Summary Of The Supernatural Elements Of Monkey Beach

This is the ultimate loss of identity because indirectly by Mavis denying her children and breaking the bond between mother and child, she is in a sense denying herself and her natural inclination to care for her children. When Mavis and her husband are in bed together, we see Morrison compares her to a ?Raggedy Ann doll,?(26) illustrating the fact that Mavis? identity meant nothing to her husband. Ironically, it takes this initial shed of self for Mavis to be able to escape the bondage her husband has over her. An article by the Radicalesbians supports this fact by stating that the male culture?s definition of ?woman? binds a woman to sexual and family functions (Radicalesbians). Unfortunately, Mavis? husband didn?t allocate ?family functions? as including the needs of his children coming before his own needs. Another indication of a lack of identity in this is Mavis? mother?s ability to turn Mavis in when she runs away to her home. Her mother, a traditional woman, is unable to understand the idea of a woman running away from her family even if it is to save herself. Her informing Mavis? husband of Mavis? whereabouts is the result of her unwillingness to recognize the similarities between her own lack of identity and her daughter?s, another tendency of women stated in the article.

In the novel In a Glass Darkly, author Le Fanu expresses perspectives on the supernatural world through the memoirs of Dr. Hesselius, a physician who studies metaphysical illnesses. The first three short stories, titled “Green Tea,” “The Familiar,” and “Mr. Justice Harbottle,” involve separate patients that Hesselius writes on. Through these stories, the novel expounds themes concerning the supernatural’s effect on the real world, the guilty consciences of the haunted victims, and the ambiguity of the spirits and demons supposedly seen.

Instead it is a gift. For instance, “…I told her about the little man and she gave me a hug and said everyone had bad dreams and not to be scared of them – they were just dreams, and they couldn’t hurt me” (21) expresses the interactions that Lisamarie encounters with the spirit world that she can not yet understand due to the dismissal from her mother Gladys. Later, Lisamarie’s curiosity influences her to seek the reason behind her visions and has the following conversation with her Ma-ma-oo, to define what is occurring: “…Ah, you have a gift, then. Just like your mother. Didn’t she tell you about it?... When Gladys was very young, lots of death going on. T.B. Flu. Drinking. Diseases. She used to know who was going to die next. But that kind of gift, she makes people nervous, hey?” (153).

I consider Monkey Beach as a coming of age novel; Lisa’s struggle between reality and the spirit world throughout the novel might be

The setting of the home is used throughout both texts. This evokes a sense of comfort and homeliness in the reader, therefore making them proportionally more sympathetic towards the relationships of both the central couples in question and allows them to interrelate the situations in their own lives. Noah’s 1946 plantation home is one that is full of life. His home is a refuge that is laden with memories of Allie. In particular, ‘a picture of [Allie’s] dreams’ is located in the central location of the house, ‘see desire in . . . every stroke’ symbolizes the ever-changing nature of their relationship, just as Allie was ‘adding to it every day, changing it as our relationship changed’. Much like Allie’s painting, Henry and Clare’s house in Chicago mirrors their married life, marked by ups and downs. It has seen their characters and relationships develop, at times being a safe haven where the house ‘envelops us, watches us, contemplates us’ as though it were a guardian. The house, however, also sees Henry’s frequent disappearances and Clare’s endless longing, a ‘love intensified by absence’. It ‘watches’ the many arguments, Clare’s multiple miscarriages, and eventually Henry’s death, morphing and altering with each new event. Through the setting of the nursing home, Sparks is able to evoke the emotions of longing, distress, and pity in the reader. It is a place of sadness and loss, with the constant reminder of an entire life, not remembered, ‘she would stare at forgotten offspring, hold paintbrushes that inspired nothing, and read love letters that brought back no joy.’ This loss symbolizes the unpredictable way is which a love and a relationship can change so dramatically so quickly. Sparks is able to embed the idea that once a deep and ideal love is found, it may not remain so pristine and complete after a time. This is

In the novel The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston uses ghosts to represent a battle between American and Chinese cultures. The two cultures have different views of what a ghost is. The Chinese believe the ghost spirits may be of people dead or alive. Chinese culture recognizes foreigners and unfamiliar people as ghosts because, like American ghosts, they are mysterious creatures of the unknown. Americans view ghosts as spirits of the dead that either help or haunt people. American ghosts may or may not be real. There spirits are there but physical appearance is a mystery.

In the story “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, by Anne Fadiman is about a family who youngest child Lia Lee is diagnosed with epilepsy. Not only is the story about Lia Lee, but it also talks about the Hmong cultural group different beliefs compared to the American cultural beliefs. Throughout the story you see the differences throughout three different stages. Each stage shows at least one difference from the Hmong cultural belief, American cultural belief, and the techniques and practices that were used when Lia was born. The main theme in this story is the difference in how each stage handles giving birth to a child. In addition, to the differences there also happened to be a couple of similarities as well

Salzman (2000) describes the journey of Sister John, a nun at the Carmelite convent in Los Angeles. She experiences headaches that develop into deep spiritual episodes, which her doctor later informs her, are the symptoms of her recurring seizures. Sister John has temporal-lobe epilepsy and her doctor explains that it, “tend[s] to be more psychological” (Salzman, 2000, p.68). Sister John’s spiritual episodes were presumably caused by her medical condition.

