I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill

Marriage is important in human society. Marriage is “the customs, rules, and obligations that establish a special relationship between a sexually cohabitating adult male and female, between them and any children they produce, and between the kin of the bride and groom” (Arenson, and Miller-Thayer 520). Most of the cultures are used to seeing only female and male getting married but looking deeper into the society; we can see there are more to it. There are many different types of marriages. In an ethnography called, Guest of the Sheik, by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, she talks about her experiences in a small rural village of El Nahra in southern Iraq. Ethnography is “comprised of the writings of the anthropologist, detailing the life ways of a particular culture, investigated by means of direct fieldwork” (1). As she gets accepted by the women of the villages, she gets a more inclusive view of the culture.

In the She’s The Man (2006), Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) cross dresses for the majority of the film, pretending to be her twin brother Sebastian. She does this in order to play for Illyria’s men’s soccer team as her school, Cornwall, cut the women’s soccer team and wouldn’t allow her to play for the men’s team. Her main motivation is to beat her former schools team and prove to them that even though she is a girl, she can play on the same field as the boys. While pretending to be Sebastian, Viola initially struggles to hide her femininity, such as when it is discovered that she has tampons in her bag. As the movie progresses her ability to hide this femininity and express masculinity becomes easier. Her cross dressing has an effect on everything and everyone around her and it pushes the line on the comfort people feel when stereotypical gender norms are challenged/ She becomes interested in her roommate, Duke (Channing Tatum) and throughout the movie the two become closer on an intimate level even though Viola is still masked as Sebastian. Duke is obviously uncomfortable with this as made evident by the end of the movie, when it is revealed that Viola was pretending to be Sebastian the entire time. His look of relief reinforces this idea of stereotypical, heterosexual gender roles, as now that Viola is revealed as a female, it is socially acceptable to be attracted to her. She’s The Man reinforces the stereotypical gender roles that society expects out of

In the story The King Of Mazy May author Jack London shows how life was like during the 1800’s gold rush. London told everything that you would want to know about the gold rush in the 1800’s the story starts with a definition of what the boy named Walt Masters. Look like what he had seen what he had done in his lifetime the important things and the things you would not believe that he has not seen now let's get closer into the story the king of mazy may.

The short story, "My Last Duchess," by critically acclaimed, Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, is an intriguing and thought-provoking work of prose. Though it ties considerably to the famous work by the same name, written by Robert Browning, it also brings its own ideas, and symbols to the table. The most prominent symbolic link within this story is the representation between the characterization of Miss Bessie--the high school english teacher--and the narrator 's ideas, thoughts, and fears about life. The term life -- for the purposes of this essay -- is defined as the existence of an individual person and their course through the world. In “My Last Duchess,” the narrator 's life is symbolically represented through Miss Bessie by the character traits of a positive reputation, overcoming obstacles, and the solitary nature of people.

The narrator wanted nothing more than to be with her Abuelita who tells her of “the moths that lay within the soul and slowly eat the spirit up.” Viramontes “The Moths” symbolizes the struggles that weight on us the things that oppress us and consume the human spirit due to lack of conformity. We see these things circling about the narrator as the moths “circling the single dull light bulb of the

Mothers are pictured as the care giver of the families and the ones who love their children unconditionally no matter the situation. They’ll do anything to support their family and raise their children right. In “The Queen of Mold” by Ruth Reichl, the mother in the story is pictured as the one who makes a meal almost out of nothing, just to provide and have something on the table for her family. Even though the food she cooks is moldy, this is how she demonstrates her motherly love.. In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the mother is portrayed at first as an over excited mother waiting for her over achieving daughter Dee. As the story progresses the excitement for the daughter starts to go away and her motherly love towards Dee becomes complicated because Dee thinks she is greater and much smarter than the rest. Both of the stories depict complex motherhood, in Reichl story her mother’s love becomes complicated when she cooks food for the guest and her daughter tries to save the guest from being killed, while by the end of Walker story she only has love for the one daughter that has always been by her side and that’s Maggie.

Growing up in today’s society can be traumatizing for any child. When it comes to growing up as a young girl, however, it can be downright devastating, but not only for the child but the parent as well. There are so many decisions to be made when choosing how to raise your child, assuring that you have instilled proper values to develop a healthy sense of self-worth and confidence.

In Cinderella Ate My Daughter Peggy Orenstein examines the triumphs and pitfalls navigating raising a daughter, in today’s mixed message world. From peer pressure and the need to fit in today’s society, young females have commercialism forced at them at every turn and in very clever ways. Doll creators have been pushing the boundaries of good taste with each new season launch. When the more “mature” actresses at the age of 17 feel the need to do something drastic to remove them from the wholesome image created for by company executives, mothers and consumers feel betrayed, and yet then we need to have a dialog with our kids as to why just last month Miley Cyrus was wonderful but now she is not okay for the viewing household.

