The Rejection

This story’s general setting takes place in nineteenth century Russia. But, there are also many particular settings throughout this narrative that largely affect the characters and create many problems the narrator and Anna Sergeyevna have to face. In the beginning of the story Gurov and Anna find themselves taking vacations in the same city to get away from their other lives. But, when they have to part they realize how much they actually mean to each other. This can be seen in the following excerpt when Gurov realizes that Anna has not left his mind ever since they went home, “He would pace a long time about in his room, remembering it all and smiling; then his memories passed into dreams, and in his fancy the past was mingled with what was to come. Anna Sergeyevna did not visit him in his dreams, but followed him about everywhere like a shadow” (Chekhov 172). Therefore, the conflict that the setting creates is the distance between Gurov and

Gurov, dissatisfied with his monotonous life, goes to Anna because he needs the scandal to relieve a numbness that has taken effect, not because he loves her. She merely reciprocates his affection, not out of love, but to escape the entrapment she feels from her marriage. In a subtle climax during his return home to Moscow, Gurov feels the agonizing absence of anyone he can talk to meaningfully about the personal secrecies of his life, specifically Anna. This intolerable sensation sends him to “S—,“ to find her. Only when Gurov is standing outside Anna’s house does he actually relate to her situation and form some genuine connection. “Just opposite the house stretched a long grey fence adorned with nails…One would run away from a fence like that," thought Gurov, looking from the fence to the windows of the house and back again…He loathed the grey fence more and more, and by now he thought irritably that Anna Sergeyevna had forgotten him, and was perhaps already amusing herself with some one else, and that that was very natural in a young woman who had nothing to look at from morning till night but that confounded fence” (p.230). With Gurov’s realization, he actually escapes his fenced in world and partially enters her miserable one. In sharing a connection, their emotions and psychological needs start to blend together and they become entrapped by the same fence, where inside, the two of them are alone and vulnerable in a shared arena. This isolation

The concept of belonging and acceptance is a major part of our modern society. Most stories and films represent belonging or alienation in one way or another. Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrmann and the ‘Ugly Duckling’, a short story by Hans Christian Anderson, both represent the concept of acceptance and rejection through the use of many film and language techniques.

In their lives a distant and cold character exists. When the war began in Sarajevo the men on the hills cut off the city’s water. Kenan’s elderly neighbor Mrs. Ristovski thrusted her plastic bottles towards him when he opened the door and all she said was “A promise is a promise.” and left him standing at the doorway. Even before the war Mrs. Ristovski had always acted abrasively; knocking on their door early in the morning and complaining about their first born’s crying. Not once has she shown

The idioms of everyday American speech in a middle-class domestic situation are used in showing the events and relationships of the Berlin family. In contrast to the conversations of Becca and Stan, usually presented as straight dialogue, the discussions among the three sisters are conventionally presented, often with “she said” and other interpolations to give explicitly the emotional level of the sister’s disagreements. Madga, the Polish student who acts as Becca’s guide to the death camp site speaks fluent English but at times awkward English “Oh, they are much in appreciation” she says when given a pair of jeans. Contrast between the formal, traditional language of the fairy tale and childish, informal chatter is shown when the children comment or question as Gemma proceeds with her Briar Rose fairy tale story telling. Her contrast revisiting of just this one fairy tale shows the reader that while her conscious memory has buries the details of her past horrors, she cannot help returning to the fairy tale allegory. Contrast is also shown between the warm, happy imagery of life in the Berlin house and the bleak, harsh details of the holocaust.

The preliminary settings are as ordinary as they can be. It is a “Wednesday afternoon” (245) boring classroom between a geography class and an art project. It is quite and peaceful in Five Oaks. In the background of a rural community consisted of “unemployed college graduates” and “stay-at-home moms”(246),Miss Ferenczi is a colorful stranger. She is a breath of excitement to the children's dull lives. She presents herself to the class in a very theatrical manner. First thing she mentions about herself is her royal Hungarian ancestors. Her tale fascinates the young minds. Tommy the narrator of the story, “does not take his eyes of the woman”(246). He notices a curious characteristic of her physical appearance “the two prominent lines, descending vertically from the sides of her mouth to the chin”(247). They resemble Pinocchio, who was never a real boy, but a prominent liar, further emphasizing the way Miss Ferenczi plays with truths and facts. Pinocchio reference is a push-pull phenomena. It brings to the story the argument of

The main character, Jurgis Rudkus, went through an implausible number of extreme changes in the period of time the story takes place. He morphs from a pure-hearted family man, to an alcoholic tramp, a beggar, a criminal, a player in machine politics, and finally a sober, hard-core member of the Socialist Party. The other characters are hardly worth mentioning. Readers really don't care much about them because they are so under-developed.

The Bread Givers, written by Anzia Yezierska, revolves around a starving lower east side family whose daughter rebels against her fathers’ strict conception of the role of a Jewish woman. The major theme of this novel is doomed relationships. There are several of these that are thoroughly analyzed in the novel. These include the relationship between Rabbi Smolinksy and the females in his family as well as those in his society, between him and his son-in-laws, between the Smolinsky daughters and their husbands, between the Smolinsky daughters and their heritage, between Rabbi Smolinksy and his heritage, and lastly, between the old and the new. The following will concentrate on three of latter

The character that are talking in this section are Vronsky and Ambassador’s wife. This passage is about if marriage should happen through two of the people falling in love or if it should be with reason (getting married because of politics). Before this passage was said the group of society elites were discussing the marriage between Vlasyeva and Topov. After this passage was spoken Anna Karenia and Vronsky discuss their feelings between each other. Anna feels that Vronsky should go back to Kitty and apologize to her for leaving her. Anna is conflicted with her feelings towards Vronsky but feels that he should do right by Kitty.

