Heartburn Wittily: Literary Analysis

Paul Newman once said, “People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked” (74). There is no such thing as the perfect relationship, however, being involved in a healthy relationship is essential for a person to feel valued, safe, and happy. Unfortunately, in the situation of Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” and Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of An Hour,” include extreme examples of unhealthy relationships. The essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” shares painful experiences of Sundberg’s physical and emotional abusive relationship with her husband Caleb, while “The Story of an Hour,” shares a rare reaction of a married woman, Louise Mallard, who explores her emotions cautiously when hearing about the death of her husband. Each woman faces their own prison created by their husbands. The two marriages represent the figurative meaning of doors being locked in a marriage. Both pieces of literature convey the theme of confinement by using the literary devices of foreshadowing, imagery, and conflict.

The complexity of Rachel’s character differs within the play. On the one hand, Rachel is portrayed in a male disguise showing she has independence as she has taken matters into her own hands, her successful manipulation through disguise perhaps demonstrating her intelligence and how easily women can dupe men. This could also suggest that she is not acting according to the social ‘norms’ for women in the 60s demonstrating that she doesn’t fear people’s views of her although she is a woman. She demonstrates her strength and independence as she takes matters into her own hands ‘I’ll take two hundred in cash’ and acts in a violent way ‘Rachel slaps Francis’, portraying the growing power of women. On the other hand, Bean could have done this to project the message that women cannot hold any power without the help of a man. Although she has decided to solve her problem herself, she has had to dress up as a man to do so, thus showing that women’s roles are often tokenistic. The motive behind her plan was also for a man illustrating the length a women will go for a man. Had Rachel not dressed up as a man maybe she would not have gotten so far, her success in doing so

Providing for your family and yourself is a important key to survival, in “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry the Youngers know the true struggle of survival in the 1960s being an african-American family in a low income neighborhood. The family of five (soon to be six) living in a two bedroom apartment must share everything and live paycheck to paycheck. The play itself shows the hardships the family are trying to overcome poverty, but once they receive knowledge of a check that is, ten-thousand dollars, coming for Lena (Mama) Younger from the life insurance of the Youngers’ (Walter Younger Senior) deceased father. Since the coming of the check everyone seems to have their own plans for the check. The check changed everything, we

Jealousy is a phase that is constantly lurking around society, creating chaos, but revealing different discoveries and insights about who people really are. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier, is a classic novel that illustrates from a psychoanalytic perspective how an absent character’s presence can alter the thoughts and actions of other characters prominent throughout the story. Many significant psychological and mental events are revealed through the character, Rebecca, in the novel, ultimately leading to reveal many insights and discoveries about the stories’s beloved characters that are embedded in this unique story. Du Maurier’s exhalterating novel through the character, Rebecca, not only exemplifies some of the characters in the story,

“Story of an Hour” uses Louise Mallard’s repressed life as a wife to elucidate how repression can lead to bottled up depression. Louise Mallard understands the “right” way for women to behave, but her internal thoughts and feelings are anything but correct. This is first illustrated by the initial reaction to her husband’s death, where she cries instead of feeling numb, as she suspects other women would do. The death of her husband acts as a catalyst to alleviate her depression that rooted in her marriage. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to Louise’s heart problem, which shows the extent to which she believes her marriage has trapped her. The author of the story gives a vague description of Mallard’s heart condition just simply calling it a “heart problem” (Choplin 452). This vague description shows how her “heart problem” is both physical and

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.

One of the events in this book was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was the dumping of 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. Rachel and Debby, Sarah’s older sister, believed that Paul was one of the people who dumped the tea, but Paul denied it. Sarah and Debby, Sarah’s older sister, started talking about Rachel. They said that Rachel is really worried for Paul because he could get hurt or even killed. Rachel had already been worried about Paul but she was more worried when he started doing more stuff. This made Rachel unhappy because she doesn’t want anything to happen to

Another way to deal with past regrets that is brought to light is the idea of repressing that memory in the first place. Unlike her sisters, Rachel Price is the only one who ignores her guilt. After Ruth May’s death and their departure from Nathan, Rachel rarely ever brings these major events up again. Instead she talks about her new life, speaking about her newest boy toy and complaining about the African’s culture. The night of Ruth May’s death, since Rachel is

The guys in the book treated the girls badly. They were always talking to them badly, acting like they were unimportant and less powerful. Jared was also like this, but I believe he changes after the incident and especially after Rachel breaks up with him, he goes back to her to try get back together he shows her respect and sensitivity, very unlike the original Jared before the rape/murder.

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” examine the complex relationship between a husband and wife. The two works take two different approaches to convey the same message: Marriage is not a fairytale, it requires sacrifice and unselfish behavior in order to work. Relationships are difficult to begin and harder to maintain. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and Aylmer and Georgiana are two relationships that shatter the surreal perception of marriage and expose readers to the raw truth, marriage is not a fairytale.

Both Michael Crummey’s “Heartburn” and Lisa Moore’s “The Lonely Goatherd” explore the damaging impacts the lack of communication has on a relationship. Both Carl and Anita’s relationship in “The Lonely Goatherd” as well as Georgie and Sandy’s relationship in “Heartburn” are weakened due to the lack of communication. This idea is shown in both short stories through the use of foils, specifically Hans and Carl as well as Everett and Sandy ; It is also demonstrated through the use of symbolism of Signal Hill as well as using the excuse of heartburn to cover up the dreams Sandy has; It is shown lastly through the dramatic irony used in both stories. These elements demonstrate how the lack of communication leading to the downfall of relationships.

Rachel grew up in a house hold where she had to grow up really quick. In her early teenage years she witnesses her mom struggle through abusive relationships with her step dad and other boyfriends that came after. She eventually became an alcoholic. By the time Rachel was 13 year old, she dropped out of school to take the role of the emotional and financial care taker of her mother. Living in her

“To realize the American Dream, the most important thing to understand is that it belongs to everybody. It is a human dream. If you understand this and work very hard it is possible.” However it is not always guaranteed. A Raisin in The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a story about a family who continues to struggle while reaching towards The American Dream. The American Dream is described as “The ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” The Youngers are a hard-working family who all have different interpretations of the American Dream. Mama, Walter, and Beneatha’s shared powerful dreams that give the a look into The American Dream. Despite

Rachel becomes a very important person in Sarah and her younger sisters’ lives, because she is a motherly figure to them. Soon after they get married, they announce that they’re expecting a baby. Her father, Paul Revere, made weekly trips to several different colonies. At some point, he is captured, and Sarah waits for him on the port. Dr. Warren soon approaches her, whom was sent by Rachel. Sarah yells at him about her suspicions, and tells him not to get romantically involved with his close friend’s wife. Even though he denies this, their friendship becomes ruined. After Paul is captured, Rachel attempts to get them out of the colony, since it was controlled by the British. Sarah is sent to get a pass out of Boston, an item needed to get out of Boston at the time. She manages to get the pass after trading back and forth with a Tory. Soon

The relationship between Rachel and Flora is characterized by an endless stream of disagreements, quarrels and jealousy. Flora wants the mothers’ attention since she feels inferior to Rachel. As mentioned before, Rachel is also the tidy one, and Flora certainly isn’t. they are like two opposite human beings, like rubber and glue.