Open Ironically Like The Prisons

It is only eight feet in width and provides the basic necessities for a shelter. In the passage, she mentions that “...the overseas park is a nest of crime and crack... There are not exactly people here but what amounts to canned labor, being preserved between shifts from the heat.” In simpler terms, she means that the people there live as robots. They wake up in the morning to commute to their jobs and come home to rest for the next work day, or relax by doing drugs or drinking.

Relegated to an underemployed underserved neighborhood by a combination of government policy and inaction, Lauren’s community is required to find a way to be self-sustainable despite lacking wealth and resources. Instead of submitting themselves to the abject poverty, they conceive of new ways to flourish given the few resources they do have, and with the guidance of religion to keep morale up. However, unlike in wealthy gated communities, Lauren’s primary objective is continued survival and perseverance. In her survival planning, she tells Joanne that they need to have a plan to “‘survive and rebuild’” (Butler, 55) so as to not end up impoverished on the streets of the world outside. Despite feeling unsafe and uneasy in their privatopia, she still seeks to recreate a similar community if she was to, as she says,“survive and rebuild” (Butler, 55). She cannot imagine an alternative to that type of living, merely aspiring to have a better, more sustainable version of her walled community. The wall separates Lauren and her psyche from the “pitiful, unwalled residential areas” (Butler, 10) not only physically but also cognitively. Her walled community does not encourage her to feel the pain of those on the outside as she would when empathizing with the members of her own community. It is easier to view the outside as other when physically separated by a wall; they are no longer

One of the major symbols in the text is the house the narrator and her husband John choose to rent for their vacation. The setting of the story is a symbol of men’s superiority towards women. In the story, the narrator describes the location of the rented house stating how “it is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village [like the] English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people” (pg. 34). The location of the

The pain and trauma that stem from Esther’s illness have warped her view of the world around her. However, this symbol also represents the pressures put on women in the 1950s to be what was considered ideal for women during this era. The bell jar “suggests more than Esther’s inner alienated world”, it also “signifies society which destroys Esther” and “symbolizes ‘scientific punishment’ for non-conformists” (Evans 105). She “must combat the additional alienation of being an aspiring woman in an era of strict limitations for women” which only hinders her further from her goals in life (Axelrod). While many women at the time planned on marrying and settling down, Esther does not view these expectations for women in the same way and instead wishes to be her own independent person. While working as the guest editor of Mademoiselle, a fashion magazine, Esther “suffocates under the bell jar forced on her by a competitive, male-oriented society”(Evans 105). During the fifties women were not expected to have successful careers in general and the male dominant world held a high level of competition; while trying to come out on top in this society Esther ends up cracking under the intense pressure. Representing both the stifling social limits set on women and the protagonist’s dismal mental state, the bell jar is a robust symbol in this novel.

Jeanette and her siblings have never lived in anything but isolation. The Walls live in isolation because they are different. Since society was after them for not being a “typical family” and being unusual, they chose to isolate themselves. The society they lived in saw Jeanette and her family as “poor and ugly and dirty” (Walls 140).

The concept of the prison has existed for more than two thousand years. It probably goes back as far in time as practice of cannibalism, where victims had to wait for their turn in contributing to the chief course in the menu of their captors. Examples of prisons can even be found in the Old Testament when Joseph was incarcerated in Egypt. It was not until the 19th century that a clear shift occurred from corporal punishment to imprisonment. As societies prospered and the industrial revolution began, the formal prison system, as we know it today, developed. Throughout most of the world, the correctional system is administered by the state, and it is considered a key function that the government must fulfill: protect its citizens by

In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, protagonist Esther Greenwood is greatly affected by societal morays which placed enormous pressure on conforming to social standards. This pressure to conform resulted in the suppression of her individuality. People who did not conform were often portrayed as unfeeling, and the distinction between the mentally ill and “normal” people was often artificial. Esther's feelings of being confined under a bell jar not only describes her depression, but also serves as a general metaphor for a society muffled by its own

The interiors are also significant as it is a representation of ‘how’ society applied their expectations of each other. Throughout the McCarthy period, there was the great threat of the Russians, the communists, who could potentially use nuclear technology to attack America. Also, any person who unpatriotically supported communism was harshly dealt with. These events were represented in an exact scale model of the Mental Institution. Anyone who dared to cause an uproar was humiliated in group therapy sessions, or given Electroshock Therapy, or in extreme cases such as McMurphy, lobotomy. In the hospital, McMurphy represented the rebel, the opposer to the Combine (McCarthyism), the one who wanted to break free of society’s conformity.

If there’s something North Americans simply can’t get enough of its prison. From Orange Is The New Black about being in prison to Prison Break, about escaping it, there’s a clear common denominator. We love to be entertained by it and perhaps our newfound obsession may help to explain why so many North Americans continue to find themselves in one. America currently has an incarceration rate more than twice that of China, and Canada trailing not too far behind. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, incarceration levels in North America have been steadily rising in the last decade, but not to worry about our national budget, we aren’t taking care of them! Prison privatization was a concept brought to life somewhere around the 1980’s

In the beginning of the passage the author starts to describe the setting of where the main character resides. W.D. Valgardson presented his environment as a, ".... neat suburban labyrinth of cul-de-sacs, bays and circles..." From this quote I can concur that the protagonist lives in a very orderly and clean neighborhood. Notably the protagonist could be living in a gated community.

Even Standiford agrees with a simple remark that “I suppose it’s easier to tackle a problem we perceive as occurring far from home… [we convince]ourselves that nothing so horrific could happen in our own backyards”(4). This ideology that it is the victim's’ problems, not theirs is widespread even in Atwood’s novel. Because the people living in the Compounds are sheltered in with their own problems, it causes them to look at other disturbing cases with a very detached gaze. They feel

In the short story, “A Rose For Emily” written by William Faulkner, there is a myriad of examples in which the theme of isolation and exclusion is implemented. Emily Grierson, the main character, is known to the town as old and alone. Emily inhabits the past and is not introduced to the town’s social norms. As the town began to industrialize, Emily’s residency has not evolved into the modern day world. The community continues to grow, whereas Emily begins to grow old in her forgotten home among the town, thus leading her into isolation and exclusion.

“It takes a village to raise a child” (Goldberg). This old African proverb justifies that the upbringing of a child is a communal effort. The exposure to society and growing accustomed to the realities of life are beneficial to the growth of a child. These words hold a symbolic meaning to the importance of society and morality. Turning a blind eye to these words of wisdom deprive children of their understanding of humanity. This signifies the innocence of a child growing up in isolation as in Donoghue’s Room. Emma Donoghue uses her novel Room to illustrate that morality is a construct of society and growing up in isolation significantly narrows a child’s perception of life. Living in a

We have all heard the African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The response given by Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, simply states, “If you’ve got a village. But if you don’t, then maybe it just takes two people” (Donoghue 234). For Jack, Room is where he was born and has been raised for the past five years; it is his home and his world. Jack’s “Ma” on the other hand knows that Room is not a home, in fact, it is a prison. Since Ma’s kidnapping, seven years prior, she has survived in the shed of her capturer’s backyard. This novel contains literary elements that are not only crucial to the story but give significance as well. The Point-of-view brings a powerful perspective for the audience, while the setting and

The fence that holds the homeowners inside defeats the chance of them ever getting to understand the purpose of the riots that took place. The sign of warning in front of the characters home and their location shows how apartheid has intense among years of discrimination between people of any color. The mother in this passage is claimed to be a witch , although she warns the son about the “people on the street”, the rioters, which means