Summary Of Dancing At Lughnasa

During the course of the entire play, all of the characters except Petruchio treat Kate with disrespect. Baptista, her father, is especially insensitive to his daughter's feelings. When Petruchio comes to inquire about Kate, he describes her as fair and virtuous woman. Her father neglects to acknowledge that it was possible that his daughter could have those fine qualities (II.i.42-63).

Kate is also very tough and modest like most men, who are raised and taught to hide their emotions in public. However deep inside Kate is still a female. In the second investigation which Kate had with Ellen, Kate does end up allowing herself to break down with tears in the midst of her conversation about her dead lover Anne. Here, Forrest shows that even though some women are masculine, they are limited to an extent because they are in custody to the biological determinism which determines the limits for the advancing of success based on sex (Rubin Thinking Sex). It is important that Forrest was able to show both sides of Kate: the tough masculine side and the soft elegant feminine side.

In addition, Kate’s final monologue, also in Act 5, scene 2, tells the audience a lot; about the play itself, as well as the society in Shakespeare’s era. On face value, Kate’s final monologue seems to be a long lecture about serving your husband, no questions asked. “Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot, / And place your hands below your husband’s foot” (v, ii, lines 92-3, page 221). However, Shakespeare gave Kate the last word in the play, a sign of her consistent power and control. As well, her monologue can be perceived as quite ironic. Kate is aware of the beliefs about how women in the household should act and, as clearly portrayed throughout the entire play, the role Petruchio has been trying to get her to fill. By playing along fullheartedly with society’s expectations, in front of the large audience of guests, Kate becomes “truly tamed” - or just incredibly

When we are children, an old toy may seem scary, but as time passes reality kicks in. As for the themes, you can say that Jack-in-box is a sign of childhood. The toy, Jack, represents the childhood that the children used to have. Furthermore, you can say that the children have grown up, which means that they are no longer children. The contrast of the passing of time is being thrown at the readers throughout the story (page 71, line 5 and page 71, line 12). These two similar parts of separate sentences gives us as the readers a clear idea of the fact that there is a clear line between the adults and the children. One boy died in the Great War and the other boy is in the so-called “madhouse” (a psychiatric division). The girls are still alive, but of immense importance: they both declined to revisit the house in which they had grown up in. These things show that none of the children are children anymore. They are all adults and the passing of time has shown. Another intention could also be that something happened to these children that were not good, and that even though time passes, it does not mean that all the dreadful things that happened go

Firstly, Kate is noticeably affected almost immediately after the death of her mother and father. We see this by her descriptive quotes about how she was feeling and the observations she made about others in her life. Some instances include “I remember being rigid with fear, not daring to look at him” (19), “it was like being at the bottom of the sea” (53), and “...there was a whirlwind howling through me” (54). These quotes represent how Kate felt overwhelmed by unmanageable emotions; she felt almost numb and empty. She even ends up cutting her finger just to feel something and it hardly hurt at all. This is a confused, traumatized little girl. Next, Kate is affected by the basic principles her parents taught. The simple memory of her parents provoked thought of the Presbyterian Commandments they would follow. These principles shape who she is and represent a background where people do not talk about problems or share emotions. “No, you swallow your feelings, force them down inside yourself, where they feed and grow and swell and expand until you explode, unforgivably, to the utter bewilderment of whomever it was who upset you” (36). Lastly, the trauma she has endured has made her scared. Scared of sharing feelings, scared of commitment, scared of loving someone. Daniel, Kate’s boyfriend, feels he is in the dark when it comes to Kate’s past and her emotions. This is because Kate is simply scared to love him. She proves this and it’s connection to her past by saying, “people I love and need have a habit of disappearing from my life” (89). The death of her parents has definitely shaped who she is but some may say, it helped her show resilience and strength to embrace her past and move

Lastly, her family betrayed her by not listening to her side of the story after her sister told lies about her, and they betrayed her when they acted as if they did not care if she moved out of the house. In all of these actions, the family itself and certain members of the family are portrayed as uncaring, unsupportive, disrespectful, conniving, deceitful, and hateful to Sister. Through every action of the family, Sister is treated harshly, and she tries to not let this bother her. Yet, anger and bitterness build up inside of her until she cannot take it anymore. Consequently, it built up so much inside of her that it severely affected Sister so profoundly that she moved away from her home to get away from her family.

