Analyzing Gretchen's Character

“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance” (Socrates). In Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, it is determined that this quote is in fact true. In the novel, Sarah a ten year old girl is introduced. Sarah lived in Paris during 1942 when Hitler demanded that all Jews be arrested and sent to concentration camps. Most of the Jews had no information on what was going on, especially in France where the French police rounded up all the Jews and brought them to concentration camps. Major conflicts arise in the novel because of character’s lack of knowledge. Sarah’s innocence created her lack of knowledge leading to her brother Michel's death additionally, William’s lack of knowledge created a conflict within himself, and finally

Cathy-Kate combines many biblical figures as well.  She is not only Eve, but she is Cain’s wife and the serpent of Eden as well (Fonterose, Joseph.  p.3380).  Thus she is the representation of evil too.  Cathy is evil to the point where she is not human.   Her presence in the novel is meant to represent evil and all of its cruel intentions.  All of her deeds are intended to show how far from the real world Cathy actually is (Howard, Levant. p. 245).  Steinbeck compares Cathy to other prostitutes in Salinas Valley, the setting of East of Eden.  She is described as the only whore who is incapable of being a good person.  She is an inhuman being whose life revolves around cruelty and wrongdoing.  She is solely satanic and destroys the innocence of man (Marks, Jay Lester. p. 126-127).

In the midst of conflict, two characters from different books lead a similar life. Kenan, a middle age man is trying to survive the siege upon his city. Paul, a boy not old enough to understand the concept of money competing for his mother’s affection.

Cathy is perceived as a beautiful and delicate woman when in reality she is the representation of the devil. Her looks contradict her hidden personality that no one knows of. “Cathy had grown more lovely all the time. ” (pg 78) is how she comes off as to the public eye. It is just like a beautiful flower that attracts the eyes yet poisons its victims who get involved.

In part one of the novel The Tortilla Curtain, Delaney Mossbacher has many personality traits that do not convince the reader he is a pleasant, all-American family man. Delaney shows narcissistic tendencies. His racist thoughts and actions are quite apparent, and Delaney’s lack of emotional intelligence becomes evident. Delaney Mossbacher Is not the man you may have been deluded to believe he is.

Jeannette is the narrator of her memoir, telling her story from age three into adulthood. As a child she is adventurous, wild-hearted, and Dad's favorite. Jeannette, a middle sibling, is closer to younger brother Brian than her older sister Lori: Brian shares Jeannette's love of the outdoors, while Lori is more a bookworm. As Jeannette maturess, her feelings toward Dad and Mom change. She resents Dad's drinking and how he constantly lets her and the rest of the family down yet never openly admits it or allows his flaws to be discussed. Jeannette also resents Mom's refusal to hold down a job long enough to provide her kids with a stable food supply. These resentments make her more and more willful and independent. Eventually she scrapes together

Ms. Nancy Mairs, an accomplished and a renowned linguist, describes how she views herself with multiple sclerosis. Mairs presents herself as an extremely confident and proud woman who does not back down from her so-called “disability”. By explicitly calling herself a “cripple” Mairs is showing her audience that she is a strong woman who has come to terms with her condition and is now explaining it to others.

In the story of Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, one of the main characters that had to endure the Holocaust was Sirka(Sarah). If Sarah or anyone had the capability to rescue her brother Michel it would change the lives of multiple characters. These characters include Sarah herself, Michel, Julia, Edouard, Mame, Zoey, and William.

Janie is a modernisation of the Roman deity Jana and Vergible is derived from the demi-god Virbius, making him King of the woods” (King, 1998), which brings hope to their union by adding in an element of the divine thereby raising expectations. Indeed, the readers sees Tea Cake put Janie up on a pedestal and frequently mention that Janie holds “da keys tuh de kingdom”, reminiscent of her namesake’s status as the highest god – receiving the veneration she deserves and not “da mule of de world” as Nanny feared. ‘Sethe’ is a feminisation merging the Egyptian god Set and Seth from the Old Testament, the former who “commits an atrocity upon a family member, and the latter who revives hope in God upon his birth” (Mayer, 1993) alluding to the split in her maternal identity for which she needs to seek forgiveness to have hope of redemption. Additionally, “Amy becomes worthy of deeper scrutiny given the striking fact that etymologically the name, from the Latin amatus, literally means beloved,” (Coonradt, 2005).

