The beloved tale of Cupid and Psyche takes up a large portion of The Golden Ass, relative to the other anecdotal interludes. Given the central placement, length and style, many readers have questioned its relevance to the overarching story. Is it an artistic interlude providing a reprieve from harsher circumstances, like the long description of Achilles shield in the Iliad, or does it advance the story? While it is tempting to view the tale as an artistic interlude, the Tale of Cupid and Psyche perpetuates the demonization of women in The Golden Ass, draws parallels between Psyche and Lucius, and foreshadows the tragic fate of Charitë. Firstly, in the story of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche’s two sisters embody Lucius’ reoccurring view of women as evil and sexually insatiable. …show more content…
For example, he describes the heart of the baker’s wife as “a regular cesspool” and he continuous to describe her as “malicious, cruel, spiteful, lecherous, drunken, selfish, obstinate, [and] as mean in her petty thefts as she was wasteful in her grand orgies” (The Golden Ass tr. Graves, 203). The description of her heart as a cesspool, attacks the very nature of the women; in her heart, at her core, she was a filthy, contemptable being. His following list of insults, further emphasizes his strong disdain for her. Likewise, Apuleius uses Psyche’s two sisters to further his wicked characterization of women. The younger of Psyche’s two sisters asserts that she will “be ashamed to call [herself] a woman” if she does not see Psyche “toppled down from her pinnacle… and flung into the gutter” (109). Here, the sister equates being a woman with taking violent, jealous action against her own flesh and
In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying by _________, the main character, Grant, is trying to console Jefferson. Jefferson has just been framed for a murder he did not commit, and many believe it is because he is black. Two drunk, white men went into a liquor store, already drunk, and attempted to shoot the owner who, in turn, shot back. In the end of the firefight, Jefferson was the only man standing. When at the trial to convince the jury Jefferson did not actually shoot the people, his attorney realizes his attempts at proving Jefferson’s innocence were futile, and says, “What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this” (8). He is asking the jury to spare the life of Jefferson, by implying that Jefferson is no more intelligent than a hog. The attorney is white, and is voicing the common belief among whites that all blacks are animals. Throughout the novel, Jefferson becomes haunted by the
A Long Way Gone shows how over time one’s character can be changed completely due to circumstances. For example, A Long Way Gone gives an understanding of how the most innocent children can become the most outrageous killers. Survival plays a very huge theme in the book because of the situations Ishmael had to go through. . Ever since Ishmael escaped from the chaos that was happening in Mattru Jong, Beah mainly had to focus on his survival every single day. Such an incident happened in Chapter 4. “Things changed rapidly in a matter of seconds and no one had any control over anything. We had yet to learn these things and implement survival tactics, which was what it came down to,” (Beah, 29). In Chapter 10, the boys are given meat at night
Power and control plays a big role in the lives many. When power is used as a form of control, it leads to depression and misery in the relationship. This is proven through the themes and symbolism used in the stories Lesson before Dying, The fun they had, The strangers that came to town, and Dolls house through the median of three major unsuccessful relationship: racial tension between the African Americans and the caucasians in the novel Lesson before Dying, Doll’s House demonstrates a controlling relationship can be detrimental for both individuals and The Stranger That Came To Town along with The Fun They Had show that when an individual is suppressed by majority they become despondent.
In past years, as well as, in the twenty-first century, African Americans are being oppressed and judged based on the color of their skin. In, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, this is the primary conflict that plagues Jefferson’s as well as Grant’s everyday life. By pleading guilty to a murder that he did not commit, Jefferson has to choose to die just as he is, a hog in the white’s eyes, or die a man. On the other hand, Grant, who is his teacher, is faced with being looked down upon by his community all because of his race and status. He is graced with the challenge of turning Jefferson into a man before his execution date. It is only a matter of time before they both realize that they cannot change the past and they have
In the story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman she writes of a woman severely oppressed in her marriage. The women in the story is an open mind individual. John; her husband is a psychologist and thinks that his wife has a mental disorder because of all the free thinking and puts her through the rest cure. Through analysis of the story, we can see that this story displays a creepy tone in order to depict a serious matter at a time when women’s oppression was at large and feminist protest was in full swing to put a stop to it. The writer uses literary devices such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony in order to show the reader how the main character has to overcome her oppression through insanity.
