As the mysterious story, “Suspicion”, by Alexandra Monir, began with a dreadful fire that swept the beautiful garden of Rockford Manor, ten-year-old Imogen was pronounced orphan. It left a permanent scar in her heart that forced her to leave her life in England behind and move to New York with her new guardians. Nevertheless, seven years later, the co-agent of Rockford Manor had brought the news that Imogen’s cousin died several months ago, leaving Imogen the last heiress. A sense of responsibility swept over Imogen and drove her to accept the title. She doesn’t know that this is just the first of many responsibilities that will hindrance her, but somehow a voice manages to tell her, it’s only through the sacrifices you made to change other people’s lives will you find how much you worth, and eventually it’ll bring you the real definition of happiness.
Imogen longed to forget about her past and begin a new life. The pain that will accost her when she step into Rockford Manor, the place where her parents died, is unbearable. However, understanding that if she doesn't take her duty, the great ancient beauty will be destroyed as well as the lives of all the hard-working servants. Imogen firmly said, “If I decline my inheritance and let Rockford Manor fall into
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Imogen said after all her experiences in the end, “I feel a strange sense of relief. For the first time…my life is no longer a question.”(Monir, 287) This demonstrated that as Imogen broke away from cowardness, she found the strength in herself that proved her to be stronger than she thought she was. She said, “ I no longer see myself as a freak.” (Monir, 289). Through the works of her sacrifices, Imogen found out how much she can contribute to the world, and how much she worths. Every single one of her sacrifices changed many other people’s lives forever. Yet most importantly, it changed Imogen from a low-confident little girl to a real majestic
Do we control the judgments and decisions that we make every day? In the book,
The novel starts out with seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe, young and handsome, and without a care in the world. He’s still dating his high school sweetheart with plans to get married right after they’ve both finished college and his entire family seems to be the exact representation of the American dream. Unfortunately, all that dramatically changes when Ian’s older brother brings home a mysterious beauty, announcing that after only two weeks of having known Lucy, he plans to marry her right away. At first, Ian didn’t seem to mind her and he barely seemed to take notice of her two children from her previous marriage. However, Ian starts to notice Lucy behaving suspiciously, for example...
In the great story of a young girls triumph over poverty, rejection and innumerable failures as a child, she will unfortunately never truly prosper as an adult in the world in which she lives. Our protagonist, Sara Smolinsky who is the youngest of the four Smolinsky girls, has the most motivation in life to be independent, and fend for herself. However to achieve this goal she would need to break loose of the family chain and peruse a life elsewhere. It appears she has done so as she runs away from home seeking an education. Six years or so go by and she has more than fulfilled her dream of independence, however as members of her family take on life threatening sickness she once again feels the need to come home, and falls back under the spell of family obligation. As for other characters in the book, the same problem with familial duties always interferes with what one truly wants.
For so long she has been around what she saw as the destination for her life, which was success and happiness, in the lifelong family friends the Lowells. She assumed they were just given this life without ever thinking they had to work as hard as she did to get there, consequently envy and resentment ensued. The resentment started with the whole family and then got more intense and personal when it came to the daughter of the Lowells, Parker, someone Andrea could identify with on a personal level. This story illustrated for us the unseen factors and repercussions that too much ambition to be accepted by anyone can have one's long lasting development into their own person. This journey to prove who you are to others can lead to intense emotions and motives that aren’t normal yours and can cause you to lose sight of the very person you’re trying to prove that you
The lives we lead and the type of character we possess are said to be individual decisions. Yet from early stages in our life, our character is shaped by the values, customs and mindsets of those who surround us. The characteristics of this environment affect the way we think and behave ultimately shaping us into a product of the environment we are raised in. Lily Bart, the protagonist in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, is an exceedingly beautiful bachelorette who grows up accustomed to living a life of luxury amongst New York City’s upper-class in the 20th century. When her family goes bankrupt, Lily is left searching for security and stability, both of which, she is taught can be only be attained through a wealthy marriage. Although, Lily is ashamed of her society’s tendencies, she is afraid that the values taught in her upbringing shaped her into “an organism so helpless outside of its narrow range” (Wharton 423). For Lily, it comes down to a choice between two antagonistic forces: the life she desires with a happiness, freedom and love and the life she was cut out to live with wealth, prestige and power. Although, Lily’s upbringing conditioned her to desire wealth and prestige, Lily’s more significant desires happiness, freedom and love ultimately allow her to break free.
Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres tells a dark tale of a corrupt patriarchal society which operates through concealment. It is a story in which the characters attempt to manipulate one another through the secrets they possess and the subsequent revelation of those secrets. In her novel, Smiley gives us a very simple moral regarding this patriarchal society: women who remain financially and emotionally dependent on men decay; those able to break the economic and emotional chains develop as women and as humans.
