Social And Moral Conflict In Ruined By Lynn Nottage

Poverty and hardship are shown to create vulnerability in female characters, particularly the female servants, allowing powerful men to manipulate and sexually abuse them. Kent illustrates how poverty perpetuates maltreatment and abuse in a society like Burial Rites using the characters of Agnes’ mother Ingveldur and Agnes. Agnes’ mother is forced to make invidious choices as her children are “lugged along” from farm to farm, where she is sexually exploited by her employers. In spite of these circumstances, Agnes’ mother is commonly referred to as a whore in their society which abhors female promiscuity yet disregards male promiscuity as a harmless character trait; as in the case of Natan, who is merely “indiscreet” despite all his philandering. Born into poverty, Agnes experiences similar sexual coercion and manipulation from her “masters” and yet is labelled “a woman who is loose with her emotions and looser with her morals”. The severe poverty of Agnes is explicitly demonstrated to the reader by Kent through the intertextual reference of her entire belongings - a very dismal, piteous list to be “sold if a decent offer is presented”. Furthermore, Kent contrasts the situation of Agnes, a “landless workmaid raised on a porridge of moss and poverty”, to the comparative security Steina has experienced using a rhetorical question from

Jane Eyre's literary success of the time has been cheaply commercialized. In other words, Bronte's novel never got the appreciation it deserved, in the areas it deserved. Many 19th century critics merely assigned literary themes to their reviews to "get it over with". Critics commended Jane Eyre for everything from its themes to its form. However, their surface examinations amount to nothing without careful consideration of the deeper underlying background in Jane's life where their hasty principles originate. The widely discussed free will of Jane's, her strong individuality, and independence are segments of a greater scheme, her life. For example: Jane's childhood serves as the

As their journey to and through the Congo is just beginning it is already seen that compromise will be the key source for survival. The Congo did not have much to offer the Price family, though Leah has high expectations for it. She “expected everything: jungle flowers, wild roaring beasts. God’s Kingdom in its pure, unenlightened glory.” ( Kingsolver, 17) The Congo is already revealing an expectation Leah would never have found between the pages of a King James version, the rewiring of her thoughts on equality and her inner need to fight for justice are compelling emotions that are overtaking her. She can see that this place poses a potential challenge much greater than anything a hot Georgia summer put her family through. Still measuring her worth in the few short breaths her father permits her, Leah is still determined the Congo would not stop her from gaining the acceptance of her father. “If only I could ever bring forth all that I knew quickly enough to suit father” (Kingsolver, 37), but little did she know that nothing her female mind could do or say would suit the righteous Nathan Price. Similar to The White Man’s Burden, once given the thought of superiority nothing “beneath’ that was beneficial. Leah’s cognitive thought process is starting its shift into survivor instead of

The novel centers around the Price family, an idyllic nuclear unit consisting of four daughters, a mother, and the head of the family, Reverend Nathan Price, who has decided to embark on a 12-month Southern Baptist mission (despite the warnings of the mission league and those that live there) to a remote village in the Congo, to show the heathens there the wonders of Jesus Christ. As told through the perspectives of his loyal female subjects, Nathan Price does his best to assert his moral Christian ideals (which include the belief that college ruins a perfectly good woman (Kingsolver 56) and the damnation of all non-baptised children (Kingsolver 171)) on the village of Kilanga, with no room for adaptation or understanding. The day the family arrives at the village, and are greeted with a welcoming celebration including food, song, and dance, Price brings it to a standstill and lectures the bare-breasted women about the sins of nakedness (Kingsolver 27). When he attempts to make a garden and grow American crops, he ignores the local's warning to form hills for drainage, and his seeds are all flooded out after the first rain (Kingsolver 63). Over and over, he preaches to the villagers about baptism, getting

I think this is very much a climax. It's a moment that we cannot describe, nor replicate.

What is the climax or the point of the highest tension? When do things begin to change? Explain in detail how this changes the outcome of the story.

Just when the Prices have become accustomed to the culture of Kilanga, a terrible misfortune breaks the family apart again. The death of the youngest child Ruth May spurs Orleanna into action and she decides to leave her husband with her three children. Their journey out of Kilanga is interesting with each sister finding her own path to freedom, but Kingsolver spends too much time in the final part of the book recounting the different lives of Rachel, Leah, and Adah. Rachel’s entire story seems disjointed, starting with her marriage to Axelroot to the opening of her hotel. It seems a little far-fetched that someone like Rachel, who is characterized to be the ditziest and most superficial of the Price siblings, would have the business acumen to run such a successful business. Leah, the most talkative of the sisters, had a storyline with the orphan-turned-schoolteacher Anatole. Anatole used their marriage to comment on biracial marriage, discrimination, and the political upheaval of the time. Kingsolver was slightly heavy handed with social commentary. Adah’s story, although less developed than her sisters’,was a personal favorite. Adah learns to cope with her disability, regain the use of her whole body, and becomes a doctor with the CDC. Her relationship with her mother was unique and very refreshing to

