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Evolution of marriage thesis statement
Character development recitatif
Evolution of marriage thesis statement
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The setting in the short story “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason works well to accentuate the theme of the story. The theme portrayed by Mason is that most people change along with their environment, with the exception of the few who are unwilling to adapt making it difficult for things such as marriage to work out successfully. These difficulties are apparent in Norma Jean and Leroy’s marriage. As Norma Jean advances herself, their marriage ultimately collapses due to Leroy’s unwillingness to adapt with her and the changing environment. Leroy Moffit is a truck driver, and over the years as his wife Norma Jean is adapting to the changing community his adaptation to things consist of pretty much the way he drives his truck. During this time Norma Jean is left at home to fend for herself and learn the workings of nearly being a single woman. Norma Jean started to play the organ again, practice weight lifting, and take night classes. When Leroy came home after years of being saturated in his work he expected things to be like they were in the beginning of their marriage. As time goes on at home, Leroy takes notice to Norma Jean’s keen, and independent understanding of what goes on around her. He observes and is afraid to admit that she has had to be her own husband. Over the years Norma Jean developed a structured routine that does not include him. As Leroy sits around and plays with a model log cabin set Norma is constantly working to advance and adapt herself with ...
The protagonist is Ann who has lived on the farm with her husband of seven years. Her life is tedious and lonely. Her nearest neighbor is Stephen, a bachelor living on a farm about two miles away. John, Ann’s husband, has little ambition other than make his farm work. He loves Ann and is very proud that she is his wife. On the other hand, Ann finds much that she is
Relationship changes over the passing of time as circumstances in life shape a person's way of thinking and way of life. Whether it flourishes or decays depends greatly upon how both people react to these alterations. In Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shiloh" and Ryan Harty's "Why the Sky Turns Red when the Sun Goes Down", the couple in both stories are standing at the crossroads of their life where changes have happened and decision have to be made. Having to stay at home after a job-related incident, Leroy Moffitt in "Shiloh", realizes how much the relationship, between his wife and him, have changed over the years. Although they have known each other and stayed as husband and wife for such a long time, they have "forgotten a lot about each other" the thoughts and feelings they had, the reasons which made them fell in love with each other. Similarly, in "Why the Sky Turns Red when the Sun Goes Down", the couple are faced with the apprehension of a seemingly permanent change in their relationship. Both have seemed to reach a point where "[they couldn't] go on". When oblivious to change, marriage becomes a word which only holds two people together. Negligence for the need to work together to resolve the influential issue will lead to irresolvable misunderstandings and irreversible consequences.
Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh” follows Leroy and Norma Jean Moffitt, a husband and wife, and their struggling marriage. In the beginning they had a typical marriage, and then as bother her and her husband evolve, Norma Jean questions her marriage and who her husband is. Norma Jean finds herself struggling to make sense of her marriage, and Leroy struggles to move beyond his accident. Through plot structure and third person dramatic point of view, Mason explores the issues of evolving and changing gender roles within a marriage.
The novel Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler is a beautifully thought out book that follows the complicated life of seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe as he seeks forgiveness for his sins both from himself and from God. Ian blamed himself for causing his older brother, Danny’s suicide and his guilt slowly ate away at him until he was drawn into the Church of Second Chance. By this time, Ian was in college and both Danny’s daughter and step-children were orphaned and being taken care of by his elderly parents. So Reverend Emmett, the pastor of Ian’s newfound church, decided that the only way Ian could find forgiveness from God and from himself was to quit college and offer up all his time to raise Danny’s children. The plot spans the time frame of about 25 years, in which time Ian and the three children slowly mature and become very developed, intricate characters, and the story takes place in the city of Baltimore through the years 1965 to 1990. Anne Tyler spins a very believable tale, using a writing style that easily reminds the reader how quickly life goes by.
The story, “Raising the Blinds”, by Peggy Kern, inspired the reader to correct their life from difficult dilemmas. The author was excited to be in college, and there was a different reason she wants to be in college. In the past year, Peggy started having problems with her parents. At first, her parents would argue in their bedroom, but the quarrel became extreme. Soon her father moved to the basement, and he no longer ate at the dinner table with them.
There has been a long standing debate between the socio-economic theories of capitalism and socialism. The current socio-economic system is capitalism but many feel it is not ideal due to the fact that it is based on making a profit. On the other hand, socialism is based on equality of all, which is enacted by paying all workers the same amount of money regardless of occupation. Miriam J. Wells is against capitalism and holds a socialist view point. According to Wells, politics shape the advantages and disadvantages that certain groups of people hold. The government plays an immense role on how things are structured in the fields in order to make a profit based on capitalism. Wells’ argument of capitalism being an unjust system due to politics affecting the class structure and workforce through the Bracero program, enactment of the Alien Land Law, and the return to sharecropping is quite strong even though there is a weakness in her argument due to her straying from the topic at hand and not offering an argument for the capitalist side.
