During the 1930s, many Americans were forced to move West towards California in search of employment opportunity. This journey was often thousands of miles, making it difficult for families to bring their possessions with them; Americans could only take what they could fit in their car. Since they had limited space, migrants could only take objects that had significant value. Due to the lack of space and high value an object must have to be kept by a moving family, a going away gift had to be meaningful and small; a CD containing specific songs matches these two requirements. The CD for the Joad family has thirteen songs, one for each member of the family. Though all of the family member, and Casy, could listen to every song, there is one song specifically for each person. …show more content…
Connie, though not in the Joad blood line, is apart of the family through marriage; Connie is married to Rose of Sharon.
The song that was custom fit for Connie is Skinny Love by Birdy. Skinny Love mirrors Connie’s insincerity with his relationship between himself and his wife. Steinbeck wrote about how Connie, “put a hand on her stood close, so that his body touched her at hip and shoulder, and he felt that this kept a relation that might be departing” (Steinbeck 64). Connie always feels like he has to be with Rose of Sharon or else he would lose her emotionally. Skinny love perfectly describes how Connie feels because it focuses on the fickleness of a relationship. The singer mentions how if someone were to “pour a little salt, [it would be as if they] were never here”. Skinny Love is a song that is specifically for Connie because it relates to how he feels about his relationship with his
wife. Not all songs are centered around insecurities, Uncle John’s song is a very upbeat and has a happy tone. The name of the song is actually named “Happy”. Uncle John is depressed because his wife died due to stomach pains. Now, he “just walks aroun' like he don't see nothin' an' he prays some. Took 'im two years to come out of it, an' then he ain't the same” (Steinbeck 46). I would give this song to Uncle John because it makes the listener want to dance and it would hopefully get him out of his rut and bring him a little happiness. Another reason this song fits John is because he enjoys making other people happy, as seen through him giving gum to the children. Also, the main message, everything will be fine, would really help Uncle John. Hopefully this message will get Uncle John so he can get past his his wife’s death and help him a chance move on emotionally. Some song on the CD don't reflect the person’s personality but the opposite of their character; Ma’s song is actually the complete opposite of her nature. All throughout the book Ma has tried to keep the family together and even delays the trip so that they won't have to separate. When Tom Joad was asked if he kept in contact with his family while in jial, he said that, “Ma sent [him] a card two years ago” (Steinbeck 18). Being one of the few members to attempt to keep in touch with Tom while he was in jail is a true attestment to her character; she cares about the family. Ma even grieves Granma’s death by herself so that the family won’t suffer. This song is focused on “riding solo” so while Ma listens to this song she can think about herself and spend time personally reflecting. The song Me, Myself & I talks about how someone doesn't need other people and that they can do it by themselves. Though Ma is all about the family and does everything in her power to keep the family together, this song which is focused on being independent is given to Ma because, when she is listening to the song.
“Terminal Avenue” versus “We So Seldom Look on Love” Eden Robinson’s “Terminal Avenue” was published in the anthology or collection of fictional short stories called “So Long Been Dreaming” in 2004. Bose “Terminal Avenue” is a futuristic dystopian short story about a young aboriginal man named Wil, who is torn between his aboriginal community whose traditions are being punished for by the police and or being punished by his family if he becomes a peace officer to survive the adjustment. Barbara Gowdy’s “We So Seldom Look at Love” is a collection of fictional short stories and was published in 1992. (Broadview Press) “We So Seldom Look on Love” collections include a short story about a young woman that lives the life of necrophilia who grew up in a moderately normal childhood until the age of thirteen. Where one day she finds a forceful energy she gets from when life turns into death, and continues to experiment with dead animals and cadavers.
“Hurt” a song originally recorded by Nine Inch Nails which portrays self-harm and heroin addiction has been covered by many great artists including Johnny cash. When Johnny cash covered this song I got a deferent message from the lyrics while he sings it, maybe it is because of his voice or how he lived his life, but when he is singing this song I get a sense that he is singing about a loved one that has passed on, growing older, and his legacy.