The coming of age novel, Atonement by Ian McEwan, discusses guilt, forgiveness, and the complicated nature of love through the struggles of growing up. The novel begins in England during World War II, where 13-year-old Briony Tallis is part of a family with dysfunctional dynamics. Her older sister, Cecilia, experiences true love with the family’s gardener, who is the son of their housekeeper, but their relationship is riddled with many obstacles. Most troubling is that Briony naively imagines their intimacy as something more aggressive towards her sister. Her innocence and shielded view of the world causes an unfortunate series of events that tears the family apart and alters the course of the rest of Briony’s life. In Atonement, McEwan demonstrates the maturation of love and how prosperous, yet destructive love can be between lovers and family alike.
The loss of innocence is an occurrence that happens in every life, and it is so easily taken. A traumatic moment is often the thief of innocence, leaving the victim scarred from the experience. Events like these are often the process of paving the road into adulthood, and aid in the metamorphosis of a child to an adult. In “My Father’s Noose” by Grace Talusan, “Dothead” by Amit Majmudar, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, each of the characters do not understand the concept of negligent personages. Once the protagonist knows that society is not composed of perfect people, their character and personality changes, as it forces them to take a look at their own morals. This prepares the protagonist for the lives
A breathtaking saga of a young girl’s tragic memories of her childhood. As with Ellen, Gibbons’ parents both died before she was twelve-years-old, forming the family. basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and actions of Ellen. The simplistic and humble attitude that both Gibbons and Ellen epitomizes in the novel is portrayed through diction and dialogue.
This moment of realization turns her entire life upside down and starts the lead her on the path to forgiveness. Although it would take time, she finally understood that God created everybody equal and that they weren't evil despite what they had done. She was able to see that everybody had been misguided and their hearts had been clouded by hatred. Throughout this experience Immaculée is able to fully understand that this is the work of misguided consciences and not the work of God and his
Deborah Tannen’s essay, “There Is No Unmarked Woman”, explores the idea of “marked” and “unmarked” words, styles, titles, and how females have no ability to choose an unmarked position in life. She posits that “The unmarked forms of most English words also convey ‘male’” (88). Tannen is incorrect in her premises because females are able to choose unmarked hair and clothing styles, men are marked just as often as women, and many unmarked forms of words no longer convey “male.”
In realist novels, the author gives readers a sense of the real world by avoiding the dramatic aspects of other genre of novels. The realist novels are more focused on the character(s) rather than the action and the plot by showing the character’s real complications of nature and motives in society. Therefore, “realist novels typically end in fall or failure, often as an ironic commentary on social values of self-improvement or success. A character may get what he or she desires, but be faced with the unexpected consequences of that desire” [Prompt]. In Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, Lily Bart’s ending is an ironic rise because her meeting with Nettie and paying back her debts gives her the strength and courage to chase after her own happiness, but Lawrence Selden’s ending is an ironic fall because of his failure to overcome his cowardice and tentativeness to propose to Lily. The endings of both Lily and Selden defines the cruelty of the social system that forces women to marry for economic reasons and condemns them with poverty if they fail to do so.
Imogen is very sympathetic in the beginning of the movie. She and Al hit it off from the moment they laid eyes on each other in that bar. She is a cheery, enthusiastic freshman that is out to have a good time. She is very into art and painting. Al is particularly impressed with Imogen’s artistic talent. She gets scared of their commitment after a summer vacation in France and their relationship gets a little rocky after that.
Our world, and lives, are full of trials and tribulations. Its our choices, actions, or lack thereof when facing these difficulties that influence the direction of our lives. Rene Denfeld explores this wonderfully in her novel The Enchanted. Her characters all face trials, of varying degrees of intensity, that not only shape them but also the direction of their lives. She delves into this process thoroughly through her character of the white-haired boy. He transforms from an optimistic boy, to a hollow victim of abuse and a corrupt penal system, and finally into a man who did what was necessary to survive.
The short story Girl written by Jamaica Kincaid is a mother’s compilation of advice, skills, and life experience to her daughter. The mother believes that her offer of practical and helpful guidance will assist her daughter in becoming a proper woman, and gaining a fulfilling life and respectable status in the community. Posed against the mother’s sincere concern for her daughter’s future is Sir Walter’s superficial affection to his daughters in the novel Persuasion written by Jane Austen. Due to his detailed attention for appearance and social rank, Sir Walter has been negligent to his daughters’ interests and fails to fulfill his responsibility as a father. Throughout both literary works, the use of language and tone towards persuasive endeavors reveals the difference in family dynamics and the success of persuasion on the character’s transformation.