Fatherless Children

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Parents are supposed to care for their children’s needs and while mother and father are equally important, the

    Read More

  • Physical Beauty Versus Inner Beauty

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rather than not focusing on physical beauty altogether, we should spend a moderate time on it and then focus a large amount of our time on inner beauty. There has to be a balance between external and internal beauty. Once we find the balance, we can live our lives happily. However, although physically beauty is important, inner beauty is more important because it is permanent and a representation of a person’s true self.

    Read More

More about Mother and Daughter Relationship Exposed in Joyce Carol Oates Short Story, Shopping

Open Document