First of all, Connie was not happy at home. The story says that her father "was away at work most of the time," and "didn't bother talking much to them," so Connie didn't have love from him and had to find male attention somewhere else. Connie found her happiness in escaping with her friend to the drive-in restaurant and daydreaming about boys. But the happiness she found in both of these things had nothing to do with actual events; it is based on a fantasy. When she was out at the drive-in with a boy, her face gleamed "with the joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place; it might have been the music." When she daydreamed about boys, they all "fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling mixed up with the urgent pounding of the music..."
“Love in LA” is a short story written by Dagoberto Gilb. The story is written in third person point of view. The author is an American writer that writes extensively. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His mother came from across the Mexican border, yet his father is from Kentucky. Gilb’s parents were also raised in parts of Los Angeles. His mother’s home was in Downtown, while his father resided in Boyle Heights. His parents’ careers were vastly different his mother was a model and later a dental assistant, while his father made a living off of an industrial laundry business. When he was a child, his parents divorced, and he remained living with his mother. After Gilb graduated high school he went to multiple community colleges, then he transferred to the University of California. He majored in Philosophy and Religious Studies. Before Dagoberto became the prominent writer he is now he worked in many construction-like jobs. His writing career began when he was inspired by Raymond Carver who was near his school teaching others.
Connie is only concerned about her physical appearance. She can be described as being narcissistic because "she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirror or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right" (Oates 148). Connie wants her life to be different from everyone else's in her family. She thinks because she is prettier, she is entitled to much more. She wants to live the "perfect life" in which she finds the right boy, marries him, and lives happily ever after. This expectation is nothing less than impossible because she has not experienced love or anything like it. She has only been subjected to a fantasy world where everything is seemingly perfect. This is illustrated in the story when Connie is thinking about her previous encounters with boys: "Connie sat with her eyes closed in the sun, dreaming and dazed with the warmth about her as if this were a kind of love, the caresses of love, and her mind slipped over onto thoughts of the boy she had been with the night before and how nice he had been, how gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs" (151).
The victim is nineteen year old Khadijah Stewart. Stewart had grown up in the south side of Richmond, Virginia (a high crime area) where she met a boy named Tommie. Both were in middle school but Tommie soon got arrested for robberies and gun charges, he was sentenced to life as a juvenile. As time goes on Stewart forms a history of dating bad boys. The main on and off again boyfriend throughout her high school years was a young man named Lionel. In High school Stewart is skipping school to hang out Lionel and his gang members. Afraid how the streets could impact Stewart, the mother moves the family to Chesterfield County, a successful middle class suburbs, to create new life. As her life is changing for the better her heart longs to maintain
Connie sits outside enjoying the sunny day and listening to music. We learn that music is her major weakness, it disconnects Connie from the real world, making her daydream and think of guys, in this case the author tells that she was thinking of everything she did with Eddie the night before and of how nice and gentle he was.
“The Storm” by Kate Chopin states that societies should not keep two people who have the potential for consummate love apart even though they may be divided by class because doing so would leave the two people unhappy and unfulfilled. In “The Storm,” the characters Calixta and Bobinot do not seem to be happy and fulfilled in the marriage. This inference can see this if we try to see how they fit in the Love Triangle created by Robert Sternberg which measures if two people have consummate love for each other. Before describing how Calixta and Bobinot do not appear to be happy and fulfilled, it is necessary to explain the Love Triangle. It is necessary to remember the theme of “The Storm” is that people who have consummate love for each other should not be kept apart or else they will be unhappy and unfulfilled.
