The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks Essay

Mrs.Bibbit, Billy’s mother, and friends with Nurse Ratched, is another authoritative figure in the novel. Mrs. Bibbit gains her power by preventing Billy, from becoming an adult. At first Mrs. Bibbit does realize that Billy is an adult and is able to function in society, When his mother tells him he has plenty of time to accomplish things such as going to college, and Billy reminds his mother that he is thirty-one years old, she replies, "'Sweetheart, do I look like the mother of a middle-aged man?'" (Kesey 247). This shows that Billy’s mom does not seem to understand that Billy is an adult that is able to live in the outside world. This Results in him feeling Insecure and he chooses to remain in the ward. “Sure! It’s Billy, turned from the screen... If I had the guts.” (168). This takes place after McMurphy realizes that the men are there voluntary, Billy explains to McMurphy that he could leave at any time if he wanted to but he believes he doesn’t have the guts to go out in society. Unfortunately in the end it is just the fear of his own mother, and Nurse Ratched’s manipulative ways that causes him to take his own life. Another family member who manipulates her "loved one" is Vera Harding, whose control over her husband is similar to that of Billy and his mother.

Because of the strategies used by the filmmakers, the audience is able to carry the image of her death throughout the movie. The reasoning behind making the scene as emotional as possible came from the fact the audience had previous knowledge of her death from the trailers. The movie makers in return must make the scene memorable. The movie makers do a great job at using dialogue, lighting, and camera angles to successfully depict her death as an inconsolable moment in Billy’s

the children, including the baby who suffers from paralysis? Each chapter bring heartache and triumph

Matt Fowler is a father of three children, one who he and his family recently buried after being murdered. Frank was twenty years old and was the youngest between matt and Ruth fowler. Richard Stout murdered him. Matt is feeling grief that no parent should have to feel.” All the fears that he had as a parent while they were growing

Mrs. Bryant shows her regrets and forgiveness for the boy’s death by confessing to being a part of the wrongdoing. After being the sole purpose of his suffering, she has the audacity to claim that “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened him” six decades after the murder and that she sympathizes more now that she too has lost her son.

In the beginning, the man describes that his daughter shouldn’t be out his late alone. “My daughter is walking along the roadside late at night-- too late, really, for a seventeen-year-old to be out alone… and it is raining.” This shows that the man really cares for his daughter and wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. Another detail, describes the man a way that his daughter could get “... the streets slick with a fine immiscible glaze of water and petrochemicals, so that even a driver in full possession of her faculties… before she got behind the wheel of a car… and shrubbery off the sidewalk.” This shows, the dad imagines all these horrible things that could happen to his daughter. He then relates it if it were to happen and the news hitting him like a meteor.

It is hard for Billy to find tranquility since he consistently have thoughts and feelings that remind him of his traumatic events. In chapter four, Billy couldn’t sleep on the day of his daughter’s wedding, since “There was a full moon”(Vonnegut 72), a piece of imagery that Vonnegut uses, frequently, as a comparison to the fire-bombing of Dresden, just to yet again show that Billy Pilgrim is thinking of horrific event, disturbing his day to day life. Sometimes a victim of PTSD will fall into the habit of drinking, especially when reminded of the traumatic event. As for Billy, when he heard the phone ring,

Ever since the age of three, Claireece Precious Jones suffered from sexual abuse from her father. Her mother knew about her husband raping her daughter be did nothing to stop and save her daughter from this man. Rather than taking out her anger on her husband she beats Precious until she is black and blue and accuses her for stealing her man. After the only man in their life leaves, the abuse does not stop it gets worse. Her mother begins to sexually abuse Precious as well and forces her to perform sexual acts on her.

For example, after discovering that Billy has had sexual intercourse with Candy, Nurse Ratched shames him for doing so. When her reprimanding receives little reaction from the still drowsy patient, the Nurse then says, “‘What worries me Billy...is how your poor mother is going to take this.’... Billy flinched and put his hand to his cheek like he’d been burned with acid”(314). At the mention of his mother, Billy immediately becomes alert and anxious and his stutter returns. The thought of his mother’s disapproval is so emotionally and physically distressing that Billy chooses to kill himself, rather than confront her.

But nonetheless if can go to show that the discontent for his lifestyle is there. When Billy is recovering in the hospital after the plane crash his wife rushes to see him, killing herself in the process. When finding out Billy is unfazed he never seemed to like his wife anyway. He married her for the financial advantage and after contemptuously inheriting that, he moved deeper into aspiratory obscurity. He was please that she died so he wouldn’t have to go on living with a needless distraction from his own demented Analyzation of

Rosewater and Billy both went through two very similar things together, which was going through the trauma of war and they both had to lose a parent, though one lost a mom and the other lost

Billy seems to see death as just a moment that will disappear and that there are other moments when people are totally fine. This shows that Billy doesn 't think much about death and thinks that it is insignificant.

In Amy Huntley’s narrative “The Everafter”, the point of view is key in molding the world the narrator creates to show mistakes molds a person. The narrative is told in the first person participant point of view. The protagonist, Madison, says, “I can’t quite explain what’s happened now that I have changed the outcome in finding my purse, but something’s different. About me. About my life. About who I am. And I’m not sure I like it”(Huntley 36). The narrator is indicating to the reader her perspective on regret. Madison thought she wished she could have her purse back, but as soon as she grabbed it she felt as if she changed as a person and she did not enjoy the feeling. The narrator is trying to explain everything that happens in life shapes

The author, Raymond Carver, is noted for his impressionistic prose style, in which his narration is both laconic and ambiguous. He describes events as they happen with simple and short sentences, leaving many blanks for the reader to fill in. For example, he does not explicitly tell us why was the boy taken to the hospital; the author writes simply, “…the boy pulled his hands away and lay down on his back.” (Carver, 1989) From the following vignettes, we are to deduce that the boy has fallen in a post-traumatic coma, possibly because of intracranial hemorrhage. Therefore, due his prose style, the author appears to be aloof, distanced from the events described, having no personal emotional stake.

The point of view between the two pieces is varied, as stated above. The director/script writer may have chosen to disclose more information after Billy is either dead or unconscious in order to add more plot and detail. Although written pieces can easily describe sights, smells, sounds, sensations, and more, movie works cannot complete this without dialogue or extra scenes. Billy described the slight quirks he experienced while at the bed and breakfast, and the movie alternative of this, having Billy narrate and speak his thoughts, seems futile in the situation. An additional theory could be that the scriptwriter/director simply felt that the video’s plot, missing some of the elements and edge of the written plot, might benefit from an interesting new scene that provides watchers with more