In The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor, examples of different types of family relationships are prominent throughout the novel. Whether they are related by blood or not, the women in the novel all have their experiences with different types of parenthood. Some interact with their parents, some are parents, and some are both. A common motif throughout the stories of these women is that parenthood is something that contains varying degrees of love and care based on a character’s illusions in life. The women have a tough time breaking their illusions, which eventually leads to a turning point where a parent must choose to either change their ways or stay the same. The two characters that best represent each decision are Mattie and Cora …show more content…
With Basil, Mattie’s illusion is that he can do no wrong. She wants him to depend on her for everything, and he does. When anyone tries to chastise her about how Basil needs to be more independent, she gets defensive: “‘Basil needs a bed of his own. I been telling you that for years.’ ‘He’s afraid of the dark. you know that’ [...] He’s still a baby, he doesn’t like sleeping alone, and that’s it!’ she said through clenched teeth” (38). Mattie still thinks of Basil as a dependent child, even though he is growing too old for certain things like sleeping with his mother. Mattie’s own desire to not be alone and to have someone who needs her also ties in to the spoiling of her child: “God had given her what she prayed for-- a little boy who would always need her” (52). She claims that he is the one that does not want to sleep alone when more honestly, it is her. Basil grows up to be a grown man who is unemployed and still lives with his mother. Mattie’s desire to keep him close to her and have him depend on her has played a part in his disrespectful behavior towards her: “‘Look, I’m only going out for a few minutes. I told you I’ll cut the grass, and I will, so stop hassling me’” (41). Because Mattie has this illusion …show more content…
Every year she would get a new one for Christmas. She would love them and care for them as if they were a real baby: “Her new baby doll [...] It was so perfect and so small [...] She gently lifted the dimpled arms and then reverently placed them back. Slowly kissing the set painted mouth, she inhaled its new aroma [...]” (107). Cora Lee shows a young girl’s tendency to host a premature motherly love, for dolls. A problem arises from her love of these dolls when she begins to have real babies and treats them like her dolls. Cora Lee has the illusion that every baby that she has will not “grow up” and will always be a baby: “Why couldn’t they just stay like this--so soft and easy to care for? How she had loved them this way [...] Oh, for them to stay like this, [...] so there were no welfare offices to sit in all day or food stamp lines to stand on” (112). She has a lot of children, most who are no longer toddlers. She treats these children as a nuisance because they are not like her dolls she loved when she was young. Even though she is the one continuing to have children, she blames them for her poverty and lack of peace and quiet. She even implies that she does not love her older children as much as her newborns and she verbally abuses them: “‘Are you gonna be a dumb-ass too?’ she cooed at the baby. ‘No, not Mama’s baby. you’re not gonna be like them’” (113). She equates her children to a non-living baby doll;
As hardworking women living of the prairie, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters can relate to Mrs. Wright’s situation. They know personally that long days of doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning can become very tiresome (Hedges 91). They realize that living on the prairie can force a woman to be confined to her own house for weeks at a time, and because Mrs. Wright never had children, the grueling loneliness that she suffered must have been excruciating. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both experience the constant patronization and sexual discrimination that most women in the early twentieth century lived with. They empathize with the difficulties of Mrs. Wright’s life and almost immediately a bond is formed with a woman they do not even know.
“Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” by Maria Semple is a novel about an eerie woman who has a daughter and a husband. She seems to be a mysterious individual at the beginning, but as the story goes through, you find out why she is acting that way. She ends up escaping and leaving her family; nonetheless, at the end they come together again. Maria Semple loves to compare family’s issues because in the book she writes about how the characters interact with one another. Although, Semple seems to be a sophisticated author, the role of mother in WDYB is the most significant topic to analyze throughout the story. In this novel, there are several mothers who are valuable examples of the different types of mothers.
Children’s child play has become a form of an unrealistic world. Although, it is considered for children to begin creating a creative imagination, the mind fascinates children into toys. Some child’s play toys are not ideal for young children, like the one and only “Barbie”. Barbie has become a worldwide toy product for children all over the world, from the North Pole to the South Pole. These dolls have emerged from one ethnicity to another. In Ann DuCille, “Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Differences” the author talks about the race and gender differences; found in Barbie. She argues; “Is Barbie bad?” her response, was “Barbie is just a piece of plastic” (459). In contrast, this piece of plastic is not just a piece of plastic to young girls; it is much more than that. A piece of plastic that little girls all over the world wish they could be. Even though, it is only a piece of plastic to adults that Barbie significantly means nothing to them. Growing up, I owned a couple of Barbie dolls. The tall, long blond hair, blue-eyed doll was my best friend and my “role model”. I wanted to become exactly like Barbie. As a child, I thought only beautiful people who looked liked Barbie signified beauty. To my little to no knowledge, I soon came to find out no one really looks like Barbie, except people who want to become like Barbie. In my adolescent years, no one taught me Barbie was “unreal”; no one taught me it was just a figure in my imagination.
