Literary Analysis: A Sorrowful Woman

Our human species is dated back to more than 200,000 years ago, now if we can attain a significant lesson that our ancestors have passed down to us, it would definitely be to keep learning and writing. Many past generations and societies have been destroyed by diseases, famine, and due to their lack of knowledge and their capability to reason. Considering the Egyptians were very intelligent, few of their inventions that we still use till this day are geometry, the pen, and papyrus, which is used as paper. But even so, they were wiped out by the thousands from diseases. However, humans have yet to reach their highest potential but by attaining knowledge through literature, one can endure lessons from the past without having to experience it.

In "A Sorrowful Woman" the wife is depressed with her life, so much so, "The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again"(p.1). This wife and mother has come to detest her life, the sight of her family,

In a world usually depicted as a “man’s world,” a woman’s role is not considered as significant and thus can be repressed. It is why a feminist perspective or criticism comes into place, especially in literature. By definition, a feminist criticism consist of scrutinizing “the ways in which literature reinforces the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women.” (Tyson) In Gail Godwins’s A Sorrowful Woman, the leading female character is concentrated in her efforts in distancing from her structured lifestyle. A feminist would critic Godwins story by as the female character is in pursuit of peace and happiness and wants to escape from the role she has been implanted. The critic would concentrate on the experience woman

Have you suffered and feel disappointment in your life? Who is willing to support to you without any reason when you fail in doing something? The answer is your family. Usually, family members can tolerate our mistakes and help us to solve our personal problems. Many people believe that having a family is happiness and they don’t need to be alone and support with each other. The family life is a very important to discuss because our attitude on the family value may effect to our views toward the world. In the article “ The Color of Families Ties: Race, Class, Gender, and Extended Family Involvement”, Gerstel and Sarkisian argued that that the social class did not make the poor family had weaker ties and the relationship between the extended family members was more fragment. Actually, Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian claimed that financial problems create weak ties among the color family.

A life as a wife and/or a mother, is usually appreciated and is a happy life as well. A relationship between two people should consist of joy, commitment, responsibility, and most importantly love. For the two main characters in both stories ( “The Story of An Hour”, and “A Sorrowful Woman” ) this was not the case. The stories go against societies view with marriage roles and happiness.

The essay starts with a very simple definition of a family, accompanied by an explanation of the relationship between family structure and the strength of the link between different people forming the family in question. The introduction has been put in a simple language to provide a fluid understanding of what the reader should expect throughout the text. Literal tools like proverbs and similes have been applied. There is a clear language connection of cultural legacy and a family unit where the authors explain that legacy in the society does not determine how different ethnicities connect with the family unit. Gertsel and Sarkasian believe that deliberations made on family responsibilities tend to pay more attention to nuclear family as opposed to the general family unit. The language used here implies that the general meaning of extended family unit is ignored or in some cases misrepresented.

“A Sorrowful Woman” features a superficially simple narration style. “Now the days were too short. She was always busy,” Stylistically clipped, with a clear passive, detached, voice the narration style seems to be a banal, unimportant feature of the text. Yet the exact mendacity that prompts this description actually serves as a prerequisite to developing an understanding for the principal character’s mindset, and consequently the theme of the text. The last passage contains numerous examples of detached narration but the clearest occurs when “She was always busy. She woke with the first bird. Worked till the sun set. No time for hair brushing. Her fingers raced the hours.” The concise, third person narration in this segment allows the reader to experience the slightly off viewpoint of ‘the mother.’ Specifically, given the lack of motivation present through the text coupled with the concluding suicide it becomes evident in the text that ‘the mother’ is suffering from depression. Given the societal stigma surrounding mental illness authors generally face an uphill

Reading literature is a difficult task for many people. Most of the time, people have their own idea as to what they may think a specific work of literature means. Interpretations can vary from person to person because of their background, experiences, etc. The poem I chose for myself and two others to interpret is “Two Old Women” by Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney. I have never read any work from this specific author which is one of the reasons I chose this poem. I thought it would be refreshing to interpret a poem that was outside of the authors that I learned about in class. According to the textbook’s footnote, this text is from Gleanings. The poem has 20 lines and about ten stanzas. Overall, the poem is about two older women having a conversation about life and they both state their view on what they believe their life has been like and what they think it will be like in the future.

