Virginia Woolf Deception

     The plays, The Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun, deal with the love, honor, and respect of family. In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda, the caring but overbearing and over protective mother, wants to be taken care of, but in A Raisin in the Sun, Mama, as she is known, is the overseer of the family. The prospective of the plays identify that we have family members, like Amanda, as overprotective, or like Mama, as overseers. I am going to give a contrast of the mothers in the plays.

From the start of the play, the reader is lead to believe that Martha has the other hand and she is the most powerful in the relationship. Being mean, brutally honesty and cynical makes people to believe she is powerful. On a night similar to the night of this plays, George and Martha create a son. This is a figment of their imaginations, to hold together their failing marriage. The rules to keep the son alive with in them, is to never speak of this son to any one else. Well Martha told her guests about their son. George seeing an opportunity to get Martha back for exposing their lies decides that their son dies tonight. In a game George created to expose every ones lies, whether it be Nick marring Honey because she got pregnant and has money or Martha's fake son, No one will leave their house tonight not embarrassed and exposed. George is using his knowledge of the truth, as a power against people. He tells Martha in front of her guest

The affair between Charlotte and Rodney was a dull one until they began killing each other. Within the play 7 Stories by Morris Panych, the character Charlotte outlines in a particularly insightful monologue how the energy of her affair with Rodney had deteriorated to a state where the couple got so tired of one another, they began to hate each other. Thus, to rid themselves of the uniformity of their days, they began to play at murdering one another. This may seem to be a strange practice, but in fact the role playing that these two do infuses the relationship with new energy – by this escape from reality, the couple found a way to enjoy being together again. Characters trying to escape reality is something that is seen multiple times in

The character of the mother executes the tell-tale signs of counterfeit happiness when she tells the murderous story of the narrator’s father’s brother. “‘Oh honey,’ she said, ‘there’s a lot that you don’t know. But you are going to find out’” (36).

In the words of Sigmund Freud, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.” The legendary psychologist saw dreams as an avenue to study one’s underlying motives for action. Similarly, in literature one finds striking significance from the illusions of protagonists that often predict the nature of one’s psyche. Two such examples present themselves in Blanche, from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and the grandmother, from Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find. The former tale follows a lady without a home who finds herself reliant on her belligerent and bestial brother-in-law. The latter traces a family’s road trip South and their encounter with a wanted fugitive. Both Blanche and the grandmother find themselves tethered to their idealistic and often times hypocritical fantasies which signify their underlying mental instability and foreshadow their eventual ruinations. Williams and O’Connor examine their protagonists’ delusions through gender, clothing, and nostalgia.

In the third act, George informs Martha that their child had died, repeating the same situation he told Nick earlier about a boy who killed his father. He was driving along a road and saw a porcupine. He swerved to not run it over, but crashed into a tree instead. Martha exclaims that he cannot do that, that George does not have the power to kill him. George states he can do what he wants due to the fact that Martha broke the rule. These were the rules Martha referenced earlier when speaking about the games they play. The rule that Martha broke was the one of mentioning their son to someone else besides George. It seems as if they have no real connection and are faking their relationship through illusions, hence their fake child. Martha stated “And I’ve told you a million times, baby,… I wouldn’t conceive with anyone but you… you know that, baby.”(71) Looking into this statement, this is Martha’s way of saying George is the only she can live in this illusion with.

“It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder, that life might be long.” (Chopin 17). “"Poof!"… gave a revealing look at the victims of domestic abuse and how they wrestle with overcoming their fear and their doubts after suffering years of abusive treatment.” (Toomer 5) Loureen unlike Mrs. Mallard, witnesses her husband’s death first hand during a marital argument. Loureen goes through denial questioning whether her husband’s death. She is happy her husband is dead but also feels guilty, because she knows how a mourning wife should react, but the joy of his demise is greater,” I should be praying, I should be thinking of the burial, but all that keeps popping into my mind is what will I wear on television when I share my horrible and wonderful story with a studio audience…”, Loureen’s husband, Samuel, was physically abusive, as revealed by Florence, Loureen’s best friend and neighbor. “Did that mother***** hit you again?” (Nottage 1563) This abuse, physical by Samuel and mental by Brently, is what allows Loureen in the drama “Poof!” and Mrs. Mallard in the short story “The Story of an Hour” to have the shared freedom they feel in the release from their respective abusive relationships.

Often times in life, individuals are faced with troublesome conflict: trying to decide between what is morally right and wrong, good or bad. Unfortunately, however, sometimes there is no clear, advantageous choice for an individual to make. This often results in one becoming stuck in the middle, unsure of what to do or where to turn, afraid of the consequences associated with choosing one side over the other. In fact, sometimes two differing tensions can even be representations of two differing entities that have a major influence in one’s personal life, making one’s situation all the more difficult to handle. For instance, in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella is stuck in the middle of underlying tensions between her sister, Blanche, and husband, Stanley. With both seemingly vying for compliance, Stella finds herself in an almost literal “tug of war,” between her two loved ones, with Stanley attacking Blanche for her lies and deceit, and Blanche degrading Stanley for his abusive tendencies. While both sides have their points, Stella continues to be pulled in two conflicting directions as a result of the distinct obligations she feels she has as both a sister and a wife, and this conflict, specifically the decision made between the two by Stella, illuminates the play’s overall theme of dependency on males.

