The Warmth of Human Emotion
Heat and warmth are usually depicted as elements of comfort and security. This warmth is what people crave to achieve this comfort. In Evelyn Lau’s “Family,” the heat and warmth give deeper meaning in regards to human emotion. The contrasting images of ice and cold as well resemble the abstract human emotion in the short story. The elements are used in such a way as to satisfy the hunger of emotional warmth in regards to the characters Zoe and Douglas.
As the story unfolds there is a sense of coldness surrounding the community. The setting stage for the action is in fact a community in a cold winter. Through warmth is how one reaches one’s own comfort level. It is noted to the extent that one must almost search for the warmth inside one’s self to achieve this comfort. In the case of Zoe she achieves warmth though emotional stability. Both Zoe and Douglas do search for this but by intention are both quite different. As the friendly relationship between the two progresses, it soon evolves into a hot and steamy relationship full of adultery and deception.
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Zoe in the case of the relationship is the one who seems to crave this warmth. It is soon noted that her attraction towards Douglas becomes almost too great for her to control herself. Even though she knows that the man she desires is a well-respected man with a wife and children, she feels compelled to satisfy her own desire, thus deeming herself as being selfish. Yet at this point, as she is acquainted with the wife, Ellen, she still thinks about the warm touch of Douglas’ hand and how she is drawn to his warmth. As Zoe is left alone by herself, thoughts of sexual depictions come into her mind. As cold as she feels she pictures Douglas and his Wife in a cuddling scenario in the master bedroom. At this point she feels somewhat jealous of the fact that Ellen is his wife instead if herself. By occupying her mind with images of Douglas “wrapp[ing] his arms around his wife, her stomach and, her breasts” (Lau 1153), Zoe feels even more compelled to satisfy her desire for Douglas. Her craving for Douglas’ emotional warmth becomes too unbearable for her as she watches the dead animals hung up in the organic-foods market. She “resist[s] the urge to lean forward and stroke her fingertips down the grain of their feathers and fur, towards the belly warm as the belly of a sleeping man” (Lau 1154).
A misconception that we often have about family is that every member is treated equally. This fallacy is substantially portrayed in Alistair Macleod’s short story, “In The Fall”. Typically speaking, in a family, the Mother is the backbone for kindness and provides love and support with no unfair judgements. However, when we relate to the portrait of the Mother in Macleod’s short story, we perceive the portrait as a self-centered woman whose affection is only shown upon what interests her. The Mother’s unsympathetic persona is apparent throughout the story as she criticizes all that holds sentimental value to her husband and children.
Family was a place of gathering where people met to eat, drink and socialize. The people in the story were also religious as shown by Mrs. Knox as she prayed for her family. The narrator described th...
Hence, The Wenders’ determination to protect their daughter in a hostile society, Uncle Axel’s willingness to love and guide his insecure nephew, and the telepaths’ devotion to their closely-knitted group remind us that no matter how corrupt the majority of society becomes, there will always be those who will keep alive the beautiful qualities that make us human. Thus, it is clear that Wyndham purposely incorporated loving relationships in the midst of suffering to keep alive our hope in the human race. Love is an unique quality that can emerge through hardships. The Chrysalids is meant to remind us that the power of this emotion can overcome despair.
There exists, in each and every individual, a desire to belong to something greater than one’s self. While there is much in life that one must discover on their own, the security ensured through the bonds of acceptance provides many with a means of identification. Such classification is exemplified in the poem “The Century Quilt” by Marilyn Nelson Wenick, where familial bonds are examined through the means of a family coverlet. Through the utilization of literary techniques, the author effectively develops the complex meaning of the century quilt.
As characters in the poem are literally snow bound, they find that the natural occurrence actually serves a relaxing and warming purpose, one that brings together family. This effect is further achieved through the use of meter throughout the work as a whole. In its simplistic yet conversational tone, the author uses meter to depict the result that nature has forced upon these humans, who are but a small sample size that actually is representative of society that that time. Due to nature, the characters can talk, represented by the conversational meter, and thus, they can bond within the family. A larger representation of this more specific example can be applied to a more general perspective of human’s relationship with the natural world. Although “Snowbound” captures what humans do as a result of nature, it can also represent a larger picture, where nature appears at the most opportune times to enhance relationships from human to human. In “snowbound,” this is symbolized by the fire, “Our warm hearth seemed blazing free” (Whittier 135). This image relays a spirited, warm, mood full of security, which is expertly used by the author to show how fire, a natural phenomena, can provide such beneficial effects on humans. This very occurrence exemplifies how such a miniscule aspect of nature can have such a profound effect on a family, leaving the reader wondering what nature and its entirety could accomplish if used as a
With a heart-full of advice and wisdom, Dinah maturates from a simple- minded young girl to a valiant independent individual. “For a moment I weighed the idea of keeping my secret and remaining a girl, the thought passes quickly. I could only be what I was. And that was a woman” (170). This act of puberty is not only her initiation into womanhood but the red tent as well. She is no longer just an observer of stories, she is one of them, part of their community now. On account of this event, Dinah’s sensuality begins to blossom and she is able to conceive the notion of true love.