As further promises them protection in case they are in problem, using all the languages available to convenience them. This scene shows how the society is strong in defining a person’s course of action that is against the values gained in a family.

Ruta Sepetys. Through this nail-biting adventure, you will encounter the same agonizing events as those like Lina and her family in June 1941. Surely, any sane person will feel the sorrowful events that the Lithuanians had felt during the barbaric events that took place during the duration of World war 2. Specifically, why I felt this mood was due to me thinking of the discriminatory events that took place in the book. Particularly in chapter 26 when Lina: a 15 year old girl, was forced to strip in front of NKVD officers along with many other women. Just to have the privilege to take a shower. Though 1 officer looked away, the rest continued to stare blissfully

One of the first complexities that "The Dead Woman," a poem written in the first person by Pablo Neruda, exhibits can be clearly seen in the first three lines: "If suddenly you do not exists, / if suddenly you no longer live, / I shall go on living" (Neruda, "The Dead Woman," YEAR, 1-3). Neruda talks about someone or something that is in existence right now in the moment but he speculates on the death of this thing. Because he writes, "I shall go on living," the reader immediately wonders about the kind of relationship that Neruda has with this thing that might die. Is this an ordinary love? The lines would seem to imply that it is not, that there is something, in fact, unordinary about it something beyond special. Why would this thing die suddenly as well? Wouldn't that be a bigger shock to someone to have something taken away from him suddenly? This poses a paradox from the beginning. The theme of the poem seems to be about giving up old things, people and ways. It also seems to have an element about dealing with the unconscious mind. Neruda is speculating on death and what life will be like for him after the fact of this thing's death. There is a spiritual element to this poem and an overall theme of getting on with life after a major loss. The poem carries this element throughout the entire poem, which adds unity and fluidity at the same time.

The second problem is that there a huge hierarchy in the family. Fathers are at the top whereas sons are at the bottom in the hierarchy. In some situations, this hierarchy deters the relationship among the family members. For example, father with make any decision without discussion to other family members. Even there is a wrong decision, others cannot challenge him. And the father would stand to his decision even he know he did a wrong decision later in order to maintain his status. Therefore, the family cannot operate efficiently and sometimes make a wrong decision.

The story that is A Sorrowful Woman seems to be a story told from the point of view of a narrator who focuses only slightly on the inner conflict of one of the main charters in the story. The character of which I am speaking is never referred to by name, instead is called she, the woman, mommy, and wife throughout the entire story which lends credence to the conclusion of the viewpoint as being told from the outside. The first indication that the focus of the story will be not of a warm and loving nature is the line “The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them again”(1). This is where a hypothesis can begin to be formed as to who the antagonist of the story is, bearing the statement above in

Society is composed of many elements based on values, traditions, cultures, government’s policies etc.; and family is one of the main basic ingredients, forming the society. Therefore, as the society changes its element, family is also forced to change the flow of life. Yet, during the past 50 years, our society has undergone big social transformations which are seen as “dramatic and unparallel changes” or a “veritable revolution”. Thus, the two basic forms of family, the extended family and the

In the story “The God of Small Things," the term family can be defined as persons that an individual cares about. The obligations of the family members appear to be influenced by the bold ties. Despite the disputes among some family members, the blood ties obligate them to express care and love towards one another. Just like in real life situations, the novel explains that family relations can be frustrating, complicated, and confusing. In most cases, it is apparent that most individuals are forced by the family ties to stick together. The failure to express care towards one another is seen as one of the factors that prompt families to fall apart.