“River of Names'; is part of a collection of short stories in the book Trash published in 1988, written by Dorothy Allison. It is the basis for the later novel Bastard out of Carolina. In her powerful writing, Allison draws on her own harrowing childhood in 1950s Greenville, South Carolina: the stigma of growing up a bastard, the shame and pride she felt toward her family, and her association with her stepfather who beat and molested her. “In this story, “River of Names,'; Allison writes about her life as a way to come to terms with her past, honoring the attempt to make contemporary literature out of her experience as a working class lesbian addicted to violence, language and hope.'; Her emotionally intense …show more content…
In that aspect her characters are not one-dimensional and it is because of this autobiographical pretense that some of the images are so horrifying.
One detestable mental picture is given by her choice of title for this story. “ River of Names'; is informing the reader there are more names of family members than one can possibly remember. She then continues on to parallel the family to tadpoles and that no one would notice if one were missing from time to time. This concept is further demonstrated by the narrator trying to list the method of death that each lost one went through. One did this, one did that, one fell in the river, one ran away, etc. The list seems almost endless. This does not include any of the individual incidents that are then told. The people in these tales do get names and the reader is swamped with many different names and different tragedies all more horrifying than the previous tale. In every paragraph there are truths and deaths, plenty of accidents, sickness and sorrow and there is life.
Another reason Allison gives for her survival is that she is a lesbian and she incorporates this homosexuality into her story as well. The narrator has a lover, Jessie whom she loves deeply. Her relationship with Jesse seems to be used as a contrast and also as a relief between some of the appalling events that are told. Jessie is
When the Canal was built towns all along the route from Buffalo to Albany prospered from the revenue and the attraction the Canal brought with it. Whether the Canal was being used for business people, immigrants, settlers of the region, or tourists, the border-towns all had some appeal to these persons. After some time the state was continually asked to expand the Canal from the original route to include connecting canal routes. However, the same towns along the route from Buffalo to Albany had already been established along the lines of the original canal. These towns would need to be relocated in order to obey these new requests. This presented a major problem because the people in these towns had formed a life around the Canal and many of them made their income based of the Canal. The inhabitants of the towns changed their mentality from not wanting the Canal to invade on their lives, to it being an essential part of their lives they depended upon.
The exposition of Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone is when a boy called Samuel Collier stole his mother's locket from a pan shop and the owner found him and sent him to an orphanage. This novel has many different settings in the beginning of the book they are in England, then in the middle of the book the are on a boat on there way to the “New World”. Then in the middle /end of the book they are in Jamestown Virginia. The time period that this book took place in is 1606-1607. The significant event that happened in this time period was the creation of Jamestown. There were many people involved in this such as Samuel, Captain Smith, Captain Ratcliff, and many other gentlemen and peasants. The problem that they face are dealing with the Native American people and just trying to survive. This is a problem because the natives don't want these people around so they try to get rid of them, and survival is a problem because they are in a new place that they have never been in before and they dont know whats poisonous or how to really protect themselves because most of the people they brought were gentlemen.
The river and fishing made such a big impact on the Maclean family that it is the root of this book. The Macleans compared the river to life, went fishing to answer questions, and created a river that has a past full of memories. The river and fishing become metaphors for life by having a life of its own.
“Many Rivers to Cross” written by June Jordan is about a young lady who goes through a difficult childhood which follows her to her adult life. Her father was not very much
An old Chinese proverb says to fish for the moon in the water. In Lan Samantha Chang’s short story “Water Names”, a grandmother tells her granddaughters a story as a way to introduce them to their cultural heritage. This frame story was about Wen Zhiqing’s favorite daughter whose fascination with water escalates after she claims to see a prince in the reflective water. The daughter comes to the conclusion that her prince is real, wants to marry her and wants to take her away to his underwater kingdom. Her parents try to convince her otherwise and keep her from going to the river but after a flood, they lose track of her and she disappears. The grandmother ends the story and leaves the girls to wonder about what actually happened to the
Have you ever needed easier access to the essential items to stay alive? This is specifically what the residents of the North-East thought around the year 1817. Carol Sheriff argues in her book, “The Artificial River” that the residents of the canal corridor actively sought after long-distance trade and therefore consumer goods that markets brought to their homes. The fact that people supported the Erie Canal at all "suggests that at least some aspired to engage in broader market exchange" (p. 11). The transformation of this region because of the Erie Canal is organized around six topics, each of which is covered by a chapter. They include the; Visions of Progress, the Triumph of Art over Nature, Reducing Distance and Time, the Politics of Land and Water, the Politics of Business, and the Perils of Progress.
