A Secretive Figure Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu portrays the narrator Laura as the prey of the vampire Carmilla, who is later acknowledged as the Countess Karnstein Mircalla. Laura is isolated living in the castle in Styria, and dreams of having friend. As a child, she sees a mysterious figure in her bedroom, who is revealed to be Carmilla. Twelve years later a carriage crash brings Carmilla into the narrator’s life. When she was welcomed into the schloss, she was not believed to be a vampire. When Laura’s health began to deteriorate and no medicine was helping, is when it was then discovered that Carmilla is not who they thought she was. The carriage crash expresses the secretive nature of Carmilla. She was silent about her past and would disappear during the night. The way she was introduced also expressed a secretive nature of her character. After the crash, the woman in the carriage who claimed to be carmilla’s mother explained to Laura’s father that Carmilla will not speak of her past. The connection between the narrator and Carmilla strengthens and Laura begins to ask about Carmilla past, who refuses to reveal anything. Le Fanu writes:
Do you think, I said at length, “that you will ever confide fully in me?” She turned round smiling, but made no answer, only continued to smile on me. “You won't answer that?” I said. “You can't answer pleasantly; I ought not to have asked you.” “You were quite right to ask me that, or anything. You do not know how dear you are to me,
Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone is a contemporary and modern twist on the classic boy meets girl story. Based on the real life experiences of his parents, Nguyen intertwines his comedic style with the tragic reality that refugees of war must face, and creates a story that allows the tragedy of the survivors of the Vietnam War to become accessible to a modern American audience. Director Jamie Castaneda and the American Conservatory Theatre bring this production to life in San Francisco, where a blend of technology, hip-hop, and an all-Asian cast crew brings justice to a story often untold. The play mainly follows two refugees who manage to find love despite their circumstances. However, beyond the tale of two unlikely lovers is a story about dealing with loss, finding one’s identity, and navigating one’s way through a
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu wrote Carmilla. It was first published in 1872 as part of the collection of short stories titles ‘In a Glass Darkly.’ Carmilla predates the publishing of Dracula by 25 years. Laura, who is also one of the
In Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse McClellan, is a seventeen year old girl who lives next door to Guy Montag. Clarisse met Montag when she was walking down the street, she looked at him surprised. Clarisse's appearance is mentioned as curious, because she is called as white. “..Her face was slender and milk-white, and in it was a kind of gentle hunger that touched over everything with tireless curiosity..”, “Her dress was white and it whispered”. (Bradbury 02) By comparing from the book, Clarisse can be someone who won’t “fit in” the book. She is more than a seventeen year old girl, she is filled with ideas and questions. Her character is different from everyone in the book, she was more positive and uplifting.
Clarisse McClellan is a very unusual teenager in her society. She was an outcast, and looked different to the people around her. She was an idiosyncratic thinker, and quite unlike all of her fellow peers, who go along with whatever people told them to do. For Clarisse, on the other hand, being her own self was such a major part of her personality. This uniqueness affected the main character, Montag, greatly. She introduced him to thinking differently. From the very beginning, Clarisse talks to Montag about things that force him to stop and think. During their first initial conversation, on page 8, Clarisse says "You laugh when I haven't been funny and you answer right off. You never stop to think what I've asked you." Here, Clarisse goes from a very light conversation, and switches to a very deep and meaningful phrase. Most people in their society can't do that. This forces Montag to take a moment to analyze what she said, and makes him speculate the meaning of her words. Montag is speechless, because it was such an unusual question. This makes him do something that he's never done before, which is think for himself. Throughout their very first conversation, Clarisse makes it clear that she's an independent thinker.
Jimmy knows too well the agonies of abandonment. First, when his mother, Cecilia, ran away with Richard to pursue a better lifestyle. Then, due to his father’s, Damacio Baca, alcoholisms and violent behavior; he also had to leave Jimmy behind. In spite of the drawbacks from abandonment to being a maximum security prisoner in Arizona State Prison, Jimmy preserver’s the darkness of prison by overcoming his illiteracy. However Cecilia and Damacio is not as fortunate as their child; Cecilia is shot by Richard after confronting him for a divorce and Damacio chokes to death after he is released from the detox center(Baca 263). Therefore the most significant event in this section of the memoir, A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca is the death of Jimmy’s parents.
Toni Morrison’s short story, “Recitatif” is about two young girls, named Twyla and Roberta, who grow up in an Orphanage because their mothers were in no condition to properly take care of them. The main theme in the “Recitatif” is concentrating on racism. A very mind- grabbing event in the story is how the author never tells the race of the two girls. Morrison leaves class codes but not racial codes, as in the story Twyla states, “ It was one thing to be taken out of your own bed early in the mornings—it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race” (pg 201) , even the girls do not mention which race the other is. Recitatif is a great story as it plays with the reader’s emotions and effectively makes the reader aware of the stereotypes and each races characteristics.