While the Smolinsky family is not literally “hanging on Bessie’s neck for her wages”, this displays to the reader how desperation affected them. The metaphor acts as a bridge between the reader and the event, therefore allowing them to feel the same worry that Sara harbors through the shared experience of “hanging” without support. It is important for the audience to relate to the characters, yet this cannot happen if the author’s portrayal gives little humanity to their characters. Hence, when Yezierska writes that financial help according to Sara and her family is a “stab into our burning shame”, it shows that despite any prior notions of poverty being an “ornament”, they still have human wants and needs. Moreover, it shows that her characters are not emotionless apathetic beings that live only on their faith; they too endure deviations from what is expected of them. At any rate, repeated similes have an analogous consequence on the reader's thoughts. Multiple comparisons within a small section of text compound the anxiety, bombarding the same heavy emotions that Sara feels onto the reader in a way that they can sympathize with her, and in turn, Yezierska herself. Altogether, these literary moves go further than simply entertaining the audience, but informing them about what the world was truly

In the story East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, several characters deal with the pain of paternal rejection and the feeling of being rejected by a parent or a loved one can be a painful feeling. Charles, Cathy, and Cal are three characters that either experience or inflict this rejection onto another which changes the outcome of many problems they dealt with throughout the novel. To a person it could cause traumatic feelings in many ways and it causes problems in their lives like jealousy towards another person and sad feelings and guilt. To other people though, the thought of rejecting their child is the right thing to do.

As the story unfolds, Gurov at first changes subtly. First of all he meets Mrs. Anna Sergeyevna. His attitude at first is still the same, he finds her as another victim of his little game that he plays. He sits and watches, searching his mind for a ways to get her attention like he does for every woman. He still looks at women in the same sort of fashion. Anna and Gurov start spending time with each other more and more, he still plays his game. Each time that he meets her and tries to coax her into have an ice or syrup, yet he still looks at her as “pathetic.” After their first kiss he begins to realize that there is something different about this girl. Unlike the usual women he messes around with, she feels guilty about engaging in this affair with him. Anna does not give him the satisfaction of playing the game along with him. As he spends more time with Anna he becomes fond of her presence. He starts learning more about her, when she talks him listens intently instead of getting bored and rolling his eyes. When Anna gets a letter from her husband asking for her to come home, Gurov acts like it isn’t a big deal, he still believes he is playing his game. At first he forces himself to believe he is ok, but after they are apart for a while he realizes that Anna isn’t leaving him. She follows him everywhere, not just in his dreams. He feels something that he has never felt before, he

Thoroughly, this ordeal Gurov has been through finally has shown him that he has matured and has become a better man. As he brings his young daughter to school and when he drops her off there he begins to reflect upon the two lives he is living, one that is full of the truths and another that is full of lies. This ordeal has made him a better person unquestionably, his affair with Anna has made him ashamed of the bad things he has done in the past. They both feel that the love both of them have had with each other has changed them forever.

Hans is a passionate, caring man who earns his living as a house painter by day and an accordion player by night. Liesel believes his eyes show kindness, and is closer to him from the beginning than to her foster mother. He is one of a few in their village who is not a registered member of the Nazi party, which comes to have serious repercussions on the family as the book progresses. Rosa Hubermann is a stern, strong woman who looks like a “wardrobe with a coat thrown over it” and would be “cute,” but appears perpetually annoyed. She peppers her language with epithets like “Saumensch” and “Saukerl” and “Arschloch”. “Sau” refers to “pig” and mensch is girl and kerl is man, arschloch sounds pretty close to its English equivalent. From the beginning Liesel is “saumensch,” which at first refers to Rosa’s annoyance at taking this girl in, even though it does mean more money for the family. But by the end, it has become a term of true endearment. Liesel’s best friend in the village is a little boy named Rudy, “the boy next door who was obsessed with the black American athlete Jesse Owens.” Rudy is in love with Liesel and always pesters her for a kiss, which he does finally receive, after some pretty serious turns in the story. He is a simple, almost naïve boy, and would do almost anything for her, including jumping into a nearly

The story begins with the parents trying to decide upon a suitable birthday gift, a difficult task since he has "referential mania" (Nabokov, 1948), a mental condition that causes him to believe that inanimate objects conspire against him. "Man-made objects were to him either hives of evil, vibrant with a malignant activity that he alone could perceive, or gross comforts for which no use could be found in his abstract world" (Nabokov, 1948). To him, glass and pools are spies, coats are malicious, and clouds speak together about him, while storms and running water "are hysterical to the point of insanity" (Nabokov, 1948). From the son's point of view, we learn that he must be constantly vigilant of the objects interested in him, even if they are far away and beyond his vision. Indeed, his suicide attempts are his way of trying to "tear a hole in his world and escape" (Nabokov, 1948).