Once Upon a Time Questions 1) At the beginning of the story, Gordimer is sleeping, until it is interrupted by noises, causing her to wake. Without considering other options, Gordimer immediately goes to the worst possible scenario explaining these noises. Gordimer infers that the sounds may be an “echo chamber of the unconscious”, which translates to the author suggesting that the sounds are a representation of her inner mind and consciousness. Perhaps Gordimer is a toxic insecure self on the inside and that spreads to affecting her outside representation. That is just one of the conclusions she reaches, another one is one that many people have when they hear a noise at night: criminals. Gordimer’s fear and insecurity regarding herself and …show more content…
criminal activity are reflected in the way that she interprets a normal settling of a house. 2) In Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time”, she uses a multitude of very short sentences, which create suspense and drama, which are present especially in stories.
Gordimer also utilizes allegories, which is a word meaning anything that can be perceived beyond its literal meaning. Commonly in short stories of fantasy have allegorical characters, settings, colors, etc. which all have deeper meanings which need to be inferred. This is related to the story’s theme because Gordimer perceives her entire life as a story, and especially in her bedtime story it is very much a fairytale. Gordimer is fighting against and contrasting the normal themes and skeleton outline of traditional children’s stories, which are generally not similar to real life at all. 3) The story “Once Upon A Time” examines the motives of the wife and the husband in such a way that they are both literally explained, yet also it needs to be allegorically inferred. All throughout the story, from the married couple, the in laws, the servants, and all other external characters, they all are dominated by fear. This fear is a result of the society with which the characters live. An example demonstrating the great fear that commands their life is when there is a noise in the night causing for the characters to believe that their worst fear is true:
criminals. 4) There are two possible causes for the ailment that befalls the child. One possibility is that the parents acted rashly when trying to protect their child, which happened to result in the opposite occurring. However there is another side to the story, for the parents should have educated their child (and anyone else involved) about the fence and the dangers it possesses. The entire fence and the existence of it is ironic, considering that the parents sacrificed their child’s safety for their own protection. The “YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED” is perhaps directed towards the parents, considering that following each security attachment was added, it was presented and highlighted. 5) Two common themes that are repeated in the introductory story and the children’s story are of affluence and protection from criminal activity. In the introductory story, Gordimer is taken over by a fear of the outside criminals, which ends up being just a creak within the home. The family in the children’s story shares a similar fear of the external world like Gordimer does. While there is no real definitive proof that someone is in danger; there is still the fear of the outside world. In the two stories, there is the underlying fear of the outside world, which controls and dictates each action they make. 6) In the last paragraph in the story, and all throughout, there is irony regarding the family and their perception and opinions regarding the outside world. This irony is shown especially through how the parents believe that more accessories automatically means more protection, when in actuality, it was the extraneous options which ultimately led to their son’s demise, which is a danger none of them could have anticipated. When humans place their own selfish needs or desires above those around us, it always results in someone getting hurt, such as their boy.
“It was a large, beautiful room, rich and picturesque in the soft, dim light which the maid had turned low. She went and stood at an open window and looked out upon the deep tangle of the garden below. All the mystery and witchery of the night seemed to have gathered there amid the perfumes and the dusky and tortuous outlines of flowers and foliage. She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mourning notes without promise, devoid even of hope. She turned back into the room and began to walk to and fro, down its whole length, without stopping, without resting. She carried in her hands a thin handkerchief, which she tore into ribbons, rolled into a ball, and flung from her. Once she stopped, and taking off her wedding ring, flung it upon the carpet. When she saw it lying there she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the glittering circlet.
Everyone, at some time in life, will experience fear. But, often fantasies are created in one's mind to escape that fear. Ethan Frome uses his fantasy as an escape to the entrapment of his marriage and the fear of public condemnation.
What is fear? Everyone has their definition of the word fear. It could define as something or someone that give us the creeps. Besides that, how could we fear our body or our house? All around us, someone has some rare phobia, from spiders to waters.one of the dominant theme of both stories is that having fears could cause someone to become antisocial and loss themselves. “Hands” is about Wing Biddlebaum who lost everything because of a lie. The other stories “A Jury of Her Peer” is about Mrs. Wright who murder her husband because he takes the life of the only thing that gives her joy. Besides that, Mrs. Wright’s friend hides pieces of evidence that could convict her of the crime of killing her husband. Both characters use their hands to express their feelings, their house represents their lack of love and security, and they both face abuse from others.