The Vow features a true love story between Kim and Krickitt Carpenter. Less than 10 weeks after the wedding, the couple got into a horrible car crash giving Krickitt a huge head injury leaving her in a coma. Krickitt woke up without her memory of ever meeting Kim let alone falling in love with him or even marrying him. Krickitt being a huge part in Kim’s life, Kim chooses to stand by Krickitt’s side going thru every husband’s worst nightmare and tries to bring back the memories of their relationship by doing things they once did together. But unfortunately, the efforts were mostly failures and Kim understood that the Krickitt he married had died in the car crash. Krickitt may have permanently lost the missing years of her life but with time, overcoming many obstacles along the way, the two love birds eventually fall in love with each other once again and found themselves with two children.
In the book Everything I Never Told You, there are many different elements and techniques used within the book. The technique that I want to go into more depth on is the use of symbolism. I specifically want to focus on the symbolism in regards to Lydia, Hannah, and Nath’s love of astronauts and space.
In the story of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche marries a man she has never seen in daylight, but this does not bother her, as he is very good to her. However, her sisters come and make her suspicious of who her husband may be and believe him to be a beast. Even though her husband had only asked for her loyalty to his wishes, to trust him and not try to look at his face, Psyche is unfaithful. When Cupid sees that Psyche has proven to be a disloyal wife, he leaves her. In this case Psyche was not just disloyal to her husband
In the novel “Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens starts of the book with multiple parallel structures to introduce the theme throughout the rest of the book. The parallel structure is identified by each phrase starting out with “it is” and following those two words with a certain time. The 10 parallel phrases are further split up into 5 groups with each group sharing the same type of time: time, age, epoch, season, spring and winter. This use of parallelism creates a steady rhythm conveying the idea that good and evil, light and darkness, and wisdom and folly stand equally matched against each other in this time of struggle. Furthermore, by introducing the contradicting ideas in parallel structure, Dickens is able to hint at the novel’s prominent
When I started learning in Touro College, I didn’t know on which profession I wanted to focus. Therefore, I started asking my friends for advice. One said to be a special education teacher and the other friend I should be an accountant, but these jobs didn’t seem exciting for me. I wanted to enjoy my job and not work just for money. Then, a good friend of my mother’s suggested occupational therapy and she explained what the Occupational Therapist does, who the therapist works with, and it sounded interesting.
In the novel The Compound the author writes about how Eli, the main character of the story, loses his grandma and his twin brother due to a war that broke out. He is taken to a shelter that his father has built underground. It has several bedrooms, a living room, and all the things necessary to live there for fifteen years. His father even thought to bring gifts for birthdays every year. Although this wasn’t enough for them. Eli and his sister were going through a lot and had to deal with several emotions. Especially the loss of their brother. Eli just tried to accept the fact and move on while his sister kept hope. That got him wandering, could he really still be alive? So throughout the story Eli battles with depression, worrying, and the
There is no simple way to describe the term, “literary merit.” In order for any piece of literature to justify itself as full of merit, it must have a specific set of complex attributes. There are four primary attributes that must be incorporated into any piece of literature: symbolism, emotional appeal, conflict, and effective character development. With the absence of these four crucial elements, the term “literary merit” ceases to exist. The book, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr perfectly embodies the epitome of “literary merit.” It incorporates all of the significant elements that define literary merit in unison; thus, making the book flow effectively.
Many people believe that material things will bring you peace and happiness. That is not always that case though.Everyone at some point in their life had gone through something that they thought would have a major positive impact on their life, but ultimately, it affected them very negatively. These can include anything from money, to power, even to women. Bernard Malamud explains these example in his book, The Natural, with his character, Roy Hobbs. Roy is the Knights star baseball player, when all goes wrong. He starts to chase different women, believing that those people will lead him to happiness in the end. Roy Hobbs is the main character in the book, The Natural, who finds himself in tough situations, and finally discovers that what he wanted from the start, won’t actually make him happy in the end.
The evolution of the war on drugs, why the policies have failed the American public; how the United States can change the war on drugs; to a health crisis instead of a war on drugs.
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is mainly known for his trilogy that investigates, using fiction, the history of Nigeria. The trilogy begins with Things Fall Apart, followed by No Longer at Ease and ended with Arrow of God. Furthermore, in this critically analytical essay, through a feminist perspective, a chapter of his second novel, No Longer at Ease, published in 1960, will be discussed. The setting of the novel is Lagos, Nigeria and Umuofia, Nigeria during the 1950s, before Nigeria attained independence from Great Britain. The novel, No Longer at Ease begins with Obi Okonkwo on trial, charged for accepting a bribe. However, using flashback, the author takes us back to the point before Obi’s departure