Flannery O ' Connor 's Wise Blood And Kazuo Ishiguro 's Never Let Me Go

The reader cannot help but feel the burden the daughter will be sharing with the mother. And while the plight of the mother is real, the reader cannot ignore how the isolation and loneliness of this type of community, or lack there of, has effected Tome's judgment in mothering.

In his ironically titled story, “Devotion,” Adam Haslett introduces Owen, a middle-aged man who lives with his sister in their deceased parents’ home in England, and as they both prepare for a visit from a special friend, his hidden fears and emotions are awakened. As the author reveals the intricacies of the bond between the siblings it is clear their relationship isn’t as loving and healthy as it could seem, but is instead a harmful relationship that keeps them away from a normal life in a larger world. Relying on flashbacks, letters, and symbolism to unravel the reasons Owen and Hillary live together in their parents’ home, Haslett also conveys how fear of being alone can make a person selfish and cause them to inadvertently ruin someone

    “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” one of O’Connor’s best works, describes a family on a trip to Florida and their encounter with an escaped prisoner, The Misfit. Although “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is an early work in O’Connor’s career, it contains many of the elements which are used in the majority of her short stories. The grandmother, a selfish and deceitful woman, is a recipient of a moment of grace, despite her many flaws and sins. A moment of grace is a revelation of truth. When the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and reaches out to touch him, the grandmother has a moment of grace that enabled her to see The Misfit as a suffering human being who she is obligated to love. The grandmother realizes that nothing will stop The Misfit from killing her but she reaches out to him despite this. The Misfit rejects her love and kills her anyway. This moment of grace is very important

Family relationships can shape one’s character and indirectly impact their personality. These influences are observed in the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The term ‘family’ does not necessarily refer to relationships by blood, but it can also relate to other types of deep emotional connections that are similar. For instance, Victor and the monster are not family, however, since Victor created the monster (Shelley, 83), he can be viewed as a father figure to his creation. In the book Frankenstein, we will explore the relationships Victor has with both his own family and with the monster. In the book, The Road we will uncover the relationship between the father and the son. By exploring the relationships from each book we will discover how these interpersonal relationships are significant in affecting each character’s behaviour. Moreover, we will compare the similarities and differences between both families

Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.

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.

Dr. Murray Bowen’s research shows that conflict in a family can not only cause emotional damage but physical damage. The three different parenting styles display the Shae family as disjointed which causes Sophie to suffer. An authoritative method should be used, coupled with a unified voice of all parental influences in the life of Sophie. Dr. Bowens states that the “differentiated person is always aware of others and the relationship system around him”. In the case of Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish”, Sophie absorbs the relations around her and is deeply

No matter the era, location, or even times of the darkest personal conflict, the power of love tends to always prevail. The power behind the love of family in particular seems to be the greatest. Despite the differences in the relationships, the deep bond of brotherhood in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin shares some of the same levels of devotion that is present in “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty which is about the arduous trek a grandmother endures for her grandson. Although the stories differ in certain areas, both “Sonny’s Blues” and “A Worn Path” emphasizes the dedication one has both emotionally and physically and the importance of family bonds when someone they love encounters challenging and life threatening times by the displays of devotion to help the ones they love.

Family is one of the most important institutions in society. Family influences different aspects of a person’s life, such as their religion, values, morals and behavior. Unfortunately, problems may arise when an individual’s belief system or behavior does not coincide with that of family standards. Consequently, individuals may be forced to repress their emotions or avoid acting in ways that that are not acceptable to the family. In the novel The Rain God, written by Arturo Islas, we are presented with a story about a matriarchal family that deals with various conflicts. One major internal conflict is repression. Throughout the novel the characters act in strange ways and many of the family members have internal “monsters” that represent

