The text under analysis is entitled “How we kept Mother’s Day”. It is written by Stephen Leacock, a famous Canadian writer of the 20th century. This is the first story of this author I have read. The story describes one day of author’s family life. The subject of the story is the celebration of Mother’s Day. The passage deals with problems of family life. It is the author’s narration. The story is told from the point of view of one of the characters. The text can be divided into several parts. All of them are logically connected. The first part of the text introduces the main characters and gives some details concerning their lives. There are 6 main characters: mother, father, the narrator, his sister Anne, his sister Mary and …show more content…
The story is written in informal functional style. We can find numerous words and phases proving it: all that kind of thing, awfully becoming, a little bit, have a big day, get messed up, the dinner… was great fun, etc. Also there is the interjection well introducing some of the passages, the omission of the conjunction that and the syntax imitating that of oral communication by its free and careless structures. The story presents an
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 short story written by Fahimeh Q. Basenji, he shares in his writings about “The Yellow Wall-Paper and Story of an Hour”. In the journal, he discusses how the two stories are similar but have different narrator experiences. He tells how “female characters oppressed by the patriarchal authority in the marriage and their oppression” (1). The author writes about how a female author can
protagonists and antagonists, the plot structure and events of the story and the way he
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.
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
77), her “restless mental vigor” (p. 78), and her willingness to stand up for her opinions, no matter how unpopular. Though the mother in this essay uses extraordinary words and is obviously a well-educated woman, the diction used by the speaker is generally straightforward to the average person; therefore, it can be concluded that the story was written for the average person. The terms used are nonetheless very specific and suited to their purpose of describing the mother, especially with several precise adjectives appearing constantly. The mother has an “emotional voice” (p. 78), holds “unpopular, even fantastic, positions” (p. 78), and gives a “vibrantly innocent look” (p. 77) after destroying a game of bridge. However, the essay does require thinking, as several of the examples of the mother’s behavior and phrases that she employs are very clever and include a much more sophisticated diction, as is true in the mother’s life. When she responds to the question “’Save stamps?’” (p. 75) with “’No…I build model airplanes’” (p. 75). Even the speaker could not understand what her meant for years, which was that building model airplanes was her hobby, not collecting stamps. The tone and diction that the speaker uses is simple, but the reader has to work harder to understand examples of things the speaker’s mother does or says.
In fact, most of them are unidentified and the reader may not identify a specific person that speaks in the different chapters. Thus, the audience may understand it is an embodiment of females focusing on structuring the major theme of the book, which is gender inequality. Additionally, the description of the female characters is equivocal such that the reader has to picture the image of the women. Although the author provides various photos in the book, there is absence of an explanation. Before this, the writer only concentrates on telling the story (Kim,165). Additionally, the author uses poetic approach to explain the setting in the book, which gives the novel distinct styles of writing. In fact, the poems are only meant to provide the reader with a description of the mothers and daughters, and this creates a distinction in the narrative. Resultantly, the audience perceives that when a poem appears in the reading, the author is probably narrating the plight of women. Notwithstanding, the novel uses visual art technique to communicate to the audience. in many instances, the author does not provide a description of an individual such that the reader has to imagine the person. In doing so, the readers are in suspense but the author offers a drawing that may be used to demystify the situation. in support of this style, it is apparent that the visual art may have
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
Many people describe the role as a mother and a wife as something that is to be welcomed, a natural stage for women. However for the narrator, it changed from something seemingly beautiful to “old foul, bad...” Motherhood to her is then what creative women were to other people during the 19th century. Creativity was natural for the narrator, unlike motherhood; it was part of her being. Motherhood however, was a prison of domestic
The narrator is totally crushed by the gender discrimination. She longed to be seen by her mother and her grandma. The narrator is heartbroken that her mother loved her brother more than her and failed to notice her. “When she went into Nonso’s room to say good night, she always came out laughing that laugh. Most times, you pressed your palms to your ears to keep the sound out, and kept your palms pressed to your ears, even when she came into your room to say Good night, darling, sleep well. She never left your room with that laugh” (190). Her agony can be easily seen by the way of her narrating. She does not get the affection that she deserves. She really needs the affection from her own mother, but she is not getting it. She compares the love which her mother shows to his brother and herself. This is gender discrimination can be seen with her grandmother too. She hated her grandma as she would always support her brother and find fault with her. Even though what the brother did, no matter what crime. Her mother and grandmother always supported her brother and never supported or showed interest towards
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
This theme clearly presents itself to readers through the diction of the characters and the mental decline the narrator endures throughout the plot of the story. The narrator of this text is a sufferer of postpartum depression, an illness that can develop in women who have miscarried or given birth, this type of depression stems from a feeling of loneliness or emptiness, do to no longer carrying a
The narrator, a young girl named Nea, starts the story in the middle of action. She told that she stabbed a man with knife at eleven years old in order to release her older sister, Sourdi, from the man. “I charged and stabbed the man in the sleeve” (9). This situation is not only a introduction of this story to the readers, but the further explanation of the events explains each of the characters involved in this story. The main character of this story is Ma, who willing to sacrifice Sourdi’s happiness in order to please the man in the society. Next, Sourdi is another main character in this story. She has beautiful face that attracted the attention from admirers throughout this story. Then, Nea is also main character in this story. She is impulsive young girl who reacts in rash to protect her sister from the men that can threaten their relationship.
First, let’s review the characters in the main story, of which there are few in the literary story
To start with, I would like to express my thoughts about “Night Women”, which has become one of my favorite stories due to its unique language, exquisite metaphors, and powerful message. It is about the life and hard times of any single mother who has to do whatever possible to provide a means for their family because her son’s father decided to “disappear with the nights shadows a long time ago.” It shows different feelings, which are mixed, and some of these feelings are the innocence of a child as well as the care and love of a mother through hard work, sacrifice, and dedication. She was a prostitute, a job that is very hard for any woman, but most of them depend on it in order to succeed and make money to cover their costs of living.