The Idol Short Story

Becoming obsessed is easier than one would presume. Everyone becomes obsessed with someone, something, or even themselves once in their lifetime. Indisputably through her novel If Ever I Return, Pretty-Peggy-O, Sharyn McCrumb highlights such the theme of obsession with the people in an atypical rural town with select community members. McCrumb twists the ordinary murder-mystery storyline by incorporating the standout theme of obsession through two prime characters: Peggy Muryan, a folk singer celebrity, new to the town of Hamelin, Tennessee, and a young boy who is intrigued with Vietnam, Pix-Kyle Weaver, and just how Pix’s particular fixation leads a person to perpetrating crimes.

Obsession has been used as a controversial tool in literature for many years. It provokes strong feelings in people because of the different ways obsession can take form, whether it be soft and affectionate, or aggressive and violent. Often, the targets of obsession are females. In The Great Gatsby, The Virgin Suicides, Lolita and Fear, there are men who obsess over a female character. These female characters are all shown to be powerless, whether it be at the hands of their obsessor or because of other factors in their lives.

Many people have obsessions, but most do not take it to the extremes that they kill because of it. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” represents the blindness that happens when someone takes an obsession to the extreme and ignores the consequences of inept actions that result in deadly consequences. Aylmer, the husband, becomes obsessed with a “crimson birthmark” shaped like a small hand that is on the cheek of Georgiana, the wife. Alymer view the birthmark as a stain to his sensibilities and views on what is a “perfect” form based on his egotistic view of his wife. Unfortunately, his decent into madness sucks up even his wife into a mucky pool full of fear and self-loathing. She does this all just to please her husband, which ultimately results in her death. More then once I have heard that obsessed people are evil. Obsession by itself does not make a person evil. Obsession to the point that safety and life are put at risk is

Finally,the most prominent case of obsession we see is Albert's obsession with bees.Since Albert was a child he has always gotten along with bees, so much that he devoted his entire life to them. While his passion led him to a successful job in selling honey, and providing for his family; his confessions towards the end of the story proved to be taking his passion to the extreme. “Still and Burdett found that a male rat with Hitherto was unable to breed until it was fed Royal Jelly, and I figured if it worked for a lousy rat there is no reason it shouldn't work for Albert Taylor.” (Rahl 12). This confession states that he has been consuming Royal Jelly for the past year, and that’s what has made him fertile. His fertility is not what is alarming though; it is the fact he doesn’t mind that the side effects have turned him into a bee. This shows that his obsession with bees was so overbearing that it consumed him. But his obsession does not stop there. Now that he is a bee, he is glorified to see that the Royal Jelly is turning his baby into a bee, just like him. After Mabel’s horrifying realization that her baby was nothing more than a comatose grub, she asks Albert to cover her up. Albert replies. “Why don't you cover it up, Mabel?” he said. “We don't want our little queen getting cold.” (Rahl 13). I can imagine Mabel must of felt she was a living a nightmare, realizing her husband

    The relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita is no doubt a unique one. Many people who read the novel argue that it is based on "lust", but others say that Humbert really is in "love" with Lolita. However, there is some astounding evidence that Humbert has an obsessional-compulsive disorder with Lolita. The obsession is clearly illustrated when Humbert's actions and behavior are compared to the experts' definitions and descriptions of obsession. In many passages, Humbert displays obsessional tendencies through his descriptive word choice and his controlling personality. Many people are obsessive, so this is not an alien subject. We see it everyday in the entertainment industry as well as in

An aphorist, Mason Cooley, once said, “Cure for an obsession: get another one”. This quote can be qualified by humans and the changes in their passions. Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome weaves a tale with human-like characters and their obsessions in the short story. As a result, the novella can be used to qualify the quote because the characters would act in a similar way as humans. Both the quote and story have the theme of obsession. In both, an individual cures their obsessions by getting another one. However, an individual in “Ethan Frome” could only cure their obsession by having one with larger value rather than another one. Therefore, the cure for an obsession, often shown in humans, is to have a more significant one, using Ethan Frome as

Obsession is in everything. Obsession occurs in every living human to ever walk this earth. Everybody has feelings and actions that are triggered by an intense moment and these intense moments can cause people’s feelings to go in a flux. This flux could then affect both the people they care about around them and themselves. And sometimes holding this obsession leads to a bigger problem. Obsession is difficult to contain yet we see it every day, fiction or not.

