A bond between a mother and her child is one of the strongest bonds possible. In rare cases, a maternal bond can be formed between two people who are not related. Such a bond is present in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler between Ezra and Mrs. Scarlatti, a spirited, spunky older woman. Ezra begins working at Scarlatti’s at a young age and gradually ascends the hierarchy of the restaurant while simultaneously becoming close with the owner. Eventually, Scarlatti becomes sick and lives in the hospital, leaving Ezra to run the restaurant; in her absence, Ezra renovates and transforms the restaurant, believing that Scarlatti will die rather than return to work. Scarlatti does return and is horrified to see what Ezra has done to her life’s work. In a paragraph on page 128, Anne Tyler uses imagery, tone, and symbolism to show that Ezra breaks Mrs. Scarlatti’s spirit. …show more content…
Her face seemed stripped” (128). The imagery here shows an old woman looking up to a young man helplessly; her face reflects her emotions, or lack thereof. When one cares a great deal about something, he or she will have strong feelings about it, although when traumatized or broken, one may not express any emotions, rather he or she copes with the loss by ceasing to care about anything and in the process, losing any passion or will to live. A face is the most expressive part of the human body, so when a face seems stripped, it reflects an inner absence of emotion. The once opinionated and passionate Scarlatti has lost these qualities, lost her emotions, and lost her
When questioning the murdered man's wife, the detectives seemed sympathetic in terms of their expressions. They appeared concerned and their hardened expressions softened. The woman was shown sobbing and had bloodshot eyes. Tears were rolling down her face and her beauty was a stark contrast with the ugliness of the previously-depicted crime scene and the faded trench coats of the detectives. She
As the narrator, Claire creates an emotional and compassionate tone throughout the story. Her dialogue constantly consists of words such as “honey”, “mommy”, “love”, which constitutes to the overall mood of the text (Carver 363). Additionally, she is constantly catering to her husband and child by cooking, cleaning, and performing tasks of the typical “stay-at-home” mom. Her affectionate personality, want for control, and mother-like performance plays a role in Carver’s explanation of the stereotypical mother and wife.
“This singularity of meaning – I was my face, I was ugliness- though sometimes unbearable, also offered a possible point of escape. It became the launching pad from which to lift off, the one immediately recognizable place to point when asked what was wrong with my life. Everything led to it, everything receded from it – my face as personal vanishing point” (Grealy 7).
First of all, the mother’s love in Reichl story becomes complex when the guest come over to the house and she cooks them moldy food, Ruth Reichl becomes the guest guardian who protects them from being killed. The mother shows her lover through cooking, she can whip up anything from her week old leftovers. Her mother is not a shame of what she cooks
In Claudia Llosa’s The Milk of Sorrow, a girl from the Andes named Fausta has an odd disease contracted from her mother’s milk. Because her mother was raped and tortured during the Peruvian Civil War with Fausta in her womb, the mother’s milk is contaminated with the disease, according to the local people. This condition causes symptoms such as rarely leaving one’s home by will, avoiding men, rarely speaking, and walking close to the walls of houses for fear of having one’s soul stolen. In the film, Fausta undergoes a journey to empower herself to cure this disease and create a voice for herself. Through the use of central recurring symbols, Fausta’s actions, and the interactions of the people around her, the film suggests that historical trauma, if left unchecked, can negatively influence the person with trauma, the people around them, and even generations to come.
