I would like to discuss the character of Norma Jean. I think her most problematic trait is that she keeps everything bundled up inside her and doesn't communicate her thoughts with anyone. She had her live change completely at different points in her life. One was when she lost her child, which is hard on anyone. The other point that was mentioned in the story was having Leroy being on the road for fifteen years of their marriage and then one day he is home for good. "They never speak about their memories of Randy" (232) by not speaking about the son they had allows Norma Jean to keep it bottled up which is not healthy. Leroy had also mentioned that he would like to know what Norma Jean thought, "That wasn't what he wanted to say. He wanted
Have you ever noticed how some people just stand out from the crowd? Like the clouds in the sky and blades of grass, people are all different. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker has a good example of an interesting, unique character. Maggie is a young girl who is not only physically but also mentally scarred. The way the burning house, her stuck-up sister, and society affects Maggie makes her different from everyone else.
Everybody loves Raymond is a show that was first released during the year of 1996 and ran all the way to 2005. The show is centered around Ray Barone, a talented sports writer who constantly has to put up with his wife, brother, kids, and even parents. Raymond is generally very sarcastic, no matter what the situation, and he does just about everything in his power to not have to deal with his kids. Instead he leaves most of the responsibilities of child care and cleaning to his wife, Debra. Although Everybody Loves Raymond manages to pull off being a wonderful show, it still plays into the stereotypical behavior of Gender roles, which ultimately prevents society from making any real progress.
works long hours (holidays included) as a CNA at a nursing home making $9.25, just enough to
In Toni Morrison’s Sula, gender heteronormative relationships are demonstrated in a very punishable manner. The two main characters Sula Peace, and Nel Right share a very strong, well connected friendship. The two of them are a mirror reflection of each other, with the same desires. Heteronormative institutions in the book do not seem to be stable for the most part. Hannah Peace, the single mother Sula, lives a disordered life in her household while Helene Wright belongs to a conservative and peaceful life, but her husband is never around. With the two daughters of both families being part of each other’s lives, they create a friendship that shows the privilege for female-female bonds over male-male bonds.
From enthusiastic and on board with the life she lives, to not enjoying it and wanting to stop, Jeanette Walls life changes over the time of the book. Jeanette grew up with siblings, Brian, Lori and Maureen. She had a hard childhood constantly moving and not being able to make friends and did not have a lot of food. Her father was an alcoholic and could not hold a job, and her mother was a teacher who wanted to be an artist. She always dreamt big and had a lot of hope for the future but that changes in the book.
Norma Jean is presented as a dynamic character due to the fact that her attitude and outlook starts changing towards her husband Leroy and her marriage. She went from spending time with her husband to being an introvert. She begins enjoying her time alone and becomes very selfish. She was strong at one point and the past just ate her up inside letting it get the best of her. All the attention is drawn to herself and she does not take the time to see how Leroy is feeling or reacting to this sudden behavior. In paragraph fifty four it states how Norma Jean changes into this selfish creature that Leroy does not even know anymore after sixteen years of marriage. "Before his accident, when Leroy came home he used to stay in the house with Norma Jean, watching TV in bed and playing cards. She would cook fried chicken, picnic ham, chocolate pie-all his favorites. Now he is home alone much of the time. In the mornings, Norma Jean disappears, leaving a cooling place in the bed" (Mason paragraph 54). Norma Jean loses her father and son and now she is just letting herself slowly drift away out of her husband's life. Norma Jean's appearance does not change much in Leroy's eyes. She keeps up with her physical and outer appearance but its her inner self that need massive work. Her attitude with her mother and husband starts coming off aggressive and careless. In paragraph 110, Norma Jean's repsonse is spoken without proper mannerism.
