Mark Twain states in his essay on the Decay of the Art of Lying that “No fact is more firmly established than that lying is a necessity of our circumstances” The characters in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof often deny their circumstances and outright lie to one and another about their personal lives. However, these lies are spoken out of necessity, at the expense of social ranking and past remembrance. Tennessee Williams communicates to readers that verbal abuse and inabilities to tell the truth create unclear communication which breaks down relationships.
Big Daddy hasn't demonstrated any gratefulness for Big Mama's affections or apprehension for his condition. Throughout the novel, all the characters know that Big Daddy is dying of cancer, except Big Daddy. Big Daddy is a very invective husband towards Big Mama and it appears through his actions and selection of words “All I ask of that woman is that she leave me alone..” (William 98). He had no enthusiasm for the woman he wedded over forty years and quite recently has the dauntlessness to express it. Big Mama cherishes Big Daddy with all her heart and is more than ever devastated about his health situation. Big Mama manifests her affection for Big Daddy: “In all these years you never believed that I loved you??” (William 80). She even continues explaining that she loved him depict his hardness and hate (William 80). Big Mama deserves a more meritorious man than Big Daddy and should not have to put up with his disrespectful
When both involved do not effectively communicate with each other, a distant marriage may lead to discontent for all. Sinclair Ross’s short story, “The Painted Door”, deals with the growing dissatisfaction and loneliness of a farmer’s wife, Ann, who feels alone as her husband deals with the harsh conditions of the environment. This story demonstrates how deeply communication can affect a marriage, be it bad or good. One of the most fundamental elements of a healthy relationship is communication. Lack of communication in a relationship can result to severe consequences. Irrespective of the kind of relationship, lack of communication magnifies issues in a relationship undermining the very foundation of the relationship. The success of any relationship relies on one's ability to communicate well. Communication is important in relationships as it allows us to share our interest, concerns, support each other. John is a simple farmer who thinks the only way he can please his wife, is by working all day to earn money for her. However, Ann would prefer he spend more time with her. Their relationship is stressed even further when Ann is left at home alone with nothing to think about but their relationship because John has to go to his father’s house. The terrible snow storm accentuates Ann’s feelings of loneliness and despair. These feelings lead Ann to seek comfort and companionship from Steven, the attractive friend of her husband, John, thus leading to John's suicide.
Mama really looks at herself as a strong women that could do anything a man could, if not better. She is built like a man and even dresses like one too. Without a doubt Mama could, and will always, provide for her family. Mama “can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall.” (Everyday Use pg1). As one could see, Mama is in fact very masculine, and could pull her own weight, physically and metaphorically. Mama isn’t skinny but, her “fat keeps her hot in zero weather” (Everyday Use pg1). Mama “can work outside all day, and breaking ice to get water for washing clothes” (Everyday Use pg1). Even though Mama is such a strong woman, there are many flaws, but not so much with her, more of her family. Her youngest daughter, Maggie, was burned in a house fire, which has left her broken and battered, and her oldest, Dee, was her bright child, who Mama always adored and loved. Maggie was always overlooked because she was never the pretty one nor the smartest one. Mama was so proud of Dee, because Dee is going to college to expand her knowledge and she had a bright
The most difficult time in a child's relationship with his/her parents is mainly during its teenage years. These are times of rebellion, disagreement, strong emotion, psychological changes and sexual experimentation just to name a few. In Mary Gaitskill's short story "Tiny, Smiling Daddy", the main theme "of how people seek intimacy but don't know how to achieve it" (Gaitskill, 289) is conveyed by the author through the characters, symbolism and setting and imagery.
Have you ever wondered why it can be so hard to tell the truth, or why it seems better to tell a lie? In both F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Rob Marshall’s Chicago, characters lie because they feel that it is easier. However, lying leads to a downward- spiral. The society we live in can either lead us to a complicated relationship with the truth or easy going. The problem with constantly telling lies is that it starts off with one then leads to another until everything you say is a lie. People know it is easier to tell lies than face the truth because they are either doing it for money, or protection for themselves, people they love, or relationships. Yes, telling lies can help but imagine the damage you’re building up on the way. Nobody likes liars and liars can be found anywhere, even families lie to each other. Relationships are just like thin pieces of paper that make small tears to it every time a lie is told. The paper can be put back together but it will never be the same or be seen the same.
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying examines the connections and disconnections between speech, silence, and the meaning of words. However, having words is as good as having no words because the characters in this book, especially the members of the Bundren family, use words that obfuscate their true emotions. Faulkner uses his characters to portray speech as just another factor of nominalism and allows only silence to present the truth.
