How Society Views People Oftentimes, in the public, people have to be “normal” to be successful and accepted. Author William Saroyan believes that society steers people to be conform and fit in, but he disagrees. In the short story “Gaston,” Saroyan shows that carving a unique path can turn out to be erroneous. Through symbolism and contrast, Saroyan conveys the theme that society does not always accept people’s differences. Using symbolism, the author characterizes Gaston as a person who is unique and the mom as the public to show how society does not always allow people to be who they truly are. Following the man and his daughter studying the peach, the girl suggest, “Aren’t we going to squash him?” The father disagrees and replies, “Of course …show more content…
This conversation between the girl and her father shows how she views Gaston as gross and odd. Another instance of symbolism occurs when the little girl and her dad are discussing their homes. The girl claims, “It’s nice, but it’s a lot different from our home.” Later, the girl also comments, “It’s kind of like Gaston’s house.” These few lines of dialogue from the girl illustrate how she views her dad’s home as unusual. By comparing her dad’s home to Gaston’s, it represents how she sees her dad’s home as abnormal. After the young girl squashes and kills Gaston, the dad understood he lost the battle between him and the mom. He felt defeated—“like Gaston on the white plate”— these thoughts from the dad reveal how he feels he lost to the mom, similar to how Gaston lost the battle to the girl. In each example, the unique character feels defeated; this …show more content…
The parents’ different views and outlooks on the world influence their daughter’s decisions and alter how she reacts to Gaston throughout the story. One difference among the parents is their financial status. While on the phone with her mother, the mother said she was, “sending the chauffeur to pick her up…” This dialogue from the mother illustrates that she is wealthy. Earlier in the story, the girl was describing her dad saying, “He was at home. She was with him in his home in Paris, if you could call it a home.” The girl’s opinion demonstrates how different her life is at home. The opinion also shows how the dad’s house is not nearly as nice as her home. These quotes portray the differences in the financial aspects of the two parents’ lives. Another demonstration of the distinction between the parents is how they react to the bug. When the dad sees the bug, he proceeds to name it and defend it. The girl says, “Everybody hollers when a bug comes out of an apple, but you don’t holler or anything.” The dad replies by saying, “Of course not. How should we like it if somebody hollered every time we came out of our house?” This conversation shows how the dad is creative and accepting things that are odd. In contrast, when the mom sees the bug she immediately rejects it. The mom says, “Somebody gets a peach with a bug in it, and throws it away, but not him. He makes up a lot of
In conclusion, the story describes that life changes, and nothing stays the same throughout it. It is in the hands of the people to decide that how they want their life to be. They can make it as beautiful as they want to and they can also make it worse than it has ever been
When Marie-Neige believed that she was in the extreme depth of hopelessness, the unexpected generosity and kindness from Lucien allowed her to re-evaluate herself regarding her previous negative outlook of life. Lucien’s decision to purchase her property and sign it under her name after realizing all the pain and miseries Marie-Neige experienced instigated a substantial change within Marie-Neige’s character. This revelation caused Marie-Neige to transform from someone who had “been given nothing in her life, on even the slightest scale” (pg.6) to someone who began to “recognize the sudden lightness” (pg.6) in life by discovering the limitless possibilities of her own farm. Because of Lucien’s compassion and kindness, Marie-Neige realized how such a simple act could greatly positively influence her view of the world. This feeling of hope and optimism has allowed her to destroy the barriers encompassed around her poverty-stricken life and discover her true aspirations in society filled with endless opportunities. In addition, the allusion to Cornelius also demonstrates the importance of the farm to Marie-Neige since it is an essential for her way of living. When Marie-Neige was still living a poverty-stricken, difficult life, she attempted to cultivate her plants successfully in order to one day be able to enter society and forever leave her destitute, poor state. Now that she has rights to her own land, she believes that she is now able to “enter the world of the grower of the black tulip” (pg. 6). This means now that Marie-Neige has possession of her own property, she will be able to properly tend her own flowers by herself and compete within the mainstream, competitive society while abandoning her previous sufferings and
Lily’s idea of home is having loving parent/mother figures who can help guide her in life. Because of this desire, she leaves T. Ray and begins to search for her true identity. This quest for acceptance leads her to meet the Calendar Sisters. This “home” that she finds brightly displays the ideas of identity and feminine society. Though Lily could not find these attributes with T. Ray at the peach house, she eventually learns the truth behind her identity at the pink house, where she discovers the locus of identity that resides within herself and among the feminine community there. Just like in any coming-of-age story, Lily uncovers the true meaning of womanhood and her true self, allowing her to blossom among the feminine influence that surrounds her at the pink house. Lily finds acceptance among the Daughters of Mary, highlighting the larger meaning of acceptance and identity in the novel.