Mankind has always longed to control nature, to be the master of life and death. The fictional story of Nathaniel Hawthorne "Birthmark", is the perfect demonstration of this concept. Aylmer is the antagonist in the story for misleading his wife into hating her birthmark and consequently killed her trying to remove the birthmark. The true tragedy here isn't the death of Georgiana but rather, Aylmer's loss of his wife. He who has believed himself to be the master of all science branches could no longer bring his dead wife any more than his dream to perfect her. Whenever he is truly in love with her or not, he is going to live with this failure for the rest of his life. This paper's aim is to analyze the Aylmer; how he symbolize the obsession

As humans we all have obsessions to some extent, whether it is with a person or maybe a hobby. When does that obsession become too much? In the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, it introduces Aylmer, a renowned scientist who is obsessed with removing a birthmark from his wife, Georgiana’s, left cheek. Aylmer is so steadfast on getting rid of Georgiana’s birthmark that he becomes evil and neglects his love for his wife. Although Georgiana’s birthmark is her one and only imperfection, Aylmer does not realize that the birthmark is the one thing that is keeping Georgiana alive until it is too late. Hawthorne implies in the text that Aylmer’s obsession with science becomes harmful when it becomes more important than his love for Georgiana. In this paper I

An obsession can begin with the smallest of events. Ideas, real or fancied, of what one’s life could be like without the ties that bind them, positive or negative, consume the mind and create visions of freedom from the demands of family, government, or even society as a whole. McCandless’s discovery of his parent’s indiscretions was the onset of his obsession; an obsession which grew exponentially over a short period of time that fettered him to the notion that to be truly happy and free, he must rid himself of everyone he had ever known and everything he had ever owned. McCandless became enslaved to his conception of real freedom. His notion of freedom was extreme, to say the least. It involved an elaborate plan to

The idea of insanity is not one frequently acknowledged in literature. However, these authors display powerful usage of their key literary elements, symbolism, and characterization to display outstanding want to describe obsession. Connell and Browning both used symbolism and characterization to convey that one should never succumb to obsessive desires.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe are two short stories writers known for their anti-transcendental style of writing. Hawthorne wrote “The Minister’s Black Veil” and Poe wrote the “The Oval Portrait.” In “The Minister’s Black Veil” the main character conceals his face behind a black cloth. The town becomes engulfed in trying to find the meaning behind the veil. In Poe’s short story, “The Oval Portrait” a man finds he is in love with a portrait of a girl after staying in an abandoned apartment. Obsession is having something that someone cannot get out of their mind. These two stories have a common theme. Both of them share the common theme of obsession.

In the Terrifying yet fascinating Short story “The Most Dangerous Game” and the poem “Porphyria’s Lover” General Zaroff and the man who loved Porphyria both had obsessions that were so extreme they became murderers. They both loved something so much that after time they became obsessed with them. The man who loved Porphyria was captivated by her beauty and when she finally told him that he loved her he was so pleased that he thought that she must love him forever so he murdered her to make that happen. The general fell in love with hunting it was his passion, but when he began to become bored with he decided to make it a little more interesting. He decided that hunting and killing men would be a good idea to keep him entertained. Both of these men have become insane from there intense attachment to the things they love. For instance Porphyria’s lover strangles her and becomes content and happy because she will now be with him forever, and General Zaroff laughs as he is hunting down Rainsford to murder him. Through Browning and Connells use of metaphors and intense details they were able to convey that obsession can lead to madness.

Before continuing this analysis, obsession will be clearly defined. For the purpose of this essay, obsession will be characterized by three concepts: the character is shown constantly contemplating the desired object or person, most of a character’s actions or goals are oriented towards the object or person, and

Obsession is defined as “the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea or desire.” The desire for nonconformity is a praiseworthy attribute but when taken too far, it can be disadvantageous to one’s goals and ambitions. While it is essential for one to seek transient passions, it is also crucial to mollify this pursuit, with concern with actual use. The threats of overindulgence are notably apparent in the case of John, the protagonist of Virginia Woolf’s “Solid Objects”, whose passion for knickknacks turns into a subtle obsession. Woolf expresses her strong criticism of John by intensifying his wasted potentiality and his fixation with fleeting dreams while she commends Charles for his dependability and practicality.