Bonjour Tristesse

Throughout literary history, authors have categorized mothers as nurturing, critical, and caring; works of literature characterize fathers, however, as providers who must examples for their children and embrace their protective, “fatherly” instincts. However, many works’ fathers fall short when it comes to acting the role of the ideal dad. Instead of being there for their children, they are away and play very miniscule roles in their children’s lives; instead of protecting he actually ends up hurting their kids. Thus, the paternal literary lens tries to determine whether or not the work’s father figure fits the “perfect father” archetype. This lens questions whether or not the father figure is his children’s active example, provider, and

In the story “Desiree’s Baby” it shows how Armand is impulsive when he fell in love with Desiree instantaneously. It was at the same pillar where Monsieur Valmonde, her adopted father, found her and her new life begun and ironically it is the same place Armand fell in love with her, signifying another

Not only that but her questioning of gender role was a concern for her. After her parents were separated, her father’s expectations of her were no longer there and did not speak to one another. After a while, blaming one-self after a separation of the parents is always expected from young children and so Roberta’s feeling that the separation of her mother and father was due to her misbehavior at home allowed her to be not happy. The separation of her parents did not only cause Roberta to feel not happy but also her thinking was shaped in ways that blamed all men to be the exact same way and that on one could be the same. This can be related to what each child feels and thinks if that were to happen to their own family, and unfortunately in our current society there are people that still the same way as Roberta’s father and

Yet it is not until Armand believes that Desiree is black that he fully dominates her simply by thinking that he is superior.  At this point, “when he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out” (317).  Armand feels that he is too superior to Desiree to devote his full attention to her.  Since he no longer expresses his love for Desiree, she feels further pushed into a slave-like position in the relationship, and, “was miserable enough to die” (318).

Desiree?s words show that her life depends on the race, notions, and social class of her husband and consequently, she feels obligated to obey his every desire. Desiree is presented as vulnerable to whatever Armand wants and tells her to do when she says, ?Do you want me to go?? (177). Desiree displays through her actions that in many ways, her happiness only comes from pleasing her husband. Therefore, Desiree must decide whether to live completely separate from Armand, or to live with him in constant fear and unpleasantness. Desiree achieves personal freedom and independence from Armand when ?she disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thing along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; she did not come back again? (177). It is not even an option and is unheard of that Armand, being a male holding a respectable background, could possibly be black. Consequently, Desiree feels compelled to leave because she wants to please him. When Desiree decides to kill herself and her child, she shows that she is sensitive and vulnerable to her husband?s thoughts and actions.

The concept of ‘true love’ is challenged through Bertrande’s struggle between her desire of the impostor, “the love she had rejected for it was forbidden,” and her loyalty to her husband, “the love that had rejected her.” The limitations of her power to decide her own life, and the resultant of circumstances beyond her control, deepens her internal struggle of expediency for the mesnie’s sake and the absolute that Arnaud is not her true husband “is the truth, [and she] cannot change it.” Lewis illustrates Bertrande’s love for Martin as a habitual love born from a convenient arranged marriage but her love for Arnaud is a mutual, true love she had naturally fallen into. This

Finally, Edna’s vulnerability to love and passion serves as a major contributing factor to her “defeat and regression” in the sense that it directly impacted some aspects of her despair and desire to escape from reality. The narrator reveals in Chapter VII, “[Edna’s] marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident,” (Chopin, 24). She simply becomes caught up in a moment of passion and impulsiveness, satisfied at the fact that her marriage would upset both her father and sister. In this sense, her rushing into marriage without a basis of love may be the root of her depressive episodes. Additionally, after Robert leaves for Mexico, Edna becomes overly anxious to receive letters from him, actually breaking into tears upon finally laying her eyes upon a letter from Robert addressed to Mademoiselle Reisz (Chopin, 86-87). This is a prime example of Edna’s vulnerability to love; her emotions are controlled by her “lover’s” presence and lack thereof, influencing and even worsening her sudden moments of dread and despair. Also, Edna succumbs to seduction by Alcee Arobin’s charm, first with a kiss (Chopin, 112) and then through sleeping with Arobin (Chopin, 125). Edna’s adulterous actions with Arobin are representative of the independent will she now possesses and has displayed in the past in her

Anne’s father left the family while Anne was young. It was implied, Anne’s mother never seemed to express much love and affection to Anne. Her step-father showed a difference between his own children and those from Fred. The difference grew into contempt between Raymond and Anne. Anne seemed to have a closer relationship with people outside of her family.