Throughout her early childhood, she ignores her father's drunken escapades, and thinks of him as a loving father and excellent teacher of the wild. It isn't until her junior year of high school that she realizes the indisputable flaws her father has. She resents Dad's drinking and how he constantly lets her and the rest of the family down yet never openly admits it or allows his flaws to be discussed. Jeannette also begins to resent her mother, whom she’s never been close to. Some cause of her resentment includes her mom’s refusal to hold down a job long enough to provide her kids with a stable food supply, especially since Rex won’t be providing like he says he will. This resentment eventually motivates her to move away from her parents and Welch. She ends up in New York City with her sister Lori in which she focuses on her studies and becomes a successful journalist. Jeannette is a natural forgiver and it shows even when she moves away from her parents, but this doesn’t stop her from being haunted by her past and with her transition from poverty into the upper-middle class. By the end of the novel, Jeannette is a symbol of the resilience and

The next change seen in Kate is how obedient she has become when Petruchio and her are heading to Bianca’s wedding. Petruchio says that the moon is out, when in actuality it is daytime. Petruchio and Kate have a brief disagreement until she finally rolls over and says “Forward, I pray, since we have come so far, And be it moon, or sun, or what you please. An if you please to call it a rush candle, Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me”(IV.iv.206). This shows that she is obedient and even if what Petruchio is saying is completely false she will obey and agree.

In the first section, Desmond focuses on “movement style and meaning” (pg. 31). She explains how movement is learned through our communities. In some locations, some dances may be seen as proper because that is what they learned in their community, but if performed in another community, those people may see their dance as “improper.” Desmond provides the example of how in the nineteenth century the waltz was seen as “too sexually dangerous” when introduced in North America and Europe. Their reasoning

In contrast to this, Kate is very angry and frustrated by the Petruchio, and immediately becomes "shrewish," resorting to insults, 'A joint stool,' and violence. This gives the effect of Kate being much less in control of what is going on, and perhaps reflects the direction their relationship is going to take, that Petruchio will be the one in charge, and Kate will not have any control. This could however also demonstrate Kate's intelligence and wit, that she is able to keep up and match Petruchio's wordplay. However Kate feels the need to resort to violence, again demonstrating Petruchio's intelligent wordplay and calm attitude, as he does not react violently towards Kate, but simply

However, when Kate realizes “Daniel had become fundamental” (161) to her life, she decides to bring Daniel back to Crow Lake. This decision is vital for their relationship, and it also indicates that Kate eventually begins to face the problems in her life, and tries to resolve them.

The relationship between Kate and Petruchio is completely different from the love of Bianca and Lucentio. "Kate is a neglected, hurt, and humiliated daughter who disguises her grief from herself as well as others with a noisy shrewish temper" (Craig 342). She has a fiery disposition and a reputation for reacting violently to people. The challenge of capturing her is Petruchio's real attraction to her. He can be seen as a rough, unfeeling, greedy, "swash-buckler" who cares nothing for Kate's feelings (so long as she has money). "

As the play continues, we learn even more about Kate. For example, when Kate and Petruchio go back to Baptista’s, Kate begins to see how Petruchio operates. She learns that if she does what Petruchio says, even if she knows it is not true, she will get something she wants out of it, like going back to her father’s house. Petruchio test Kate when they meet the real Vincentio on the road and he asks Kate if she has ever seen a finer young women. Knowing what he is up to, Kate shows her amazing wit and decides to play his game. She has figured out that Petruchio has a method to his madness and if she plays her cards right, their relationship can be a partnership with a series of actions and rewards.

Contrary to some of her characters Kate was not an independent woman. She was only twenty years old when she got married, and in a period of seven years she had six children. In her early years Kate was always known as a "bright student and a great story teller", but her writing years did not came until the 1880's. (Wyatt) Kate had a hard life, and it is assumable that she wrote about her personal frustrations. Through her characters, Kate represented the idealisms of feminism.

Speaks her mind and acts a little like Kate did in the beginning at the end after she gets married