Another example of the failure of adults is seen in Pauline Breedlove. Just as Geraldine focuses more on her desires than her child, so does Pauline in ways that also drift her away from her family. Mrs. Breedlove is a black woman who dreams she can somehow make her family appreciate her but after Pauline figures that she could not, she finds meaning in romantic movies and the Fisher Family - the white family she works for. The narrator tells readers, “More and more she neglected her house, her children, her man – they were like the afterthoughts one has just before sleep, the early-morning and late-evening edges of her day, the dark edges that made the daily life with the Fishers lighter, more delicate, more lovely. . .Here she found beauty, order, cleanliness, and praise” (127). Pauline Breedlove works for a family that is not her family and because the Fishers give her what she desires, she ends up neglecting her own family. Mrs. Breedlove fails to

Not all speculative fiction authors approach alerting readers of the importance of their family relations and action by clearly indicating that positive relationships breed a positive sense of self and selfless actions, whereas negative familial actions breed selfishness and a lack of empathy, but instead, discussing that negativity breeds positivity. While Paper Menagerie mainly focuses on negative relationships influencing one negatively, it also speaks to the idea that negative relationships can instead breed strength and greater empathy in an individual. Although Jack and his mother endure a negative relationship, he is able to grow from the lessons that came out that negativity by beginning to show empathy and love even after her death.

Beginning to end, Kazuo Ishiguro’s speculative novel Never Let Me Go leaves readers wanting more—more closure, more answers, more facts. Throughout the entire novel, readers are left in the dark with few explicit details of the society or its origins. The shadowy, obscure Madame Marie-Claude is a paradigm for the motif of mystery and uncertainty throughout Never Let Me Go. Two to four times a year, preparations begin for Madame’s arrival at Hailsham without warning to the students. She visits, takes pieces for her gallery, and vanishes without a trace (Ishiguro 30-1). While little is known regarding Madame in the exposition of the novel, the more readers learn about her, the more enigmatic she becomes. Like several other aspects of Never Let Me Go, the paradox of Madame’s initial displays of disgust towards the clones and yet her sacrifice for the betterment of the clone’s lives does not have an obvious explanation. Despite the vast possibilities for rationalizing Madame’s perplexing behaviors, her actions and words, coupled with Hailsham’s background story told by Miss Emily, point towards an internal conflict in Madame that presents itself in her actions. Madame is sympathetic towards the clones, as one might be towards animals, but ultimately, she is not willing to sacrifice her own life so that the clones have the right to theirs.

Different and splendid, John Patrick’s “The Curious Savage” centers around the plot of Mrs. Savage, an elderly woman who is the inheritor of her husband's $10 million dollars after his death. Although she intends to spread the wealth to others who wish to pursue their dreams, her stepchildren strongly object. In order to keep her from accomplishing this, however, her stepchildren place her into The Cloisters, a sanitarium. Here, she finds what true family really is.

In the novel Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro presents the story of Kathy H., and her friends Tommy and Ruth, who are growing up at Hailsham. Hailsham resembles an English contemporary boarding school, but one discovers that this school is specifically for clone children that have been created to donate their organs for the betterment of society. The author uses a descriptive narrative by Kathy to present the story of the short lives of clones, and the human lives they lead with all the difficulties intensified by mortality; this magnifies due to the short allotment of time they live. Art and creativity are prevalent throughout the story lending a feeling that the children’s art can lead to immortality as they will live on even after their demise through their art. Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, presents a search for one’s identity and sense of meaning in a dystopian society focusing on self-expression and creativity.

When it comes to human life, controversy appears in almost every aspect. From artificial insemination to abortion, euthanasia to experimentation on human subjects, and organ donation to cloning, a plethora of arguments can be found either righteously rebuking or defiantly defending the matters at hand. These issues seem more prevalent as technological advances are made. The questions on these advances often regard how they can be used to best help society without violating people’s basic human rights or morals. Many authors have written books warning society of the dangers of taking advantage of technological and political power. Mary Shelley, Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton, and Kazuo Ishiguro, to name a few, have all written books displaying these dangers. While reading these books, the dangerous, immoral actions and abuse of power seem evident, yet locating them in society is not quite as simplistic. The authors attempt to grant their audience a better way of finding these warning signs, while also providing an entertaining story. In his novel Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro utilizes first-person narration, symbolism, and allegory to show his audience the impact of interfering with the creation and purpose of human life.