Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier and Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room

People imprint themselves on their surroundings; they inject fleeting moments into the veins of their environments, boiling the blood that swims hot through every crevice, echoing and lingering indefinitely. According to Wisker houses are the principal locations where the presence of its residents leave lasting imprints on the structure (2011, 4). Novels To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen both use domestic environments as important sites to emphasise and reflect their characters by deploying the literary techniques of language and style from their respective eras. Woolf as a Modernist writer from the early twentieth century uses experimental techniques and the supernatural genre that was prevalent

Learning that his mom was having an affair with someone else hit him in the heart hard. He wanted to believe that it wasn’t his mother, that it was someone else, but he couldn’t. He found out when he was gathering flowers for his mother, and then he heard something. He went around to see his mother with another person other than his dad. When they parted from each other they kissed, and Jacob was shocked from this. He was hiding behind a bush when he saw this,“Through the leaves, Jacob caught a glimpse of the man’s face. They didn’t speak, only kissed, and parted”(191). One can assume that he's frustrated at his mom, and probably doesn’t want to talk with her for the day.

Virginia Woolf was a brave author when it came to writing about her inner feelings. In a time when women didn't speak out about the bias society showed towards men, Virginia Woolf stepped up. In her essay “A Room of One's Own,” Woolf talks about what a woman goes through. Woolf grew up with her brothers whom had always seemed to get more than her, especially when it came to education. A metaphor within “A Room of One's Own” is that one can't imagine nice things if what they know is poor.

Aspiring to be free, to be successful, to be a picture perfect family, and to be happy; these are the traits of the American dream. Although, in one 's mind a specific picture forms when reading about the American dream this does not mean everyone is seeing the same landscape. A prevalent theme in The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and Flight by Sherman Alexie is the potency and prevalence of diversity on the American dream. In each of these compelling works, connoisseurs get a taste of life from different demographics’ viewpoints and a measure of what it means to be yearning for the diverse definition of American ideals.

The chaos and destruction that the Nazi’s are causing are not changing the lives of only Jews, but also the lives of citizens in other countries. Between Night by Elie Wiesel and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, comradeship, faith, strength, and people of visions are crucial to the survival of principle characters. Ironically, in both stories there is a foreseen future, that both seemed to be ignored.

Jacobs talks about her family as being an important element in her life; for instance, she describes her father’s determination to want to buy off her children, while she describes

This shows how Marlena had little love left for August, but felt obligated to stay in the marriage. This was Marlena’s form of imprisonment as she struggled with August’s bipolar tendencies and his intense paranoia. Both Marlena and Jacob struggled to break out of their self-inflicted imprisonment in order to find love and acceptance. In the end, when, Jacob and Marlena were able to be together, they finally felt the fulfillment that the love of one another had brought them. On the other hand, elderly Jacob was a free-spirited old man.

A woman is given limited freedom. Something as simple as a room could give her a sense of liberty. In Virginia Woolf's article, she claims that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Woolf suggests that having a room literally allows women to have their own space to write, but figuratively traps them in their own thoughts due to a lack of freedom. In the works of Jamaica Kincaid, Virginia Woolf, and Alice Walker, the female figures have shown how their own thoughts, reflection, and creativity could be used as a sense of freedom.

In the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, the theme of family, more specifically familial influence, is very prevalent. Throughout the course of the novel, readers are given a look into how family has had a part in shaping the development and behaviors of future generations. Arguably, the most influential character within the novel is Tessie. Her social influence on Callie was the main force that shaped Callie into who she thought she was. Although Tessie has a great amount of influence on Callie, Milton struggles to have this same kind of influence on his son Chapter Eleven. Because of this, Tessie has a strong influence on Callie whereas Milton does not have the same amount of influence on Chapter Eleven.

In the beginning of the novel, Marlena keeps her distance from Jacob, as she struggles to fight her feelings knowing she has taken vows to her current husband, August. Jacob and Marlena flirt around each other for a couple of chapters before finally submitting to their feelings, however, it is Marlena that instigates their relationship. In their intimate moments, Jacob is left feeling vulnerable after Marlena concedes him to say he loves her first,

Jacob is immediately attracted to her – “She looks so much like Catherine I catch my breath – the plane of her face, the cut of her hair, the slim thighs I’ve always imagined were under Catherine’s staid skirts.” (39)

Upon arrival, Jacob notices how lonely and old fasioned the place is, but quickly befriends the owner of the place he's staying at,

As mentioned before, Jacob is the youngest child of the family. He is fighting for attention from his siblings and his parents almost every day. Most of his art projects are displayed around the house, along with his sibling’s art. He does fight for attention from his

The first look that the reader has into this idea of love in the play is when The Captain is telling Ellie about his two daughters; the way that The Captain talks about his second daughter and her husband will take the reader aback. He even makes the comment, “As a child she thought the figure-head of my ship, the Dauntless, the most beautiful thing on earth. He resembled it. He had the same expression: wooden yet enterprising (Shaw 53).” However, the reader later finds out that the only reason that daughter, Lady Utterword, married was to get out of her father’s house (Shaw 55).

D.H. Lawrence 's novel Sons and Lovers explores the significant family and companionate relationships of early adulthood. Unfortunately, and possibly unbeknownst to Lawrence himself, the relationships in the novel are often abusive, triangulated, and otherwise inappropriate. Many of these distorted connections may stem from the unconscious and cyclical perceptions of love by the characters. In D.H. Lawrence 's novel, Sons and Lovers, each character 's view of love is shaped by observing his parents ' relationship, causing Mrs. Morel and her sons to perceive love as domination over another person.