The Age Of Grief By Jane Smiley Essay

Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" depicts the story of a dying woman's life. Throughout her eighty years of life Mrs. Weatherall has had her fair share of disappointments, heartaches, and unfavorable outcomes. This short story is written in a manner that allows the reader to get an outside view looking in; similar to looking at the story through a window as if being acted out in front of you in the theater. The story is eloquently written and leaves the reader with a sense of familiarity towards the family. The populations of readers who have had the pleasure of experiencing this pathetic story have come to relate their own experiences and disappointments towards the story and have empathetic feelings towards the main

The young sisters, who know little about their father’s suffering, make fun of the hole without knowing the consequence of their action. The father is unable to intervene on his daughters’ behalf, as he sits there “face paled.” (40), till the mother orders the children to keep quiet. Apparently, his role in the family structure prevents him from expressing his emotion directly to his children. Nevertheless, after a visit to the doctor, it turns out that the father’s internal organs are intact despite their state of severe deformation, which shows the father’s incredible determination to remain functional in his family role after his tragic loss. Ironically, the doctors “pronounced him in great health” (41), which implies that apparent defects in mental health could be suppressed by the father’s unwillingness to challenge his image as a man, thus they are not easily detectable. The father’s behavioral patterns after his father’s death are in accordance to many stereotypical views of men.

In “Whoever We Are, Loss Finds us and Defines Us”, by Anna Quindlen, she brings forth the discussion grief's grip on the lives of the living. Wounds of death can heal with the passing of time, but in this instance, the hurt lives on. Published in New York, New York on June 5, 1994, this is one of many Quindlen published in the New York Times, centered on death's aftermath. This article, written in response to the death of Quindlen’s sister-in-law, and is focused on an audience who has, currently is, or will experience death. Quindlen-a columnist for the New York Times and Newsweek, Pulitzer Prize winner and author-has written six bestselling novels (Every Last One, Rise and Shine, Object Lessons, One True Thing, and Black and Blue) and has

In a world usually depicted as a “man’s world,” a woman’s role is not considered as significant and thus can be repressed. It is why a feminist perspective or criticism comes into place, especially in literature. By definition, a feminist criticism consist of scrutinizing “the ways in which literature reinforces the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women.” (Tyson) In Gail Godwins’s A Sorrowful Woman, the leading female character is concentrated in her efforts in distancing from her structured lifestyle. A feminist would critic Godwins story by as the female character is in pursuit of peace and happiness and wants to escape from the role she has been implanted. The critic would concentrate on the experience woman

Not everyone’s life is filled with happiness. Granny Weatherall, in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” by Katherine Anne Porter, and Addie Bundren, in “from As I Lay Dying ‘Darl’,” by William Faulkner, are two dying poor women who recall their lives in their minds when they are laying in beds. Their tough and harsh lives are similar in several ways. Granny Weatherall and Addie Bundren both had two men in their life. Granny loves her husband, John, and George.

It becomes clear to any person that is interested in the Second World War that the historiography is a dense field. The most overwhelming advantages in this density is the able of readers to cross reference information between multiple points of view and topics of research. On the other hand, one of the more challenging aspects of this particular historiography is that historians can fall into well-worn tracks when it comes to directing their narrative, leading many readers to find it hard to find a fresh and provocative work. In Marion A. Kaplan memorable book, Between Dignity and Despair, readers will find a new interpretation of one of the most horrifying event in human

The father’s way of dealing with his inner issues is reflected by the way he distracts himself with hobbies of the women he loves. This illustrates how a sudden tragedy can influence someone’s lifestyle. In fact, before his first wife passed away he showed a lot of interest in art and when she died he was lost and devastated ,” (…) after mom died, my sister and I used to worry about his living alone. And he was lonely.We knew that after putting in his usual twelve-hours workday, he would return to the empty house (...) then read medical journals until it was time to go to sleep.”(16). This implies that

In the tale of Allison and Clark, the reader falls into what appears to be the midpoint of the account, one with no distinct beginning, and an uncertain aftermath. Mary Robison’s “Yours” addresses the considerable topic of untimely death. In this case, a young and dying Allison’s last few hours of life, while interacting in unremarkable activities with her older husband, Clark. Robison’s short story has a suitably short word-count, and there’s quite a bit of relatively quirky punctuation throughout the story. There’s also a bit of ambiguity as to how long, why, and what Allison is dying from.

