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Many times, changes in wealth and family can alter one's attitude completely. In The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, the main character, Wang Lung displays a perfect example of this change. Between his first visit to the House of Hwang (when he went to receive O-lan) and his second visit at New Year's (when he brings O-lan and the child to visit), Wang Lung changes from a modest, apprehensive farmer into a proud, rich man. Wang Lung's family, his family's increased wealth, and the House of Hwang's diminishing wealth are all responsible for the changes in Wang Lung's attitude between his first and second visits to the House of Hwang.
On his first visit to the House of Hwang, Wang Lung does not have a wife or son. He journeys alone to receive O-lan as his wife. A few months after Wang Lung and O-lan gets married, O-lan finds out that she is pregnant. When O-lan delivered their first child, Wang Lung waits anxiously for the announcement of the newborn's gender. After O-lan shares the news of their son's birth, " `It is a man child!' he called triumphantly. `You are grandfather and I am father!' "(37). Wang Lung is relieved when O-lan tells him that she has given birth to a "man child" for two specific reasons. First, he is proud because sons carry on the family name. Second, when the son grows up, he can help work in the fields. Thus, Wang Lung feels pride that his first son is male. When he travels to the House of Hwang on the second occasion he is proud to bear a son, consistent with the Old Mistress' request at their first meeting to see their first-born child. Wang Lung also takes pride in his family because of his wife, O-lan. On the first visit, when Wang Lung goes to the House of Hwang for the first time to receive O-lan, her position in the great house is considered that of a slave. However, on the second visit she is a guest and visitor. Looking back at her past as a servant, O-lan recalls, "Last year this time I was slave in that house." (53). O-lan is happy at the fact that she has an opportunity to change her life completely from a slave to a financially stable.
The narrator has two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee was this cute girl who was super intelligent and sophisticated. She often saw herself as being above her mother and sister and would often make them feel stupid and bad about themselves. "She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice". She shows that Dee enjoyed making her mother and younger sister feel dumb about themselves because it made her feel superior. Her whole life Dee detested her family and where she came from and couldn’t wait to get away. But, still her mother worked her booty off to provide her with high education and a good life. Dee goes away to college and when she returns she is a completely different person, suddenly interested in her family; photographing them upon arrival. With her guest, new "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo", invades her mothers house taking everything in like it’s a cute display for her. Finally, when Wangero (Dee) demands that her mother give her some quilts, her mum can not take anymore. She tells Dee that Maggie, not her, will be receiving the quilts and she snaps. "I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands, and dumped them into Maggie's lap. Maggie just sat
With the perception of a bright and new beginning they willingly forced themselves to forget about the “colors of the Beijing sky” and “what they no longer could bear hope for” (Chang 33, 29). Sacrificing their past life, they wanted to give their son Charles a life of fulfillment and opportunity in the land of dreams, America. Their Chinese culture and traditions were neglected in the corner of their basement and the American lifestyle was rapidly immersing the Hwangs family. With the pressure to learn and comprehend this new American culture, the relationship between father and son slowly became disconnected. Ming’s demand to forget his past and the pressure to absorb new cultural ways, took a toll on the relationship between him and his son causing it to drift and become almost non-
During the period of time between 1789 and 1840, there were a lot of major changes occurring on the issue of slavery such as the impact it had towards the economy and the status of slaves in general. There were two types of African Americans slaves during the era, either doing hard cheap labor in a plantation usually owned by a white and being enslaved, or free. Undoubtedly, the enslaved African Americans worked vigorously receiving minimal pay, while on the other hand, the free ones had quite a different lifestyle. The free ones had more freedom, money, land/power, are healthier, younger and some even own plantations. In addition, in 1820 the Missouri compromise took into effect, which made it so states North of the 36°30′ parallel would be free and South would be slave and helped give way to new laws regarding the issue of slavery.
The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan Spence is an educational historical novel of northeastern China during the seventeenth century. The author's focus was to enlighten a reader on the Chinese people, culture, and traditions. Spence's use of the provoking stories of the Chinese county T'an-ch'eng, in the province of Shantung, brings the reader directly into the course of Chinese history. The use of the sources available to Spence, such as the Local History of T'an-ch'eng, the scholar-official Huang Liu-hung's handbook and stories of the writer P'u Sung-Ling convey the reader directly into the lives of poor farmers, their workers and wives. The intriguing structure of The Death of Woman Wang consists on observing these people working on the land, their family structure, and their local conflicts.
