Imagery In Ron Hansen's Mariette In Ecstasy

In the novel The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich, the main character, Agnes, goes through many transformations throughout the course of the novel, be that spiritual, gendered, or in the basis of identity. Agnes’s identity, both as a female and as Father Damien, is an imperfect example of syncretism, as they appear at certain times as two distinct individuals, and at others, the individual identities are indiscernible. Syncretism is a term related to the concept of hybridity, and is defined as “…the fusion of two distinct traditions to produce a new and distinctive whole (Ashcroft).” In this case, syncretism is being examined in the context of the combination of Agnes’s gendered identities to form one new person, distinct from what it began as. To fully become Agnes, at the beginning of the novel, the main character strips her identity as Sister Cecilia. He past experiences in some way influence her opinions and actions, but she no longer identifies as Sister Cecilia as a person. Agnes’s transformation into Father Damien is drastically different. In adopting his identity as her own, Agnes retains her feminine, drawing on both individuals at separate times when the situation calls for it, and retains both identities until right before her death. There are times during the novel when, if not for the gendered pronouns used by the author, it would be impossible to distinguish which identity has taken control, thus alluding to a single, new

Marie is from a reservation that discouraged her to find herself in a city full of white people. The white people that she interacts with gives a stereotype that whites are selfish and she has no sympathy for them. Others around her see her as mischievous and a sense of neglection to reality, “Ms. Polatkin, I hardly see how the murder of one poor man has anything to do with the study of Native American literature” she savors the moment that white people are getting what they deserve (Alexie 61). While being an Indian women she was stubborn and got what she wanted. The miscreatiny of Justin Summers death was caused by Marie and her taste for fully manipulating someone, “Women kill with knives” her aggression got the best of her of (Alexie 332). She wants to feel important and heard by others so she protests and goes to dances to embrace her full voice. The killer makes a statement every time they strike because it shows resistance and disobedience. In society sometimes dancing his frown apart in comparison to killing, “the killer plans on dancing forever” Marie will dance and kill forever. In every woman there are motherly instincts whether it is to care for someone such as a child or if it is being disappointed in someone and wishing for better Marie expresses her care of the young boy Mark Jones by returning him to his home unharmed. Curiosity can haunt the mind and lead others into

Guibert of Nogent was a French monk, who had been born in 1055 and died circa 1125. There had been complications during his birth, which made his family fear for both his life and his mother’s. Desperate, his family rushed to their chapel where they, vowed to the Virgin Mary that, as Guibert puts it, “if the child were male, it would be consecrated a cleric in God’s service and hers.” Naturally, this vow dictated much of Guibert’s life and molded him into a genuinely religious man. Guibert wrote his autobiography at the monastery of Nogent in 1115, when he was sixty years old, under the title of Monodiae, meaning “Solitary Songs.” The autobiography genre was practically nonexistent at this time, so Guibert modeled his text after the most

Fleur by Louise Erdrich has a lot of interesting imagery and symbols used to describe the characters. In my opinion, it is pretty easy for most of the characters to see whether they are the good guys and the bad guys, but one character in particular is quite difficult to figure out: Pauline. Though the association of Pauline with images of invisibility and disregard of initially suggest that she is powerless, those qualities ultimately turn out to give her great power, which she comically uses to end the vicious and repetitive cycle of uniformity caused by the men.

Fictional characters are persons that, when enlivened through careful, skillful writing and articulate literary elements, are incredible and relatable figures in any thoughtful novel. In Under The Feet of Jesus, the vibrant and distinct character of Estrella is thoroughly expressed as a young and passionate girl who struggles with her understanding of things that aren’t familiar— such “foreign alphabets” and Perfecto’s tools. Estrella is consumed in these emotions towards things she doesn’t understand, or know for sure, and expresses her moods without restraint. Helena María Viramontes, the author of Under The Feet of Jesus, uses selection of detail and figurative language to further develop this same iron-willed and impassioned character

In addition, she had built a comfortable environment with Dr. Stone who later realizes that he has been in love with her for the past seven years of her service (Verghese p. 42, 2009). Matron knows that Sister Mary Joseph Praise is pregnant, but tries to find another cause of her excessive bleeding and comatose state due to her social status as a nun (Verghese p. 46, 2009). The birth of a child would be a miracle in most situations, but the finding of Sister Mary Joseph’s pregnancy is described as “sacrilegious” from not partaking in the nun’s duty of celibacy (Verghese p. 47, 2009). Due to the strong social support that Sister Mary Joseph Praise felt, she was more inclined to stray away from a life of celibacy. With proper contraception, Mary would have a much lower chance of getting pregnant, altering her behavioral determinant of health that lead to her

In "Living like Weasels", author Annie Dillard uses rhetorical devices to convey that life would be better lived solely in a physical capacity, governed by "necessity", executed by instinct. Through Dillard's use of descriptive imagery, indulging her audience, radical comparisons of nature and civilization and anecdotal evidence, this concept is ultimately conveyed.

