The Collector Miranda

The novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” involves an older teenager named Holden who surrounds himself with his pessimistic emotions, gradually affecting him in tense situations. Often, he refuses to comprehend situations which ends miserably for him. A major role for his reckless actions are caused by his fearful feelings that he has not suppressed, “Contaminated he is, of course, by vulgarity, lust, lies, temptations, recklessness, and cynicism” (Peterson 1). Throughout the novel, his unfavorable emotions were represented as well as the negative outcome of his situations. In that moment of time, his thoughts affect his actions as a result of becoming further depressed than he already happens to be. If he was able to analyze the situation and think logically, he would avoid multiple situations without feeling pessimistic about his choices.

As Antonio is forced to develop into a more independent and well-informed young man, he must come to terms with the harsh realities in the outside world from which he was shielded during his early childhood. He encounters the truth behind what happens at Rosie’s—while he has always been told that Rosie is “evil, not evil like a witch, but evil in other ways” (34), he does not learn of the nature of that “evil”—and that his brother is partaking in it (165); Antonio even begins to have dreams that are far more “intense” than any he has previously experienced (70). Antonio must also confront the reality of the hardships of loss, as the people around him with whom he is acquainted—and even those he loves—die at the hands of others. This is particularly important in Antonio’s exploration of religion, as he begins to question why an all-powerful God would allow his loved ones to die, and why such a deity would not sentence those who killed them to hell (186). Antonio’s loss of innocence is finally and forcefully demonstrated at the end of the novel, when he speaks to his mother “as a man,” commanding her to take the younger (and still “innocent”) children inside (269). This is doubly important, as it demonstrates not only that Antonio has lost enough of his innocence to be speaking “as a man,” but also that he recognizes innocence in others and strives to protect them from what he has

Yet her compassion, as real as it is, also has a certain element of shallowness, or at least inexperience about it. She has lived the majority of her life in isolation, on an island known with her only companionship being that of her father. Growing up on this deserted island, Miranda learns to live and abide by the example set by Prospero. He is her only contact with the humanity and therefore he is her only friend and teacher. She knows no other woman and therefore had no female figure to aid the process of raising her. She is naïve and unaware of life's experiences, having been shielded from the rest of the world.      

Miranda meets a man named Dev at an expensive make-up counter where she becomes enamored with his charm and appearance and from then on continues a relationship with him. Similarly, Miranda’s perspective of her new love is widely altered by her co-worker Laxmi, who usually has stories of heartbreak surrounding her cousin's adulterous husband. Soon Laxmi ends up inviting her poor cousin up to New York for a consoling spa day, but forgets about who will have the responsibility of watching her nephew. So Miranda ends up doing it out of niceness, where she is immediately met with the behavior of a rude elementary school boy named Rohin. 7 year old Rohin goads her into making him coffee, drawing pictures with him, letting him follow her around her apartment, go through her stuff, and just invade her general privacy. Eventually, she is convinced to try on a set of party clothes she had bought with the intention of of wearing in the presence of her lover and a fancy setting. Rohin exclaims and tells her she is “sexy”, something her lover had said just a week earlier. The word choice spurs Miranda to ask the young boy if he knows what he has just said to her, and he tells her he believes that thinking someone is sexy is the equivalent of loving someone you do not know. This makes her realize the impact that his

An important part in every person’s life is the search for personal identity and self-knowledge. This struggle involves working out a concept of oneself as a unique individual and embracing an ideology or system of values that provide a sense of direction, as stated in Weiten’s Psychology: Themes and Variations. Similarly, in Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, Griet grapples with her identity as a maid, and entertains the idea that she can choose a path not set out for her. Her journey of self-discovery leads to a deeper understanding of her role in Vermeer’s paintings, and what it means for her own life. The Vermeer’s influence on Griet affects her transition from adolescence into adulthood, thus affecting the choices she makes. These choices define Griet as a person even when she feels she no longer has any trace of her old self left. Although Griet does not completely sever her ties to her old life, Griet does fit the archetype of a hero on a hero’s quest because of the challenges crucial to her journey and through the redemption of her personal values.

But Prospero (through Ariel) has done more than simply arrange for Miranda and Ferdinand to meet. He has cast a glamour on Ferdinand ("our garments . . . drenched in the sea, hold . . . their freshness" (II.1 60-61)), which leads Miranda to "call him a thing divine" (I.2 418). Miranda herself has been groomed by Prospero to be what men desire (pure, virtuous, beautiful), even men as unmanlike as Caliban. The question of whether or not Gonzalo, in his benevolence, thought to pack along with the books and food and the clothes that fit yet more clothes, for Miranda when grown, raises the question of whether or not a glamour might have been cast on her as well. (It is safe to say that Ferdinand's mistaking a child who has been raised immersed in magic a goddess is not as far off base as it may at first seem.) Ferdinand and Miranda experience a "love at first sight"; their affections are based solely off physical attraction. If a glamour has been cast upon Miranda, then the girl Ferdinand is falling for does not exist outside of Prospero's allowing her to exist (i.e., outside of the spell which has been cast upon her). If one has not

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s view on life reverses. Two characters the influence the main character Guy Montag are the old lady whose house and books were burnt down and Mildred. The old lady was caught preserving books in her home. Firemen including Montag were ordered to burn the books. The old lady refused to leave her books, so she too was burned. She bravely gave an allusion as her last words, “Play the man,’ she said, ‘Master Ridley.’ Something, something, something” (F451 37). Beatty the fire chief who ordered to burn the books replied, ”We shall this day light such a candle, by God`s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out” (F451 37). Montag gave this incident a lot of thought. The more thought he gave it; the more he questioned why the old lady loved those books so much she would die for them. Montag, like most of his society has never read an illegal book, so he is unable to relate to the old woman. But, he feels the urge to find out why these books are so sacred. After reading he begins to realize society is a twisted lie do to the controlling government. Montag’s wife influenced him to stop and question their way of living. Mildred’s common life style shows unhappiness to Montag. In her corrupted mind her family is the television, not Montag. Montag sees this depression and emptiness in Mildred and begins to question the way society has made her. After Mildred attempts suicide Montag tries to prevent him from

