Vidia In Susan Glaspell's Pixie Hollow

A trickiest aspect regarding growing up is considering death. It's something individuals truly don't like to think about, but thinking about mortality is pretty much an inevitable part of coming of age. Everybody does it at some point—you know because we're all going to die someday, as are our loved ones. You know the drill: Our grandma show us, cherish, then they get super old and die, and after that we slither into the bathtub with their corpses. It's just the circle of life. What's that? You've never taken a bath with a dead person? Well then you might be a little surprised by how things unfurl in Helena Maria Viramontes' 1985 short story "The Moths," a story about a youthful Latina girl who feels at odds with pretty much everybody in her family except her cherished Abuelita.

At the beginning of the short drama, “Trifles,” Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, is painted as timid and submissive wife. She willingly submits herself to the responsibilities she has as a wife. As the play unfolds, Mrs. Peter’s submissiveness begins to diminish. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale work together to uncover the murder of Minnie Wright’s husband. When the women find the evidence, they refuse to share it with the men. Mrs. Peter’s character transforms into a more confident individual over the course of the play.

Since Elisa is a woman with more than superficial qualities, in addition to being a good worker, she seeks a way to fit into this world she feels is limited to her. She feels that it is limited because it is being dominated and interpreted by men. Thus, she tries to seek out some understanding from a stranger who is looking to find "fix-it" work. Many readers see Elisa as being cold and frigid towards the stranger at first appearance. Yet, this is quite possibly her intelligent reaction from being experienced with the realities of life. This scene portrays a "combat of wits in which she shows herself a person of right feeling, one who doesn't let her charitable instincts run away with her" (Beach, 312). Here we have a strange man, and men have proven to Elisa they have a limited understanding of a woman's gentler qualities. Her reaction shows intelligence, good instincts, and is revealing of the period in which the story

For example, she is capable to keep up with and come up with witty comments to respond to Benedick. When Beatrice is having an argument with Benedick she says, “Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were”(1.1.107-109), showing that she is not afraid to speak her mind and insult men. Being feisty, she continuously takes jabs at Benedick and expresses her honest opinion without having any hesitation. She is a clear illustration of how women are capable of keeping up with men. Her strong and powerful side is portrayed when she says, “But manhood is melted into curtsies, valor into compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones, too” (4.1.315-318). She is infuriated about how Hero has been wrongfully shamed and wishes she was a man to get back at Claudio. She believes men should not be easily deceived, so this situation may never happen again. She proceeds to convince Benedick to kill Claudio, displaying her fire and bravery to object and fight the limitations and restrictions on women. She clearly wants to play a bigger role and have a bigger voice, but knows that she cannot, due to the gender expectations for women to be kept quiet. Furthermore, However, Beatrice is hinting at submitting to the gender stereotype and expectation of women towards the end of the play when Benedick says,

Furthermore Feste advises Viola about Olivia's love for her on numerous occasions.  He is Olivia's servant, and thus it is his duty to help her out with problems that may arise.  Even though Viola, being a female, does not like Olivia, she still benefits from Feste's conversations.  His ingenious commentary and creative word combinations give Viola a real appreciation for the fool's art.  She realizes that his comments are not just random remarks, but skillful comments that require careful observation of the people he jest about.  Walker remarks, "As soon as his quicksilver wit

“Fleur” is a story written by Louise Erdrich. The author of the story provides very restrictive details about Fleur, the way she looks, stands, and play a poker game with three men who work with her. Fleur seems to be struggling with gender conflict and her culture. People in her culture seem to fear her because they think she is married to Misshepeshu and if anybody touched her he will take his/her life. The story has many important details that will help the reader understand what is going on in the story. Erdrich uses symbolism, imagery, and tries to show us and tell us what is happening by relating some points and hiding others the reason for that is because Erdrich wants the reader imagine the event of the story in the way they wand and to help them understand his point better. Also, the narrator uses some ambiguities for example, the narrator did not tell us why Fleur is viewed the way she is, but then later in the story we find that they view her that way because they wanted to rape her. As we continue reading the story we understand that Fleur was raped and sexually assaulted by the three men especially when Pauline starts describing the situation of Fleur after she was sexually assaulted.

Mattie Silver, Ethan's obsession, is beautiful and charming, not unlike the heroines of many fairy tales. She is "a princess of nature in Ethan's eyes" (147). She is described as full of life, colorful, and energetic, the ideal woman. Zeena, on the other hand, is the "witch" of Ethan's life. She is only in her mid-thirties, but is already showing the signs of aging. She is portrayed as having angular, sharp features, pale skin, and is always found sick or lying in bed. She represents the evil side of women. The two opposing women are comparable to those found in many other fairy tales (as in Snow White, or Cinderella); Mattie is the lovely, innocent maiden and Zeena is the old, decrepit, wicked step-mother who oppresses the princess Mattie.