In Helena Maria Viramontes Under The Feet Of Jesus, the protagonist, Estrella, transforms from being confused and filled with rage towards her lack of understanding of objects with simple but significant means to a more mature, and improved grasp of the importance of this knowledge. Additionally, Estrella exemplifies curiosity and perseverance in her surroundings. Her development is revealed through the use of literary devices such as tone, selection of detail, and figurative language.

In Helena Maria Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus, a young girl struggles to find importance and meaning in anything that she does or is ‘wanting’ to do. Additionally, her not being able to understand the language of this country, she struggles to understand and find meaning to things she does not yet understand. The protagonists’ character begins to slowly comprehend and unearth meaning in a simple tool box, which is a mere representation of herself; as she then tries to learn new things, causing her character to grow significantly. The author uses a strong selection of detail, figurative language and macaronic language in order to show the growth of Estrella’s character.

Laura Hillenbrand’s biography titled Unbroken recounts the life of Louie Zamperini and major events that occurred throughout it. Hillenbrand’s purpose was to emphasize the inspirational story of heroic Zamperini as he qualified and participated in the Olympics, as well as describe the endless struggle of pain in the plane crash and in the Japanese POW camps. She also portrays the importance of dignity and resilience and how without it, the chances of surviving the cruel events Louie experienced during World War II would have been minimal.

Joan Aiken’s short story, “The Third Wish,” tells a story of a man named Mr. Peters who one day comes across a swan tangled in thorns and struggling to be free. After freeing the bird he is greeted by a king who grants the man three wishes and gives the man three leaves to make the wishes with. His first wish is a wife, and the kings gives him a wife. Later on, the wife becomes depressed and tells the man that she was a swan before and wanted to be back with her sister. He uses his second wish to turn his wife back into a swan, and releases her back into the pond. He does not use his third wish after that for a while. Joan Aikens uses several craft elements frequently throughout his piece. Three main elements that stood out to me were imagery, descriptive details, and poetic devices.

“The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen is a short story that takes place during World War II in London, England. The main character, Mrs. Drover travels by herself to the bombed city to return to her boarded-up house. While gathering belongings, Mrs. Drover notices particular and out of place that begins to haunt her. The reader witnesses her mental state deteriorate as she begins dreaming of safety. The use of vivid imagery and flashbacks in “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen develops the mysterious and paranoid mood throughout the piece of literature.

Steve Cutts' imagery in the short film "Happiness" touches on some aspects of depression. The main character sees many signs about happiness and where to buy it, resulting in the rat going out and spending money on a car and a flatscreen TV. Every time that he "buys" happiness it appears as though another item is for sale for a greater amount of happiness. The rat begins to realize that the materialistic objects do not possess the ability to make him genuinely happy. As his feelings decline, the rat spies a bottle of alcohol, drinks bottle after bottle, throwing him into a short coma.

When watching, “Alice in Wonderland” as a child of course I didn’t know what Schizophrenia was, therefore I didn’t recognize or look for this in the character of Alice. After doing research and re-watching the film, it became clearer to me that Alice does in fact show symptoms of Schizophrenia.

Guy De Maupassant’s story “Two Friends” contains many parallels to his own life. Maupassant inserts all his opinions on bravery, patriotism, and war into this short story he is writing. Maupassant’s ways of storytelling are very evident in the short story. Morissot and Sauvage are the primary focus of this story. A watchmaker who went by the name Morissot and Sauvage who is a draper and tailor in Paris. A colonel gives Morissot and Sauvage a password so they can go back into the city. Near the end of the day, the two get captured by Prussians. The officer of the Prussians demands that the two give him the password, or he will kill them. The two refuse to speak except to say goodbye to one another, and they end up executed. This essay will examine Two Friends by Guy De Maupassant and how the author has used literary elements in creating this short story.