In "He" by Katherine Anne Porter and "A Jazz-Age Clerk" by James Thomas Farrell, two characters who struggle with the aspects of poverty express the significance of how people view them in their lives; their primary concern is what people say and think of them. Both characters, Mrs. Whipple and Jack, seem ashamed of their current lives and continually attempt to impress others. Mrs. Whipple constantly informs Mr. Whipple of the thoughts or ideas that people might have towards their simple-minded son, whereas Jack characterizes a materialistic and superficial person whose main goal is to impress others. Furthermore, both characters are extremely proud and overly self-conscious. In "He," Porter narrates the already mentioned excessive …show more content…
Mrs. Whipple clearly becomes uptight about what her own family has to say or think about Him, to the point where she wishes she were dead: "But they can 't say He wasn 't dressed every lick as good as Adna - oh, honest, sometimes I wish I was dead!" (439). Thus, it is evident that Mrs. Whipple feels stressed and under a lot of pressure with His situation. After all, it is Mrs. Whipple 's goal to make sure that people understand that her family, including Him, is nothing more than an ordinary family. Sadly, Mrs. Whipple 's excessive concern about what others think or say, her self-consciousness, does not allow her to focus on what really is important: her family, but more specifically, Him. She finally realized that the way she treated her son was wrong; towards the end, she at last opens her eyes and sees the world from His perspective, the cruel, uncaring, and lonely perspective:
Whatever it was, Mrs. Whipple couldn 't bear to think of it. She began to cry, frightfully, and wrapped her arms tight around Him. His head rolled on her shoulder: she had loved Him as much as she possibly could, there were Adna and Emly who had to be thought of too, there was nothing she could do to make up to Him for His life. Oh, what a mortal pity He was ever born. (444-45) Jack in James T. Farrell 's "A Jazz-Age Clerk" handles
She sometimes thought John would no longer recognize her; it had been so long that "he would be a child beside her if she saw him now" (3). She doubts herself; she doesn't think John would recognize her but reassures herself that his love and understanding would require no explanations of her. This pride she derives from John and her children makes her "jiltings" seem more like a blessing: "It made her feel like rolling up her sleeves and putting the whole place to rights again" (3). There were still so many things she could do for her children; she didn't want to be taken yet: "that would have to wait. That was for tomorrow" (3). She was telling death, "tomorrow" not today.
He believes that every one of the people” oughta be ridin’ broomsticks”, and his Aunt Rachel already does (183). He sees that everyone in the town treat each other badly, so the only thing he can really do is laugh at
It was not really anything of a separation, yet he was surprised to find that is seemed to him a grave one perhaps because his business was grave, or because of the solemn hour. He saw this in her face as well, and almost wished they had waked the children after all" (44).
The rich and privilege versus the poor and unprivileged are the people being compared to one another and recognized throughout both “The Lace-Makers” and “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Otto-Peters throughout her poem compares the working class women to the rich men that take advantage of the product of their labor (lace), bring awareness to the injustices between the working class and those in power. This comparison is seen in, “You live in luxury and debauchery while they perish,” (line 21) where she is addressing the rich men that mentions earlier and how they do not acknowledge the injustices that happen for them to live in luxury. Similarly in “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” King describes the injustices that occur in society due to the government and law enforcement, “Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section on this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality,” (81). The social injustices are brought into light for black people (and minorities) going unrecognized because they are seen as lesser than those in power and privileged. Both writers try to bring awareness their injustices, but they focus on their own experiences.
He acts like a mirror. He lets whatever the Grandmother says bounce right off him. He never really agrees with her or disagrees, and in the end he is the one who kills her. His second to last line, “She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life,”(O'Conner 425). might be the way O'Conner felt about most of us alive, or how she felt that God must feel about us. The third, and final stage of the Grandmother is the moment of recovery. She finally sees The Misfit for who he really is, a person just like her. He is not someone who was made by his social class. He is a simple human being just like her. At this point she sees herself in relation to everyone else. She finally realizes that her class does not make her. Society makes the class, and she just fits into it. She shows this by claiming that The Misfit could be one of her own beloved children.
