Fitch's White Oleander

In addition, the author helps the reader understand the selfishness of the mother when the reader finds out she have stole the Persian Carpet “several months before” (230) the divorce and puts the blame on Ilya, the poor blind man. Furthermore, the visit of the children is supposed to signal a fresh start for the family. The mother even emphasizes she wants the girls to come “live with [them]” (229). Yet again, even if they meet in order to reunite, characterized by a situational irony, they see themselves separated because of her mother selfish decisions.

The first feeling of this story is that the boy and his father struggle with their relationship, but as it unfolds, the reader sees how they do care for each other. It also becomes easier to spot the difficulties of communicating within a broken family. The father does a fine job to of turning the boy’s scheduling obsessions into a positive for the boy by noting it as one of his strong points.

The first passage reveals the parallel suffering occurring in the lives of different members of the family, which emphasizes the echoes between the sufferings of the father and the narrator. The narrator’s father’s despair over having watched

In the short story, the writer tells a woman’s depression which guides her to break the limits and restrictions over woman. The woman who has no name or identity symbolises all women’s suppressed position in patriarchal society. In the story, the woman describes the house and her rooms with the words; ancestral hall, old-fashioned chintz, barred windows, heavy-immovable bed. The descriptions depict the house as patriarchy’s realm. Also, the yellow wallpaper’s surrounding of her shows the woman in a trapped, confined and repressed position. Not only the yellow symbolise the weakness, but the paper also

The author agrees with the idea of women as victims through the characterisation of women in the short story. The women are portrayed as helpless to the torment inflicted upon them by the boy in the story. This positions readers to feel sympathy for the women but also think of the world outside the text in which women are also seen as inferior to men. “Each season provided him new ways of frightening the little girls who sat in front of him or behind him”. This statement shows that the boy’s primary target were the girls who sat next to him. This supports the tradition idea of women as the victims and compels readers to see that the women in the text are treated more or less the same as the women in the outside world. Characterisation has been used by the author to reinforce the traditional idea of women as the helpless victims.

In everyday life, a relation is always identified as trust and support. In this novel, a relation between a husband and a wife is shown in a different way. Min, one of the characters in the story, is shown losing her mental stability and is living with her two children. She did not have any contact with her husband in few years and neither did he try to contact

This highlights the realistic atmosphere prevailing as well as reflects the true meaning of relationship. The readers are exposed to the mother-son relationship. It can be seen that even if the narrator is a twenty-year old law student, he is still the little boy who needed his neck scrubbed from the point of view of the mother. Whatever good advice the son gives, it is not followed and instead he is given a lecture. This is a typical mother-son relationship which shows that no matter how much a child grows, he always remains a little kid for the mother. Moreover, the readers also notice the routine life of the narrator and his mother. The boy used to accompany his mother to work and help her which makes a four-hour job becomes two. There is solidarity, strong family bond and understanding between them because although he did not like his mother

On the other hand, it could be articulated that the female characters in both the novels have proved their mental instabilities, individualisms and rebelliousness have disturbed the lives of others. Moreover, it could be analyzed in the novels that both the author in their social context has explained the dark secrets of the life of individuals.

This essay will explore the function of the narrative which helps the readers to perceive the meaning of the narrative. It will do so in terms of the point of view, narrative voice as well as the structure of the narrative. Furthermore, the setting of the story will be another focus which exploits the generic convention which reflects the social anxiety behind the story at the time. I

The play of King Lear, written by William Shakespeare and edited by Stanley Wells, and the novel of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet On The Western Front illustrate a prominent role of relationship between parents and children. Through the understanding and description of family relationship, it depicts the nature and personality of characters in addition to connect to the themes of text. These two novels involve the horror of betrayal and war. In this paper, the affection of parents and children’s connection under the influence of blindness in truth and reality as well as perspective of death will be discussed.

The mother begins to rebel against tradition by taking an active role in educating and freeing herself. Through her radio, telephone and trips out with her sons she develops her own opinions about the world, the war, and the domination and seclusion of woman. She loses her innocence as a result to her new knowledge and experience.

The wife is the narrator of the story by speaking in the first person which gives the audience a more personal and relatable outlook on the situation. The narrator gives us a positive first impression of her husband, however, the gaps are not filled until we get to the end of the story. The audience may overlook the author’s symbolism and metaphors that gives the husband a sense of mysterious by using repeating words such as “the moon”, “blood”, and “curse”. By putting in vague and limited hints about the wife and the husband’s true identities and the climax of the story, has readers telling themselves that what they expected was not justified. By this shocking discovery, it causes the death of the husband and the loss of the wife’s beloved.

The main problem in both novels is that a child in distress is hard-wired to seek protection from a woman, any woman, to live with. Although the mothers or mother figures are self-centered, cold-hearted and eccentric, the children of both novels wish to be with them. Both children in both novels spend their crucial ages in the worst circumstances because of their mother’s faults. In the case of the first novel, White Oleander, the lack of a father-figure foreshadows Astrid’s desire to be loved by men. Moreover, Ingrid (the mother) fights patriarchy by trying to protect herself and Astrid (her daughter) from men. In addition, Astrid’s fear of abandonment makes some difficulties all over her life. In the second novel, His Illegal Self, Che (the

Beyond imagination, a mother can be such impudent with her own child just because she is a female child. A mother wishing her daughter ‘dead’ can be the crudest form of patriarchy supported by women. These words get carved so deep inside her mind that Saru becomes a rebel against her mother. Not only this, she could not develop the rationale of judgement and decision-making being suppressed always. Moreover, the guidance of her mother could have helped her but neither her mother bothered nor she cared for the

The relationship between the husband and the wife are based on the plastic, yet perfect in a marriage, a respected, decision making, and supportive husband and a silent, dotting, beautiful wife. The roles of both the husband and the wife disconnects communication, and focus more on one’s “place” in a relationship. The wife explains her situation with her husband as being lucky; he is tall, handsome, and rich the wife felt satisfied for what was offered. “The gesture told her more eloquently than words that he was the man, she the women, he the one who carried the responsibilities, made the decisions, she the one whose role it was to be beautiful, happy, carefree,” she took her place as his wife, but he treats her as a child and he her father. The relationship is more on the level of class and how one is represented and seem by others, which leaves little room for anything else. The wife’s relationship