The game The Last of Us shows the theme of parenthood because there are many examples of one of the main characters being a father figure and having father-daughter like relationships throughout the storyline of the game. The main characters are named Joel who is a man in his forty and a younger girl named Ellie that is 14 years old, Joel lost his daughter in the beginning of Apocalypse and he has been trying to survive and find a purpose to survive and throughout the story he finds Ellie and they get closer over time becomes a father figure to her and they have a father- daughter like relationship. Joel lost his daughter when he was younger and his daughter was around Ellie's age when she died, and now meeting Ellie when he's older makes him
The brightest moments in a person’s day are usually times when they have made a personal connection. Whether it is a smile from a complete stranger or a kiss from a loved one, these personal connections build relationships that shape the lives of every individual. Relationships vary in type, depth, and complexity, but any which way, they play a prominent role in the lives of The Women of Brewster Place, and the characters in The Road. Friendly, biological, and intimate relationships are extremely critical components of these two stories and help shape the path of each character’s journey.
The creation of the doll child had been a simple pastime at first, as an immortal with nothing better to do, her maker simply toiled away with the lush ochre dust of the Earth beneath her ivory feet, with the clarion water from the ever bubbling stream - slender fingers molding, crafting, grasping upon the threads of little
Morrison describes to doll’s sound as, “the bleat of a dying lamb” (21). By comparing the sound of the doll to a lamb, Morrison connects the destruction of the doll to a type of sacrifice, as lambs are often used in religious texts as sacrificial animals. It is as if Claudia is attempting to make herself worthy of, if not the beauty itself, then of the understanding of why this doll is perceived as beauty. Morrison’s long and detailed description of how Claudia destroys the doll in order to find out what people thought was so beautiful about it encourages the ritualistic aspect of it as well. The comparison furthers the idea that perhaps by making oneself worthy, as Morrison seems to suggest Claudia is doing, one can gain and understand what beauty is and finally be ingrained into society. Therefore, Morrison encourages beauty as a conditional attribute for which individuals who are not already in society’s views must
In the novel Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor explains to readers on how seven black women are living life in Brewster Place by confronting alienation. Naylor identify alienation by exploring racism and sexism. It serves as a testament to the live of African American women who have maintained self- respect and hope in the face of suffering Mattie, Lorraine, and Etta Mae Johnson are the three characters who have went through the sufferings of alienation. Lorraine was introduced in chapter 6 "The Two". Being ostracized by her family and fired from teaching job, excluded from the community.
In this story, it fascinated me when it made reference about the therapist needing to be transferable to the mother or father role in the family regardless of the therapist’s sex. In this case the clients are the traditional mother and father with two male co-therapists. Whitaker was seen taking on the maternal role when addressing Carolyn’s childhood and current issues with her mother while Napier observed the conversation. This was a great part of the book which portrayed isomorphism. This idea of being able to stay neutral as well as to identify with the role of mother or father adds another layer of complexity to help guide the context of the situation.
In present-day society, families go through several problems and arguments regarding numerous issues which would have been considered unacceptable in past times. Throughout a variety of different cultures, the level of respect and obedience for one’s parents has diminished while the negotiation of conformity and rebellion has risen. This statement is supported and evidential in two different stories, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. Although these stories represent different cultures, they both exemplify the values and importance of family relations; as well as demonstrate in every culture families face social problems. In both these stories, two major topics stood out which allowed me to compare each one to one
In society, women have been regarded as, above all else, caregivers; whether this be caregivers to their children, husband, or families. There are women who thought and continue to think they are meant to be more than caregivers and strive to do more with their lives. On the other hand, there are also women who find no problem in tending to their families; it is a task they do with joy and Mrs. Linde is one of these women. In, “A Doll House”, by Henrik Ibsen,
In the play, “A Doll House,” written in 1879, the main character is a doll for her husband and for her father. She realizes that when living with her father, she would develop the same opinions as him, and stifle her own opinion if it differed from his. Her father even called her his doll child. She, Nora, also becomes aware that he played with
It must be so hard for a child to grow up without a mother, or a father. Growing up with strange people that doesn’t even know that person’s necessities must be terrifying. In the book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou a little girl is obligated to take a train and leave her parents’ house and go to another state with her grandmother that she doesn’t even know. There are many situations where children’s lives are so difficult, for example, the absence of a parent. Maya’s parents got divorced when she was really small. She went through several hard times during her childhood and life that made her stronger. She was the most innocent little girl in town.
She never had the opportunity as a woman in her time to see the value of life and never had the ability for making decisions for herself. She grew up being her father’s doll-child and continued to still be a doll for the husband she had found. Her role as a woman, wife, and mother sheltered her from the boundless outside world. Because of her restricted
Katherine Mansfield's "The Dolls House" seems to be a simple story about children receiving a own ideas and opinions. Even though everyone is entitled to their own opinion it is often bizarre to see how our opinions are based on those of others. This essay will outline the events that occurred in the story which are a big part in regards to the two different worlds of adults and children, and how they are separated from each other.