If anyone wants a perfect example of a well-rounded and hardworking person they should take a look at Nick Massaroni. Nick is a senior at Chattahoochee High School. He loves to hang out with his friends and participate in multiple different activities, such as playing the trumpet in marching band, umpiring baseball games, and playing sports with his friends. Nick is able to achieve his goals in his various activities because he is persistent and a hard worker.
This short fiction focuses on the relationship between brothers, Lyman and Henry, along with a car that was shared between the two. From Lyman’s point of view, you see the two go on adventures together until Henry gets drafted into the army. While Henry is away, descriptions are vague and the only thing the reader learns is Lyman spent his time fixing up their red convertible. When Henry returns, the story picks up as Lyman observes how the war has changed his brother. In an attempt to get Henry’s original self back, he smashes the car. Once Henry returns the car to its original state, the story leads to tragedy as the reader experiences the death of both Henry and the vehicle. The changes of Henry’s personality and their adventures are portrayed
The journey of the Joad family takes course during the period of the Great Depression in United States. This century brings extreme hardship upon families across America. Especially for the Joad family as they are also affected by the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. The economic decline and natural disaster cause the family to relocate and abandon their home, and their past. In times of crisis, the Joads must endure the loss of family, property, and a home. The Joads travel west to California in hopes of finding new jobs and a new home. On their 2,000 mile journey a leader arises among the family. Ma Joad becomes the leader of the family, she learns to control her emotions and act for the greater cause of her family’s survival. Ma Joad possesses the
Humanity has always been fascinated with the journey of heroic individuals; indeed, American children grow up hearing the tales of tiny hobbits traveling across continents to destroy an artifact of great evil or the tale of three wise men who travel from afar to see the birth of their deity. In Yuri Herrera’s novella Signs Preceding the End of the World, readers witness another journey to a strange land fraught with peril for our heroine Makina, a Mexican woman on a journey to find and bring her brother back from the United States of America. Looking at her journey, Makina follows in the same tradition as other heroes like Orpheus and Odysseus, who also plunge themselves into the dangerous underworld. For American
In Toni Morrison's short story "Recitatif", the story revolves around two girls, one white and the other black, and how their social status affects their way of life. The narrator, Twyla, has five significant instances in her life where she is in a setting with her childhood best friend, Roberta. When they first met at the orphanage, they disliked each other, but because both of them still had a parent to their name, they were seen as social outcasts to the other children of their orphanage. Through their social disgrace they became friends and helped each other out. As they grew up, their lives were distinctly different with Twyla living the life of a lower-middle class citizen while Roberta was living a lavish lifestyle, creating conflict between the two. In the end, there is a slight sense of reconcilement in that they clear up a misunderstanding of their past, but there is an open question to what had happened to an element of their past.
The author of Recitatif, Toni Morrison, is an acclaimed writer known for her fictional stories and her explorations within the black community. Receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 was one of her most acclaimed accomplishments. Morrison’s American Midwest family had an unfathomable appreciation and love for black culture and showed this through there many traditions and storytelling. Recitatif, a fictional short story, was written in 1983.
What makes a man worthy to be honorable? Is his greatness something earned through struggle or just a title that has been passed down? It is the man Sundiata is destined to have been, the greatest king, as he is portrayed in D.T Niane’s classic tale “Sundiata: an epic of old Mali. This classic tale shows the impact of courage, power, and motherly love on the life of the ancient africans kingdom's greatest king. D.T Niane’s shows the life of a man once being looked down upon, to now being known as one of the greatest in history.
In Carmilla, Sheridan Le Fanu uses vampires to identify and challenge gender roles of women in the Victorian age. From the outset, Carmilla and Laura’s relationship appears to transcend mere homosocial characteristics; Carmilla awakens sensations in Laura which she has never known before because her sexuality has always been suppressed. This suppression is inherently motived by the dominant ideology in Victorian culture that lesbianism, and homosexuality more generally, are “unnatural” forms of sexuality. According to Colleen Damman, “as a woman, Carmilla can only claim her sexuality after death” (). This is an interesting statement because it provides context for the idea that vampirism is the only way Carmilla can express her own carnal desires; She too is then subject to the constraints of Victorian culture. This to say that, for Le Fanu, the only way to have an open discussion concerning homosexual desire is to employ the vampire. Bearing this concept in mind, by analyzing certain key passages and elements of Carmilla and by applying some modern conceptualizations on gender and sexuality, one can see that Carmilla and Laura are merely byproducts of a period rife with sexual desire, frustration, and tension.
Carmilla rebels against Victorian society gender roles and this concept of representing homosexuality through a vampire “monster” shows that men fear women showing power through sexuality and feel the need to destroy it.