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Symbolism of marriage
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Denise Levertov tries to explain the pain a marriage may experience in her poem, “The Ache of Marriage”. This pain, she claims, affects not only emotionally but physically as well. Levertov describes this pain as if the reader were reading her thoughts. Levertov's uses a non-conventional form that allows the central theme of pain that lies within a marriage and the overcoming that pain jumps straight off from the page. Levertov cleverly separates the poem into two parts. On one hand, Levertov describes the difficulty of making a marriage last. She expresses how a marriage can ache and hurt, or “throb”, at times. On the other hand, Levertov states that a happy and content marriage is the ultimate goal. She also describes that the trial and tribulations a marriage may encounter can prove to be worthy. Through her words, marriage is personified as an actual human being. Marriage is a being, which hurts in the "thigh and tongue" (2). The author’s clever use of personification …show more content…
She cleverly makes an allusion to the famous Noah's ark by writing, "two by two in the ark of" (12). Noah's ark symbolizes the survival and faith in our creator. This allows the reader to make a connection that one another needs to have faith to keep a marriage alive. This is a good use of imagery in the poem and gives it a deeper meaning than what the words may appear as at first. Levertov also uses a different imagery in lines 10-11. She writes, "It is leviathan and we in its belly looking for joy, some joy not to be known outside it" (10-11). The comparison of a sacred agreement to a leviathan results in a vivid image. Because pain is compared to a leviathan, which is an gigantic, monster-like creature, at times it may seem like it is unconquerable. Levertov says that pain is like a monster, within which the journey for joy resumes. There is no meaning of happiness because the marriage revolves around
“Theory of Marriage” is one of the poems in which Mark Doty read while visiting the students here at Ramapo College. After reading the title of the poem one expects that the content of this written work will focus on, well the theory of marriage; however, after reading the poem it is to some confusion to find out that the face value of the poem is actually about Doty and his friend at a massage parlor. It was only through Doty’s emphasis on certain words such as “oh” that I later realized his poem is not about the pain that the masseuse was giving to him but rather the pain that marriage caused. The way he read the lines, from the pauses to his facial expression really opened up my eyes to see that nothing is as it seems, especially when it comes to
Human beings are not isolated individuals. We do not wander through a landscape of trees and dunes alone, reveling in our own thoughts. Rather, we need relationships with other human beings to give us a sense of support and guidance. We are social beings, who need talk and company almost as much as we need food and sleep. We need others so much, that we have developed a custom that will insure company: marriage. Marriage assures each of us of company and association, even if it is not always positive and helpful. Unfortunately, the great majority of marriages are not paragons of support. Instead, they hold danger and barbs for both members. Only the best marriages improve both partners. So when we look at all three of Janie’s marriages, only her marriage to Teacake shows the support, guidance, and love.
Brockmeier’s short story represents a damaged marriage between a husband and a wife simply due to a different set of values and interests. Brockmeier reveals that there is a limit to love; husbands and wives will only go so far to continually show love for each other. Furthermore, he reveals that love can change as everything in this ever changing world does. More importantly, Brockmeier exposes the harshness and truth behind marriage and the detrimental effects on the people in the family that are involved. In the end, loving people forever seems too good to be true as affairs and divorces continually occur in the lives of numerous couples in society. However, Brockmeier encourages couples to face problems head on and to keep moving forward in a relationship. In the end, marriage is not a necessity needed to live life fully.
...as the day we married.” (p 23) On the surface, all seems well; however if on looks closer one can see a very sad occurrence-taking place. Most couples who have lasted a goodly time together will not answer the question, “Do you love your spouse like the day you married?” Invariably man and wife will reply, “No, I love him/her more than the day we married.” Long married couples become closer. Intimacy grows in the physical as the couple’s love proportionally grows all more. The growth is palpable to the individuals within the marriage. Furthermore, as life’s hardships are over come together, the couple’s love will grow exponentially. Welty understands this yet chooses a different path for the Fletchers. Some place in time, either by Mrs. Fletchers pride or by Mr. Fletcher’s inability to deal with confrontation, the growth of which should have taken place will happen.
Marriage is an important theme in the stories Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin. When someone hears the word “marriage”, he thinks of love and protection, but Hurston and Chopin see that differently. According to them, women are trapped in their marriage and they don’t know how to get out of it, so they use language devices to prove their points. Chopin uses personification to show Mrs. Mallard's attitudes towards her husband's death. Louise is mournful in her room alone and she is giving a description of the nature as a scene of her enjoying “the new spring life” and “the delicious breath of rain was in the air” (Chopin1).
Marriage is an eternal commitment between two people who love each other. But marriage is not always perfect and passionate as society has portrayed it to be. Marriage will inevitably be filled with annoyance and aggravation, because both individuals hold expectations their spouse cannot meet. In My Problem With Her Anger, newspaper writer Eric Bartels discusses the husband’s point of view in a traditional, but modern, marriage. In his article, Bartels uses subjective language in order to express the constant quarrel between him and his wife’s perpetual anger to influence his male audience into sympathizing with his marital obstacles.