Looking closely at Mary and Desiree’s actions and behaviors, it is evident that their will to live were both at an all time low. Both authors were significantly ambiguous in regards to portraying the desolation of the two women; thus, giving us a clear interpretation of their mental state. When Desiree discovers her true origin, she goes to her mom and says, “I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live.” In comparison to Desiree, after Mary kills her husband, the author writes, “ As a wife of a detective, she knew what the punishment would be. It made no difference to her.” Mary was aware enough to know that the outcome of her fatal action would be the death penalty, but it didn’t petrify her . The emotions of both protagonists rose due to the

Throughout the book Faust relies heavily on the voices of women from a range of backgrounds, focusing on those of privilege as well as on those of lower status. This allows the reader to get a greater knowledge of the subject as well as a better understanding of the women of the South. Faust also discusses the growth of women’s groups during the war, institutions that were more prevalent in the north prior to the war but would begin to blossom in the

In extreme contrast to the lecherous she-beasts met by her husband in Transylvania, Mrs Johnathan Harker epitomises the Victorian notion of a good woman. Rather than occupy the role of a physical lover, Mina is a maternal figure, nurturing all her friends with an innate and instinctive tenderness. To the bereaved Lord Arthur Godalming she ‘opens her arms unthinkingly’ (275), resting his head on her shoulder ‘as though it were that of a baby that some day may lie on my bosom’ (275). Despite this simile endowing Mina with power over Godalming it is an acceptable power for a woman to have, that possessed by mothers over their babes, rather than that by dominatrices over their victims. At the same time as being femininely caring, she is also intelligent and sensible, perceived as typically masculine qualities by the Victorians. Described by Van Helsing on more than one occasion of having a ‘man’s brain’ (281, 404) while also having a ‘woman’s heart (281), Mina is rendered virtually void of any sexual desire or attraction. Her womanliness centres on gentle compassion and the manliness of her mind ensures she is too sensible to give in to any subconscious eroticism. She alone of the novel’s female characters survives, and ends happily married with one son.

However, it is through the events that happen to the heroine in opening of the bloody chamber that the reader gets the impression a similar situation has happened with his ex-wives- it becomes clear to the reader that once the heroine reaches sexual maturity that the Marquis feels as though he has to empower the female through the act of fearing him and causing pain in which he finds most pleasurable- this is evident when he describes ‘’the act of love as the act of torture’’- to the reader this seems fearful and we can imagine the act to be painful due to the connotations that can be taken from ‘’torture’. However- Carter employs a different approach from the young girl’s naïve nature, emphasising the dark nature of the gothic. It appears that she seems to gain a source of pleasure from being his seemingly ‘prey’: ‘’tender, delicious, ecstasy of excitement’’.

Sometimes, being older doesn't mean being in charge. Just like the relationship between Natalie and Moose, even though Natalie is the older sister, Moose is the babysitter.

“All this is strange: but it especially illuminates Dickens‟s problem with women. There was within him some intense need to repeat compulsively that intense fantasy of an attack on the libidinal women who has acted lover. He was angry with those who suggested that this obsession with acting out this fantasy might serious damage his health. One might even say that this addiction to this horrific, sadistic fantasy of the assault on the phantom women of the unconscious killed him.” (Holbrook. 25.) The same idea comes up again in “Angels, Fallen Sisters, and Eccentric Women” by Catherine J. Golden. In this article, Golden says, “The bonds are broken in both cases through banishment or death, a fate conforming to the standard treatment of the fallen woman. Dickens is not alone in punishing the fallen woman, but in David’s refusal to see or touch Emily after she sins sexually, we witness Dickens’s judgement of the fallen woman, which is harsher than that of Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy.” Though this observation pertains to a different story, she effectively points to the idea that Dickens was definitely harsher on women than other authors of his time. Dickens carried this obsession of killing Nancy with him to his death, often reenacting the murder scenes before an audience. Despite how dramatic this scene was, people often wondered why he had such an