The story starts in the middle of events where Nea an 11-year old child has just stabbed a man at a bar. This can be seen to be the first hook making us want to read more into how these events took place. This event at the bar is set at night which symbolizes trouble. A spontaneous young girl named Nea is the narrator and the key protagonist of the story. Nea, can be seen as a tragic hero. She tries again and again to help her sister Sourdi however it never plays out to what she expected. In many stories we see characters develops and change, Nea however is stuck as a flat static person. Throughout the story we can see that she does not change and remains childish, not evolving to what we expect from a fully functioning adult. Their mother …show more content…
raises this issue early in the story when she states to Nea “You not thinking. That your problem. You always not think!”. However, we can notice that Nia is the same hardheaded child at the beginning of the story as at the end. Growing and maturing is crucial in life, however some people suffer from a sort of Peter Pan Syndrome. The family has never had it easy, always having to work and tolerate impartiality due to their foreign culture therefore Nea was obligated to become a fighter early on no matter the situation. If she was a mature character, she could distinguish between when it was most sensible to simply avoid confrontation and back down. When Sourdi is arranged to married Nea is against it, she feels like she is unable to save her sister from marrying a man she did not love.
Mr. Chayy is old, has yellow teeth and is bold but all that Nea and Sourdi’s Ma’ is worried about is that he has money.Mr. Chhay symbolizes the community that Ma’ and her family wish to please. Ma’ is known to be very old fashioned in this story and therefore believes the only way for her daughters to be happy would be to get married and start a family. This explains to us why almost arranges this marriage to Mr. Chhay. We often see Nea to be very ignorant this is shown by the way she reacts to she sister forming a relationship with men. The personification of her ignorance is shown to us when she invites Duke to punch Mr. Chhay on the nose. When Sourdi calls home trying to hold back her sobs Nea assumes the worst has happened to her sister. She gets Duke involved without any evidence and leads him to punch Mr. Chhay. This scene could also be characterized as the climax of the story Nea is still selfish and immature reinforcing the static character. What Nea did not understand is that Mr. Chhay is actually a good husband he supported their family, provided Sourdi a stable home and shared a bond with Sourdi which caused them to be very loyal to each other. Nea however feels that Sourdi is better fitted to Duke Sourdi’s ex-boyfriend and therefore formulates this plot to rescue
her.
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
As a teen, Rayona is in a confusing period of life. The gradual breakdown of her family life places an addition burden on her conscience. Without others for support, Rayona must find a way to handle her hardships. At first, she attempts to avoid these obstacles in her life, by lying, and by not voicing her opinions. Though when confronting them, she learns to feel better about herself and to understand others.
In this memory, Sourdi carried Nea across a minefield, effectively saving her younger sister’s life. As a result, Nea feels as though she owes her life to Sourdi and must make it up to her in some way. “I would walk on bones for my sister, I vowed. I would put my bare feet on rotting flesh. I would save Sourdi”(Chai 93). In this quote by Nea, her unwavering commitment to her sister is revealed. Nea is willing to go through any type of dangerous or threatening action, even walking on bones and rotting flesh with the impending threat of death from a land mine in order to help her older sister. Nea’s loyalty to her sister is unrivaled as shown with this strong symbolism present in her recollection of this important scene of her
As a result of racism and white supremacy, Cholly did not know where to place his anger. He does not direct his anger towards white men (who are socially superior to Cholly) but instead towards black women (who are socially inferior to Cholly). Cholly takes the example of the white men by abusing his own social power over Pauline. This longing for superiority and skewed view of love also contributed to the rape of his
Sourdi is growing up and Nea is finding more ways to interfere to protect her. When Duke and Sourdi started to form a friendship she starts to find any way to dislike Duke. “Chopstick boy I called him, just to be mean” (Chai 184). Nea does not want to comes to terms that her older sister is replacing her with someone else. “I use to think of him as something like a bookmark just holding a certain space in her life until it was time for her to move on”.(Chai par. 4). When Sourdi fell from running from Duke, Nea blamed Duke for making her fall. “He tried to put his arm over her shoulder, too. I was going to push him away”. Sourdi put her arms around his and leaned against him. The action by Sourdi is displaying how she does not want to be saved by her sister who consistently tries to save her from everyone who comes in her
It all began in and around the year 1919. Sula Peace, the daughter of Rekus who died when she was 3years old and Hannah, was a young and lonely girl of wild dreams. Sula was born in the same year as Nel, 1910. Sula was a heavy brown color and had large eyes with a birthmark that resembled a stemmed rose to some and many varied things to others. Nel Wright, the daughter of Helene and Wiley, was and unimaginative girl living in a very strict and manipulated life. Nel was lighter in color than Sula and could have passed for white if she had been a few shades lighter she. A trip to visit her dying great-grandmother in the south had a profound effect on Nel’s life. In many ways the trip made her realize her selfness and look at things around her in a different light, eventually sowing the seeds that initiated the friendship between herself and Sula. The two girls met each other at Garfield Primary School after knowing each other at a distance for over five years. Nel’s mother had told her that she could not interact with Sula because of Sula’s mother sooty ways. The intense and sudden friendship between them which was to last many years was originally cultivated my Nel. The period in history and the mentality of the people in their immediate surroundings played an impressive part in the formulation of the friendship between Sula and Nel. When they first met at school, it was as if they were always destined to be friends.
