The Inner Self in The Awakening, Wuthering Heights, and Fences
Does turmoil in people promote chaos in the world, or does chaos in the world create turmoil in people? To uncover a single answer to such a question is impossible. Therefore, those who seek a solution find themselves at a stalemate, and the query posed becomes rhetorical. Nevertheless, it initiates another inquiry worth thought and reflection: since the chaotic world is already well established, whether or not a product of human havoc, how is one to escape it and live uninhibitedly? Fences, by August Wilson, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, and Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë embody people who struggle against the chaos in the world to be rid of personal turmoil. The characters in the novel took different approaches to find and free their innermost selves in the midst of societal disorder, and the ultimate resolution depended on each person's nature, strength, permissiveness, and courage. Troy Maxson in Fences employed blame and denial, The Awakening's Edna Pontellier, rebellion and acceptance, and Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights applied passion, as tools to search for individual peace in an otherwise cluttered survival.
Mid-1990s arranged Fences author, August Wilson, the ideal prospect to relate the account of an African-American man living during, and in the aftermath of, the African-American oppression. Troy Maxson, a classic character, fills and dominates the compact environment of a 1957-1965 northern industrial inner city in Pennsylvania, United States. Living only a few years before and after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ---the act that helped grant African Americans legal enfranchisement p...
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...to wait for each other served as life buoys that saved their lives, or rather, existence.
Works Cited and Consulted
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: Penguin Group, 1959.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Random House, 1988.
Dawson, Hugh J. "Wuthering Heights: A Dissenting Opinion." American Literary Realism 26.2 (1994):1 18.
Leder, Priscilla. "An American Dilemma: Inner Conflicts in Kate Chopin's The Awakening." Southern Studies 22.1 (1983) : 97 104.
Roscher, Marina L. "The Suicide of Edna Pontellier: An Ambiguous Ending?" Southern Studies 23.3 (1984) : 289 97.
Toth, Emily. "A New Biographical Approach." The Awakening: An Authoritative Text Biographical and Historical Contexts Criticism. Ed. Margo Culley. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1994. 113 119.
Wilson, August. Fences. New York: NAL Penguin Inc., 1986.
Per Seyersted. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1969. 881-1000. Delbanco, Andrew. "The Half-Life of Edna Pontellier."
Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 561-652. Print.
Arnavon, Cyrille. "An American Madam Bovary." Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1994. 184-188.
Harris, Sharon M. "Kate Chopin." Magill’S Survey Of American Literature, Revised Edition (2006): 1-5. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
The theme of August Wilson’s play “Fences” is the coming of age in the life of a broken black man. Wilson wrote about the black experience in different decades and the struggle that many blacks faced, and that is seen in “Fences” because there are two different generations portrayed in Troy and Cory. Troy plays the part of the protagonist who has been disillusioned throughout his life by everyone he has been close to. He was forced to leave home at an early age because his father beat him so dramatically. Troy never learned how to treat people close to him and he never gave any one a chance to prove themselves because he was selfish. This makes Troy the antagonist in the story because he is not only hitting up against everyone in the play, but he is also hitting up against himself and ultimately making his life more complicated. The discrimination that Troy faced while playing baseball and the torment he endures as a child shape him into one of the most dynamic characters in literary history.The central conflict is the relationship between Troy and Cory. The two of them have conflicting views about Cory’s future and, as the play goes on, this rocky relationship crumbles because Troy will not let Cory play collegiate football. The relationship becomes even more destructive when Troy admits to his relationship with Alberta and he admits Gabriel to a mental institution by accident. The complication begins in Troy’s youth, when his father beat him unconscious. At that moment, Troy leaves home and begins a troubled life on his own, and gaining a self-destructive outlook on life. “Fences” has many instances that can be considered the climax, but the one point in the story where the highest point of tension occurs, insight is gained and a situation is resolved is when Rose tells Troy that Alberta died having his baby, Raynell.
Elizabeth Fox Genovese of Emory University shared in a PBS interview that “She [Kate Chopin] was very important as one of the earliest examples of modernism in the United States or, if you wish, the cutting edge of modernism in American literature” (PBS – Interviews). Kate Chopin published At Fault, her first novel, in 1890 and The Awakening, her last novel, in 1898 (Guilds 924). During these years Chopin wrote numerous other works and most, like At Fault and The Awakening, centered around upper-middle class Creole or French women involved in womanly uncertainties; such as, extramarital affairs, acceptable behavior in society for females, duties as a wife, responsibilities as a mother, and religious beliefs. Chopin was an extraordinary woman, and no indication was made, during the investigation of this research paper, reflecting her having regrets regarding her position as a wife or mother. This document is an attempt at comparing the issues the main characters experienced and presenting Chopin’s unique skill in writing about the culture she observed during her years of living in Louisiana. The tragedy of this author’s existence is that during her life the literary world did not recognize such exceptional skill.
Franklin, R. F. "The Awakening and the Failure of Psyche" American Literature 56 (Summer 1984): 510-526.
Fences was published in 1983 but the setting was the 1950s in August Wilsons home town. Wilson’s main purpose of this play is to show how the separation of humans into racial groups can create social and finance instability and can have a huge effect on African Americans and whites. The 1950s was the middle of the civil rights era. The Maxsons Family is African American, In the 1950s there was not many jobs for African Americans; most people believed that this is what pushed Troy to steal things in order to provide for his family. Troy went to prison for murder and when he got out he was determined to do good deeds and to turn his life around; shortly after he got out of prison he got a job as a Garbage man. Troy is a tragic figure and a villain; he is a tragic figure because he made great effort to do good deeds for his family, but he allowed his imperfections to get in his way which led to a horrible death. Troy is a villain because of what he did to his wife Rose. (Shmoop; Editorial Team)
Sullivan, Barbara. "Introduction to The Awakening." In The Awakening, ed. Barbara Sullivan. New York: Signet, 1976.
...eaches to answer questions; for example place a question and the student answers with a picture. The final phase is commenting. In this phase the child makes up sentences starting with “I”. Some other recent innovations used to help those with autism are apps online. One is the voice communicator which is a computerized PEC system. This app allows those with autism to choose words more easily and communicate more successfully.
In Chapter III Mr. Pontellier enters their room in Grand Isle late one night, waking Edna. He is full of self-importance as he talks to her while he begins to ready himself for bed. Since she has just been awakened, Edna does not respond with the enthusiasm Mr. Pontellier deems acceptable. "He thought it very discouraging that his wife … evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation." (12) To assert his dominance, Leonce demands that E...
Conflicts and tensions between family members and friends are key elements in August Wilson's play, Fences. The main character, Troy Maxon, has struggled his whole life to be a responsible person and fulfill his duties in any role that he is meant to play. In turn, however, he has created conflict through his forbidding manner. The author illustrates how the effects of Troy's stern upbringing cause him to pass along a legacy of bitterness and anger which creates tension and conflict in his relationships with his family.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print.
Dawson, Hugh J. "Kate Chopin's The Awakening: A Dissenting Opinion." American Literary Realism 26.2 (1994):1 18.
Bryfonski, Dedria, ed. Women's Issues in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2012. Print.