Irene claims that she can bear anything as long as no one knows she has to bear it. She wants to suffer in silence to save herself and her family from scrutiny, and to keep up the idealized family image. Irene’s inner monologue after unexpectedly dropping a glass after thinking of Clare with Brian stated “Her pride revolted” (94). This shows Irene is not only thinking about her husband’s betrayal, but also what that betrayal could do for her image. Irene was embarrassed that this could happen to her and what others might think of her as a wife. Irene prides herself based on having an accomplished household, and living her truth as a Negro woman in this day and age. Her husband’s affair threatens her way of life and all that she stands for. In this time period, affairs were often treated as the wife’s fault for not satisfying her husband properly. If her marriage is broken, it is Irene that will face the negative consequences regardless of what caused the break. That is yet another reason why Irene is hurt by her husband’s betrayal. …show more content…
Even though Irene is speaking of something other than race, it still implies that she is passing by that everything in her marriage is going great. She wants to “pass” as a happily married wife to an accomplished man because it is easier than dealing with the betrayal. This is very similar to what Clare has done, but instead passing as a white woman. The harsh judgement that comes if a person is of color makes life tremendously more difficult, so it makes sense that someone would pass as white if they could. Irene is unknowingly doing the same thing by passing that she has a happy marriage to withhold
People all over the world continuously commit sins some are bigger than others and some do more damage. In the book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman, Hester Prynne, is publicly shamed and force to wear a scarlet A upon her bosom for committing adultery. Throughout the book, Hester and her daughter, Pearl, try to adapt to life as an outsider. The two are continuously judged for Hester’s sin, and humiliated, however, they overcome this judgment and are seen in a different way. Hester and Pearl have been publicly shamed, Pearl has been considered an elfish devil like child, and after all the humiliation they were able to turn their lives around.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of a young adulteress named Hester Prynne and her bastard daughter, Pearl, as they endure their residence in a small town of the Massachusetts British settlement in the1600s. Pearl’s illegitimate birth is the result of the relationship between Hester Prynne and a minister of the Puritan church, Arthur Dimmesdale. Through public defamation and a perpetual embroidery of an “A” upon her dress, Hester is punished for her crime. Whereas, Arthur choses to suppress the secret over illuminating the truth and endures internal and self-inflicted punishment as consequence.
Ruby Turpin sees herself as a very privileged person, but she is really just being arrogant. She sees herself as above the “White trash” and the “Negros”. She would occupy herself by trying to decide whom she
Previously, the narrator has intimated, “She had all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves. They had never taken the form of struggles. They belonged to her and were her own.” Her thoughts and emotions engulf her, but she does not “struggle” with them. They “belonged to her and were her own.” She does not have to share them with anyone; conversely, she must share her life and her money with her husband and children and with the many social organizations and functions her role demands.
Hester is a youthful, beautiful, proud woman who has committed an awful sin and a scandal that changes her life in a major way. She commits adultery with a man known as Arthur Dimmesdale, leader of the local Puritan church and Hester’s minister. The adultery committed results in a baby girl named Pearl. This child she clutches to her chest is the proof of her sin. This behavior is unacceptable. Hester is sent to prison and then punished. Hester is the only one who gets punished for this horrendous act, because no one knows who the man is that Hester has this scandalous affair with. Hester’s sin is confessed, and she lives with two constant reminders of that sin: the scarlet letter itself, and Pearl, the child conceived with Dimmesdale. Her punishment is that she must stand upon a scaffold receiving public humiliation for several hours each day, wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her chest, represe...