Oates makes it very clear that Connie is very concerned about her looks and associates all hope and happiness with the way she looks and the attention she will receive because of what she wears and how she acts. Within the first sentence of the short story, Oates introduces readers to Connie by saying, “Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people 's faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates). This quote displays Connie 's longing for self perfection. Readers can infer that because Connie is constantly being put down by her family, she feels that she needs to look elsewhere for attention, and resorts to perfection as a way to get attention from other people, particularly older boys. Connies underdeveloped psyche also plays a role in this. A major reason for Connie 's promiscuous actions is her distant relationship with her
Sociocultural standards of feminine beauty are presented in almost all forms of popular media, revealing women with images that portray for what is considered to be the "ideal body." Such beauty standards for most women are completely unattainable; what is seen on TV Is another story, majority of models are considered to be well below what is known as a healthy weight. Media conveys a practical message using models that are not considered to be healthy and stating that in order for a woman to be considered beautiful, she must be unhealthy, or “thin.” The mindset in today’s society for many women is that you need to be thin, which is all too predominant and for females it makes it more difficult to achieve any level of serenity of their physical appearance. In the American culture, the “ideal body” for a female is represented very negatively, as it has dramatically changed. The number of people who are thin is starting to be the minority, while the people who are overweight/obese is going to other way and is the majority. Andre Dubus, the author of the short story "The Fat Girl," demonstrates each of these traditional behaviors towards the overweight main character, Louise.
Karen Horney “Distrust between sexes” proceeds go into the different aspects of Love and Relationships. In this book Horney gives examples on how women deal with emotions which transitions from childhood to adult life. The fundamentals of documentation are displayed in unavoidable ways in most occurrences people run into. People are blind to the fact that love in relationships can be destroyed by overt or covert? In some cases lack of sympathy is then blamed, when relationships don’t work out between two individuals. Some couples fall into social, economic defaults which impacts the relationships. These are issues people never stop to think about, all they want to do is shift the blame to one another in a relationship. Self-preservation is a basic instinct for everyone and is present at birth. This can enhance the natural fear of losing ourselves in a relationship (Horney 1930). In Horney discussions I found that a person only feels despair because of the deep emotions of abundant from “Love” during childhood. That can develop more mixed emotions that turn into mistrust, which causes delusions that tell them they are not getting love from their partner (Horney 1930). With these types of feelings mistrust sips into relationships, starting from a child carries over into adult life. Reasons are when a child comes into the world learns everything it needs to know from its parent. If the child’s emotional needs are not taken care of when the family increases, the child will feel a need to compete for affection from the parents, which could turn into a painful situation. With this being said the child grows into an adult with suppressed aggression. If he/she has not learned how to deal with...
A New Literacy Age in American Society Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart depicts a futuristic American society dominated by media. Technology is their most precious process, everything revolves around their äppärät. Everyone is ranked based on their attractiveness and wealth. Most people want to stay young and live longer. Any written artifacts are almost non-existent, and literacy is not the same as before.
Ninety percent of Americans marry by the time that they are fifty; however, forty to fifty percent of marriages end in divorce ("Marriage and Divorce"). Love and marriage are said to go hand in hand, so why does true love not persist? True, whole-hearted, and long-lasting love is as difficult to find as a black cat in a coal cellar. Loveless marriages are more common than ever, and the divorce rate reflects this. The forms of love seen between these many marriages is often fleeting. Raymond Carver explores these many forms of love, how they create happiness, sadness, and anything in between, and how they contrast from true love, through his characters in "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". Four couples are presented: Mel and Terri, Nick and Laura, Ed and Terri, and, most importantly, an unnamed elderly couple; each couple exhibits a variation on the word love.
In, “Skinny Love,” Bon Iver employs powerful imagery and disappointed allusions to convey the idea that impure love becomes a vicious cycle of misery. Vernon’s use of allusions clearly show how impure love is destructive. The repetition of the word “my” in the song (Vernon, lines 3, 7, and 19) exemplifies the disappointment and hurt of the speaker. It is as if the speaker doesn’t know what to say to demonstrate how wounded he is from the relationship he was involved in. The speaker also writes about why his relationship failed.
Musical theatre has been shaped to capture people from their ordinary lives and invite them into a surreal world that embraces song, dance and happy endings. Although productions are sometimes very farfetched, audiences are still able to connect to the emotions within a scene through the use of music. The idea of seduction can be interpreted a number of different ways in a scene, however, music provides a solid statement about one’s impression. This essay will analyse two contrasting examples of theatre music and investigate their effectiveness in promoting the idea of seduction in a musical. I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You (Lloyd Webber & Rice, 1996) from the musical Evita shares a romantic and very intimate attraction between two lovers unknown to one another.