“You’re breaking every decent human law, every decent human relationship, every decent thing that’s ever happened between your sex and mine” (114). This passage makes me really pity Miranda, and shifts my perspective of how she is truly feeling and all the actions that she has tried to escape have become justifiable. Throughout the story Clegg hypnotized me that what he was doing was right, mostly because he was telling it from his perspective, and I wasn’t in the perspective of Miranda constantly. With Clegg whenever Miranda was rude to him I didn’t feel any pity towards Miranda, which was very odd, how could my subconscious be put in the back of my mind the horrid thing he was doing to this helpless girl? Even when Miranda tried escaping

Sympathy, another theme in this book, can have the same amount of impact on an individual.  Instead of it having a negative reaction to the reader it has a superior reaction to the reader.  ?Lee Chong? knew he could not have helped it, but he wished he might have known and perhaps tried to help.  It was deeply a part of Lee?s kindness and understanding that man?s right to kill himself is inviolable, but sometimes a friend can make it unnecessary?(Page 2).  Lee was having compassionate sentiments for the man who committed suicide.  He had a deep feeling that he could of helped in someway to convince the man that his life was worth living.  A side story that was important to the theme of Sympathy was a story about Mrs. Kitty Casini a mouse and Mary Talbot ?Kitty Casini had a mouse?Daintily she stabbed the mouse through the back and drew it wriggling to her and her tail flicked with tense delight? ?I can?t blame Kitty Casini? said Mary. ?I?m just not going to like her no matter how much I want to??(Pages 155-156).  Mary had intense sympathy for that mouse that with no doubt died a tragic death.  She went to the extreme of disliking on of her favorite cat.  Sympathy can bring about the good in people.  Sympathy for loved ones or strangers can surprise one for their intense emotions.

Clarisse Mclellan and Mrs. Montag, otherwise known as Mildred, are the two strongest and most prominent female characters in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451. They are both extremely vital and important to the story in the different ways that they influence the main character of the novel, Guy Montag. Clarisse however, is labeled as a threat t the fictional society of Fahrenheit 451. She is questioning and curious. Mildred is the society’s ideal and perfect citizen. She has been molded, conformed, and brainwashed into the character she is in the novel. These two important characters are wildly different, although they do share some similarities. In this essay, I will be observing, comparing, and contrasting the differences between Clarisse Mclellan and Mildred Montag.

Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye are two novels in which characters reflect on their attitudes and experiences as a source of emotional growth and maturity. Salinger and Toews show the importance of this reflection through the evolution of their characters’ – Holden Caulfield and Nomi Nickel – similar attitudes towards their schools, communities, and lives. Though Nomi and Holden both do poorly in school for various reasons, Nomi overcomes her obstacles by working to identify the source of them. Both characters also resent their communities because of the hypocrisy found within them. However, Nomi manages to find good within the East Village through self-reflection, while Holden completely

Like a rich man telling a poor man to stop thinking about money,’ and ‘There was always class between us’. This can be seen as a metaphorical representation of the shifting power distribution of the time, the rise of the middle class instigated more opportunities for working and lower class people to gain wealth and power and further blurred the line between the traditional societal divisions. Clegg is representative of the old, caste-bound patriarchy and Miranda is a pioneer of the new, less rigid system. Miranda herself, however, makes reference to her hatred of ‘the new class people with their cars and their money and their tellies and their stupid vulgarities and their stupid crawling imitations of the bourgeoisie.’ and views Clegg as the epitome of ‘the new people’ although it is possible that this view is a result of her idolisation of GP and subsequent adoption of his ideologies and values rather than her own opinion as she also expresses her ‘…despair for days afterwards, thinking how much of their rotten, pretentious blood I must have in me’, in reference to her parents, implying that she feels she does not belong to the class she was born into or that she simply wishes to be free of the class-system altogether.

Comparing the characters of Angelo and Isabella, one could argue that Isabella is ‘the symbol of goodness and mercy set against a background of moral decay’. Alternatively, one could see her character as self-righteous and hypocritical, as we later discover when she values her chastity higher than her brother’s life.

There are three basic systems in the human mind that control our desires, morality, and help us make the right choices in our everyday life. These systems are called Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is given to us at birth; desires, it is what we crave in life and what we want to have. Our Superego is there to control our Id and help us decide if what we are planning on doing is moral and humane. The ego is the system that compromises our desires and our conscious. It is the final decision that we come to. The essential need that Fred seems to search for is love. In The Collector, by John Fowles, Fred has this desire to take Miranda to his home and leave her there until she falls in love wit him. Fred stalks MIranda for a long time and as soon

‘She’s beautiful’, he said.” He saw beauty when no one else did.Grigsby: antagonist, a man in the line waiting to see the painting. Grigsby at first is misleading, he seems to be the one to defend Tom by saying “Leave the boy alone,” but in the end he was encouraging Tom to spit by saying “”’Tom, spit!’” and “’Here I’ll spit for you!’” when Tom didn’t want to and then Grigsby turned on Tom like the rest of the mob. Grigsby is bossy, and careless. Grigsby has come across as a bossy character, he has always been demanding by always trying to be in control and by saying things like “’Tom is going to spit clean and true, right Tom?”. Also Grigsby is careless, when it was Toms turn to see the painting Grigsby barely gave him any time, and didn’t care to know why Tom thought what he did, and wanted to be in control of happened by spitting himself.