Powerful Characters and Powerful Themes in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café

Compare and contrast the imagery of death and decay in the opening sections of ‘The Bell Jar’, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘Hamlet’.

Events in history have influenced writers’ style, and the importance in their stories. Alice Walker wrote a novel which was very much subjective by the time period of the 1940’s. There was a great deal of bigotry and tyranny during that time, particularly for Women of color. Women were mentally and physically abused and belittled by man purely because of their race and femininity. Women were considered as ignorant individuals that simply knew how to handle housework and care for the children.

The Breakfast Club movie is about five high school students from Shemer High School with different backgrounds. It’s the story of “a brain (Brian), an athlete (Andrew), a basket case (Allison), a princess (Claire) and a criminal (Bender).” The purpose of the movie is to captive the feelings and perspectives on what other people have experienced and learned from each other. The analysis about The Breakfast Club is about the common insecurities and challenges of the teenager during high school. The Breakfast club is a movie to convey emotions, fears, and companionship that everyone can relate to. However, with new knowledge comes new perspective and emotions. This movie opens up a world of abstract thoughts because none of the five students know each other and it helps to create an interpersonal communication, they revealed to each other how their lives actually are. This movie is about Social Judgment Theory, Interpersonal conflict, self-disclosure, Social Comparison Theory and an unresolved life conflicts of a teenager life by finding their identities.

The movie The Breakfast Club was released in 1985, and is based on a group of five high school students from stereotypical cliques; the popular, jock, nerd and the outcasts, who all wind up stuck together for Saturday detention. Throughout the movie many themes present themselves such as teenage rebellion, peer pressure and family issues as the students get to know each other. The most prominent theme throughout the movie is the student’s placement in the social structure of the school. From the very different reasons why they are in detention to the way that they are all treated differently by the principle, their social placement is evident.

The movie/documentary Food, Inc. came out in 2008, directed and starred by Robert Kenner. Kenners’ goal for this movie was to show the people of America the food they are eating and how there food is being processed, feed, treated, and killed. Kenner uses a very serious and

Mary Flannery O’Connor is considered one of the most successful short story writers in history. She composed her works during a period of prosperity and economic boom following World War II. Although the economy was thriving, the 1950’s were a period of struggle for women’s rights, as well as other minorities. (Digital History) Based on her success, one could conclude O’Connor exceeded all barriers against women during the fifties. Flannery O’Connor’s life experiences based on her faith, her novels, and the time period of the 1950’s contribute to her unique writing style.

For this summer reading, I chose to read Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag. The book is set in Alabama; it is mostly set in the early 1900s to the late 1980s. While in the early 1920s, this was the time of the Great Depression, a time where poverty and racism were well known. The story is told in both present, from the 1920’s - 1940’s, when the events were occurring, and past tense, when Ninny Threadgoode retold the events to Evelyn Couch, in the 1980’s. Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe begins with “The Weems Weekly” introducing the opening of the cafe ran by Ruth Jamison and Idgie Threadgoode. Then, Ninny Threadgoode and Evelyn Couch meet in the visitors lounge in a nursing home. Mrs. Threadgoode

The book is filled with many different stories involving the men Mitch meets in the Valois Cafe, which is what the cafeteria was known as, as well as many commentative

The book, Of Mice and Men, and the movie, What's Eating Gilbert Grape are very similar in many ways. Despite the fact that they are very different stories, Of Mice and Men and What's Eating Gilbert Grape can be seen as parallel when analyzing the characters of George and Gilbert, Arnie and Lennie, and other similarities the stories share.

In Lasse Hallström’s film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, the struggles of living with a mental illness is displayed through Arnie Grape, the protagonist’s younger brother. Grape’s disability is never discussed in the movie, as the movie focuses on Gilbert Grape, the principal character, and his struggles with life and family responsibilities. With the use of various resources, such as a psychology textbook (Lilienfeld 2014), credible health associations’ websites, and The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DMS-5), one is capable of analyzing the nature of Arnie’s disorder and make a valid assumption that he is dealing with a mental illness: autism. Autism is a spectrum disorder characterized by “various degrees in difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors” ("Learning About Autism," n.d.). It becomes clear, through Arnie Grape’s social and cognitive impairment, that he has Autism, despite the fact that the film does not clearly state that he has a mental illness.

Animal Farm was written by George Orwell. It is about how an Old pig and his dream turned into a big revolution on Manor farm. The reasons for the revolution were very clear, Mr Jones, the owner of the farm was not taking proper care of the animals and came back late at night drunken and with not a care in the world except more beer and t.v.

Love is one of the most powerful forces in the world, and one of the most difficult to describe. It is one of those emotions that words do not seem to justify a person may feel it, but may not be able to explain it. However, that does not mean that people do not know that love is out there. Many people believe that everyone has one true love somewhere in the world, and spend their lives searching for that person. Love is not difficult to find though. It exists in many forms, including love between family members, friends, different races, and even the love for oneself, both in the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Frannie Flagg and in one's own life.The first and most basic form of love is found in the family.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) is the action packed journey of a misguided young man desperately trying to navigate his own existence. In the film Scott must fight the conflictions within himself and the seven evil exes of his love interest. Based off the comic book series by Bryan Lee

Society’s ideological constructs and attitudes towards minority groups are created and reinforced through media imagery. Although negative associations that maintain inequities with regard to race, gender and homophobia (Conner & Bejoian, 2006) have been somewhat relieved, disability is still immersed in harmful connotations that restrict and inhibit the life of people with disabilities in our society.

In American literature, women have been portrayed differently depending on the sex and race of the author. Henry James who wrote “Daisy Miller: A Study” (1878) characterized Daisy as a tramp who breaks expatriate social customs. When a male writes about a woman, she is sometimes portrayed as a troublemaker and often up to no good. On the other hand, in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), the narrator is trapped by domestic life. When a woman writes about women, they are usually victims of their society. James and Gilman each seem to display women differently because of their own sex, personal preferences, and experiences.