The Author who Is Frances Hodgson Burnett Essay

Alice Malsenior Walker, an African American born into poverty, came into this world on February 9, 1944 in Eatonon, Georgia. She was the youngest child of eight children born to Willie Lee and Minnie Tallulah Walkers. Both of her parents were sharecroppers as well as expert story tellers. Things were not easy for the Walkers and Alice often witnessed her mother’s frustration of having the burden to take care of eight children with little means. Even though children of share croppers were usually made to work the fields, Alice’s mother made sure that her kids received an education. Alice was brilliant at writing poetry.

Since the view of childhood changes in the nineteenth century, the potential of children’s literature becomes evident. With the reference to the sources of children’s literature, they can be traced back to alterations in translation and in the literature for adults, where a child or childhood are essential concepts; moreover folk literature is concerned to be a wide source for this literary genre. According to Peter Hunt

In the folktale “The Blue Beard” written by Charles Perrault, conforms to both Dworkin’s and Lurie’s representations of fairy tale heroines. Perrault states, “The fatal effects of curiosity, particularly female curiosity, have of course long seen the subject of report” (133). Andrea Dworkin author of “Women Hating” and Alison Lurie author of “Don’t Tell the Grown-Ups” explain their different views regarding the heroines in fairy tales.

Frances Ellen Walker Harper published a wealth of short stories, poetry, essays, and novels in the middle to late 1800s. She was born into a politically active, free black family, attended her uncle’s school, and became the first female teacher at the Union Seminary. Harper’s unusually comfortable class-status and extensive education allowed her to become a skilled writer on topics that interested her, such as politics, civil rights, feminism, and religion. Harper used her skill and passion to become economically and emotionally independent. In fact, much of her work echoes her identity as a middle class woman of color who supported herself through writing. However, this nature of independence was unusual for a woman in the 1800s, especially a black woman. Though Harper’s portrayal of strong, independent womanhood is a much needed depiction of women, Harper is unqualified to establish expectations for black women in the 1800s.

In this both heart wrenching and slightly humorous memoir, successful journalist Jeannette Walls tells the bittersweet story of her rather dysfunctional and poverty stricken upbringing. Walls grows up in a family trailed by the ubiquitous presence of hunger and broken down homes. Throughout the memoir she recounts memories of moving from one dilapidated neighborhood to another with her three other siblings, insanely "free sprinted" mother, and incredibly intelligent yet alcoholic father. The author focuses on her unconventional childhood with somewhat unfit parents much too lazy and self-absorbed to even obtain decent jobs. Although Walls's childhood gushes with heartbreaking tales of searching through dumpsters for food, she remains as

Born to poor cultivating folks in 1933, Joycelyn Elders experienced childhood in a rustic, isolated, neediness stricken pocket of Arkansas. She was the eldest of eight youngsters, and she and her kin needed to join work in the cotton fields from age 5 with their ordinant dictation at an isolated school thirteen miles from home. They conventionally missed school amid harvest time, September to December.

Joyce Carols Oates highlights the importance of developing relationships in families. Connie’s future could’ve had a completely different outcome if she would’ve been raised with attention, love, and communication. Arnold would’ve never had the opportunity to manipulate her if she had her family’s protection; however, that was not the case. Connie’s family must live with a guilty conscience knowing that her kidnapping could’ve been avoided if only they were less neglectful towards

Memoirs, and writing in general, reveal a truth about the author. Oftentimes, said truth is revealed intentionally. Universal truths such as struggle, endurance, and agony help authors influence their audiences. These truths cause the readers to become cognizant of and appreciate the authors. It is a writer’s duty to write from the heart—to write about the good and bad sides of a story. Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood fails to use universal truths and instead presents a very superficial presentation of its author’s life. J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis display the unconventional upbringing of Vance in order to give the audience a better understanding of the writer. Pure honesty

In the articles written by Hogan and Shteyngart, we learn of two families with different origins, displaying similar hardships and adversities. In Hogan’s article, she poetically refers to her father’s eyes observing the hardship of life and her mother’s pain carrying the burdens of the family. Her father shares his views as he observes “the plague of locusts that leveled our crops, they flew in formation like buzzards” these words easily depict the hardship of farming and all the side effects that prompted difficulty providing crops for the family. Her mother shares the pain of her burden as she states” She left the large white breasts that weigh down my body.” Both Hogan’s mother and father reveal not only their role in the family but the difficulty in

This modern fairy tale contains diverse characters but none of them are as important as the grandmother. In fact, through her narration the reader gets the basic

In both Judy Brady’s “I want a wife” and Rebecca Curtis’s “Twenty Grand,” the reader is given a glimpse into the lives of two families living in different worlds but sharing many similar situations. Both families in the two-story show the environment that they are living in. Through the author’s use of irony, repetition, and tone, it becomes clear that I feel more sympathy for the mother in the story “Twenty Grand”.

Her poem, A Bronzeville Mother Loiters In Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon, is what I chose to focus on in my paper. Brooks’s poem is all about Carolyn Bryant and how she might have felt about the murder of Till. She presents Carolyn as almost sympathetic, oppressed housewife whose refuses to accept her role and her husband role in the injustice murder of Till. Instead, she rationalizes it by comparing the murder to a fairy tale. She makes herself the princess, her husband the prince, and Till the dark villain.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman is one of the many authors that represent the realism movement. Realism is a style of writing started in the mid nineteenth century and lasted until the early twentieth century. Realism was a response to romanticism. One of Freeman’s most popular story is “The Revolt of Mother”, which is a story that represents farm life during the nineteenth century. The main character in this story is Mrs. Penn, who is a dedicated, and loving mother and wife. Even though she is a dedicated woman, her husband does not appreciate her or gives her the respect she feels she is needed. Her husband did the hard work, while she was in the house washing dishes and cleaning like many wives during this period. Her husband keeps on promising that he will build her a house,

In Margaret Atwood’s poem “There Was Once”, Atwood uses irony to point out the societal problems within the genre of fairy tales. Charles Perrault, the author of the short story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, writes about fantastic creatures, magic, and love, following the generic conventions of fairy tales. When compared to Perrault’s short story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, Atwood’s poem both compliments and contrasts Perrault’s. These two texts, although similar, offer different views on the genre of fairy tales.

In the “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut” short story, J.D. Salinger, draws a women living a meager life in despite of her wealth, and the unhappiness of not being a mother even though she has a daughter. Although this woman demonstrates an icy and bitter relationship to everything around her, including her descendent, the story’s end indicates self-awareness and resolution for the protagonist.