Compare And Contrast Mother By Tobias Wolff

The poem “Mother Who Gave Me Life”, written by Gwen Harwood explores the extremely personal relationship between a daughter and her mother. It focus’ on the universal role of women as mothers and nurturers throughout time. It explores the intimate moments and memories between a daughter and her mother, and gives us as the reader an insight into the relationship between the two.

Discuss how your investigation of the generic conventions of poetry has influenced your understanding of at least one poem that you have studied in this unit.

Would a good parent’s allow their three-year-old daughter to boil her own hot dogs? Parenting is one of the most important pieces in a child's life, and it shows a bond between parents and their kids. However people who don't give quality parenting lead their children through a rough life. In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, she talks about her life experiences and hardships she had from having inadequate parents. Despite the fact that her parents intention were to help their children unfortunately, they end up harming the children physically, emotionally, and mentally. Although she is not raised in the traditional way, Jeannette overcomes the challenges by persevering through the bad times, finding her place in society, and

"The Mother," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a sorrowful, distressing poem about a mother who has experienced numerous abortions. While reading the poem, you can feel the pain, heartache, distress and grief she is feeling. She is both remorseful and regretful; nevertheless, she explains that she had no other alternative. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. Perhaps this poem is a reflection of what many women in society are feeling.

The poem “Mothers and Daughters” is written by Pat Mora. Pat Mora is a contemporary award winning writer, who writes for children, youngsters and adults. She was born in El Paso, TX in the year 1942. She attains a title of a Hispanic writer; however, the most of her poems are in English. In her literary work, one can observe the different aspects of the immigrants’ lives such as language issues, family relationships, immigrants’ experiences and cultural differences (1187).

Jonathan Kozol, in the chapter entitled “Other People’s Children, discusses and justifies the kinds of limitations placed on children who must attend poorly funded, educationally inferior school. Kozol argues that children in the inner-city schools are not fit to go to college and that they should be trained in schools for the jobs they will eventually hold, even though these jobs are less prestigious, lowest-level jobs in society. Kozol’s argument is based on the fact that students from the inner-city or rather from the societies that do not have enough job opportunities are not supposed to learn much because their society cannot accommodate most of the courses that are often found in the urban settings. For example, there is a point where Kozol cites one of the businessman’s statement which says, ‘It doesn’t make sense to offer something that most of these urban kids will never use.’ The businessman continues to argue, ‘no one expects these ghetto kids to go to college. Most of them are lucky if they are literate. If we can teach some useful skills, get them to stay in school and graduate, and maybe into jobs, we’re giving them the most that they can hope for’ (Kozol 376). This statement clearly indicate that the society should accept the inequalities and exercise the same inequalities even in education.

2015 marks the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli where ANZAC Legends such as ‘Simpson and his donkey’ were born. These stories shed light on war but left the heart break of mothers and death of millions of soldiers in the dark.

The line between being an acceptable and unacceptable parent is often blurry and is seen on different perspectives when it comes to class, culture, and generation differences. Based on the two stories of Amy Tan’s, “Two Kinds” and Tillie Olsen’s, “I Stand here Ironing” we see these two perspectives that derive from different maternal upbringings of the children in the stories. What is found between them is the conflict of being too little or heavily involved in a child’s life has had more negative outcomes during their childhood than positive.

"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is about the intricacies and complexities in the relationship between a mother and daughter. Throughout the story, the mother imposes upon her daughter, Jing Mei, her hopes and dreams for her. Jing Mei chooses not what her mother wants of her but only what she wants for herself. She states, "For, unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could be only me" (Tan 1). Thus this "battle of wills" between mother and daughter sets the conflict of the story.

In Sandra M. Gilbert’s “Looking Oppositely: Emily Bronte’s Bible of Hell,” Gilbert discusses the contrast between Heaven and Hell in the novel as well as focusing on the character of Catherine and her struggle to escape being dominated and controlled by men. She also compares Wuthering Heights to John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost, noting the similarities between Heathcliff and Satan and how it is not a descent from Heaven to Hell but an ascent from Hell to Heaven. Catherine in a sense becomes a demonic ghost “with a random weakening of the fabric of ordinary human society” (385) who is freed by the control of her brother by Heathcliff. Gilbert concludes the essay by talking about how Catherine was disconnected from her original self, resulting

In a world in which abortion is considered either a woman's right or a sin against God, the poem "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks gives a voice to a mother lamenting her aborted children through three stanzas in which a warning is given to mothers, an admission of guilt is made, and an apology to the dead is given. The poet-speaker, the mother, as part of her memory addresses the children that she "got that [she] did not get" (2). The shift in voice from stanza to stanza allows Brooks to capture the grief associated with an abortion by not condemning her actions, nor excusing them; she merely grieves for what might have been. The narrator's longing and regret over the children she will never have is highlighted by the change in tone

The idea of Mother Earth is extremely empowering for women; most women believe that, right? Ellen Cronan Rose finds the idea of mother earth tremendously unempowering. Rose writes in her article “The Good Mother: from Gaia to Gilead”, that the imagery of mother earth is deeply problematic and is harmful to the feminist cause. This is a shocking view considering that most women don’t seem to have a problem with that idea. Ellen Cronan Rose states that the “mother earth” metaphor is harmful to the way women are viewed in society because it perpetuates negative stereotypes against women, it views the earth and women primarily as producers, and it overlooks the fact that both men and women are connected to nature. She goes in-depth into how mother earth imagery can impact women.

On of the works of art that I have come across this term is an oil on canvas titled “Young Mother and Two Children” by Mary Cassatt, an American Impressionist painter, measures 92.08 x 73.66 cm. The subject matter of a mother and her two children done in the Impressionist style depicts a lifelike representation with an almost ethereal viewpoint There is also a sense of unity as it is a closed composition, which directs the eye to the piece and although there are three subjects within the painting, it seems as one unified and self contained image.

One Size Fits All Is there one right way to parent a child? Many different journalists have tried to answer that very question. In Chua's article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” published in The Wall Street Journal, she analyzes the difference between Western and Chinese parenting while explaining why Chinese parenting is superior. Throughout Lac Su’s “Tiger Mothers Leave Lifelong Scars” published by CNN.com he explains, from personal experience, the emotional distress Chinese parenting has caused him. David Brooks’ article, “Amy Chua is a Wimp,” published by The New York Times claims that Chinese parenting shelters children from the opportunities disclosed by social difficulties.

The poem “Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog” written by Judith Viorst 1931 expresses a conversation she had with her mother regarding the problems of owning a dog. She utilizes rhyming and imagery throughout the poem as well as projecting a light hearted tempo. The poem expresses all of the problems that her mother has with how a dog disturbs the cleanliness, discipline and interruptions to daily life to the mother. The first paragraph describes how the mother has had a bad experience because she feels that all dogs smell. She also has not been around a dog that is trained or is just not obedient because she says they won’t sit even if you yell at them.