Alistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief Essays

Heritage and tradition are often tied together inaccurately with assumptions that the two words are proportionate to each other, however, heritage of a family is what inspires and conceives traditions. In the story ‘Two Kinds’ by Amy Tan, she goes into depth about how strong family heritage lead her to be unique in a new world of exploration. In the story Jing-mei explains the stress of overcoming disliked aspects of heritage, “If felt like worms and toads and slimy things crawling out of my chest, but it also felt good” (Tan 231). A strong understanding of family values will allow alteration for the benefit of other family members and future generations. Expressing how simple things can infringe on a person's own characteristics in ‘By Any Other Name’ the narrator says, “If one’s name is changed, one develops a curious form of dual personality” (Rau 44).

Several centuries and many generations of the MacCrimmon line had come and gone, it is for a fact that there has been a mysterious twist in 1910 when a ‘true’ written history of the MacCrimmon family including their secrets suddenly appeared in Australia. A man named Simon Fraser claimed it turn that had originally been written in 1826, but had been suppressed as a work of religious heresy with leaving only two copies in existence to which one is Fraser’s. With this newfound knowledge Fraser stated that he would publish this book and astonish the world but never did, he was then responsible for propagating other MacCrimmon mythology to an extent that people started to get suspicious and think it was all nonsense. There were various cultural reasons which often related to an anxiety about the status of Gaelic culture or the survival of Gaelic culture in the nineteenth century. By the nineteenth century a majority of the Gaelic culture has been forgotten with the ever changing fashion and music forms and with the highland clearances the traditional music had spread over seas such as Canada, America and Australia. Since 1967, people from all over

Topic: How important are the witches to Macbeth? Discuss the effects of the witches on character, plot, themes and audience.

Although, when explaining how the half man half ox came to be, the man having relations with the ox was not subject to dishonor, but instead it was said to just be “a particular vice of that people”(74). Here, Gerald suggests that although it was a man that acted dishonorably something beautiful came out of it, while the children of the bestial women are not spoken of most likely because they were so wretched. Gerald seems to be relating cultural hybridity to the act of interspecies crossbreeding, ultimately allowing the reader to relate it to filth. By showing different forms of miscegenation, Gerald makes each variation seem negative to his readers, which makes Ireland as a whole look like a place for hybrid “mongrels”.

This shines light upon her Native American roots and how it can be an inspiration for her Century Quilt, each square representing her family’s racial diversity and mixed roots. It is quite difficult to learn of all the harsh animosity they were enduring, such as Meema and her yellow sisters whose “grandfather’s white family nodding at them when they met” (24-27). The hostility is clear as the white relatives only register their presence; no “hello” or warm embrace as if they didn’t acknowledge them as true family. However, with descriptive imagery, the speaker’s sense of pride for having the best of both worlds is still present as she understands Meema’s past experiences and embraces her family’s complexity wholeheartedly; animosity and all.

In the poem Heritage by Linda Hogan, Hogan uses the tone of the speaker to demonstrate the shame and hatred she has toward her family, but also the desire for her family’s original heritage. The speaker describes each family member and how they represent their heritage. When describing each member, the speaker’s tone changes based on how she feels about them. The reader can identify the tone by Hogan’s word choices and the positive and negative outlooks on each member of the family.

Guilt is a very strong and uncomfortable feeling that often results from one’s own actions. This strong emotion is one of the theme ideas in William Shakespeare, “Macbeth”. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel guilt, but they react in different ways. Guilt hardens Macbeth, but cause Lady Macbeth to commit suicide. As Macbeth shrives to success guilt overcome’s Macbeth where he can no longer think straight. Initially Macbeth planned was to kill Duncan but it wasn’t enough he also had to kill Banquo and Macduff’s family. On the other hand Lady Macbeth had to call upon the weird sister to unsexed her so she had no true feeling towards anything as if she was a man. However, the true guilt of the murder

Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his ambition and it consequentially leads to his downfall and ultimate demise. Macbeth is a tragic hero who is introduced in the the play as being well-liked and respected by the general and the people. He brings his death upon himself from this tragic flaw. His strengths turn into his weaknesses and his ambition drives him to the edge and sets himself up for his tragic death.

My first memories of life began in Scugog, Ontario, just on the outskirts of Durham Region. As I grew up, I noticed there were some different people that lived around me, but since my innocence was still apart of me then, I disregarded it and thought everyone was as fortunate as I was. One day I became curious enough to ask my mother why there were people who lived differently from us and who they were. My mother did not know much of them, and because of this all I knew was that they were natives of Scugog Island and they assisted in running the Great Blue Heron Casino. I did not learn their history or their culture in any way, and because of this, became ignorant to part of our history as a nation. The history of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island began around 1700 when

It is a dishonourable fact that residential schools precluded First Nations children from the opportunity of embracing their own culture and traditions, and disintegrated the foundations of family circles by taking their children away. The novel Keeper’N Me replicates the detrimental outcomes of the forced separation of children from an Ojibway family in the context of a sad but elegant story.

     Although Macbeth may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, his suffering does not constitute insanity.  Macbeth was in a healthy mindset when he embarked on his murderous spree and treacherous rule of Scotland.  His actions and reactions prior to and throughout his tenure as King of Scotland were normal considering the circumstances.  The following evidence will prove that Macbeth was indeed sane.

The setting for “The Fatal Sisters” is an eleventh century, war-ridden Ireland.  The nation’s fate appears to rest upon the shoulders of a few bloodthirsty

In life, there are two types of people: those who do the right thing and those who don’t. In the play Macbeth, by Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth is given a prophecy by three witches that says he will become king; however, there is no descending line of kings of his own blood. With the knowledge of the Witches’ prophecy, Macbeth’s ambition, and manipulation from his wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is quickly dragged into a never-ending, bloody murder rampage to obtain the crown and get rid of those who stand in the way of obtaining it as well. Macbeth constantly battles with his moral dilemmas; however, he easily falls victim to influences that go against his morals. Influences on major characters emphasize how easily one’s decision making can be negatively affected, resulting in one going against his or her morals/integrity.

This quote is an example of how in Indian society, even a distant relative can exert life-changing influence on a person. On the contrary, in the Patton’s family life there seems to be no influence coming from extended family members. The limited time frame in which Arun lives with the Pattons does not provide extensive insight of the family’s life. Because of this particular way that Desai chose to write about the Pattons, the reader is led to believe that affiliations with extended family are inexistent in the American family’s household.

In William Trevor’s short story ‘Beyond the Pale’, the reader is presented with a text that seethes with the angst of a writer whose country’s Colonial past has been gnawing on his bones. Although there is nothing unusual in this (especially in Irish writing), Trevor manages to fumble the ball in the course of his didactic strategy and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory: what should have been a successful indictment of British Colonial Rule in Ireland becomes nothing more than the grumbling of an intelligent writer who cannot negotiate his patriotic feelings.