Positive Carpe Diem

The short story “Sweat,” by Zora Neale Hurston, seems to exemplify the epitome of a bad marriage. Hurston uses foreshadowing and irony to demonstrate the disintegrated relationship between the abusive husband and the diligent wife. Throughout the story, it becomes obvious that the husband does not oblige by the motto, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Hurston’s use of irony and foreshadowing helps reveal the fact that “the good will prevail” and Sykes will finally get what he deserves.

It is human nature to have issues of balance within any relationship. For example, the knight, desperate in need, found an old woman who knew the answer to save his life. In order for him to receive vindication, he had to pledge his life to her. The old woman at last revealed the answer, that all women want sovereignty over their husbands and lovers (“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” 170-71). In contrast, Walter forces Griselda to be submissive at all times as he tests her loyalty and obedience by pretending to kill both of her children and asking for a phony divorce. One tale appears to suggest that the male should be inferior to his wife as the other tale promotes that the woman should be at least steadfast in adversity and obedient to her significant other. The issue of an unbalance relationship is still a part of modern society because the majority of people are familiar with the saying, “Who wears the pants in the relationship?” That joke derives from the struggle of dominance in a relationship. Yet the characters’ opinions of where they believe a woman belongs in a relationship are slightly polar; both stories are constructed around the theme of struggle in a relationship (“The Clerk’s Tale” 217-24).

Herrick was very successful in conveying the key elements of human nature by expressing them through the themes, grief, environmental influence and coming of age. The poetic techniques Herrick used to explore these themes are clearly shown throughout his verse

Envision a realm, filled with genderless inhabitants. A realm of pure bliss, where there is no such thing as “mankind and all beings are [biologically] equal. Now imagine an opposite realm, a realm in which Andrea Dworkin resided. Advocate turned author turned agitator. Andrea Dworkin was a heterodox feminist vanguard who paved a path of her own to support this women’s crusade. Defiant, confrontational and arguably offensive, she immersed herself into the tacit realm of patriarchy, seeking to enlighten and expose the sinister sexual methodologies of man that preserve the role of women as besmirched objects of male indulgence and exploitation. Her ideas and concepts of such is best expressed in Dworkin’s two earliest novels; Pornography: Men Possessing Women [1981] and Intercourse [1987]. Consecutively loved and loathed, Dworkin’s has exerted an important impact on the means and degree of male dominated sexuality and female oppression.

Janie refuses to succumb to her husband’s slight suggestions of helping out with farm work. Janie changes the subject instead; obviously dismissing Killicks idea that Janie should work for him (Hurston, 27). Janie avoids this mildly suppressive relationship by leaving Killicks and marrying another man.

The young waiter has a harsh view of him as well because on occasion the old man has been so drunk he walks out on his bill. The younger waiter has a different respect for time, it’s precious to him and he values it. “I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?” “He stays up because he likes it.” “He’s lonely, I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” “He had a wife once too” (153). The older you get, the more time wears down on you, and you begin to now, greater than ever, feel your mortality. This theme is used to help the reader understand the older mans pain and that no matter how young and confident someone is, they will eventually grow old and die.

The jealous tone disappears at the end, however, and the poem ends wistfully and resigned stating that, “It’s an old/story—the oldest we have on our planet--/the story of replacement” (16-18). The speaker realizes that aging is part of the continuous life process, which starts at birth and ends at death. She understands that each phase of life has a specific purpose for maintaining the species. Her daughter must mature so she can create new life, just as the speaker did ten years ago. She knows that eventually her daughter will replace her and that the life process will continue to repeat itself for generations to come.

Herrick’s poem is a warning to young, beautiful, unmarried women to make the most of their time and marry young. He does not address it to any particular woman, other than young virgins. He uses to metaphor to compare the women's youthful beauty to flowers that will begin to die as they age. Meanwhile, Marvell's poem is a bit more personal. It's actually a seduction poem and the narrator is speaking directly to his coy (shy) mistress. He is basically

In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, and Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat”, the main characters in both of these short stories are the making of male influence, in this case negative influence, and much of their anger and hatred is intermixed with occasional feelings of adoration8. For these two female characters in "A Rose for Emily" and "Sweat", their troubles are the outcome of male control, and even though their anger is showed and solved in different ways, these two characters delve into despair and isolation because of the male influence and control in their lives; the affect it has on them is their anger and hate towards these male influences.

     I have thought about many different ways to organize this paper and have come to the conclusion that the best way to approach the topic is on a book-by-book basis. My perceptions of the gender biases in these books vary greatly and I did not want to begin altering my views on each so that they would fit into certain contrived connections. What interests me most in these stories is how the authors utilize certain character’s within their given environment. Their instincts and reactions are a wonderful window into how the authors perceive these “people” would interact with their surroundings and often are either rewarded or punished by the author through consequences in the plot for

The author was saying that old age shouldn’t stop you from pursuing things in life, that you should fight against death. In your final days you should enjoy life and “burn and rave”, because before you know it, your life could be gone.

In the short story, The Old Chevalier by Isak Dinsen, the male protagonist, Baron von Brackel reflects on his past sexual encounters with two women whose personalities are extremely different from one another. In many novels, short stories and comics authors would create two women as “polar opposites” for a man’s sexual and/or possessive gaze, which is evident in the text. In order to understand, why a man may be attracted to different character traits in women, I will examine The Baron’s attraction to Nathalie and The Mistress by looking at how literary works men portray women, what they find attractive and the fulfilment that men seek from a woman.

Ironically, Rossetti’s portrayal of seduction is in stark contrast to accepted notions of the Victorian period in that the male characters signify dangerous temptation, not the troubled females. The goblin men confirm this contradiction by representing the venomous effects that experienced seductive men have on innocent naive women. Rossetti’s ironic gender split exemplifies her progressive attitude of feminist thought while also serving as a depiction on the principles of Victorian society.

Robert Herrick, an author from the 17th century enjoyed writing about intimacy and pleasure within his poems. The poem to be discussed throughout the paper is The Vine, by Robert Herrick, because of it’s rich metaphoric and symbolic aspect to love, pleasure, and dominance. Essentially the poem, The Vine, as a whole is a metaphor because the speaker has taken the form of a vine or tendril in the poem. The poem is about a man actually dreaming of a woman, Lucia. Lucia is referred to as dainty and the speaker describes her physical characteristics which helps the reader picture what is happening. Robert Herrick specifically uses certain words to express his love and feelings for Lucia. The simile in the poem that is most significant in its entirety is “And found (ah me!) this flesh of mine/More like a stock than like a vine” (22/23). In these lines, the speaker is waking up from his sexual dream. The speaker explains that he is feeling more of a stock than a vine. This is symbolic because the title of the poem is, The Vine, as the speaker has transformed himself into a vine in his dream. By saying he is feeling more like a stock can be interpreted as the growth has diminished and he can no longer love freely for a long time. His love for Lucia is hardening or ending. The physicality of the stock to a vine can also imply that he is waking up with an erection. The speaker is turned on by his dream and has woken up with the feeling of pleasure. These lines are extremely important to the entirety of the poem because it ends with the speaker waking up from his dream and the reader is aware of how he feels.

Females linked with killing appeared to appeal to Dickens. His association to libidinal females imitates his compartmentalized boldness towards females. Holbrook marks that Dickens‟ fantasies and demand for libidinal females may harm his health because they are nothing but bad impact.