True Love and Material Desire in Rebecca Rush's Novel Kelroy
You are the American mother of two beautiful teenage girls in the early 1800's. When your husband dies, you are surprised to receive nothing but debts. What do you do? Mrs. Hammond, in Rebecca Rush's Kelroy, finds herself in this situation. Worried for her own and her daughters' futures, she knows that if her girls want money, they have to marry it. Mrs. Hammond encourages her oldest daughter, Lucy, to marry a very wealthy man. Emily, however, falls for a poet who has little regard for money. Because Emily refuses to pollute her heart with greed, she finds true love with Kelroy, which outlives all material pleasures.
Without money we cannot survive because it's necessary to provide food, clothing, and shelter. With excess money, we can entertain, beautify, and humor ourselves. Mrs. Hammond loves money because it allows her to go beyond just surviving; she wallows in the extravagant spenders of food, clothing, and shelter. Her lavish lifestyle replaces the tender desires of her heart, such as truth or love. By embracing money and refusing love, Mrs. Hammond denies her soul the greatest treasure on Earth.
Lucy Hammond, "the very counterpart of her mother, both in person and mind" (6), also loves to emphasize the importance of being comforted by material pleasures and being socially accepted in the wealthy class. She reveals her shallowness when considering who to marry: her only concern is his financial stature. Walsingham attracts Lucy with his impeccable social graces and costumes and, most of all, his wealth. Likewise, Walsingham does not marry Lucy because he appreciates her intellect or creativity: his main concern is her...
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... is based on money. With what treasures could they leave the world? Emily and Kelroy, however, find love, which money can never truly replace. Emily knew to refuse admirations from men who could offer her nothing but material worth, therefore leaves the world with what her sister and mother never allowed themselves to experience.
Rebecca Rush creates the characters of Emily and Kelroy to show us an example of true love, and to compare them to characters who deny love. Kelroy illustrates to us how the love of money will lead to death. In the end, Mrs. Hammond receives the consequences of the material desires that dictated her life. Although the conclusion leads to the deaths of Emily and Kelroy, we know that they died with hearts of love, not greed. Their love will never die. Money, which Mrs. Hammond, Lucy, and other characters love, will die.
Although Kelroy is a novel of manners, the story contains more plot than the other nineteenth century novels in its category. The story begins with Mrs. Hammond finding herself a widow at the age of thirty. She realizes that she is incapable of supporting her family in the men's business capital of Philadelphia, where they live. She devises a plan to find wealthy suitors for her daughters, Lucy and Emily. With good intentions, Mrs. Hammond began throwing numerous parties for her daughters. However, Mrs. Hammond's true motive is to guarantee her own well-being and influence in society. Lucy , the oldest daughter, is very similar to her mother. Although she is physically attractive, she is shallow and realistic. She mee...
The domineering attitude of Emily's father keeps her to himself, inside the house, and alone until his death. In his own way, Emily's father shows her how to love. Through a forced obligation to love only him, as he drives off young male callers, he teaches his daughter lessons of love. It is this dysfunctional love that resurfaces later, because it is the only way Emily knows how to love.
Emily was drove crazy by others expectations, and her loneliness. ““A Rose for Emily,” a story of love and obsession, love, and death, is undoubtedly the most famous one among Faulkner’s more than one hundred short stories. It tells of a tragedy of a screwy southern lady Emily Grierson who is driven from stem to stern by the worldly tradition and desires to possess her lover by poisoning him and keeping his corpse in her isolated house.” (Yang, A Road to Destruction and Self Destruction: The Same Fate of Emily and Elly, Proquest) When she was young her father chased away any would be suitors. He was convinced no one was good enough for her. Emily ended up unmarried. She had come to depend on her father. When he finally died, ...
The lives we lead and the type of character we possess are said to be individual decisions. Yet from early stages in our life, our character is shaped by the values, customs and mindsets of those who surround us. The characteristics of this environment affect the way we think and behave ultimately shaping us into a product of the environment we are raised in. Lily Bart, the protagonist in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, is an exceedingly beautiful bachelorette who grows up accustomed to living a life of luxury amongst New York City’s upper-class in the 20th century. When her family goes bankrupt, Lily is left searching for security and stability, both of which, she is taught can be only be attained through a wealthy marriage. Although, Lily is ashamed of her society’s tendencies, she is afraid that the values taught in her upbringing shaped her into “an organism so helpless outside of its narrow range” (Wharton 423). For Lily, it comes down to a choice between two antagonistic forces: the life she desires with a happiness, freedom and love and the life she was cut out to live with wealth, prestige and power. Although, Lily’s upbringing conditioned her to desire wealth and prestige, Lily’s more significant desires happiness, freedom and love ultimately allow her to break free.
The civil rights movement was a popular historical movement that worked to allow African Americans to have equal rights and privileges as U.S. citizens. The movement can be defined as a struggle against racial segregation and discrimination that began in the 1950s. Although the origins of the civil rights movement go back to the 1800s, the movement peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. African American men and women, along with whites, organized and led the movement from local to national levels. Many actions of the civil rights movement were concentrated through legal means such as negotiations, appeals, and nonviolent protests. When we think of leaders or icons of the movement we usually think of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Even though Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. are important figures, their participation in the movement was minimal compared to other unknown or forgotten figures. Howell Raines’s, My Soul Is Rested, contains recollections of voices from followers of the civil rights movement. These voices include students, lawyers, news reporters, and civil right activists. Although the followers of the movement were lesser known, the impact they made shaped the society we live in today.