Chapter 4, Teeth Everywhere, discusses teeth, obviously. By looking at an animal’s teeth you can learn much from it. They are a powerful window into an animal’s lifestyle. Teeth are a useful way to learn about our past.

       As the tale begins we immediately can sympathize with the repressive plight of the protagonist.  Her romantic imagination is obvious as she describes the "hereditary estate" (Gilman, Wallpaper 170) or the "haunted house" (170) as she would like it to be.  She tells us of her husband, John, who "scoffs" (170) at her romantic sentiments and is "practical to the extreme" (170).  However, in a time

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross was a Swiss-born psychiatrist who spent two years of her professional career gathering information from terminally ill patients to create the premise for On Death and Dying. “It is not meant to be a textbook on how to manage dying patients, nor is it intended as a complete study of the psychology of dying.” (Kübler-Ross, 1969). This book was written as a call-to-action; to raise awareness of the voice of the dying. Not only is there stigma surrounding the topic, but also numerous misconceptions concerning the emotional journey of the terminally ill. The Kübler-Ross Model creates a framework for those interacting with dying persons, to help caretakers better understand the transitions that are taking place, resulting in higher-quality care. This model is comprised of five stages, which can be experienced in a variety of combinations. Prior to the first stage, the patient must be delivered the news of their illness or the severity of their illness, which usually results in shock. Denial is the first stage noted by Kübler-Ross. Denial and isolation are normal responses to overwhelming emotions and serve as a temporary response until the individual is ready to accept reality. Although this defense mechanism is normative, it is important to note that it isn’t necessarily healthy, and that some never move past this stage. As reality sets in, pain beings to emerge and manifests itself in the next stage: anger. Rationality takes a

The story that is A Sorrowful Woman seems to be a story told from the point of view of a narrator who focuses only slightly on the inner conflict of one of the main charters in the story. The character of which I am speaking is never referred to by name, instead is called she, the woman, mommy, and wife throughout the entire story which lends credence to the conclusion of the viewpoint as being told from the outside. The first indication that the focus of the story will be not of a warm and loving nature is the line “The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them again”(1). This is where a hypothesis can begin to be formed as to who the antagonist of the story is, bearing the statement above in

Within this novel, Morrie embraced his mortality with “love, acceptance and open communication” as he gave the reader a glimpse into what he considered to be “The Meaning of Life.” Using Mitch Albom as a vessel to pen his “own culture values,” Morrie was able to define the contradictions between others vision of “popular culture values” and his style of truly living through “life, death and reincarnation.” With the use of materials obtained from the course, this writer was able to summarize various observations about Morrie’s “final lecture” on life, death and family amidst his perceptual understanding that reorganized “aging as growth and not

It was a Monday night; I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just completed my review of Office Administration in preparation for my final exams. As part of my leisure time, I decided to watch my favorite reality television show, “I love New York,” when the telephone rang. I immediately felt my stomach dropped. The feeling was similar to watching a horror movie reaching its climax. The intensity was swirling in my stomach as if it were the home for the butterflies. My hands began to sweat and I got very nervous. I could not figure out for the life of me why these feelings came around. I lay there on the couch, confused and still, while the rings continued. My dearest mother decided to answer this eerie phone call. As she

In the last three paragraphs of the short story “The Dead” by James Joyce, Gabriel and Gretta Conroy attend a family function which ends in a marital dispute. Gabriel experiences a tense evening arguing with various family members and ends the evening realizing his marriage has been a facade. In “The Dead,” Joyce reveals the universal truth that what creates meaning in life and death is love not only feeling true love, but being loved.