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë depicts the rigid social structure and clear division between the upper and lower classes of Victorian society, in which wealth and status determined one’s beliefs, career, and treatment from those surrounding them. Those of the upper class did not typically converse or involve themselves with those viewed as beneath them; however, Jane Eyre fights the separation between the classes to which she has fallen victim at both Gateshead and Lowood school. Her refusal to conform to the hierarchy eventually leads to the meddling between the Victorian-era elite and peasant class, as seen through Jane Eyre’s romantic relationship with Edward Rochester, an upperclassman and

Once again, we see a female character dependent on her male counterpart for her well being. Lulu is very much a catalyst for the action in the story. Her suffering forces Mann to act, pushes him to use the stolen boat and ultimately seals his fate. The final archetype of women offered in the collection is the role of women as mothers. In “Long Black Song” Sarah is the primary caregiver and is responsible for looking after the house. Her primary concern is her child when Silas throws her from the house. This idea of women as the caregiver is evident in all of the stories. The mother figure in “Big Boy Leaves Home” frets about her son’s well being as the father makes arrangement to get his son to safety. Aunt Sue in “Bright and Morning Star” takes action to protect her son and his comrades. Throughout the stories we see time and time again that the place of the woman is in the private sphere, the home, while the men are far more assertive in the public setting.

Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Ruined takes place at Mama Nadi’s brothel in the Congo where a civil war is being waged and coltan is the new gold being mined from the earth. Mama Nadi reluctantly takes Sophie and Salima into her establishment to work alongside Josephine as entertainment for miners and soldiers. Before coming to Mama Nadi’s, Sophie, Josephine, Salima all experienced rape. The word rape is so common in our society that it has lost its intensity and heinousness to a person who has not experienced it. Rape is a general term to describe what the women experienced but it does not give any hint to the struggle that comes after the event. For example, what it does to a person’s mind, the lasting scars on someone’s body, and how it can change a person’s personality. Many critics assume that rape is the tragedy in the play, but Nottage’s use of the word “ruined” emphasizes that the real tragedy is the consequences of those soldier’s actions on these women 's lives and how it affected their interactions with society.

because she too is a victim like many others in the play, but is the

Throughout history and literature, men have been trying to make decisions for women and have also treated women as inferiors. Two books that do a superb job of demonstrating this theme are Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. Jane Eyre, set in the 1800’s, is the story of an orphan girl growing up and becoming a governess. All does not go smoothly when Jane falls in love with the master of the house. Drama ensues in this gothic classic as Jane decides how to handle her situation. The Good Earth, on the other hand, follows the life of Wang Lung from a young adult to a grandfather. Along the way, Wang Lung marries O-lan and together they

     Walter dreams of owning a liquor store, and he shows this throughout the whole play. Walter feels that “don’t nothing happen for you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!” Owning a liquor store is Walter’s American dream, as he believes that it will provide him and his family with a greater income so they will not have to live in poverty anymore. However, Hansberry shows through Mama how they have different views of the American dream when she tells Walter that the liquor store would be un-Christian like and that they should spend the money on a new house instead. Hansberry makes Mama more convincing by showing her carrying a Bible as she comes out of her room in the first scene. Mama also is seen asking God for help and talking about God throughout the play. This is shown when Walter admits that the money Mama gave him was gone because his partner took it and Mama says “Oh, God… look down here – and show me the strength.” Mama is very angry that Walter wasted all of Beneatha’s school money, but she doesn’t let her temper get the best of her and instead goes to God for support.

single women with children may have to deal with. Beginning with a dismal statement from women working in a dank factory, “At the end of the day you’re another day older, And that’s all you can say for the life of the poor…”, it then ties into a single mother named Fantine. Fantine was abandoned by her lover and was struggling to scrounge enough money to provide for her ailing daughter, who is staying with innkeepers. None of the woman favor her due to her beauty and refusal to bed the foreman, “With his terrible breath and his wandering hands? It’s because little Fantine won’t give him his way…”. Discovering she was not as chaste and pure as she appeared, the women convinced the foremen to fire her, and she had to turn to prostitution to

Lynn Nottage is one of the most talented contemporary playwrights in the Untied States. Her focus indeed is on the African American lifestyle and through her work she manages to touch topics and share ideas that are usually quite controversial. In addition, her approach towards each of her plays is different, in the best expectable way. Nottage’s intention is to present the world of the play in the most unique and memorable. Crumbs from the Table of Joy and Mud, River, Stone are two plays written by Lyn Notagge that reveal her magnificent playwright skills. Both of the plays are unique in their own way and represents stories that are different, but also connected in a way.