Helene was raised by her grandmother because she mother was a prostitute in the New Orleans. When Helene has a family of her own, she refuses to make her background be known. Helene raises Nel with fear because she doesn’t want her to have the lifestyle she grew up in. Helene controls Nel’s life and makes her see the world how it is. Nel and her mother go on a train to New Orleans to attend the funeral for her great grandmother. On the train, Nel witnessed racial situation between her mother and the white conductor. “Pulling Nel by the arm, she pressed herself and her daughter into the foot space in front of a wooden seat… at least no reason that anyone could understand, certainly no reason that Nel understood,” (21). Nel was very uncomfortable throughout the trip and wasn’t able to communicate with her mother because she never learned how to since her mother was not supportive of her. Nel views her mother very negatively for the way she raised her. Nel starts to determine her life and great her identity when she became friends with Sula. The effect of negative maternal interactions on an individual is explained by Diane Gillespie and Missy Dehn Kubitschek as they discuss
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
According to the narrator, Casy’s appearance is not too flattering. A few images that are put into the reader’s head
The story shows prejudice of people. Like “Lusus Naturae”, the family treats her like a monster which starts from the stereotyping of appearance. Actually the behavior and mind of the family are cruel like a monster nature although their figures are not a monster. People should be concerned more on inner sight as compared to visible sight. Also, the appearance should not be a reason to discriminate human
We learn that Cholly was raised by his great aunt after his father abandoned him and his mother threw him i...
...ror of Pecola’s first sexual experience: her father rapes her), and a difficult marriage situation (caused by his own drunkenness). The “bads” certainly outweigh the “goods” in his situation. Thus, the reader ought not to feel sympathy for Cholly. But, Morrison presents information about Cholly in such a way that mandates sympathy from her reader. This depiction of Cholly as a man of freedom and the victim of awful happenings is wrong because it evokes sympathy for a man who does not deserve it. He deserves the reader’s hate, but Morrison prevents Cholly covered with a blanket of undeserved, inescapable sympathy. Morrison creates undeserved sympathy from the reader using language and her depiction of Cholly acting within the bounds of his character. This ultimately generates a reader who becomes soft on crime and led by emotions manipulated by the authority of text.
The first person narration by the daughter helps emphasize the theme by giving the readers feelings from the daughter and the point of view that the daughter sees in these tense situations. This point of view exhibits the gratitude from the daughter as she says, “I owe her my existence three times”. In the story, it explains why she says this phrase because her mother takes many gambles in her life, not fearing these outcomes. Her risks include leaping into the burning farmhouse that they live in to save her daughter, which in the end is why the daughter is alive. The daughter gives an indepth feeling of her emotions towards her mother instead of a third person point of view which would be emotionless and too general. Since she overdramatize the story exclaiming the dangerous gambles of her mother leading to a happy ending, it helps reveal the theme of not being afraid of the choices made. In addition to narration, the mother’s characterization of quick thinking helps persuade the main message. In The Leap, the mother shows quick thinking traits where during the accident at the circus, she grabs onto a hot metal rather than grabbing her husband and going down with him. This results in her staying alive, but losing her husband. Her quick thinking skills allows for her to live and give birth to her second daughter who lives and tells this story. Quick thinking character traits would associate with taking risks where opportunities come and go quickly, so they must make the decisions quickly, like in the example above. Thus, the agile thinking of the mother assists in uncovering the theme, to always take those risks whenever. Moreover, the daughter’s trustworthy characteristics helps with revealing the main idea, to go with opportunities without doubts, In the ending of The Leap, the daughter trusts her and her mother in
The speaker reflects on the teenage girl’s childhood as she recalls the girl played with “dolls that did pee-pee” (2). This childish description allows the speaker to explain the innocence of the little girl. As a result, the reader immediately feels connected to this cute and innocent young girl. However, the speaker’s diction evolves as the girl grew into a teenager as she proclaims: “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (7-9). The speaker applies polished language to illustrate the teen. This causes the reader not only to see the girl as an adult, but also to begin to grasp the importance of her situation. The speaker expresses what the bullies told this girl as she explains: “She was advised to play coy, / exhorted to come on hearty” (12-13). The sophisticated diction shifts towards the girl’s oppressors and their cruel demands of her. Because of this, the reader is aware of the extent of the girl’s abuse. The speaker utilizes an intriguing simile as she announces: “Her good nature wore out / like a fan belt” (15-16). The maturity of the speaker’s word choice becomes evident as she uses a simile a young reader would not understand. This keeps the mature reader focused and allows him to fully understand the somberness of this poem. The speaker concludes the poem as she depicts the teenage girl’s appearance at her funeral: “In the casket displayed on satin she lay / with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on” (19-20). The speaker elects not to describe the dead girl in an unclear and ingenuous manner. Rather, she is very clear and
This story is focused on one family in the town of Kafr El Teen, especially on the woman of the family. Zakeya and Kafrawi are Brother and sister and the oldest of the house. Karfrawi's daughters also live with them, Zeinab, and Nefissa's. Also at one point Galal, Zakeys son lived with them ( also Zeinabs husband ). This family is put through many struggles mostly placed upon them by the Mayor of the town, who has an obsession with the daughters of Karfawi.