The Ruined Maid

The transformations in people are caused by a variety of circumstances. Within the variety of these circumstances, stress is the most influential one. In Eugenia Collier’s short story Marigolds, it tells the narrative of a young African-American girl living in rural Maryland. Due to her frustration with life, she destroys Miss Lottie’s marigolds. In the story Marigolds, the author uses the narrator’s transformation and characterization to convey that identity is only found in times of crisis.

In the story “Marigolds”, by Eugenia Collier, the theme consists of accepting who you are- because if you put it off, you may do something you may regret. The main character, Lizabeth, is on a path to adulthood, which is greatly treacherous and is a journey full of many challenges. Lizabeth quotes in many parts of the story that she feels conflicted in whatever she does, making her very emotionally frustrated. “The child in me sulked and said it was all in fun but the woman in me flinched at the thought of the malicious attack we led.” (Collier 124). Lizabeth’s statement proves that she feels very split on what to do, because of the emotions interfering with her. Her statement proves that the path to adulthood is not as easy

Secondly, the author uses word choice to show the speakers overall sorrow. Throughout the whole poem there are word scattered everywhere that describe the general emotion of sorrow, some of those word being “restless” (19), “torment”, and “troubled” (4). These words instantly give the connotation of feelings like despair and sadness. The speaker also uses literary elements such as simile to express sorrow, like when she says “These troubles of the heart/ are like unwashed clothes” (27, 28). Everyday people usually do not pay much mind to unwashed clothes, and usually look at it as something unimportant or irrelevant. When the speaker compares her internal troubles to something that holds little importance to everyday life and is also seen as unpleasant, the readers really get a look into the sorrow and sadness that the speaker is truly feeling. The speaker also uses word choice to help show the readers the true intensity of what she is going through.

In all stories there is someone who changes after something happens and it turns them into someone they aren't. An example is a person turn into someone you never expected them to be because they are hiding themselves. Its also important to think before everything you do because the aftermath can be unreal. The characters in the“ Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson and the short story,” Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl could have learned their lessons. In the story, “ Possibility of Evil” Miss.Strangeworth takes her hate out to an family by writing letters to them. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” Mary makes a bad decision after finding out her husband is leaving her. These stories tell the reader that people around you have a side they don't show, but sooner or later it will come out of them.

Maya Angelou once said, “I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.” This quote encompasses the idea that change is inevitable. A person is involved in numerous relationships during their lifetime and what happens within them can change who they become in the future. Within the novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, the relationships that Henry Lee has developed throughout his lifetime have shaped him into the person he is today.

Repression can lead one to forget about something traumatic and allow them to move forward into the future. Repression can have many different effects on a person to them move forward such as changing themselves to act differently because they do not want to revert back to an undesirable version of themselves. One may repress an undesirable version of themselves because that version connects to something unpleasant in the past. In Joyce Carol Oates’ story The Doll, Florence Parr, the protagonist of the story manages to turn herself into a doll in the real world by repression. Florence represses an unwanted version of herself, her childhood self, because this part of herself made her not feel loved and appreciated by people in the past. Therefore, the idea of Florence behaving as a doll repeats throughout the story because she represses her childhood self that does not display doll-like characteristics and thus allows her to keep acting like a doll and be loved by people.

Throughout the course of any being’s life, they are greatly influenced by the people and environment around them. In the coming of age fictional biography, She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb, the reader follows the protagonist Delores Price throughout her journey in life from the age four to forty. Delores goes through many trials and tribulations in the course of her life, which include witnessing abuse and infidelity, experiencing rape, alienation, the deaths of her loved ones, suicidal tendencies and rebirth. Many of the experiences and traumas as well as deaths Delores witnessed and was subject to made her personality revolve around dysfunctional relationships and left her lost on how to approach life.

Emily Grierson experienced a similar transformation. She started out unhappy as a single woman in her middle ages. Her unique sense of happiness was found in Homer Barren, and unlikely suitor from the north. She began making preparations for her future life with homer. She bought him a silver toilet set and dress clothes. Emily Grierson’s development was similar to that of Louise Mallard, hower Emily was more complicated and her development was: unhappy, happy, unhappy, happy.

Great writers convey their message without bluntly stating it to their audience. Hardy’s insightful poetry conjures the minds of his audience and encourages them to reflect on how inhumane the social classes were and how poorly women were treated without every saying it. Because of its’ simplicity and relatability Hardy’s clever use of an everyday conversation between two women is more powerful than any lengthy lecture or straightforward statement he could have given.

In the novel The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls suggest that how we react to difficult circumstances shape the people who we become in the future because they force us to either rise against our circumstances or succumb to them. The narrator in this novel have experienced changes that fit the criteria to this question. In the novel The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wall, Jeannette grows up in severe poverty where she has to depend on herself. She faces unfortunate circumstances, including first degree burns and hunger but somehow maintains a positive outlook on life.

When she first begins the poem, the sense of sorrow is present. The author speaks of what her brother has done wrong, but she does so with an attitude that shows she does not care about those actions. She speaks like this until the near end, where she openly expresses her endearment for her brother and sheds a more positive outlook onto him. The last stanza demonstrates that, as a person who has made poor decisions, he was a caring brother until the end. It also shows how, regardless of what others think, she will always view him in her own way.

The poem’s structure as a sonnet allows the speaker’s feelings of distrust and heartache to gradually manifest themselves as the poem’s plot progresses. Each quatrain develops and intensifies the speaker’s misery, giving the reader a deeper insight into his convoluted emotions. In the first quatrain, the speaker advises his former partner to not be surprised when she “see[s] him holding [his] louring head so low” (2). His refusal to look at her not only highlights his unhappiness but also establishes the gloomy tone of the poem. The speaker then uses the second and third quatrains to justify his remoteness; he explains how he feels betrayed by her and reveals how his distrust has led him

In the final stanza, he makes the reader sad as he assumes the inevitable will happen and she will die. He expresses this through metaphors such as a “black figure in her white cave”, which is a reference to the bright white hospital rooms and although he is the black figure he thinks she just sees a shadow which could be the grim reaper or even death himself, coming to end her journey. No one wants to deal with the sorrow of losing a loved one for good, as

The hardships the young girl faces ultimately leads to her death, which Piercy describes as an "happy ending" (Piercy 25). This seems ironic because death is not something to be considered joyful, especially when one is being bullied and cast out of society. It is also ironic because everyone finally thinks she is pretty once she is dead: "Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said" (Piercy 23). It is horrible to think that it takes a tragedy, such as death, to get everyone to stop and pay attention to someone who was not accepted in society. This poem has a negative tone because of the extreme measures that this girl takes in order to be accepted by society, even if that means taking her own

Some people experience specific conflicts throughout their lives that can affect the way they view themselves and others. An example of this is in the short story The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, where Madame Loisel is constantly suffering the mental battle of wanting everything she does not have. Jewels, necklaces, and riches - all the materialistic things that Madame Loisel sought after her whole life, cause her to display an ungrateful attitude towards herself and her husband. Once she finally receives something that she wanted, a beautiful necklace borrowed from a friend, she loses it and in order to replace it, she becomes forced to borrow more money from friends. Consequently, she had to spend many years of her life to pay back every person she borrowed money from, when in result, the necklace was a replica and was much cheaper than what she had thought. Madame Loisel undergoes a series of external and internal conflicts, causing the idea that it is important to remain truthful and appreciative to be discerned.