Analysis Of The Mother-Daughter Book Club By Heather Vogel Kind

Due to media advertisements, women have felt the pressure to look good more than ever. In the book Where the Girls are, the author Susan Douglas expresses what women sometimes feel when they are exposed to media advertisements. "Special K ads make most of us hide our thighs in shame. On the one hand, on the other hand, that’s not just me, that’s what it means to be a woman in America" (Douglas 1995). Women struggle every day with these societal pressures that the media has created and sadly it is only getting worst. The media tends to promote thinness, flawless skin, hair and labels it as "ideal."

Likewise, the characters believed that those closest to the characters did not exhibit any concern until they withstand an eye-opening incident, putting into perspective how much they are valued underneath cold exteriors. In the modern reality, reading about characters undergoing a disconnection acts as if it were a mirror to the viewer, allowing them to reflect on how toxic their own filial and peer relationships are. In short, instead of facing the grueling reality of oblivious affection from others, readers use literature as a way to see which events act as effects of an indeliberate

All of the harassment and bullying has taken its toll on Shala who is not only starting to show signs of trauma but begins to change into somebody else. Shala is approached by Saint Chola who she likely finds comfort in as she (Saint Chola) has also likely been discriminated against in the past. When Saint Chola offers to beat up her tormentors, Shala envisions an entire encounter and while she knows that it would do nothing to help her situation, she sends Saint Chola to do it anyways. This shows a transformation in Shala’s character as she seeks revenge and stoops down to her bully’s level. This is all caused by the intolerance of her peers and the stress it has put on

Many people in the world would just follow what they were taught even if it’s wrong. Would you? In the novel Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair, the main character, Stevie develops into a young lady who knows how to think for herself. Stevie lets her peers and family influence her physically and mentally, but over the course of the novel, Stevie learns how to resist this oppression by standing up for what she wants and her beliefs. In the end, she lets go of the negative ties to her life.

Mental Illness affects an immense amount of individuals no matter their race, culture or age. It is everywhere we go, yet still an issue some choose to ignore; whether it is the person facing the illness or those around them. People handle their sickness in a variety of ways. Some by using violence as their only answer, others run away from their issue and majority choose to accept and make the best of it. After reading the novel The Secret Life of Bees, it would be easy to think that the main theme is discrimination or family, but in reality it is actually focused on the toll that mental illness takes on a family. The protagonist of this novel, Lily Owens, has always had a troublesome life. Both her parents, Terrence Owens, also known as T. Ray, and Deborah Fontanel are ridden with illness, sadly caused from each other. Lily also meets a new family in this novel after running away from her cruel father who abuses her. This family is also dealing with mental illness. August Boatwright is a member of this family and has been surrounded by this sickness for more than half of her life. Two of her sisters have this problem and it has genuinely affected August for better or worse.

It is very important that writers are able to send a message to their reader with their book. Authors best do this by bringing about empathy. In order to send this message, authors often develop strong characters that go through various problems and struggles. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, shows this very well with its characters Scout Finch and Tom Robinson. This book helps the readers learn from the character’s reactions to their problems. Also, the idea that authors build well developed characters to bring about a deeper understanding is shown through the poem Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar. In this poem, the speaker explains of being trapped in the things that society says about him. Through these texts, it is evident that authors can best create empathy in their readers by developing great characters because when characters go through daily events that are challenging and troublesome, the readers are able to relate and understand what they are going through or we are able to learn from their experiences and influence us to adjust our lifestyles.

All of us grow, develop, and adapt to our surroundings according to what we see and learn. However, we don’t always only the just induce the positive values, but also adapt to the disadvantageous values, as well. To Kill a Mockingbird is a unique novel written by Harper Lee, which tells about a sophisticated family living in a small town. The focus of the book is Scout, the main character and an innocent child, and the story is presented from her perspective. The structure of the book shows the shaping of the Scout’s character of innocent behavior to maturity. Scout develops her empathy and maturity throughout the book by the reflection of other characters and occurring events.

