Miriam by Tuman Capote: Who is Miriam?

The article on the fantasy within the novella reveals the debate of the governess’s mental state during her time with the children. The debacle that can be depicted within the work can be surrounded through the idea that her fantasies represent the point in which she is at her most anxious. When her anxiety reaches a certain peak, the ghost then appears. This can especially be seen just before the first sighting, when she says, “I was giving pleasure-if he ever thought of it! - to the person to whose pressure I had yielded” (38). The pressure she is experiencing allows her mental state to bring out the fantasy aspect of the apparition. Using Zacharias’s article, the audience can see the fantasy is a mechanism that is used by the governess and

I believe that Miriam is not real, I believe that shes just part of Mrs.Millers imagination. The first thing that led me to this conclusion was her appearance. "Her hair was the longest and strangest Mrs. Miller had ever seen: absolutely silver-white, like an albino’s." her hair indeed is unusual for a young girl. If shes part of Mrs.Miller imagination, she might be imagining some aspects of herself in Miriam ( which might symbolize Mrs.Millers old age) There's something else i noticed while i was reading the story, i noticed that Miriam always avoided questions that could be answered if she was real ( but shes not), for example when they were about to watch the movie Mrs.Millers asked her "Your mother knows where you are, dear? I mean she

As I interviewed Annie Filban about her personal experience with spirits, I found to my judgment that it seemed she based a lot of her belief in her story upon faith. Even though she believed something was in fact out of the norm, and was making peculiar movements and noise in her home, she was

Miller is not feeling good that night and she is having strange dreams as a symbol

The seclusion endured by the narrator causes a dramatic change in her mental state. Her surroundings are now coming alive within the walls around her. “I didn’t realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman” (736). Initially, the figure witnessed around the walls was merely just the shadow projected from the narrator creeping around the paper. Now this shadow is taking on not just any life form but ironically the form of a woman. Just like the narrator is trapped within the barred windows of the mansion, the woman is trapped within the patterns of the paper. This parallel view is transforming the narrator’s identity within the walls of the paper. However, this obsession begins to heighten. She begins to see the woman through every window in the bedroom. She appears to be creeping not only around the walls but now outside in the garden and along the

At first, the protagonist talks about the house that she and her husband were to stay at for a short while. She does not hesitate to describe what her first impressions were on the house because she states that it was rather strange building that had a haunted effect from looking at it. Not only this, but she also introduces her husband and physician, John. John is described as a person with “no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (Gilman 364). Not only is the narrator consciously observant of her circumstances, but she is able to think for herself and formulate logical claims. For example, Gilman writes about how the narrator is frequently seen as a schizophrenic, possessed, and absolutely insane individual whose mind only continues to deteriorate rather than an individual who understands the situation and can conscientiously create questions and thoughts about what she is experiencing. Greg Johnson writes, “Her experience should finally be viewed not as a catastrophe but as a terrifying, necessary stage in her

Matt Berman from Common Sense Media commented, “This richly textured novel, woven from the strands of small-town life, lets readers walk in the shoes of one fully realized character after another.” To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the major messages is identity. Harper Lee lets the people look into the perspectives and identity of some of the characters that make it seem very life-like. In the novel, many characters possess both admirable and dislikable qualities which are shown through their actions. With the nurturing of her father, Scout contains the charming qualities of being courage and mature for her age. The father that instilled these characteristics in Scout, is Atticus Finch. While dealing with the stressful case of Tom Robinson, Atticus maintains to keep the likable aspects of sympathy and strong will. The antagonist in this novel fighting against Tom Robinson is Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell has instilled, in him, the terrible qualities of cruelty and racism. These life-like characters that Harper Lee illustrates gives people a clear vision of who the characters portray.

Non-fiction writings, such as a history or biography, are based on facts, real events, and real people. These writings can be presented as either objective or subjective and written in the form of personal essays, reports, and biographies. But, no matter what type non-fiction, the factual content of these writings can always be questioned as to whether or not it is actually accurate. In fact, many non-fiction sources, even if they focus on the same topic, often give different facts and information that does not match up with what another source says. As evidence, various non-fiction sources containing information on the “unsinkable” Molly Brown display multiple variations of her life story. Looking at different sources of Molly Brown’s

Capote continues to flashback to Perry’s childhood in several parts of the book. We mainly learn about his parents Tex and Flo, his siblings James, Joy, and Debora. His mother, Flo, became a drunk and did a poor job at attending to her children. His father, Tex, could not handle the uncooperation of his mother so he left. Perry’s siblings were heavily influenced by their mother on their view of their father. Perry was the only one who loved his father unconditionally.