Throughout the novel, Jane narrates and looks back on her story as an adult. In this sense she has a better understanding of how she was affected by her changing place in the class system and is able to provide a clearer picture of how she has since shaped her beliefs from childhood. When Jane recalls finding out that she had possible relatives in the lower class, her immediate response was to denounce their existence and to stay with her abusive guardian, Mrs. Reed. Jane explains her reaction by noting that “poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children” (29). While she admits that as an adult, poverty appears dreadful, she claims that this reaction is exaggerated in children. Firstly, Jane’s comment reflects the fact that she has since grown from her childhood disdain for impoverishment and this growth is hers alone; no other adult in the novel has exhibited maturation in thought such as this because they are stuck in their rigid class structures. Secondly, Jane’s comment on the difference between child and adult views on poverty
When she sees that it is her friend Charlotte in this heart breaking situation, she says: “gracious heaven is this possible? And bursting into tears, she reclined the burning head of Charlotte on her own bosom; and folding her arms about her, wept over in silence” [125]. In this passage, Mrs. Beauchamp proves how sentimental and good she could be because not only does she have a sick child at home, but she finds the time to actually care about others and because she actually cries for Charlotte, a person who is not even her relative. She is a sentimental person because she is the only one that in the beginning offered Charlotte her friendship and because thanks to her, Charlotte’s father is able to see Charlotte one last time and forgive her. In many cases, this might be confused with weakness but it is not weakness. It is the ability to feel others pain as your own, it is the ability to care for others as you would your own relative; it is being a moral person and only through the act of sensibility can this be shown. In a situation like this, an immoral person might have only thought about their own problems and not the problems of others.
To arrive in a bar alongside her father to obtain money is not a desire for Jeannette. When her father’s friend exclaimed, “I’m going to take your girl upstairs,” Jeannette becomes aware of the reason why her father had brought her which is to use her for distraction in order for the father to earn money. Though Jeannette realizes the reason, she forgives her father. When Jeannette discusses with her mother about the lack of responsibility her mother has, Jeannette receives a punishment of being whipped by her father. Jeannette states, “I expected him to turn and walk away but there were six stinging blows on the back of my thighs, each accompanied by a whistle of air.” (220) Due to the act of whipping by her father, Jeannette is unable to forgive her father for a period of time. However, the love Jeannette has for her father is extremely utmost that she forgives him for whipping her. Regardless the mistakes Jeannette’s father creates, Jeannette holds a place in her heart for her father thus enabling her to forgive her
Take everything you know about racism, sexism, and religionism and toss it out the window, because there’s an impediment to prosperity that is often underlooked: Classism. Classism is a suppression which always has and always will continue to affect our everyday lives. The disparities that presently exist between the lower and higher classes form a condition where it is unlikely to allow for equality for anyone. The short stories “A Rose of Emily,” written by William Faulkner, and “Desiree’s Baby,” written by Kate Chopin, offered several depictions of classism within a society. “A Rose for Emily” recounts the life of an isolated, aristocratic woman named Emily Grierson who symbolically represents the demise of the old Southern society. Similarly, “Désirée’s Baby” portrays classism present in mid-nineteenth century Southern society in conjunction with the inequalities that exist between race. Class prejudice plays an important role as it was behind the emergence of the characters’ unspeakable actions. In “A Rose for Emily” and “Desiree’s Baby,” classism is emphasized and provokes arrogance, denial, and the demise of others.
Throughout the entire world, there is an idea of the social facade of how one should appear and no one is an exception to this. The south is particularly known for this and is seen throughout the various stories read in this class. One author who demonstrates this concept of social facade is Katherine Anne Porter in her story, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall. It is the story of a grandmother who is a hypocrite, not only to herself, but the whole town and obsessed with her appearance in how people view her and her family.These ideas can also be seen in Flannery O’Connor’s story A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Porter’s other story, The Old Order. The main theme seen in these stories is this idea of social facade and hypocrisy.
Only when the grandmother is facing death, in her final moments alone with the Misfit, does she understand where she has gone wrong in life. Instead of being superior, she realizes, she is flawed like everyone else. When she tells the Misfit that he is “one of [her] own children,” she is showing that she has found the ability to see others with compassion and understanding.
Lastly, her family betrayed her by not listening to her side of the story after her sister told lies about her, and they betrayed her when they acted as if they did not care if she moved out of the house. In all of these actions, the family itself and certain members of the family are portrayed as uncaring, unsupportive, disrespectful, conniving, deceitful, and hateful to Sister. Through every action of the family, Sister is treated harshly, and she tries to not let this bother her. Yet, anger and bitterness build up inside of her until she cannot take it anymore. Consequently, it built up so much inside of her that it severely affected Sister so profoundly that she moved away from her home to get away from her family.
She was not upset the day her brother died, and felt no guilt for her feelings about him. "I was sad for them [her family] rather than over any loss of mine, because my brother had become a stranger to me. I was not sorry that he had died, but I was sorry for him because, according to his standards, his life had been thoroughly worth living" (p. 55-56).
Money plays a huge part in this story. Hester, the mother, is obsessed with having more and more money. She lives the life of a woman with money, never allowing anyone to see past the family's small income, "The mother had a small income, and the father had a
The disorderly atmosphere of Wuthering Heights, generated by Heathcliff’s raucous behavior causes Catherine to gravitate towards a more uncivilized and mannerless version of herself. Several times, Catherine snaps at others and throws furious tantrums, as she scolds and even slaps Nelly for cleaning in Edgar’s prescence. The rambunctious setting of Wuthering Heights conjures a different Catherine, where, “to pracise politeness...would only be laughed at,” influencing her to act on rebellious