In The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls faces harsh stuff through her childhood because of her parents. In the beginning of the book she finds her mother digging through trash. She feels embarrassed, so she turns around and goes home without saying hello. Jeanette then calls her mother and asks to have dinner with her. She offers her mother help because she feels guilty, but her mother rejects her help. Jeanette’s mother then tells her that her values are all wrong. Jeanette opens up to her mother about being embarrassed and passing her up in the streets. When her mother asks her why, Jeannette says, “I was too ashamed, Mom. I hid”(5). This quote also relates to her childhood. Jeanette’s childhood was shameful due to her parents careless way of living. Throughout The Glass Castle Jeannette hides her childhood just like she from her mother because she is ashamed of what people might think.

In Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club, the different stories show how the different characters develop and progress. Rose Hsu Jordan begins “Half and Half” as someone who clearly lacks of conviction as she allows everyone but her to make decisions. Throughout “Without Wood”, however, Rose Hsu Jordan begins to learn, with the help of her mother, how to speak up. In both stories, Rose Hsu Jordan’s development transforms her from a timid and passive girl, to an assertive woman who doesn’t allow others to step on her. Nonetheless, this change was brought upon not by an event, but rather, it was brought upon by Rose’s mother. An-Mei is responsible for transforming Rose from a timid and passive woman into one with an actual “voice”.

Everyone says to always be yourself. But almost everyone has changed their character at some point. They try to be someone else. But why? People strive to find their true self, and ironically, that usually involves changing their identity. They become a repetition of someone else. Sometimes in literature, characters change their own character. In the short stories, ¨Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan, ¨Two Kinds¨ by Amy Tan, and ¨Papa's Parrot¨ by Cynthia Rylant, the characters learn about their identities through significant moments.

The film “The Help” (November 24, 2011) of genre historical fiction directed and scripted by Tate Taylor is a faithful adaptation of the bestseller novel The Help penned by Kathryn Stockett. It is a story about how three women team up to form an alliance and secretively work on a writing project that would be shunned otherwise. The film portrayed the time when segregation existed between the whites and the blacks to be specific in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. The film began with a flash-forward scene where Aibileen a black domestic maid is being interviewed, how it feels to work for a white family? By an anonymous writer later revealed as Skeeter also known as Eugenia Phelan. Skeeter, a white woman, returns to her hometown (Mississippi) to discover that her motherly nanny Constantine has left but no one tells what happened. Soon Skeeter realizes the injustice her society practices and decides to write a book where voices of black will be raised. She approaches Aibileen for sharing her narrative to which Aibileen responds positively and also let’s Minny in their secret. Minny, Aibileen’s friend, another black help, reveals a secret about Miss Hilly that ensures Miss Hilly’s silence after the publication of their writing project. At the very end of the film you see Aibileen free from the housemaid job, Minny being ensured of job security and Skeeter heading to the New York

The only woman in the world who will still cradle you in her arms even if you've stabbed her loving heart is your mother.The short story “Teenage Wasteland” by Anne Tyler is about guilt and reveals mother’s feelings towards her children. A loving mother will feel guilty for anything that happens to her children, and even for that how they feel.

Towards the beginning of the book it shows how Jeannette feels helpless and appalled by her parents choosing to be homeless. Later on it declares that their life is a never ending adventure, but in all actually their lives are terrible. In high school Jeannette can’t live the way she does anymore. So she moves her two eldest siblings as well as herself to New York City. Making a life for herself in New York her parents move there too. Not being to conform to society her parents are homeless once again. Jeannette’s dad Rex has a heart attack and dies. She was devastated her his death, but in the end her family was relieved he was

Scout is now forty six and living in Colorado, she’s a grammar school teacher and a mother of two. She’s been married for 19 years with Henry Stub, a pediatrician. Living in a country style community she learns to ride horses and raise farm animals. Her two daughters Amilia and Catrina would help in the farm all the time as children but now they are grown with their own lives. Now it’s just the two of them, Scout and Henry and their farm animals.

The novel "Little Women " portraits the difficult journey from childhood to adulthood from four teenaged sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy called the March girls, and how they survive growing up in a difficult time highlighting the inferiority of women as compared to men with the ideas explored throughout the novel being women 's strive between familial duty and personal maturation, the menace of gender labeling, and the need of work.