An event from one’s past can haunt someone for his entire life. In the play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Paul Zindel presents Beatrice, the unpleasant mother of Ruth and Tillie, and gives insight into a parent-child relationship full of complications and conflicts. From verbally abusing and mistreating her children, Beatrice causes her children to feel inferior and alone. Due to experiencing an unconventional childhood, Beatrice has no knowledge of what a parent should be. As a result, Ruth and Tillie often feel the need to overcompensate in order to be noticed by their mother, and they feel as if their mother is distant and not relatable.

Imposing threats help to create harmful visualizations. Children are especially taunted by fears and environmental influences and may silently cope with things they do not fully understand. Clara is disturbed after she reads the letter meant her brother Lothaire. For this reason, she replies to Nathaniel to eagerly express her astute insight and discerning opinion into the probable cause of Nathaniel’s affliction; his memories had not been real, but merely misguided by his own imagination (Hoffman 7-9). The influence of an individual’s thought life and belief system can severely disrupt life and relationships.

This literary text includes a number of tragic episodes surrounding Jamie Matthews, who is ten years old and has lost his older sister Rose in a terrorist attack. Readers are introduced to this heart-breaking story right from the beginning of the story “My sister Rose lives on the mantelpiece. Well, some of her does” (page 1), catching the audience’s attention and setting up the black mood that would prevail throughout the entire story. Readers are in a constant state of mourning due to the fact that the memory of Rose is remembered continuously. Moreover, as the narrator’s point of view is Jamie’s, readers get to know and understand his feelings. Readers live with Jamie all his dramatic events and as he is always thinking about his mother and longing for her affection, readers develop empathy with Jamie. For instance, when Jamie receives the Spiderman t-shirt as a gift for his birthday he decides “I am not going to take it off until she gets here, just in case” (page 24). Readers understand how desperate Jamie is about fulfilling his desire of meeting with his mother. What is more, the audience go along with Jamie in his longing, imagining how it would be to be in his shoes. They fervently hope for Jamie’s happy ending and dearly wish for Jamie’s general well-being. All in all, Jamie’s sequence of dramatic events gradually unfolds in the same manner as the readers’ empathy develop. In other words, readers weep at Jamie’s sad

This classification is ascertained through her insufficient dialogue, which reveals Honey’s quintessentially feminine tendencies. Because her father was a fervent preacher in her childhood, she blossomed into a wealthy, uneducated individual, constantly dependent on the men in her life. Stereotypically, she fits into the mold of the ideal woman of the mid-1900s. However, the only, yet considerably significant, cliché that she lacks is the essence of femininity: motherhood. Albee exposes her vulnerability as a woman through her perpetual wrongdoing. She states in act three, “I want a child. I want a baby. (236)”; however, Honey has an irrational fear of childbirth and therefore goes to significant lengths to prevent them. It is implied that Honey uses some form of early birth control, information that remains undisclosed to Nick. She fears childbirth profusely, but ironically resorts to child-like behaviors as a drunk. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is the embodiment of illusion. Every character is infused with their own, with Honey’s being her internal conflict concerning motherhood. She is not ready to rid herself of her personal illusions, maintaining an overabundant happiness within the dreary, drunken evening. Honey wished for things, such as her marriage and maternal desires, to appear pleasant, although the truth behind this woman is far from

The nuclear family, known by many in the 1960’s was the ideal American dream: a working father, stay at home mother, happy marriage, and quite often, children. In having this pleasing family arrangement, one could consider life to be perfect. In Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” the hollow ideals of success are revealed through the dysfunctional characters and their attempts at maintaining relationships. When George, an associate professor, and Martha, the daughter of the college president, continue their night of heavy drinking by inviting over guests the fine line between reality and imaginary begins to present. Through the use of twisted game playing, Albee reveals to the audience that what meets the eye is often an illusion, for the reality of the human condition is drastically different behind closed doors; ultimately, it becomes apparent that George and Martha, along with their guests Nick and Honey, create illusions to uphold the outward presentation of the American dream and to escape the burdening disappointment of their own realities.

The problem with this is that her husband is unaware of her taking these pills. Honey catches Nick as he thinks that she is unable to conceive, due to her slim hips. The truth of the matter comes out when Honey confesses to George after her drunken nap on the bathroom floor. Crying and screaming “I...don’t...want...any...children. I’m afraid! I don’t want to be hurt…(176)” where George realizes that Nick has no idea of her distaste for motherhood. However he never does get the chance to reveal the truth to her husband. Nick, who sits, listening to Martha’s story about her son, still has no idea because Honey cries out that she wants a child, and he takes it as common behaviour. Honey, even in a very drunk state, and barely audible knows that she needs to keep up with her lie and doesn’t let her confession to George get in the way of that.

Rather than hold lengthy conversations between characters, she frequently writes only of small talk and leaves more serious topics to be recited in an individual’s exclusive thoughts. One of her purposes in writing the novel is to expose the hypocrisy of society. The characters in the novel range from eccentric acquaintances to extravagant lords and ladies to vindictive tutors to suicidal veterans. One example of this theme occurs when Rezia and Septimus attempt to settle down in the park. When the airplane soars overhead, she writes, “Tears ran down his cheeks (Woolf 21).” While one may mistake this as joy or, at worst, sorrow over the recent war, Woolf gives the reality of the action beneath the surface, stating, “They are signaling to me… this exquisite beauty… but he would not go mad. He would see no more (21).” While Septimus dwindles on the brink of insanity, Rezia chatters away about nature, unaware of the mess resting beside her. Septimus portrays the appearance of one man yet expresses an entirely new persona through his contemplations.