Little Brown Baby by Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar is one of the most influential African American poets to gain a nationwide reputation. Dunbar the son of two former slaves; was born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio. His work is truly one of a kind, known for its rich, colorful language, encompassed by the use of dialect, a conversational tune, and a brilliant rhetorical structure. The style of Dunbar’s poetry includes two distinct voices; the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn of the century black community in America. His works include
Bobbie Ann Mason is an author of an abundance of short stories and has become quite famous for her work and is known as “a full-fledged master of the short story.’ As the readers of her stories get deeper in her short stories she reveals a way of thinking that allows the readers to become more attracted to her stories, making them think about the different aspects of life she is talking about. Masons writing has the ability to have each reader take a look at their own life in comparison to what they are reading. Through her story telling she uses writing techniques to show the themes of her story to best present it to her readers. The short story Shiloh portrays the change in domestic roles in the Moffitt household as Mason uses plot to specify
The comparisons--North vs. South, city vs. country, technology vs. nature--are numerous and have been well documented in 20th century literature. Progress contrasts sharply with rooted cultural beliefs and practices. Personalities and mentalities about life, power and change differ considerably between worlds... worlds that supposed-intellectuals from the West would classify as "modern" and "backwards," respectively. When these two worlds collide, the differences--and the danger--rise significantly. This discrepancy between the old and the new is one of the principal themes of Gloria Naylor's Mama Day. The interplay between George, Ophelia and Mama Day shows the discrepancies between a "modern" style of thinking and one born of spirituality and religious beliefs. Dr. Buzzard serves as a weak bridge between these two modes of thought. In Mama Day, the Westernized characters fail to grasp the power of the Willow Springs world until it is too late.
“Sonny’s Blues” revolves around the narrator as he learns who his drug-hooked, piano-playing baby brother, Sonny, really is. The author, James Baldwin, paints views on racism, misery and art and suffering in this story. His written canvas portrays a dark and continual scene pertaining to each topic. As the story unfolds, similarities in each generation can be observed. The two African American brothers share a life similar to that of their father and his brother. The father’s brother had a thirst for music, and they both travelled the treacherous road of night clubs, drinking and partying before his brother was hit and killed by a car full of white boys. Plagued, the father carried this pain of the loss of his brother and bitterness towards the whites to his grave. “Till the day he died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother.”(346) Watching the same problems transcend onto the narrator’s baby brother, Sonny, the reader feels his despair when he tries to relate the same scenarios his father had, to his brother. “All that hatred down there”, he said “all that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart.”(355) He’s trying to relate to his brother that even though some try to cover their misery with doing what others deem as “right,” others just cover it with a different mask. “But nobody just takes it.” Sonny cried, “That’s what I’m telling you! Everybody tries not to. You’re just hung up on the way some people try—it’s not your way!”(355) The narrator had dealt with his own miseries of knowing his father’s plight, his Brother Sonny’s imprisonment and the loss of his own child. Sonny tried to give an understanding of what music was for him throughout thei...
The traditional values of a “Nuclear Family” that were set up in the 1960’s are a reoccurring theme throughout “The Country Husband” by John Cheever. Francis Weed demonstrates the strain of a domestic lifestyle, and his character communicates the chaos that pressure ensues. With changes in attitude, the struggles of a traditional suburban community, characterization of a middle-aged man who suffers with morality and the desperation for escape from reality, Francis Weeds finds himself in what would be identified as a “mid-life crisis.” In the short story, Francis portrays reckless behavior due to the adolescent yearnings. He wants to pursue an unattainable affair with the engaged babysitter that his wife hires. With his codependent characteristics, Francis is unable to escape his reality. When Julia, his wife, threatens to leave him due to his uncaring demeanor he persuades her to stay because he realizes that he is hopeless without her and he simply
...aking classes, she is able to slowly but surely find her independence again. Norma Jean finally tells her husband that she wants to leave him because she does not want to "...feel eighteen again" (500). By leaving Leroy and starting a new life, Norma Jean is able to forget the pain and embarassment she felt many years ago. The power she possesses enables her to succeed in her wish to move on.
Francis Weed, the main character in “The Country Husband,” has recently come back from surviving a plane crash. When he attempts to tell his story, no one listens, including his wife, Julia. The crash has changed him, and he feels held back by Julia. Because he feels restricted, Francis becomes enthralled with his children’s babysitter, Anne Murchison. She is still in highschool, but that doesn’t stop him from fantasizing
Mrs. Brill, a short story by Katherine Mansfield, takes place in Jardins Publiques seaside town in France. The story is about an elder lady by the name of Mrs. Brill who frequents a nearby park on Sundays to hear a band play. Before leaving to the park she removed her fur. Shaken of the moth powder and brushing it of Mrs. Brill admired her fur wrap. The tail was placed within its mouth and its black composite nose was no longer firm, giving the impression that the wrap was old. She decided that a little black wax would take care of the nose when it became noticeable and continued on staring and stroking it. Mrs. Brill went to the park and noticed and noted that there were a greater number of visitors this week than last. Being perceptive, she noticed that the band was player with more feeling and at a louder level. Comparing the conductor of the bands movement to that of a rooster and making note of his new coat, Mrs. Brill continued to survey her surrounding gathering every detail. Other items she caught includes; the crowd, flower bends, a beggar, and the big white bows under the flocking children about. She sat next to an old couple on the bench. The misses, a "big old women" wore a embroidered apron and the mister, a "fine old man in a velvet coat", gripping a cane, never spoke a word. Mrs. Brill was upset at this; she enjoyed a good conversation and hoped for the couple to leave. She reminisced of the couple the previous week the women wore a Panama styled hat and nagged about needing spectacles to view the scenery, her husband suggested different styles that may suit her but she carried on stating they would most likely slip off. She didn't find that couple interesting either but felt it was better than the statue like couple sitting in her "special" seat. Her attention to detail was precise; describing everyone her eyes came in contact with, observing changes in people from week to week. The band now turned into an orchestra like musical, performing on stage and everyone including her were actors and actresses. Her feeling and thought were conveyed omnisciently and when a direct emotion wasn't recognized, context clues were used so that the reader may be able to tell how she was feeling.
Have you ever imagined what it felt like to be completely cut off from the rest of the world? Left all alone with no power, no food, and no clothes? Have you ever wondered about how families living in war zones are mentally affected by war? In the novel Mister Pip, author Lloyd Jones explores the effects of war on the victim and perpetrator through isolation, fear, and trauma.