The girl's mother is associated with comfort and nurturing, embodied in a "honeyed edge of light." As she puts her daughter to bed, she doesn't shut the door, she "close[s] the door to." There are no harsh sounds, compared to the "buzz-saw whine" of the father, as the mother is portrayed in a gentle, positive figure in whom the girl finds solace. However, this "honeyed edge of li...
Unrealistically, the narrator believes that she would be of use to her father more and more as she got older. However, as she grows older, the difference between boys and girls becomes more clear and conflicting to her.
Firstly, the presence of individuality within society permits individuals to identify societal barriers because such choices are, essential. Tom’s essay speaks of how “historically, people have not been kind to that which is different”, yet however, she encourages this drive within individuals as she goes on to say, “this [in fact] is what has driven the evolution of society.” Though many historical events such as the Holocaust and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade have not been greeted with gratitude nonetheles...
2. It represents her desire to be what her father wants her to be and the secret satisfaction she gets by making him proud. This quote shows how her father recognizes her hard work around the farm and that she is competent enough as a strong and boyish figure for him to express his pride in her to others.
The author shows how the feelings of each character affects the story. The sentiment of the father throughout the story is his selfishness. He doesn’t care much about other people
A small glimmer of hope in an imperialistic world is only taken away in order to ensure equivalence in an imperfect society. Harrison Bergeron is a classic sociological tale written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is based on the sociological aspect of everyone being equal - not one individual could be above another. This short story focuses on the idea of symbolism by using masks and handicaps to force the social norm of being the same while foreshadowing the courage of being unique in a seemingly perfect world, all while displaying irony through the way in which our society runs today. This story relates to today’s society in that both are alike in that individuals want to break free from societies constraints of social norms.
There comes a point in everyone’s life when they are pressurized by society’s demands. One is given the option to either conform or challenge these social norms in order to suit one’s life.
Johnson starts with an example of hidden meaning. In the scene where Fern pleads for the to save the life of the newly born runt; Fern states “the pig couldn’t help being born small ... If I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?” () Fern relates herself to the piglet focusing on the idea that they are the same. Johnson shows the idea that children must develop the idea that there are differences in situation, for instance in this situation Fern sees herself equal to the piglet not as human and animal. Later, after ferns father allows her to keep and care for the piglet the imagination of a child is represented. Fern names the piglet Wilbur, bottle feeding him, pushing him in a stroller, and washing him in a bath. Johnson explains how this scene reflects
William accumulates these ideas to suggest that conventional thinking and traditions should be used solely as a guide, being changed and refined as society progresses. This idea is revealed through the shift from the aristocratically and pretentious society old south possessed, embodied by the Blanche and Belle Reve, to the industrialized New South, which is represented by Stanley. While Blanche tries to cling to the past, relying on her manners and pretensions, Stella adapts to the changing times, committing the taboo of marrying Stanley, a polish immigrant who is a whole social class lower than her. This social pyramid is shown to lose value, as the brutality of the new world, as shown in Stanley’s dominant physique and actions, overtakes the politeness and gentleness of the old, with Blanche’s departure from reality signaling the death of the Old South.
For most people the fruit of the peach is a symbol for southern United States, more specifically Atlanta, Georgia. However, in the story “Gaston” by William Saroyan the peach symbolizes many things including home, love, and loss. In the story, a middle classed man takes his biological yet distant daughter out to get peaches
In the novel, women were affected by racism and gender role equality more than men. Pecola is one if the main characters, and she deals with the figure of a man who violates her. The female characters in the novel were apprehended by females roles that made them feel like they were non existent. Each character had their own personality. Claudia, another character in the novel escapes her suffering by pulling apart from Shirley Temple dolls. The expectations of theses women in the novel have been created through our society, and how we view our gender
Since this is a lover story. Therefore, Colette want’s to make us go on a emotional rollercoaster trying to figure out if they are going to end up together or not by making the readers originally think their relationship was over until Gaston came back for Gigi and they had their happy rom-com ending.