Why Is Mrs Banzewski Aggressive

Later still, Sylvia was accused of spreading rumors that Paula and Stephanie Baniszewski were prostitutes at Arsenal Technical High School. This provoked Stephanie’s boyfriend, Coy Hubbard to flip Sylvia onto the floor and bang her head against the wall. Gertrude encouraged other neighborhood children floating in and out of the house to flip Sylvia and burn her with cigarettes. Torture became the neighborhood game. What served as Gertrude’s pretense for keeping Sylvia out of school is the alleged theft of a gym suit.

In the play, “Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth” by Drew Hayden Taylor, the story of two sisters, Barb and Janice is told. They had not met each other for the first time until Janice had turned 35 and had returned for her first visit. The two are basically strangers and their relationship consists of nothing but anger. The development in their relationship seems to be impossible with the two who are unable to understand each other. Janice’s anger towards her own life and Barb’s anger towards Janice blinds them from understanding and accepting each other. Janice continuously struggles to find her identity and her frustration turns to anger. Barb is angered by Janice’s

Melinda, the main character of speak was raped at a summer party. She calls the cops and that is where it all started. When Melinda reaches high school she is faced with all her old friends. They all hate her and want nothing to do with her, because of her calling the cops. Throughout the whole book Melinda runs into tough situations that eventually lead to her standing up for herself. Eventually, everyone finds out the truth, of why Melinda calls the cops. Although Melinda learns to stand up for herself, throughout the book she shows signs of depression such as poor performance in school, sadness and hopelessness, and withdrawal of friends and activities.

In the early twentieth century, Fania, Bessie, and Masha, the older children of the Smolinski family are unable to find work to support their hungry, weak family.The youngest daughter in the Smolinski family is named Sara and will go outside and make some money by selling herring when Mrs. Molinski loses hope for the family 's financial situation:"I was about ten years old then. But from always it was heavy on my heart the worries for the house as if I was mother. I knew that the landlord came that morning hollering for the rent," (P.1). Reb Smolinsky is the girls’ father. Reb is also out of work and as a poor Jewish man, spends his days reading holy books and living off of what little money his own children make. Eventually the older daughters will find work. Mrs. Smolinski is then able to rent a second room. The family is very excited when Bessie announces that she and a man named Berel Berenstein had fallen in love. Bessie invites him to dinner at her home. Reb finds out about his daughter’s relationship with Berel and even that Berel was willing to marry her. Despite the joy and enthusiasm expressed by the rest of the family, doesn’t decide to congratulate her, but rather that because of the family’s financial situation, Berel must also pay the full cost of the wedding. Reb also demands that Berel set him up a business. After that, Berel becomes infuriated and leaves. After reading this I couldn’t help but wonder, one

Sara Smolinsky is the youngest of four sisters; the eldest is Bessie, whom everyone calls the “Burden-bearer” because the whole family lives on her pay check. “I knew the landlord came that morning hollering for rent. And the whole family were hanging on Bessie’s neck for her wages. Unless she got work soon, we’d be thrown in the street to shame and to laughter for the whole world.”(1) The second eldest

Matilda’s mother did not allow her to visit Polly, an old friend that died, and Matilda reacted by yelling back at her mother. “She was my friend! You must allow me. Why are you so horrid?” Isabel learned that her little sister Ruth was sold an as a result she started yelling at her master, Mrs. Lockton.

And there is a clique of girls at the school who refer to their group as "the Marathas," that is the Martha Stewart wannabes. There doesn't seem to be a place where Melinda fits in. Where does a girl who has been sexually assaulted fit-in?

One person that is truly affected by her family limitations is Sara’s oldest sister Bessie. Bessie is known as the “burden bearer” of the family. The Smolinsky’s sincerely depend on Bessie to contribute her wages to the family’s well being, and it is apparent that if she seems to live up to her fathers standards to make good enough money, the family will certainly plummet into pieces. “And the whole family were hanging on Bessie’s neck for her wages. Unless she got work soon, we’d be thrown in the street to shame and to laughter

The language that Sylvia uses give the reader sense of her personality and her attitude when she describes Miss Moore’s arrival to her neighborhood, “this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup” (Bambara 337). Throughout the story, Sylvia expresses hatred toward Miss Moore and criticizes about how Miss Moore is educated. This tells the reader that Sylvia is not used to being around educated people and feels threatened by Miss Moore’s arrival. Therefore constantly expressing hatred towards Miss Moore by saying, “I’m really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddam college degree” (337). As Miss Moore is determined to teach and show the children a different side of the world, Sylvia tries to distribute her negative attitude on other children by discouraging them with her rude remarks. For instance, when Rosie Giraffe showed an interest in the microscope in the show window of F. A. O. Schwartz, Sylvia made comments such as, “That there” You don’t even know what it is, stupid. Whatcha gonna do with a microscope, fool?” (340).