The author behind "Victoria's Ugly Stain" uses three techniques to persuade the reader. Three out of the few techniques the author used are tone, choice of words, and selected facts to show readers that the problems of Victoria and its sewage are not a joke. While reading, it is easy to notice that the tone of the article is a serious tone, as the subject is about sewage - an important thing to manage in communities or else toilets would be backed up and drinking water would be undrinkable, and as stated, people "fail to consider the serious environmental and human health costs of not treating Victoria's sewage." The author persuades with powerful word choices, describing how bad the sewage management is in Victoria and the effects it takes

Like a stepmother, she takes in Mattie, who is a younger relative, after her parents pass away. Also, just like the evil stepmother in Snow White, she tries hard to keep the girl from flourishing. Zeena never encourages Mattie and is constantly frowning upon her by giving her complaints similar to “‘that pie of your always sets a mite heavy, Matt’” (Wharton 108). Furthermore, Zeena’s cat, like in many fairy tales, serves as her external personality. When Zeena is away, leaving Ethan and Mattie home alone, the cat “jumped up into Zeena’s chair, rolled itself into a ball, and lay watching them with narrow eyes” as the two make awkward motions towards one another (Wharton 78). The cat sits in Zeena’s chair and looks intently at them just as if it were Zeena herself. In addition to the witch, Ethan Frome also illustrates a naïve princess-like maiden with the character Mattie. Just like Snow White, Mattie has beautiful dark hair, rosy red cheeks, and stunningly pale skin. Her hair is “soft yet springy, like certain mosses on warm slopes, and had the faint woody fragrance of fresh sawdust in the sun” (Wharton 127). She still acts joyful even though her situation is rough. Her bliss shows as Ethan sees her with “ laughing panting lips, the cloud of dark hair about her forehead, and the dark eyes which seemed the only fixed points in a maze of flying

       Helena is another character who uses language to her advantage in order to achieve state. She does not use deception, as Ballas does; rather, she addresses others in a manner that connotes their inferiority or lack of power over her. She often refers to others as "sweetie," "love," or by their first names. She addresses Ballas, the Managing Director, as "Jan." By recognizing people on a personal basis and in not acknowledging the formal identity of others, she presents herself with an air of authority. Furthermore, she also patronizes Maria, who is

One of the fastest fairy, in her mind, she makes sure every fairy knows that. In fact, she is dead set on thinking she is the best fairy in Pixie Hollow and no amount of argument would change her mind. Vidia wasn't always like that though. When she first came to Pixie Hollow, she was shy, not very confident, and kept to herself mostly. No one is really sure what changed about her, she still keeps to herself, but it didn't take Vidia long to get a dose of confidence and soon a 'Mightier than thou' attitude about herself. She would challenge other fairies to races, she out did them all which set her mind to the fact that she was the fastest fairy ever born. Fairies stopped taking her challenges and she because of that, she grew bitter and just convinced herself that they were just jealous of her.

In this vignette, Esperanza explains that both she and her family want her to find a summer job, as the private Catholic high school that she attends is expensive, and her parents do not want her to attend public school. At first, Esperanza thinks that she’s going to find an easy job, like the other kids in the neighborhood have, and plans on looking for some in the future. One day, when Esperanza arrives homes, her aunt Lala tells her that she found her a job at the Peter Pan Photo Finishers, where she herself previously worked. The next day, Esperanza gets dressed, takes the bus to North Broadway, lies about her age to the store’s boss as her Aunt Lala told her, and begins working that same day. Her job involves matching negatives with prints,

In Trifles by Susan Glaspell, the central character remains unseen for the entirety of the piece. “The central character - the person whose actions are to be understood - is absent, thus rendering her all the more a figurative blank space” (Keetley 342). The audience never sees or hears Minnie Wright throughout the piece, and therefor cannot develop an accurate opinion of the outcome of the play, as they are missing vital information about Minnie’s personality. The audience and characters instead make several assumptions about the truth that cannot be verified without closer inspection of Minnie’s personality and experiences. Glaspell’s use of an unseen central character in Trifles causes the story to develop based on assumptions made by

Money and wealth isn't everything. Madame Loisel from The Necklace by Guy Maupassant has to learn that the hard way. Madame Loisel is a woman who feels entitled to a lavish lifestyle. She is a character who is dissatisfied with her current lifestyle even though she has a caring husband who provides her with everything he can. Madame Loisel is invited to an elaborate party in which she feels she needs a beautiful gown and a diamond necklace. In order for Madame Loisel to attend the party her husband gives her 500 Francs and she borrows a very expensive diamond necklace. After the Loisels attend the party they realize that they have lost the necklace and now their lifestyle must change dramatically so that they can pay to replace the necklace. The Loisels both work very hard for the next ten years to pay back the money they borrowed to replace the necklace. Madame Loisel realizes what a comfortable life she had and how her greed got the best of her. Leading her to a life of misery and hard labor to replace the diamond necklace. Madame Loisel is a complex character because she is both round and dynamic.

Many of the characters we studied in this summer had a very difficult situation caused by themselves. Undoubtedly, each person has their own defects, however this does not mean we have to be slaves of our weaknesses and fears. Pitifully, some fears can become so strong that they can turn a person's life miserable. In addition, people who are victims of their own fear and sins can commit insane things to the people who are around them. Some clear examples of this type of people are Mathilde Loisel, Mrs. Mallard and the Narrator of the Black Cat.