Ruth is a black slave employed by white loyalists, along with her sister, Isabel. When Ruth does not understand why they face social injustice, she turns to her sister to help her. Ruth laughs at her master, which is prohibited. Ruth’s master, Madam, then turns to beat Ruth, but instead Isabel takes the beating, “Craaack! Lightning struck from a blue sky; Madam slapped my face so hard it near threw me to the ground” (Anderson 33). When Ruth laughs at her master, her master gets extremely upset. Ruth turns to Isabel out of confusion and the master beats Isabel instead, who willingly takes the blame for her loved one. The only reason that her master can beat the girls is because they are black. This is socially unjust because Ruth and Isabel are being discriminated against just because of their race. Furthermore, when Ruth has a seizure, as she is doing chores for her master, her master comes to the conclusion that she is possessed and starts to beat her. Ruth turns to Isabel, and Isabel reacts by protecting her, “I threw myself on top of my sister. The broom came down on my back, once, twice, but it didn’t matter. I had to keep her safe until the storm passed” (Anderson 94). Ruth looks to her sister, Isabel, during times of social injustice. This is because her master is allowed to beat Ruth just because she is black, which is unjust. Isabel
The story also focuses in on Ruth Younger the wife of Walter Lee, it shows the place she holds in the house and the position she holds to her husband. Walter looks at Ruth as though he is her superior; he only goes to her for help when he wants to sweet talk his mama into giving him the money. Mama on the other hand holds power over her son and doesn’t allow him to treat her or any women like the way he tries to with Ruth. Women in this story show progress in women equality, but when reading you can tell there isn’t much hope and support in their fight. For example Beneatha is going to college to become a doctor and she is often doubted in succeeding all due to the fact that she is black African American woman, her going to college in general was odd in most people’s eyes at the time “a waste of money” they would say, at least that’s what her brother would say. Another example where Beneatha is degraded is when she’s with her boyfriend George Murchison whom merely just looks at her as arm
Irene’s desire for Clare is revealed throughout the book, especially in the beginning when she is at the Drayton Hotel. She sees “an attractive-looking young woman…with those dark, almost black, eyes and that wide mouth like a scarlet flower against the ivory of her skin.” (p. 14) She is taken aback by Clare’s beauty, not fully understanding why she is so infatuated with the woman. Irene can’t help but obsess over her beauty, “the eyes that were magnificent! Dark, sometimes absolutely black, always luminous, and set in long, black lashes. Arresting eyes, slow and mesmeric, and with, for all their warmth, something withdrawn and secret about them.” (p. 29) However much Irene is attracted to Clare, she is somewhat disgusted by her confidence. She sees Clare’s “odd sort of smile…a shade too provocative for a waiter.” (p. 15) Irene, being more restrained in her sexuality, is somewhat of a hypocrite in this sense. She desires Clare in a physical way, yet hates her for her ability to use her beauty so well. This show...
In the novel, Passing, Nella Larsen presents two women, Clare and Irene who originate from the black community; however still yearn for an assured identity for themselves. Clare and Irene are childhood friends who even though being part black, are able to pass as white folk. Irene continues to be part of the black community and is considered a black woman, however this is on a superficial level. When it comes to her advantage, Irene occasionally passes as white. Clare on the other hand passes as a white woman; her lifestyle changed completely as to white standards and in. Although both women are in a dilemma regarding their true racial identity, they both wish to live as both black and white. Throughout the book, both women attempt to achieve an integrated identity, however fail do to so. Their failure in attempting to live a life both as black suggests and supports the idea that a person can only have one race as either black or white, not both.
Cecilia was diagnosed with cancer while Ruth was in high school and the day before her daughter’s graduation, she passed away (Salokar & Volcansek, 1996). One of the greatest influences on Ruth’s life was her mother and the values she instilled in her from a young age. Two of the greatest lessons that Ruth learned from her mother was to be independent and to be a lady, and by that she meant not to respond in anger but to remain calm in situations (Reynolds, 2009).... ... middle of paper ... ...
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
Many short story writers have written about the gender and role of woman in society. Some of these stories express what Barbara Walter calls, “The Cult of True Womanhood” meaning the separation of both man and woman in social, political and economic spheres. In order to be considered a “true woman” woman were to abide by the set of standards that were given to her. Women were expected to live by the four main principal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domestication. In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Storm,” Calixta the main female character breaks away from “The Cult of True Womanhood” when she has a sexual encounter with her past lover Alcée. The storm goes through many twists and turns that tie with their adulterous actions. Although she breaks away from the four main principal virtues, she in the end is considered to be pure innocent of heart because the action in which occurred happened instantly, and as white as she was, she was taken away from her innocence.
Marriage was not kind to Mrs. Mallard, her life was dull and not worth living, her face showed the years of repression. If she did love this man, why was marriage so harmful to her? Marriage was a prison for her
Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...