The children in the neighborhood are probably the most influential people in Sylvia’s life, since she is around them most frequently, and they are her peers. They too seem to come from the same kind of background as Sylvia—poor, defensive,

Despite all her rebellious actions, Sylvia feels slightly uncomfortable when everyone is about to enter F.A.O. Schwarz. She states, “…but when we get there I kinda hang back. Not that I'm scared, what's there to be afraid of, just a toy store. But I feel funny, shame.” (Bambara 4). The quote signifies that for some reason, Sylvia is feeling insecure. She is not afraid of a simple toy store, but it is something different. She knows it is embarrassment. In this context, the cognizance is coming to Sylvia in the form of embarrassment. After witnessing the immensely different lifestyles on Fifth Avenue, she starts to understand Miss Moore’s ideas. She is slowly learning just how big the cavity is between the different economical classes. She feels like an outsider. The child in her is slowly growing up, absorbing the harsh reality of the world in the process. In addition, when the children are at the store, the exorbitant prices of the toys compels Sylvia to question herself of the social and economic differences. She states, “Who are these people that spend that much for performing clowns and $1000 for toy sailboats? What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain't in on it? ” (Bambara 5). According to the quote, all the children have arrived at the toy store F.A.O. Schwarz and got a look at the inflated prices of the toys. Sylvia is questioning herself about

When her love poems to Doug are “taped … to her locker … for two periods” (4), she recovers soon after the event and falls in love with Paul. The exposure of her poems is a form of bullying and insult and are supposed to induce serious social difficulties to the victim. Yet, Stephanie has no problem overcoming it and falling in love in a short period of time indicates that she does not restrain her social activities, probably because she forgets grudges easily. On Valentine’s day, when her brother tries to embarrass her in front of Paul by showing “a picture of [her] in a bunny costume at her first ballet class” (36), she is angry for five minutes and then starts viewing the album with Paul. She is rarely upset and offended, revealing her easygoing

Even though Margot may not have treated them with complete kindness, this is no way to interact with others. As the sun came closer, the children’s behavior got worse. “Hey everyone, let’s put her in the closet before teacher comes!” (Bradbury, paragraph 26) said one boy. Overall, this behavior that Margot’s classmates display is rude at the very least and violent at the most.

With all the troubles in the adult’s world, the children seek a refuge from adult supervision and harassment. Monkey Garden is that refuge; it is a place where the neighborhood kids can misbehave, play and still be kids. In one instance Esperanza is pressured into changing herself because of the different situations that Sally, Esperanza’s sexually bold friend. Sally puts her in these situations by lying or abandoning Esperanza. After feeling ashamed of not understanding why Sally flirts with the boys in The Monkey Garden, Esperanza comes to a realization with the following quote, “And the garden that had been such a good place to play didn’t seem mine either” (Cisneros 98). Sally puts Esperanza in a situation where she feels ashamed and uncomfortable being in her own skin and not understanding how Sally acts with the boys. Whereas Esperanza initially pays close attention when her and Sally discuss things, including boys and sex, when Sally abandons Esperanza at the fair, she discovers that how Sally describes sex is not how Esperanza first encounters it, because she is raped and, clearly it is a horrible experience. She says, “Sally, you lied. It wasn’t what you said at all. What he did. Where he touched me. I didn’t want it Sally.” (Cisneros 99) Sally is not a loyal friend to Esperanza. She has been left on her own to deal with this horrible experience that is forcing her to shed all childhood innocence.

The initial death of Cecilia and Joan shape the girls as they continue trying to navigate their way through adolescence. This does however, mark a significant change in how the sisters and Esther deal with suicide. Cecilia's death creates "an airborne virus," that the other sisters "in coming to save her, [contract]," and she also quickly becomes the scapegoat, as "transmission became the explanation."(Eugenides, 153). This first suicide becomes "the pivotal narrative moment," and is the start of the downward spiral that the girls go through as they try to cope with the loss of their sister (Shostak, 1). While Cecilia is not inherently responsible for the death of her sisters, her death does seem to be the foundation. It is unknown whether