Cathy Ames makes choices based on how it will benefit herself and makes sure she will prosper from the choices, even if that means destroying everyone else in the process. It appears “that Cathy… was born with tendencies, or lack of them, which drove her and forced her all of her life” (Steinbeck 72). Most humans have natural instincts that allow them to function in a civil society together. Cathy is different however, and is distinct since birth. She makes choices and plans things unlike any of the rest of society. This is a factor on how she develops throughout the novel East of Eden. Cathy meets a man named James Grew, and before he meets Cathy he seems grey. Nothing happens until Cathy comes and “[f]or a time it was noticed that a flame
Cathy marries Adam Trask which is a biblical allusion to Adam and Eve. Cathy seduces men and uses her sexuality against them. She’s aware of the real intentions of people and can tell when someone is trying to use her. Eve becomes naked when she eats the apples, her nakedness refers to her feeling of shame.
The purpose of my essay is to explore how different social backgrounds and the social norms that follow affect the personality of two fictive characters and encourage them to break out of their station to find an identity. The protagonists Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye and Tambudzai in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel Nervous Conditions are both victims of social norms. Therefore, the foundation of this essay was to analyze the character’s social background, which has influenced their personalities, behavior and aspirations, and consequently their opposing actions against society. Holden Caulfield is an American adolescent during the period after the Second World War.
Miss Emily Have you ever felt like you can’t let go of the past? In the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner Miss Emily struggles with letting go of the past. She cannot let go of her loved ones. Miss Emily is far from okay with losing loved ones and is in denial that they are dead. She doesn’t want to let go and move on.
Holden’s ridiculously fake description of Ernie in his conversation with Ernie’s mother is an artifice that he created purely for his own amusement. As Holden and Ernie’s mother begin to talk about Ernie’s personality, Holden initially explains that Ernie’s only flaws are that he is “too shy and modest” (57). While Holden’s words are easily understood by Ernie’s mother, Holden’s thoughts betray his spoken recollections of Ernie and reveal that he is a “rat” who enjoys “trying to hurt somebody with [his towel]” (57), yet Holden never mentions this to Ernie’s mother. Holden creates this alternate persona for Ernie where he imagines him as a kind, meek boy instead of the nasty child that he really is. This is interesting and peculiar because
From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.
In John Steinbeck’s novel, East of Eden, the author explores mankind’s endeavor to overcome internal and worldly evil by utilizing biblical allusions and circular prose. One can infer that the novel is a great biblical allusion with the story of Cain and Abel from the Book of Genesis being a reoccurring insinuation. Steinbeck applies these biblical allusions to specify the moral and immoral characters in his novel. For example, Charles Trask receives a “long and crinkled scar” on his forehead that “turns dark brown” while he is filled with a malevolent rage (46). Later on in the story, Cathy Ames is also marked with a scar during a grisly altercation with the pimp she was exploiting.
Janie’s skin color is lighter than most of the people in the book. Her mother was half white and half black and was raped by a caucasian man which created Janie. Janie had light skin, her light skin gave her many advantages such as more opportunities, people treating Janie kindly and also being more respected. Janie was treated differently by most of the people in her life such as Mrs. Turner. Mrs. Turner is a light skinned woman that was married to a dark skinned man.
Jasmine Harmston March 3, 2016 Character Analysis: Lizabeth of Marigolds Lizabeth is one to experience the formidable changes of flourishing into a grown woman, as can be seen throughout the story of ‘Marigolds’ by Eugenia Collier. Growing up in the decrepit time of the Great Depression, Lizabeth was unacquainted of the world outside her shanty neighborhood. Society’s burdened responsibility was thrusted upon her, though her childishness persona. Her callowness and immaturity demeanor ceased to exist when an act of sudden revelation ensued, she loses innocence-gaining her conscious mind of womanhood. Along with the other adolescents of the neighborhood, Lizabeth was innocent-still of youth.
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, reflects the complexities in father/son relationships. The connection between a father and his son is vital to their development. The novel explores the impact of these relations is immense. The central allusion of the novel is comparing several characters to Cain and Abel, who were formed through their attempted relationship with their father-like figure, God. They struggled and vied for the attention, love, and respect of God, which subconsciously influenced their actions and thoughts.
Steinbeck describes Cathy from her early childhood. He writes that she was always a strange and fascinating child. She was born as an only child to the Ames family. She was always a liar, but not like many other children lie, her lies “were not innocent” and, unlike others, “she never forgot her lies” (East of Eden 98). She also at a very young age learnt the power of sexuality and there was one incident, when she is ten years old, in which she locks herself and ties herself in the barn with two fourteen year old boys.
Holden Caulfield lives his life as an outsider to his society, because of this any we (as a reader) find normal is a phony to him. Basically, every breathing thing in The Catcher in the Rye is a phony expect a select few, like Jane Gallagher. What is a phony to Holden and why is he obsessed with them? A phony is anyone who Holden feels is that living their authentic life, like D.B. (his older brother). Or simply anyone who fits into society norms, for example, Sally Hayes.
The feminist theory is based on finding and exposing negative attitudes toward women in literature. Their goal is to reveal the reality of how women get portrayed in literature due to the fact that most literature presents an inaccurate view of women and are most of the time minimized. In the Catcher in the Rye there is a few female characters such as Sunny, the girls at the club, and Sally who are put in situations that show nothing but stereotypes and puts them in a bad spot throughout the novel. J.D Salinger decides to put some of the female characters in situations that can cause those who read this novel to think bad or leave readers with a bad image of women. This bad image on women is due to the fact that he decided to portray some of
In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger readers are introduced to a young man named Holden Caulfield who introduces himself and begins to tell his story of how and why he left his school; Pencey Prep. In the story, Holden explains how he is being kicked out of school and doesn't want his parents to know and so leaves school early. throughout the story, Holden explains what happens to him before he must go home and act like he is home from school for a break instead of being kicked out. When it comes to the topic of Author's purpose of The will of individual vs the will of the majority some will think the purpose is to show that Holden going against the will of society to rebel, however, I think the author’s purpose of The Catcher in the Rye was to show that the individual will manifest in his desire for isolation comes from his is fear and damage done by fear of pain, failure, rejection, and is unwilling or unable to go along with the majority. This all shown through Imagery, symbolism, and diction.
Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, embodies the classic teenager in the process of discovering himself, and how the world works. But, regardless of Holden 's rich, prep school lifestyle, the series of events that have mapped out his life up to this point have utterly affected his emotional well being and perception of the world. Many traumatic events such as the death of holds brother Allie, the death of a class mate, and countless numbers of awkward incidents with adults have all added up to affects Holden 's well-being and detach him from reality. The death of Holden 's younger brother Allie has caused him to confuse his perception of reality and to alienate himself.
One recurring motif I’ve noticed throughout the book is the fact that the storyline was uneasy. For instance, the setting is in a type of new occurrence, very similar to the way a child may feel to experiencing something new. Hence, this book is about the story of how Scout has grown up and learned what she knows. In addition to the setting, there are a recurrence of Gothic details. Such as supernatural occurrences, gloomy settings, etc.