Whilst reading Hal and Me, I've started to recall things that has similarly affected me in the past. When the author, Nicholas Carr, began to describe his story about his experience with the internet, I began to relate to it. First, I would like to say that I completely agree with his description of his brain being even more hungry for the net even after feeding it. Towards the end of the story, he mentions "..it was hungry. It was demnading to be fed the way the Net fed it- and the more it was fed, the hungrier it became." I was born in the generation of technology, maybe a bit earlier, yet it became a strong hold on American minds for as long as I remember. My experience with technology has overpowered my ability to do anything. It has also

Claire Standish or “the princess” portrays the stereotypical popular teenage girl in The Breakfast Club. She is in detention with everyone else because she decided to skip class and go shopping, which also plays into the stereotypical teen girl image. It can also be assumed that she is spoiled and rich since her father tried to get her out of detention but failed, and she mentions to the group that her parents only use her to get back at the other one. She brings a fancy lunch of sushi while the other teens either have nothing or the standard lunch one’s parents might pack for them. There are a couple of times in the movie that she brings up her social standing and could even be considered as looking down on those who are not as popular as her. Even closer towards the end of the movie she informs the others that if they were to say hello to her in the hallway in front of her friends, she would have no choice but to ignore them. By the end of the movie, she has opened up to everyone else about her fears of letting her peers down and has formed a close relationship with Bender.

Woolf’s essay is based on the symbolic meaning of the moth which she explicitly identifies as “little or nothing but life” (Woolf 57). Therefore, this “tiny bead of pure life” exists to “show us the true nature of life” which begins animated, innocent, and energetic, but eventually dwindles because it is overcome by “an oncoming doom” known as death (57). Juxtaposition is used because the moth is portrayed as a “tiny” and “pure” form of life while death is an unavoidable “doom.” The figurative meaning of this literal situation is examined as she says, “When there was nobody to care or to know, this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude, to retain what no one else valued or desired to keep, moved one strangely” (58). Here, Woolf is watching a small seemingly “insignificant” moth struggle to live while also observing the omnipotent

The Baroque period is an era of artistic style utilizing embellished motion, pure and effortlessly interpreted detail to yield drama, tension, exuberance, and opulence in representation. The opera “The Fairy Queen” by Henry Purcell is an excellent representation of the Baroque era in its inordinate application of all theatrical foundations, embroidered indications, and the selected focused elucidation to return melodrama, emotional tension, enthusiasm, and sumptuousness for the audience watching.

In the 1950’s the melodrama genre came to age and there is no better example than Douglas Sirk’s All that Heaven Allows. The melodrama followed some basic characteristics which can be identified in the film. First and foremost the narrative of the melodrama focused on the family. All that Heaven Allows follows the narrative of the typical melodrama but at the same time also challenges the social conventions. While Sirk follows many of the key themes he does so in a more detached fashion. The protagonist Cary is bound to her community by her social class. Change was occurring in society and the melodrama displayed people’s restraint to this. In All that Heaven Allows Sirk began his focus on the female and her desires in contrast to the more conservative male focused melodrama. As with the melodrama the legibility of the story, displayed through the plot, is simple and easy to follow. “Our engagement with the story depends on our understanding of the pattern of change and stability, cause and effect, time and space” (Bordwell and Thompson, 2008). The linear time flow of the film allows for it’s simple understanding. This is added to by the expressiveness of the melodrama, where everything is brought into the open and nothing is left unsaid. The expressiveness of the melodrama is also represented in the highly expressive mise-en-scene. Sirks use of colour, the human figure, camera work, lighting and music allow him to portray suppressed meaning and significance.

This symbolism Woolf applies to everyday human life, making us understand that death will all happen to us one day, when it is our time. There is no escaping death when it comes for us.

According to Judith Butler’s theory, gender is a social concept and not a natural part of being, therefore making it unstable and fluid. Gender identities are produced through what Butler calls “performativity,” the repetitive acts of expression that form and define the notions of masculinity and femininity. These repeated performances are engrained within the heteronormative society and impose these gendered expectations on individuals. In this respect, gender is something inherent in a person, however Butler writes “gender is always a doing, though not a doing by a subject who might be said to pre-exist the deed.” In Olga Tokarczuk’s House of Day, House of Night identity is undoubtedly central to the characters’ stories, specifically the strict social constructs of gender that is snarled with one’s identity. Tokarczuk’s novel presents a mosaic of stories that put into question heteronormative gender roles, while offering an alternative way of existence. Analyzing House of Day, House of Night with Judith Butler’s gender theory demonstrates the characters struggles within the rigid constructions of gender and how some ultimately deal with moving past such restricting expectations.