She claims, “for six years I do not stare at anyone because I do not raise my head” showing that because of her injury confidence strips away and she loses this view of perfection in herself. Scars tear one apart from their confidence and true beauty because something unnatural and terrible must have occurred in order for one to submit involuntarily to absolute vulnerability. Walker states, “I watch as its trunk, its branches, and then its leaves are blotted out by the rising blood.” “Blood,” in this sense refers to the beauty that is drawn out of the soul when an inner crisis occurs (Walker). McCloskey claims, “The gender crosser is trying to join the women. To pass as one, and instead they are treating her like a man, maybe nuts, probably dangerous, definitely another one of those bloody men” (McCloskey, 294). When McCloskey uses the word “bloody,” she references being drawn out by exclusion and how the cruelty she endures strips away her
After the death of her husband, Mother struggles to keep her family together by providing the support and guidance they need, and encouraging them to use good judgment and think of the family as a whole before making their decisions. As the family faces various obstacles, each seemingly more severe than the last, Mother begins
When someone is as beautiful as the goddess Psyche, it is easy to compare one's self to the her and feel unworthy. In C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces, Psyche is a beautiful girl, and some say she is even more beautiful than a goddess. Her beauty does not seem over the top; she appears to have the most natural and perfect appearance. Psyche has a sister, Orual, who feels ugly and unworthy compared to Psyche and her beauty. These feelings become so intense that she becomes angry with Psyche and the gods. In Till We Have Faces, Orual experiences this envy until she realizes that she, too, is just as beautiful as Psyche, and her inner peace is restored as she abandons the anger she has been holding on to for so long.
The father’s hands symbolize his love, and their cracked appearance symbolizes a distant relationship with his son. Additionally, the cracks in the father’s hands signify the trauma and destructive behaviors brought on by his understanding of masculinity. Because the father felt that in order to be masculine, he must veil his emotions, his relationships suffered and became distant. This emotional distance convinces the speaker to fear the “chronic angers” in his home, revealing that, because anger is one of the only forms of emotion that some men believe they can express, the speaker’s father generally shows either anger or no emotion at all. Across multiple cultures, men are expected to maintain firm, stable control over their emotions.
While returning home from market on one evening he encounters “a nude baby girl about the same age as his daughter. Not a part of the pitiful little dead thing was missing (Thammachot 5). The little girl who reminded the man of his own daughter it was easier for him to sympathize with her, and while the language does not suggest a caring attitude when he describes her as pitiful, the gesture of checking on the body, and the analysis made of her-which is when the girl’s gold bracelet is first noticed-and seeing that she was completely intact is the author showing us that people, when reminded of someone who they love, will be more caring towards the involved party, opposite them. While the man shows some compassion, and maybe even remorse towards the girl, while thinking more about his own child, whom the little girl brings to his mind he realized why the bracelet around the dead little girl’s wrist was so important. Being that he was a poor man, and had to be able to provide for his wife and child, “The little human tragedy receded to the back of his mind where only a trace of it lingered”
The reader cannot help but feel the burden the daughter will be sharing with the mother. And while the plight of the mother is real, the reader cannot ignore how the isolation and loneliness of this type of community, or lack there of, has effected Tome's judgment in mothering.
life as a human: “she licked her father’s hand and kissed his palm, could not hold back her tears,
“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.
In XI Xi’s work, “A Woman like Me”, the narrator is a woman who works as a cosmetician for the dead, and throughout the entire story she says how her job has lost her friends over the years. Which in some parts of the text she mentions her fear that if Xia, her boyfriend, were to find out that she deals with the dead he will leave her. It is from this fear of death that mainly drives away her friends , and the very idea that she works with the dead with no problem scares her friends away. It such the fear of death that most stray away it when possible as it reminds them of their own mortality. Although despite her career choice and the cultural role it plays, she is hopeful that the reaction of Xia after he finds out, it will turn out well. The story begins with the quote, “ I’m surprised that our love has reached this far, especially for a woman such as myself”(XiXi 303). In more detail, the narrator explores that typical woman like her are expected to not find love because of her profession, which it is assumed is not normal for women in her culture. I however, am convinced that she is a proud and brave woman because of how her career has shaped her. While it appears that she is doubtful of the meeting she is rather hopeful of the future despite her circumstance, which is the restrictions of the social norms of her social life.
(5) Plath successfully creates an perfect image of what the speaker’s skin looks like as she is reawakened from death, and still manages to tie in a disturbing historical allusion that conjures up horrible images of death.