In a healthy relationship, both parties should be able to openly confide in one another, and understand that the other’s intentions are to benefit the other and yet respectfully compromise on decisions together. With that said, in Sinclair Ross’s short story entitled The Painted Door, the message of how lack of communication can result in dire circumstances is exquisitely envisioned. Moreover, as the seemingly conventional young rural couple’s story gradually progresses, the implications of Ann, the emotionally suppressed wife of John being left alone during an unbearable blizzard fatally brings to end their partnership. Through symbolism and other literary devices, Ross cleverly constructs the themes of isolation and loyalty in this 1939
Mama says this after Beneatha tells Mama that there is nothing left in her brother, Walter to love. Mama’s dream of a better quality of life is deferred because she has carry the responsibility of tending to a family with so much indifference and of holding together the few pieces of her family left together.
Loyalty is a powerful force. Oftentimes it blindsides us and causes us to support things we would not normally. Even do things that we despise. William Faulkner’s Barn Burning illustrates just such a case. Presenting a young boy’s progression from a loyal child, to an independent man as a conflict of loyalty and morals. This boy, Sarty, battles his own forming morals versus his father’s decisions, which leads to his development from child to adult. Faulkner writes his characters progression in five stages: blind loyalty, repressed disagreements, open questioning, and attempted reasoning with his father, before finally taking action to contradict his father.
In The Circle by David Eggers, all personal secrets are considered deception. Withholding the most insignificant opinion or experience is tantamount to a blatant lie. Therefore, the central character Mae deceives her viewers when she partakes in private conversations with her friend Annie. Eggers uses Mae’s internal conflict over privacy and her eventual confession to express how idealism can delude an individual’s morality.
Communication is undoubtedly an essential component of a healthy relationship. In every good relationship, partners are able to communicate with each other to discuss problems and issues that may be affecting the relationship. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, many different relationships are examined and the complexities of human connections are observed. The novel is set in the 1920s, a few years after the end of World War 1. It was a time when having fun was most people’s main priority, and partying and drinking was an essential part of everyday life. Because of the devastating effects of the war, many people adopted the ‘live life to the fullest” mentality. Because of this mentality, sexual promiscuity was a very prominent part of everyday life and married people were often unfaithful to their spouse. Communication was not generally prioritized in most relationships and resulted in unhealthy or even abusive relationships. Therefore, each couple’s problems are a result of the lack of communication displayed in each relationship.
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.
In “A Rose for Emily” and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Faulkner and Gilman employ point of view to question gender roles and mental health. Faulkner uses a third-person point of view in order to narrate the story from the perspective of the town. The perspective of an outsider looking in on Emily’s life highlights her lack of control as a woman and later, a lack of control she has over herself. The distant narrator creates a barrier to fully understanding Emily’s character and reflects how the town does not truly know her and her secrets. In contrast, Gilman uses a first-person point of view to narrate from the protagonist’s perspective. The utilization of an unreliable narrator allows for more understanding of the protagonist’s character, but less understanding of her situation as a whole. Moreover, the protagonist only writes when her husband John is not around which provides further insight into her deteriorating mental condition and the lack of control she has as a woman. Faulkner and Gilman use different narrative perspectives to achieve similar results. Each point of view hides or highlights the female character in order to reveal the struggles and insufficient help they receiving. These stories provide commentary on common issues for women and mental illness for their time period.
Mama, however, is strong, spiritual and eager to help her children in any way she can. She values family above and beyond all else, but has the deep insight into the other character's motivations even when she doesn't agree. In the middle of the play (at the fuse for the final conflict), she recognizes that Walter is miserable because no one believes in him and his dreams. She gives him a large chunk of the insurance check to invest in a liquor store even thought she doesn't agree with it. She trusts him with it and, when he loses the money to a "trusted friend," she becomes enraged and begins to physically attack him. However, by the next scene she has forgiven him and tells her daughter that she should do the same; "There is always something to love: when do you think the time is to love somebody the most? It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in hisself 'cause the world done whipped him so!" With those words, Mama seems to symbolize all that is good, solid and peaceful in the world.
Modern literature is known for questioning society and its various conventions. One question that these works often ask is, “What is real?” Some modern authors explore this question by placing their characters within self-constructed illusions that are later shattered by the introduction of reality. Marriages are frequently at the center of this theme, with one spouse crafting an illusory impression of the other. Modern literature demonstrates that a marriage built upon illusion will falter when exposed to reality.
Set in the Antebellum South, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn documents a landscape that differs greatly from the poised and picturesque scene associated with the contemporary South. Today’s South is synonymous with with ice cold pitchers of tea, ceaseless etiquette exuded on wraparound porches, and seemingly romantic drawls. However, the South that Huck resides in, tells a different story. Specifically, his South is a place where suitable behavior is associated with the acceptance of slavery, and racist slurs pepper every sentence. As a result, any deviation from these behaviors leaves an individual ironically branded with a connotation of being uncivilized. Due to this distorted view of ethics, any character with even a shred