‘If you want to be a bit more romantic about it, I’d say you were in love. This was an extraordinary statement. It also made absolute sense. I had assumed that romantic love would always be outside my realm of experience. But it perfectly accounted for my current situation.

Each of Edna’s romantic relationships are important for each step of her awakening. Her marriage to Mr. Pontellier allows Edna to realize her domesticated role in society. Her relationship with Mr. Pontellier is established in the first chapter as Mr. Pontellier is disgusted by the parrot’s noise and moves away to read his newspaper. Mr. Pontellier is unable to understand his wife and it is acceptable for him to ignore her. He seems oblivious to seeing his wife with younger man walking on the beach and instead focuses on his wife’s damaged skin. “You are burnt beyond recognition,” he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.” He views his wife as a piece of property which is normal for a marriage in this society. Edna wants to feel more than this, so she goes looking for this in a younger man named Robert. However, this goes against society’s expectation of a devoted wife. “Looking at them reminded her of her rings, which she had given to her husband before leaving for the beach. She silently reached out to him, and he, understanding, took the rings from his vest pocket and dropped them into her open palm”(2). She wants happiness and she finds this with Robert, but her rings reminded her that she is chained to her marriage.

This decision to force Adeline to be the lover of the Marquis is an act of greed for Pierre La Motte. Despite her genuine love for the La Motte family, and her wishes, Adeline becomes prisoner to the Marquis, who promises to allow Pierre La Motte to live without fear of discovery from the authorities as a result of his criminal past. Much like Diana’s dedication towards Dunstan, Adeline lives her life in dedication to the La Motte family. Pierre La Motte’s decision to betray the loving and innocent Adeline shows how Ann Radcliffe feels her female characters do not possess lives of any value, demonstrating the same lack of value Davies shows for his characters. This sexist character creation can also be seen in the frailty and extreme emotional nature of the female characters in the novel. They can all be seen constantly swooning, fainting, and crying excessively throughout the novel, deeming them incapable of defending themselves, and in some cases, even of standing without support. One example of this can be seen when Adeline overhears the mention of her abusive father, leaving her overcome by a

Acker writes, “…Janey depended on her father for everything and regarded her father as boyfriend, brother, sister, money, amusement, and father” (Acker 7). What is the most disturbing isn’t the incestuous relationship Acker’s main character is engaging in, it is the confusion of what love is. Janey has been divorced from the maternal, the only notion of love in her life is the problematic relationship she has with her father. This relationship is volatile, and only leads to Janey’s rejection. She endures this rejection many times after, finding herself surrogate fathers who will have sex with her, and in her mind, love her. Janey is the epitome of what male dominated society “desires” from a female. Women are taught that all they should want to do is have sex—and more specifically, sex with men. When Janey is repeatedly rejected by the men who are supposed to desire her, Acker is acknowledging the abandonment that comes along with supposed consent.

As is inherent within the tradition of confessional poetry, a subgenre of lyric poetry which was most prominent from the fifties to the seventies (Moore), Sylvia Plath uses the events of her own tragic life as the basis of creating a persona in order to examine unusual relationships. An excellent example of this technique is Plath’s poem “Daddy” from 1962, in which she skilfully manipulates both diction, trope and, of course, rhetoric to create a character which, although separate from Plath herself, draws on aspects of her life to illustrate and make points about destructive, interhuman relations. Firstly that of a father and daughter, but later also that of a wife and her unfaithful husband.

Inspired by their true-life memories, Plath and Sexton explore a variety of themes in their poems. They both have different aspects of the relationship between a father and a daughter. The fathers in Sexton and Plath’s life had a major position and made an influence on their life and in their

Her relationship with the wealthy, charming Rodolphe Boulanger is a diversion from tedious country life as well as an intentional subversion of the establishment of marriage and an attempt to undermine her husband’s authority. After her first conjugal transgression, Emma distinctly feels “the satisfaction of revenge” and “savoured [sic] it without remorse, without anxiety, without worry” (161). Though her husband Charles is guiltless of cruelty or vice he is representative of a patriarchy that is entirely neglectful of the emotional, psychological, and intellectual needs of women and assertive of its superiority and power. She is expected to fulfill the duties of a simple-minded, submissive, and sexless creature who is devoted to the comfort of her family and upkeep of the home. By pursuing a sexual relationship with Rodolphe, Emma invalidates the authority of the prohibitive government institution over her actions and demands autonomy in the face of a banal provincial life.