The book gives the story of Lia Lee. Lia Lee is a Hmong child with leprosy, whose problems depict the dangers that exist due to lack of cross-cultural communication that is in the medical profession. This was first identified in Lia Lee when she was three months old when her elder sister slammed the door. This made her parents Foua and Nao Kao to believe that the noise made by the slammed door made her soul flee. They even went to the extent of diagnosing her illness as quag dab peg "The spirit catches you, and you fall down." They also believed that she was so special. Lia Lee's parents decided to take her to the Merced Community Medical Centre for treatment. At the Centre, they also used the traditional

Deborah Blau is an intelligent and artistic 16 year old, who also happens to be a troubled schizophrenic. She is lonely and suffering through illness until she finds solace in an asylum. This book talks about Deborah’s long and challenging journey. The book also tells us about all the obstacles that her and her family must overcome in order to be happy.

I believe that the “gulf” between western medicine and the Hmong culture is bridgeable. If there had there been someone in the beginning of Lia’s battle with epilepsy to interpret on a cultural level, the process of caring for Lia would have been much smoother regardless of the outcome. Upon entering the hospital for the first time, nor the doctors or the Lees had any idea how to thoroughly communicate with each other on the same level. Aside from the difficulty communicating with language, each group had a different interpretation of what the task of ‘curing’ Lia entailed. The goal or end result of caring for Lia’s illness was different for each group. Both groups felt the necessary steps were being taken, whether it be a shamanic soul calling ritual, or a double up on dose of Phenobarbital. If a cultural understanding existed before the events of Lisa treatment unfolded, some conflict may have been avoided.

As Celia made the long trek into town, doubt began to surface in her mind—an internal loop of anxious static. The initial signs were subtle—the lack of vehicles on the road, the faded billboards advertising cave tours for outrageously low prices, the silence—all indicating that Seven Devils might not have been the safe haven she hoped for. A glint of silver caught her eye—the moon reflecting off an orange and white roadblock. Covered in a thick coating of grit, it barricaded the gravel road leading to the caves. Celia stopped and gazed past

Throughout the life of Lia Lee, two beliefs were in consideration of Lia’s health, Western holistic Medicine and Hmong religious expression. A question stated by Fadiman, in Spirit Catches You, states, “If you can’t see that your own culture has its own set of interests, emotions, and biases, how can you expect to deal successfully with someone else’s culture?” (Fadiman, 261) This question would have changed the life of Lia Lee. By using Eliade’s definition of religion as presented earlier, “a mythical time, that is, a primordial time, not to be found in the historical past, an original time.” (Eliade, 72) Lia Lee’s parents were more in the moment, in original time, with Lia’s sickness as they prayed and performed rituals in order to retrieve her soul. Lia’s parents accepted the opinions of Lia’s doctors, but as for Lia’s doctors, they were not as accepting and did not put forth as much effort to understand the religious beliefs of Lia’s parents. Lia’s doctors thought that their way of handling Lia’s sickness, by giving her numerous medications, was the only way of helping her maintain her epilepsy, but they never considered asking Lia’s parents what they thought about their daughter’s treatment. Lia’s parents and doctors had a different perspective on the reality of Lia’s health. In reality, Lia was

Unexplainable singularities are inevitable. Society does not have the solution to every dilemma or anomaly that transpires. Undeniably, two fields of study that still has unidentified surfaces are the human psyche and supernatural activity. Scientists and researchers, regarding the psychology of the mind and supernatural happenstance, uncover new data and statistics every day. A psychological disorder can develop at any junction in a person’s life and encompass peculiar behavior in the way a person feels, thinks, and acts. In the novella, “The Queen of Spades” by Alexander Pushkin there are several key elements that provide the reader with enough data to formulate that the main character’s mental stability triggers the manifestation of the late Countess. Conversely, Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, “The Shining,” demonstrates strong indications of the supernatural.

In her book, “Lies that Tell the Truth: Magic Realism Seen Through Contemporary Fiction from Britain,” Anne C. Hegerfeldt discusses modern authors who display elements of magic realism in their work, Angela Carter being one of the predominant figures. “The Werewolf,” by Carter, opens with a description of the setting, familiarizing the readers of a world occupied by the supernatural. It is described as an otherwise, “normal country… their houses built of logs, dark and smoky within,” however, the people believe that, “the Devil is as real as you or I.” It’s not only the belief of the Devil, but they fear his physical form, “the Devil holds picnics in the graveyards and invites the witches.” The introduction reveals the ordinary existence of the Devil, witches, vampires, and werewolves. It has become so customary that the townspeople, “put out small votive offerings,” to please them. The narrative begins with a young girl being instructed to travel through the woods, which is knowingly inhabited by dangerous creatures, to visit her sickly grandmother, equipped only with a knife for protection. While travelling through the woods, the girl is confronted by a werewolf, but manages to defend herself by cutting off its paw. After arriving at her grandmother’s house, she drops the paw on the floor, but it has turned into the hand of her grandmother, who is then exposed of being a witch. After calling for help, nearby