Mabel Beasley in Shiloh Essay

Connie is a young, immature character, who is incredibly self-conscious about her looks, and how people view her. She has a habit of constantly looking at herself in the mirror, and is often scolded at by her mother. Her mother compares Connie to her older sister, June, who receives all the praise. Her mother favors June because she is grown up and makes contributions to the home, as Connie is just in her own realm, usually daydreaming. This creates resentment towards her mother, and Connie wishes that her mother was dead. This most likely fuels her to gain the independence that she is looking for and become the mature adult she acts like outside the home. Connie had completely different

The minister then questions her but after his unsuccessful attempt, Mother’s actions become a scandal throughout the town because “any deviation from the ordinary course of life in this quiet town was enough to stop all progress in it” (C670). This does not bother Mother and she successfully continues with her plans. By overcoming this alienation both characters achieve feminine empowerment.

Her grandmother treats her badly. She acts as if Ellen is to blame for her daughter's death. This is how Ellen describes the beginning of hers’ and her grandmother’s relationship, “My mama’s mama picked me up in her long car that was like the undertaking car only hers was cream. I told Roy and Julia on more time I did not need to go. If we have to live together the least you could do is talk to me like you know I am in your car is what I thought to say to her. I figured she would warm up to me. But all she asked on the way to her house was when does school start again? Lord it just ended and I sure am looking forward to the summer at your house I said for the icebreaker. I asked you when school starts. I do not need the commentary is what she said back to me hot. So September. I said September. I said my answer quick and on time like the army way. I saluted in my head.” {P. 61}

Jody’s pride, materialism, and urge to dominant had turned him into a cold, bitter old man that was on his dying bed with kidney problems [Page 85]. This was the only time Janie had to tell him about the independence she had longed for during their marriage [Page 85]. She knows that Jody was a good husband in the aspects that he provided for her and had power. These were the things that Nanny Crawford had wanted for her. However, Janie the things she wanted which were love and independence in love. She also gained wisdom from her and Joe’s long time together. Janie did not have to leave Jody to get out of this marriage, because he died immediately after she told him all the problems she felt had been in their marriage.

Helen would have also been more prone to abuse, and other effects of low self-esteem. Some of the narcissistic characteristics Helen’s mother exhibits are her utter disregard for everything Helen says, speaking over her, her attention only engaged once benefits to her are involved, for instance: “Vice president! His income must be– does he know you’ve got a mother to support?” (Treadwell 17), and immediate overreaction to any criticism. Many children with narcissistic parents may have grown up in both neglectful and verbally abusive situations, but Helen’s situation would have been compounded beyond that as she seems to have grown up with only her mother as a parental figure. Helen’s father was revealed in the second act as, seemingly, long dead, leaving Helen alone to a single, powerful, influence. The Second character who exhibits the next most pressing issue is Helen’s husband, Mr. J, who proves himself to be a sexual predator. Helen’s physical repulsion such as when the Telephone Girl asks her “Why’d you flinch, kid?” (Treadwell 10) and her reactions to Mr. J touching her should really have been plenty of notice for him to stop. In the beginning, Mr. J has both status and rank, as her boss, over Helen, and this puts the relationship on shaky and inappropriate grounds due to Mr. J’s power over her. That he constantly touches her, treats her differently, and makes her feel indebted to

The characterizations of Connie’s family members have great effects on Connie. And Connie’s mother’s characterization is the main motivator for Connie’s rebellion. She always compares Connie with June, who is the “ideal daughter” in her eyes, and blames Connie for some little things, such as improper dressing and not having a tidy room. Oates suggests that the reason for Connie’s mother prohibiting Connie to dress up like an adult is that “ Her mother had been pretty once too” (Oates 1), but now “her looks were gone and that was why she always after Connie” (Oates 1). Therefore, she is jealous about Connie’s beauty and feels uncomfortable when seeing Connie wear beautiful outfits. Meanwhile, she likes June so much because June is obedient and plain, which makes her feel that she is dominant in the relationship. In the short story, Connie’s father is not given much description by the author, but

The characterizations of Connie’s family members have great effects on Connie. And onnie’s mother’s characterization is the main motivator for Connie’s rebellion. She always compares Connie with June, who is the “ideal daughter” in her eyes, and blames Connie for some little things, such as improper dressing and not having a tidy room. Oates suggests that the reason for Connie’s mother prohibiting Connie to dress up like an adult is that “ Her mother had been pretty once too” (Oates 1), but now “her looks were gone and that was why she always after Connie” (Oates 1). Therefore, she is jealous about Connie’s beauty and feels uncomfortable when seeing Connie wear beautiful outfits. Meanwhile, she likes June so much because June is obedient and plain, which makes her feel that she is dominant in the relationship. In the short story, Connie’s father is not given much description by the author, but his characterization has an effect on Connie as well. The irresponsible father spends little time with family and seldom has conversations to his daughters. When hearing his wife’s complain about Connie, he just bends his head with saying nothing, which makes Connie feels ignored and lonely. Urbanski states that “The father, who spent most of his time at work, is weak” (Urbanski 200) to reveals the father is not an active figure in his daughter’s life. Therefore, lacking of the company and communication of family members, Connie becomes upset. In addition, Connie’s sister June, who has the opposite characterization, is also one of the reasons for Connie’s rebellion. In Connie’s eyes, June is a