The warmth that parents bring to their children’s lives starts at infancy. Mothers and fathers of young children shower their kids with baby-talk and physical touch. These behaviours show the child that others are sensitive of their needs and those parents can be relied on for emotional responsiveness. However, this didn’t occur until twelve years later in Dani’s life, whereas Olivia, three years old , is her mother’s, Rosemary’s favourite and is described as ‘so lovable’ – a word Sylvia-Amelia-Julia had never heard her use to describe any of them – and is wished to “stay at this age for ever” because of this. Dani’s mother, Hayley, didn’t get the chance to hold her child before she was “placed in a clear Perspex cot and wheeled out of the birthing room” to the intensive care unit as she was premature – birthed at only five months “so small. So desperately, impossible small – barely larger than the midwife’s hands”. Although despite Hayley’s absolute exhaustion afterwards, she still felt “an overwhelming need to reach out and touch the child”, but her strength left her when she pushed herself up, so “she could do nothing but look” as her child was taken a...
The poem “Those Winter Sundays” displays a past relationship between a child and his father. Hayden makes use of past tense phrases such as “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking” (6) to show the readers that the child is remembering certain events that took place in the past. Although the child’s father did not openly express his love towards him when he was growing up, the child now feels a great amount of guilt for never thanking his father for all the things he actually did for him and his family. This poem proves that love can come in more than one form, and it is not always a completely obvious act.
Currently, families face a multitude of stressors in their lives. The dynamics of the family has never been as complicated as they are in the world today. Napier’s “The Family Crucible” provides a critical look at the subtle struggles that shape the structure of the family for better or worse. The Brice family is viewed through the lens of Napier and Whitaker as they work together to help the family to reconcile their relationships and the structure of the family.
Gaitskill’s “Tiny, Smiling Daddy” focuses on the father and his downward spiral of feeling further disconnected with his family, especially his lesbian daughter, whose article on father-daughter relationships stands as the catalyst for the father’s realization that he’d wronged his daughter and destroyed their relationship. Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” focuses on Mel and his attempt to define, compare, and contrast romantic love, while leaving him drunk and confused as he was before. While both of my stories explore how afflicted love traumatizes the psyche and seem to agree that love poses the greatest dilemma in life, and at the same time that it’s the most valued prospect of life, the two stories differ in that frustrated familial love causes Gaitskill's protagonist to become understandable and consequently evokes sympathy from the reader, but on the other hand frustrated romantic love does nothing for Carver's Protagonist, except keep him disconnected from his wife and leaving him unchanged, remaining static as a character and overall unlikable. In comparing “Tiny, Smiling Daddy” and “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, together they suggest that familial love is more important than romantic love, which we relentlessly strive to achieve often forgetting that we’ll forever feel alone without familial love, arguably the origin of love itself.
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, intends to make reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother. Instead, she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her opinion. Instead of giving instruction of how to solve a family issue, the author chooses to write a narrative diary containing her true feeling toward events during her childhood, which offers reader not only a clear account, but insight on how the narrator feels frustrated due to failing her mother’s expectations which leads to a large conflict between the narrator and her mother.
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
Many writers use powerful words to portray powerful messages. Whether a writer’s choice of diction is cheerful, bitter, or in Robert Hayden’s case in his poem “Those Winter Sundays,” dismal and painful, it is the diction that formulates the tone of the piece. It is the diction which Hayden so properly places that allows us to read the poem and picture the cold tension of his foster home, and envision the barren home where his poem’s inspiration comes from. Hayden’s tumultuous childhood, along with the unorthodox relationships with his biological parents and foster parents help him to create the strong diction that permeates the dismal tone of “Those Winter Sundays.” Hayden’s ability to both overcome his tribulations and generate enough courage
Before reaching this moment, the reader can discern that Louise is struggling between the thoughts of how she “should” be reacting to the news of her husband’s death against the feeling of elation of being free from her perceived marital constraint. Louise is living in the late 19th century where society believed women belonged in a domestic realm where they “manned” the house (cooking, cleaning, raising the children) binding them to their home and husband. A time when a woman is to be the social moral compass and live by a strict social code of conduct. Even in the description of Louise it is clear she upholds these values: “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 306). It is also when the reader gets the first glimpse of Louise’s repressed life.
Part 1: Choose one or two of the Spinoza´s Fourth Part of Ethics and explain the sense of the proposition. Add to your explanation an example and finally your own critical assessment of Spinoza 's position.