A History of Marriage by Stephanie Coontz speaks of the recent idealization of marriage based solely on love. Coontz doesn’t defame love, but touches on the many profound aspects that have created and bonded marriages through time. While love is still a large aspect Coontz wants us to see that a marriage needs more solid and less fickle aspects than just love.
Immediately, the narrator stereotypes the couple by saying “they looked unmistakably married” (1). The couple symbolizes a relationship. Because marriage is the deepest human relationship, Brush chose a married couple to underscore her message and strengthen the story. The husband’s words weaken their relationship. When the man rejects his wife’s gift with “punishing…quick, curt, and unkind” (19) words, he is being selfish. Selfishness is a matter of taking, just as love is a matter of giving. He has taken her emotional energy, and she is left “crying quietly and heartbrokenly” (21). Using unkind words, the husband drains his wife of emotional strength and damages their relationship.
Marriage can be seen as a subtle form of oppression, like many things which are dictated by social expectations. In Kate Chopin’s The Story of An Hour, Louise Mallard finds herself in distress due to the event of her husband’s death that makes her question who she is as a person. The author cleverly uses this event to create the right atmosphere for Mrs. Mallard to fight against her own mind. As the short story progresses, we see that Mrs. Mallard moves forward with her new life and finds peace in her decision to live for herself. This shows that marriage too is another chain that holds oneself back. Not wanting to admit this to herself, Louise
It is a very difficult task for women to live a content life while in a despondent marriage. Though it has been done, it is simply no easy task. In the short stories "Story of an hour", and "Astronomers Wife" Kate Chopin and Kay Boyle both suggests to their readers that a woman needs a man to connect with her physically to be happy. The two stories both share the thesis that women are being held back by their husbands and there is plenty of evidence to prove this. With Chopin's story taking place in the 50's, and Boyle's story taking place at the turn of the century, they encounter parallel situations with a time difference of almost 50 years.
While it has traditionally been men who have attached the "ball and chain" philosophy to marriage, Kate Chopin gave readers a woman’s view of how repressive and confining marriage can be for a woman, both spiritually and sexually. While many of her works incorporated the notion of women as repressed beings ready to erupt into a sexual a hurricane, none were as tempestuous as The Storm.
The ultimate act of consummation between a man and a woman is depicted by Wright as the deepest and most profound expression of pure love that can be mutually partaken in by two fellow human beings. Such an event involves truly uniting the opposite polarities of human existence, male and female, in a selfless act that plays a crucial role in Woman To Man’s underlying interpretation of the human condition. There is an almost animalistic and primal yearning ingrained in the human condition for physical union between a man and woman, as exemplified by the juxtaposed symbolism of the male “hunter” and his prize, the “chase”, that he seeks. Such an attitude towards the physical facets of sexual passion is reinforced by the polysyndeton of “the strength that your arm knows, / the arc of flesh that is my breast, / the precise crystals of our eyes”, highlighting the magnitude of the bodily pleasure derived from this unification. However, there are clearly deeper and more emotionally significant ramifications arising internally, with the combined amorous fervour between male and female capable of producing an even greater gift, that of new life. The result...
In her poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” Anne Bradstreet earnestly expresses the depth and fervency of the love between the speaker and her husband. As the title suggests, the professed sentiments read like a vow or declaration of affection, dedicated to the speaker’s husband. Through her utilization of couplet form, various elements of figurative language, and abundant imagery, Bradstreet effectively conveys an intimate and elaborate proclamation of a woman utterly consumed by a love that is larger than life. The poem is written, primarily, in iambic pentameter and reads in the rhythmic, songlike manner that is typical of love poems.
Not attempting to hide, Mrs. Mallard knows that she will weep at her husbands funeral, however she can’t help this sudden feeling of seeing, “beyond [the] bitter moment [of] procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (Chopin, 16). In an unloving marriage of this time, women were trapped in their roles until they were freed by the death of their husbands. Although Mrs. Mallard claims that her husband was kind and loving, she can’t help the sudden spark of joy of her new freedom. This is her view on the release of her oppression from her roles of being a dutiful wife to her husband. Altogether, Mrs. Mallard claims that, “there would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (Chopin, 16). This is the most important of Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, as she never officially states a specific way when her husband oppressed her. However, the audience can clearly suggest that this is a hint towards marriage in general that it suffocates both men and women. Marriage is an equal partnership in which compromise and communication become the dominant ideals to make the marriage better. It is suggested that Mrs. Mallard also oppressed her husband just as much as he did to her when she sinks into the armchair and is, “pressed down by a physical exhaustion
Most writers utilize their works as an emotional release for how they feel about certain subjects. Kate Chopin was one such writer, who must have felt strongly about marriage. Marriage was a common theme in at least three of her short stories including, “The story of an hour,” “The Storm,” and “Desiree’s Baby”. Chopin depicts marriage in the most peculiar ways. In her writing of “The Story of an hour,” Chopin doesn’t directly say how Mrs. Mallard’s marriage was lousy, but Mrs. Mallards reaction to her husband’s demise, doesn’t follow the normal cycle of grieving.