The Secret River by Kate Grenville focuses on the characterisation of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians and social expectations each may have in the 19th Century. Throughout the entirety of the novel Grenville discusses characters and how each adjust to their new environments whether it be the Aborigines or the non–Aboriginal Australians.
“On the Rainy River” is a story recalled by O’Brien that he states has never told to anyone. “To go into it, I’ve always thought, would only cause embarrassment for all of us …” (p. 39) By coming out and telling his readers this confession only shows his courage from it in the long run. The story develops the theme of embarrassment as a motivating factor, just as Jimmy Cross feels guilty about Ted Lavender’s death, O’Brien feels guilty about going to
A River Runs Through It is, deservedly so, the work that Norman Maclean will always be best known for. His 1976 semi-autobiographical novella tells what is really only a brief piece of the life story of two brothers who grew up together in the Montana wilderness; but the scope of this timeless tale of fishing, family, and religion extends beyond just a few months. It touches on the entirety of the complicated relationship between Norman Maclean and his parents, and his prodigal yet distant and troubled brother Paul. In masterful and stirring prose, Maclean examines the strength of their bond, and yet how neither he nor his family could keep Paul from self-destruction. Maclean also mulls over his and his family’s ideas about grace and man’s relation to nature. Maclean’s enthralling vision is delivered through the artistry of his writing, earning the book its deserved position as a classic of American literature. In 1992, a film adaptation of the novel was released,
In the short story “Sea Oak,” George Saunders presents a family that is struggling with life in the poor neighborhood of Sea Oak. The narrator works as a male stripper in Joysticks, run by Mr. Frendt. The story also revolves around Auntie Bernie, who dies, resurrects, and dies again after advising the narrator, his sister Min, and their cousin Jade to adopt unorthodox and immoral means of making it in life. Two main themes that emerge in Saunders’ work are grief and loss that people suffer in life, and how the society teaches to deal with them, including the loss of a fruitful life, lack of wealth and success, as well as death.
Religion and tradition are two ways that families come together. However in Norman Maclean’s novella, A River Runs Through It, the Maclean family’s devotion to their Presbyterian religion and their tradition of fly-fishing is what undeniably brought the family together. Under the father’s strict Presbyterian values, his sons, Norman and Paul used fly-fishing as the link that brought them closer together and helped them bond with their father on a different level. The family’s hobby of fly-fishing was started just for fun. It was a sport that was taken up every Sunday after church to take their minds off of the worries in life. After a while, going fly-fishing every Sunday turned into a tradition and soon a
In “No Name Woman,” the theme of silence starts with the elementary words of the memoir stating you must not tell anyone. This statement is ironic because Kingston is in fact telling everyone, giving voice to Chinese customs and the lives that are foregone. As written in her memoir, she states, “You must not tell anyone,” my mother said, “what I am about to tell you. In China your father had a sister who killed herself. She jumped into the family well. We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born.” (Deshazer 308). It is especially notable and ironic that the memoir begins with the phrase “You must not tell anyone.” Her effort in No Name Woman is to write about that which is never said; her unnamed dead aunt, and the outrageous behaviors in her mother’s Chinese village. Kingston was not necessarily silenced direct by a male figure; however, the words said by her mother “You must not tell anyone” is a representation of Kingston father’s authorization voice through her mother’s explanation. Kingston’s effort is also about discovering a voice, as both a Chinese-American
The jump point for my psychoanalysis begins where the reader begins, the opening title. Rivers, the first part of Sherston’s Progress, named after his psychologist. The choice makes the reader think, why Rivers? Who is Rivers to George besides simply a psychologist? The first note George gives us about Rivers which jumps out to me is the following: “anyhow his name had obvious free associations with pleasant landscapes and unruffled estuaries.” Initially this seems just happen stance but in further reading of the book, one realizes that nature is personal comfort of George’s. Rivers is the only character in the semi fictional autobiography to maintain his real name and this puts him in a seemingly elevated position within Sassoon’s life. Just the act of creating a fictionalized version of an autobiography demonstrates a want to recreate one’s life. Much like George
The author starts the book with the story of her aunt. This story was a well-kept family secret being that her aunt’s actions were of great disappointment to the family. The “no name woman” as the story names her, was forgotten by all her family because she had a child that was not from her husband. This story gives a clear
All lives revolve around decisions and instances from ones past. In A River Runs Through It (1992), director Robert Redford uses this idea and applies it to a true story of two brothers from Montana, Norman and Paul Maclean (Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt, respectively). Based on the autobiographical novel by Norman Maclean himself, River uses Maclean’s metaphysical beliefs about life and nature to present its many themes. Using a longing score, various film devices, and a story line involving themes of youth, loss, and the pitfalls of pride, Robert Redford crafts a film about the beauty of the past.