Leroy and Norma Jean are both victims of rapid social change. Norma Jean was the most affected by her surroundings comparing to Leroy. Norma Jean had to marry at the age of eighteen to the man who got her pregnant, and in a cruel twist of fate, the child dies of sudden infant death syndrome. This event from her life prevents her to look towards the

Their baby son died at an early age, of possible SIDS-Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. To have a child when they themselves are young, and then to have their child die suddenly and told by those who are trained and should be compassionate in situations like this, to say to a parent that it “just happens sometimes” is a very hard situation to handle even for more experienced parents. Dealing with death is difficult, and there are stages of grieving; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and eventually acceptance, sometimes a person is caught in one stage and never reach the acceptance stage, which can cause negative effects in relationships and other aspects of the person’s life. Leroy nor Norma Jean more than likely did not receive counseling to deal with the difficulty of losing a child in such a sudden unexplained way, and it appears that they didn’t communicate about it with each other, which was not healthy for their

Mabel 's Strange Predicament is a 1914 American comedy film starring Charles Chaplin, famously known for being the first time Chaplin wears the tramp costume. The movie was token place in a hotel lobby. A drunk man, the tramp, runs into Mabel and tries to engage in a conversation. Mabel walks away and goes on a date with her lover. Once Mabel returns, she goes to her room and plays with her dog. While leaving her room for a quick moment, the door closes and she gets locked out in her pajamas. The tramp comes up the stairs and finds her. He tries to grab her but she escapes. As she tries to hide, she enters the room next to hers and hides under the bed. In the room is a man whose wife recently left to complain to the manager about Mabel. Her lover comes and knocks on Mabel’s door to visit but gets no response; he decides to wait for her with his friend, Mabel’s neighbor. Soon he discovers Mabel under the bed and assumes that she is having an affair with the neighbor. The wife enters the room and assumes the same as the lover. After fighting, Mabel is kicked out and finds the tramp again. The lover fights off the tramp and realizes it was the drunken man’s fault that Mabel was hiding under the bed. Mabel and her lover reconcile while the older couple continue to fight. This film shows a great representation of the time period and what we learned because of how it demonstrated the views of women, black, and drunkeness.

Frances is a very demanding character that seems to take the leadership role in everything she does. She is depicted as the dominant one in her relationship with Cohn. When she is talking to Jake about Cohn leaving her the reader is shown a vulnerable side of her for the first time. During her conversation with Jake the reader learns that she truly does love Cohn by the way that she quickly got a divorce without trying to get money out of her ex-husband. Without Cohn she would not be as successful as the reader would think her to be because of the way she compares herself to him. She relies on him financially even though it seems like she is the breadwinner in the relationship, which is why she fears Cohn leaving her. In a way she tries to

A point comes where both Norma Jean and Jocasta believe that they have defeated their obstacles. Norma Jean takes Leroy to Shiloh, a battlefield in the South, in hopes of telling him that she soon will be leaving him and the marriage they once had. While picnicking near a cemetery, Norma Jean builds up enough strength to finally tell Leroy, "I want to leave you" (500). Surprising Leroy with this bold statement, Norma Jean thinks that she has acknowledged the ending of their marriage, and the preparation for this moment has paid off. Little does Norma Jean know of what is about to happen in her life. Jocasta also has a period of time when she believes that she has won her fight. She refuses to let fate rule her life. Jocasta assumes that she has defied fate when her husband, Laius, was supposedly killed by a group of men, and she had her son killed to save her husband from this ill fate. Jocasta explains to Oepidus, one night, how she manages to defy fate:

‘I have no bloody idea how mothers and daughters get along, or even if it is possible. I’m winging it,’ Mandy said. Mandy’s mother Sal died a few months before Mandy’s 16th birthday.

In the story Shiloh, Norma Jean faces many dilemmas involving gender roles. To begin with she got married when she was 18 which resulted in her having a baby. Her mom, Mabel, didn't want her to have a kid knowing that it wasn't going to turn out good, which was proven correct when Norma lost her baby at 4 months old. Since then she had been living with her husband Leroy, who happened to hardly be home due to work. Throughout that whole time while Leroy worked, she stayed home like a typical housewife but things started to change after some time. Norma started getting used to his absence, provoking her to do her own thing and to become her own person. For once she had felt independendent like she was able to do her own things instead of living up to everyones else expectations. When Leroy got into the car accident at work that drastically affected Norma preventing

This is the story of a girl. Her name was April-May. April-May loved to go to parties and dance, but what she really loved to do was spend time with her mother. April-May’s mother was an older woman, seeing that April-May was twenty-three years old.