Sociology relates to this novel in so many different ways. The family in the story, Flowers in the Attic, written by V.C. Andrews, starts off as a family of procreation, a family established through marriage, which includes the mother (Mrs. Dollanger), the father (Mr. Dollanger), and the four children: Cathy (the oldest daughter), Chris (the second oldest son), Carrie and Corey (the young twins). A conflict begins when the father dies in a car wreck, so the mother and her four children must move in her rich parents estate because they have no money and nowhere to stay. After the father's death, the norms of the children changed. The norms of the children were to stay hidden in the basement by them selves because Mrs. Dollanger may only earn back the right to inherit her father's estate by falsifying that she has no children by her husband who was also her half-uncle. The original agreement was that they can leave the basement when their grandfather dies. The rules of the house were given by the dying grandfather that stated if Mrs. Dollanger was found to have children that she would be disinherited again.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin begins with a Kentucky farmer, Shelby trying to sell his slaves to pay for the heavy debts he had run up. Shelby and his family are not alike other typical slave owners, because they are more kindhearted and caring for all of their slaves. With this in mind, it had made it difficult for him to be able sell one of his longtime slaves, Uncle Tom. But Haley, the slave trader, also wanted one of Shelby’s child slaves, Harry. When he told his wife about the agreement he made with Haley, she was shocked because she had promised Eliza that they wouldn’t sell Harry. After overhearing the conversation, Eliza had done what she had to protect Harry, she warns Tom and his wife, and Chloe of the news, then takes Harry and runs to the North, excited to find freedom with her husband George in Canada. When Mrs. Shelby was told of her fleeing, she was glad that Eliza made the right decision. On the other hand, Haley attempts to purs...
Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Battle for America is written by David S. Reynolds. Reynolds is a Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In this book, the author analyzes and discusses the effect of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in society. American history has been influenced through different works. However, as Reynolds claims, Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped shape the world’s public opinion about slavery and religion in more than one way. Therefore, no book could have more powerfully molded American history than Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
For instance many of the characters in the book have become the stereotypes of slavery in the South. An example of this is Uncle Tom himself, whose name was eventually degraded into a nickname for blacks who were too subservient to whites. He became the stereotype of the passive slave who would do anything his master told him, because it was his duty as a slave. However few remember how the strength of his faith was what allowed him to tolerate the horrors that were enacted upon him.
The most important character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin is Uncle Tom himself. Uncle Tom is a middle aged black man who is very honest and intelligent. Uncle Tom is entrusted with many important dealings of the house, even large sums of money, by his master Mr. Shelby. Uncle Tom has many opportunities to escape, but he always returns, feeling that he cannot violate his master’s trust by running away with his money. Uncle Tom’s story resembles the biblical story of Joseph and his enslavement in Egypt. Joseph’s master Potiphar entrusts Joseph with all his belongings just as Mr. Shelby does with Uncle Tom.
Ha Jin chooses to use first-person narration in this piece. He does this to better show the bountiful emotions and various opinions of each character. Ha Jin uses Old Chang to portray society’s views on homosexuality. At the beginning the narrator is very judgmental and believes that homosexuality is a disease, and that Baowen can be cured. When it comes to homosexuality, many people can be very close-minded. As the story progresses, Old Cheng begins questioning his feelings towards this subject.
Wang Lung needs a wife so saves up the little money he has and buys a woman who is a slave named O-lan. O-lan is sold to Wang Lung so she can take care of the home, cooking and bear children. Wang Lung is disappointed when he first sees O-lan because she does not have bound feet which was a desirable quality at that time but he does enjoy when O-lan has the food ready when he comes in a night from the land. Wang Lung is very proud when O-lan makes cakes that no one else in the village knows how to makes and when his family comes to feast for the new year at their house.
As Walker lightens the reader with the importance of quilts in “Everyday Use”, she amplifies the significance of it by presenting Maggie, the younger of two sisters. Maggie’s strong attachment to these quilts have carved memories in her heart that she ‘”can’ member Grandma Dee without the quilts”’ (Walker 321). I contrast is Maggie’s sister, Dee, who refers to them as “priceless” (Walker 320). Observing them from an economic view, she tries to posses them. The author implies that although both sisters differ in reasons to value quilts, the legacy that the quilts represent is indeed priceless. In “Hangzhou”, Chang presents the reader with a different legacy. Represented by the legend of the Pagoda, a female trapped spirit, the author reveals it as “a punishment” (Chang 101) for trying to hold a husband using dark sources instead of fathering him with a son. A strong belief handed down for generations. Regardless of their origin, these legacies encourage both families to deeply treasure the traditions that have formed each of
The South’s viewpoint on slavery was that it was a good thing and that they depended on it. They depended on slavery to run their large plantations and take care of their major cash crop, cotton. Their economy was more agricultural and needed the slaves as workers in the fields and plantations. The South really depended on slavery after the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793. This was a machine that reduced the time it took to remove the seeds from cotton. With the invention of the cotton gin many plantations moved from their other crops to produce cotton. With more and more plantations growing cotton it increased the need for cheap labor which involved the slaves. The South soon became a one crop economy and depended on cotton and therefore on slavery. The South believed that slaves w...
Kingston uses the story of her aunt to show the gender roles in China. Women had to take and respect gender roles that they were given. Women roles they had to follow were getting married, obey men, be a mother, and provide food. Women had to get married. Kingston states, “When the family found a young man in the next village to be her husband…she would be the first wife, an advantage secure now” (623). This quote shows how women had to get married, which is a role women in China had to follow. Moreover, marriage is a very important step in women lives. The marriage of a couple in the village where Kingston’s aunt lived was very important because any thing an individual would do would affect the village and create social disorder. Men dominated women physically and mentally. In paragraph eighteen, “they both gav...
A changing point in the main character's eyes occurs when his moral uprightness takes a turn and he sees that in order to succeed you may need to give up morals for support. After making an impassioned speech in front of a crowd, he is offered a job by communists to do the same for them but turns it down.