As Jeanette learns later on in the novel, ultimately in life all of the struggles and difficulties wont matter because life finds a way to work itself out. Throughout the novel the readers become aware of different messages being displayed. One of the messages relates to the fact that people need to trust in themselves and understand that they shape their own destiny. Just because Jeanette’s parents were not the ideal role models does not mean that Jeanette automatically prepares her life for
Leroy is misinformed. In fact, he is scared of what the future holds. To pass the time he
Meanwhile, Norma Jean’s activities have her expanding and growing in broader ways that let her see the bigger picture. For a while, she is content with playing familiar music on the organ, but as she further educates herself, she does not want to play it anymore (309). She is enthralled with her college class and building muscle with her weight lifting class. She is constantly improving and strengthening her mind and body while Leroy is just observing, and content to stay the same, and when he does go out of his comfort zone, it is not in leaps and bounds like Norma Jean’s activities. All of her
In the story Shiloh, Norma Jean faces many dilemmas involving gender roles. To begin with she got married when she was 18 which resulted in her having a baby. Her mom, Mabel, didn't want her to have a kid knowing that it wasn't going to turn out good, which was proven correct when Norma lost her baby at 4 months old. Since then she had been living with her husband Leroy, who happened to hardly be home due to work. Throughout that whole time while Leroy worked, she stayed home like a typical housewife but things started to change after some time. Norma started getting used to his absence, provoking her to do her own thing and to become her own person. For once she had felt independendent like she was able to do her own things instead of living up to everyones else expectations. When Leroy got into the car accident at work that drastically affected Norma preventing
What immediately struck me about the first sequence is the noticeable power imbalance between Walter and Phyllis; in this moment Phyllis is the one wielding it. Looking back on the scene after watching the entire movie, the power imbalance is all the more noticeable to me. Multiple techniques in the sequence subtly highlight this imbalance and hint at Phyllis’ true motivations. The scene begins with Walter driving up to the Dietrichson home. The outdoors lighting is bright, there are children playing in the streets, and a beautiful view of the landscape and homes beyond the street. The car Walter Neff drives is obviously dark against the light scene surrounding it. Later scenes where we see the house, more specifically the garage, it’s nighttime and covered in darkness. It’s almost as if it symbolizes the darkness that entered that home the moment Walter and Phyllis crossed paths. When we first see Phyllis, she’s at the top of the stairs in the front entrance of the home. The room is shaded, except for light emanating from the window that lands right where Phyllis is standing in just her towel. The layout of the maid, Walter, the stairs, and various pieces of furniture all appear to form a Fibonacci spiral that leads the viewer’s focus straight to Phyllis. It’s no coincidence that in
In the film Norma Rae, the textile workers were unsatisfied with many aspects of their Capitalistic work environment. They fought to form a union so that they could change the undesirable characteristics to better meet their needs. Political, environmental and cultural processes all played a part in the workers struggle to form an effective union.
The introduction of Mrs. Auld in chapter six of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is one that hold a lot of importance not only to Douglass but to the reader as well. Douglass portrays her in a way that allows her to be human. The reader is allowed to not only see the change in her but to experience it. The rhetoric surrounding her even changes as she does. At first, Douglass uses emphasis when she is first introduced, this is done by stating the same idea about the character in various places within the first paragraph. As her character changes, Douglass uses juxtaposition to switch his rhetoric to turn Mrs. Auld to stand for a bigger concept rather than just a human. Douglass in a literary sense holds the reader’s hand by explaining Mrs. Auld’s change step by step of what Mrs. Auld was, what she became, and what happened in between to cause it. Douglass uses the presence of Mrs. Auld to demonstrate the dehumanizing effect that power has on the nature of a human.
Friendships tend to change over time, for better or worse. This is illustrated in Toni Morrison’s short story Recititaf. The relationships of Twyla and Roberta are a rollercoaster from the moment they meet at the orphanage, to their confrontational meeting at the Howard Johnsons, to the picketing during segregation, until the end when they try and sort things out. One of the ways to show the rocky relationship of the two is through their dialog when they discuss their mothers.
Leroy and Norma Jean are both victims of rapid social change. Norma Jean was the most affected by her surroundings comparing to Leroy. Norma Jean had to marry at the age of eighteen to the man who got her pregnant, and in a cruel twist of fate, the child dies of sudden infant death syndrome. This event from her life prevents her to look towards the