How would you feel if you were told you can’t sit in the front of the bus or you can’t dine in a certain restaurants because of the color of your skin? The civil rights movement was a movement that held massive numbers of nonviolent protest against racial segregation and discrimination in America especially the southern states during the 1950’s and 60’s. The struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights in America during this time was a major problem. The civil rights movement was not only about stopping racial segregation amongst African Americans but also to challenge the terrible economic, political, and cultural consequences of that time. But with the help of great leaders and organizations in the civil rights movement, help brake the pattern of African Americans being discriminated against and being segregated. Martin Luther King Jr. And Maya Angelou were great leaders who had a huge impact on the civil rights movement; even though Dr. King was in the field marching and protesting to fight against segregation and Angelou wrote poetry to inspire the movement and people aware of segregation, they both helped put an end to segregation here in America (American civil rights movement).
The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most important events of the history of the United States. Although many people contributed to this movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., is widely regarded as the leader of the movement for racial equality. Growing up in the Deep South, King saw the injustices of segregation first hand. King’s studies of Mahatma Ghandi teachings influenced his views on effective ways of protesting and achieving equality. Martin Luther King’s view on nonviolence and equality and his enormous effect on the citizens of America makes him the most influential person of the twentieth century.
The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s was a mass mobilization and unification of people from varying backgrounds fighting for equal rights and equal opportunity for Black Americans. Black male leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. preached about equality and challenged people to consider social injustices within society. The leadership qualities and influence of Dr. King are undeniable. His rhetoric united Black America and identified their entitlement to the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Dr. King’s inspiring speech for Black’s to “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”, motivated White and Black
1. King, Martin Luther Jr. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Warner Books, 1998
Nighan, Raymond. Meditations. Dr. Nighan's British Literature and AP page: http://stjohns-chs.org/english/Seventeenth/Sev-bk.html. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
...es for love and overcame the social expectations of the quintessential woman in the nineteenth century; whereas their counterparts around them would have chosen class and wealth. Edna Pontellier’s decision to move into her pigeon house and away from her husband’s rule and the vexing job of caring for her children was viewed as societal suicide, but to her liberation and self-actualization as a woman was more important. Elizabeth Bennet ultimately disregarded her mother’s wishes, and passed over Mr. Collins, she initially disregarded Mr. Darcy as a possible suitor but love proved otherwise. These women were on a path of destruction to free themselves from a long reign of oppression, their challenge of conventional methods within the nineteenth century, proved successful not only to them, but for a future collective group of women who would follow in their footsteps.
Mrs. Hammond characteristics range from calculating to charming; she uses her talent of manipulating situations to get exactly what she wants. She uses any means necessary to reach her goal; this makes her an excellent example of a great American bitch. Even after marrying Lucy off to Walsingham, an Englishman with a title, she was not still not satisfied. Emily marrying Kelroy, a penniless poet, was out of the question. Mrs. Hammond never considers what consequences her actions will have on herself and others. She is the evil or villain found in the book. There is nothing wrong with a mother desiring her daughters to marry well, but in Mrs.
The constant topic among the majority of the women in the Bennet household was marriage and future suitors. Mrs. Bennet prides in the hope that someday all her daughters will be married off to wealthy individuals who can even help support the Bennet family and increase their social status: “The business of her life was to get her daughters married...” (9). Mr. Bennet, on the other hand, only cares to see his daughters happy and content with themselves. Although Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s estate is endowed to Mr. Collins, Mr. Benn...
Emily was kept confined from all that surrounded her. Her father had given the town folks a large amount of money which caused Emily and her father to feel superior to others. “Grierson’s held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner). Emily’s attitude had developed as a stuck-up and stubborn girl and her father was to blame for this attitude. Emily was a normal girl with aspirations of growing up and finding a mate that she could soon marry and start a family, but this was all impossible because of her father. The father believed that, “none of the younger man were quite good enough for Miss Emily,” because of this Miss Emily was alone. Emily was in her father’s shadow for a very long time. She lived her li...
Samson Agonistes is Milton’s final work, and as such is remarkable for its lack of finality. The poem is maddeningly oblique; Milton gives no answers, and barely poses any questions. However, Milton succeeds in writing Christian tragedy in Samson Agonistes by presenting the ease with which a Christian can be guided away from a real interaction with his own faith. Samson’s blindness is the blindness of all Christians who seek the path of salvation without divine guidance, and his tragedy is the tragedy of all those who convince themselves they have found it on their own. While Milton is very much working under the circumscription of Greek tragedy, his choices of interlocutors for Sampson speak to his fascination with a major paradox of Christianity: that man cannot work out his faith alone, and yet he must. By removing all direct divine presence from the poem, Milton explores the consequences of following Christian law without striving for Christian faith.