In “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Story of an Hour”, the woman in each story imprisons in the domestic sphere. In “Hills Like White Elephants”, the woman in this story conflicts between keeping the baby or getting abortion although the relationship with her boyfriend would not improve as he said. In “The Story of an Hour”, even though Louise Mallard, an intelligent, independent woman understands that she should grieve for Brently, her husband and worry for her future, she cannot help herself from rejoice at her newfound freedom. The author of this story, Kate Chopin suggests that even with a happy marriage, the loss of freedom and the restraint are the results that cannot be avoid.
Callicles comes with a hedonistic belief that pleasure is to be associated with “good” and that pain is to be associated with “bad”, which means a good life is the one full of many pleasures. To refute Callicles belief, Socrates first uses the example of health and disease to explain to Callicles that good and bad cannot happen with a person at the same time, yet pain and pleasure can happen simultaneously. To further enforce his point, Socrates uses the concept of a coward and the brave to provide another argument that pain and pleasure cannot be the deciding factors for what is a good life. In both of his arguments, I believe Socrates is successful based on my personal belief that if someone or something is result in pain, it doesn’t mean that it is bad, and that everyone, good or bad, is capable of feeling both pain an pleasure.
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
This month I read Gossamer by Lois Lowry. It is a fictional story about strange creatures that take memories scents and sounds from little things from around a home, and proceed to then implant the happy ones into their charges while they are sleeping. Creating happy dreams for their charges. However there are other creatures called Sinisteed’s which give nightmares and torment the creatures charges. The story follows one of the creatures named Littlest One, or Littlest for short. She and her teacher Thin Elderly visit an old womans home every night and give her dreams. Until one day when the old woman takes in a angry young boy who the Sinisteeds are very interested in. Littlest is in charge of trying to protect John, the angry little boy, from the nightmares.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.
...ing off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.” Instead we must realize that the warning in the story is one against disregarding the rules of society and that of family, from both the child and parental point of view, lest we, too, fall from a tower. This holds as true today as it did nearly two hundred years ago, once upon a time.
In the words of Bertrand Russell, “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom” (Russell). Fear causes many problems in our lives. Fear influences many of a person’s actions and decisions. However, people usually regret the decisions or actions they made out of fear. Also, these actions and decisions can cause problems for those people in their future. Fear is a harmful emotion, for it clouds people’s judgement, disables them from taking action, and causes them to make decisions that they will regret later.
“ The Story of an Hour: Themes, Motifs, and Symbols.” Sparknotes. Sparknotes LLC. Web. 6 Apr 2014.
The main theme in The Story of an Hour was the need for happiness found in independence. Once Louise found out from her sister that her husband was most likely dead an internal conflict began to arise in her.“Free! Body and soul free! she kept whispering”.
This short story, Once Upon a Time, by Nadine Gordimer has irony and symbolism within it. The story does not contain the irony and symbolism just for fun, they all play a part in an underlying theme present in this short story. With the use of irony and symbolism, Nadine Gordimer shows us the dangers of becoming overprotective of something or somebody.
The desire for freedom comes with a price and disappointment. In “The Story of an Hour” reflects in the characterization (Mrs. Mallard) whose growing awareness that life without her husband might be more liberating than life with him. As the story unfolds, the calamity of news was brought to Mrs. Mallard of the railroad disaster. The idea of Freedom and Disappointment has been projected in a way that gives a reader the understanding about marriage and emotional regression, confinement, time and freedom. The title itself shows and reflects so many things can happen within a single hour. In this story, the thought of death brought regrets, grief, seclusion, guilt and fear. Fear was the legitimate emotions and feeling that brought on circumstances in the face of a deadly railroad disaster. However, the story was proven that death can bring joy, hope, freedom, disappointment and self-independence. In her mind, fear threatened to overwhelm her with questions. The quality of life for her implies there were restraints of hindrance, no openness and not having the quality of being free without generosity. As