The Role of Martha in The Things They Carried In The Things They Carried, Martha was a woman who Lieutenant Cross had deep feelings for. He was truly in love with her even though he knew she probably did not feel the same way. Martha sent Cross letters that he cherished so much, he spent most of his time reading them. Martha had Cross’s mind focused completely on her instead of what was going on in his surroundings.

In the story, the reader can note the use of indirect and direct characterization to visualize character Mrs.Miller before and after she met Miriam. Before she met Miriam “her interests were little and she had no friends to speak of” (page 1 Capote) To me, this examplifies that as said before, Mrs.Miller is quite lonely and blane although she has very little interests which means she’s probably home a lot and rarely goes anywhere which may cause her to become insane in the long run. Since Mrs.Miller is so isolated and rarely goes out there may be a possibility she could develop a sickness, such as schizophrenia which would cause her to imagine things and think of situations with Miriam that are just a fragment of her imagination. When the readers read the book they see that as Mrs.Miller went to the movie theatre and met Miriam, she changed to a more alive person than what she was before she met her, which in my opinion proves that maybe Miriam had changed Mrs.Miller by just talking to her for that short amount of time. Although, we see Miriam go to Mrs.Millers house later that day, she tries to get Mrs.Miller to give stuff to her and she also tries to get Mrs.Miller to kiss her as shes leaving. Later on that night Mrs.Miller is sick and goes to rest. The following morning Mrs.Miller stayed in bed “only rising once to feed the canary and drink a cup of tea” (page 8 Capote) This means that Mrs.Miller had gotten a little shooken-up on how Miriam showed up last night, so maybe that’s just the beginning of her insanity.

One reason that Miriam is a figment of Mrs. Millers imagination is who Mrs. Miller is. Mrs. Miller is described as “a widow: Her interests were narrow, she had no friends to speak of, and she rarely journeyed farther than the corner grocery. The other people in the house never seemed to notice her” (Capote 147). Mrs. Miller is an ageing widow who has nobody in her life. She is coming on seventy and has no loved ones to care about and no friends to talk to.

The short story, “Miriam,” by Truman Capote was first published in Mademoiselle in 1946. It was one of the first short stories published by Capote, who would later become a legendary writer. The story is interesting on multiple different levels, with great character development as well as the mystery behind the antagonist, young Miriam. At times, the story takes on something of a chilling tone in a way that is reminiscent of classic horror writers such as Edgar Allan Poe. However, while the suspenseful nature of much of the story hints at a macabre ending this anticipated ending never comes about. Instead, the reader is left wondering what the true

The Turn of the Screw is one of the most controversial works in literature and the text has provoked a variety of critical interpretations from its publication in 1898. In this novel, the governess tells her experience with two apparitions that no one but she could see. And the governess accuses the ghosts of servants for corrupting the children, Miles and Flora. Critics concerning about the truth of the story are divided two basic camps based on their acceptance or rejection of the governess's credibility as a storyteller. Some critics believe that the ghosts are real and the governess is a rational and credible narrator, while the others believe that the ghosts are hallucinations of the governess and regard the governess as an incredible and mentally abnormal narrator. Also, we could speculate the author’s intention on the basis of his life experience and other works of Henry James. This essay will examine the reliability of the governess on the basis of the text and interpret Henry James’s intention on the basis of other sources.

The very setting of the fireside at which Griffin's guests swap stories establishes an atmosphere with which many of us are familiar. We can all relate to sitting around a fire exchanging ghost stories. By employing this particular narrative frame James encourages the reader to abandon their scepticism and give themselves over to a belief in the ghosts. The reader shares in the eagerness of the guests to be frightened; to be delighted by horror. Upon seeing Douglas' distress at the thought of the tale he must tell, and its "dreadful - dreadfulness", one of the female guests actually cries, "Oh how delicious!"5