William Xue
Ms. Bartlett
English 9A
10 May 2023
Chapter Ten Essay This passage from the novel Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng explores the complex relationships and tensions between two families, the Richardsons and the Warrens, in the seemingly idyllic town of Shaker Heights, Ohio. In this passage, Ng uses details, imagery, and repetition to portray Mrs. Richardson as threatened by Mia and her judgmental attitude toward Mia, revealing the theme that people’s judgment and attitude toward others are driven by a sense of threat. First, the author uses details to portray Mrs. Richardson as threatened by Mia. For example, Mrs. Richardson comes to a realization after examining Mia’s appearance. The novel states, “She didn’t care, Mrs. Richardson
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Richardson’s judgmental attitude toward Mia. For instance, as Mia arrives at Mrs. Richardson’s home, she surveys Mia and takes note of her outfit and looks. The author says, “Mrs. Richardson tipped her head to one side and studied her tenant. Hair, as always, unkempt atop her head. A loose white button-down untucked over jeans. A smudge of paint on the back of one wrist” (138). This quote shows imagery by Mrs. Richardson’s actions of tilting her head to study Mia and her appearance, showing that Mrs. Richardson pays careful attention to the details and actions of those around her. Because of Mia’s hairstyle and clothes, Mrs. Richardson deems her as a person who does not care about their appearance. To Mrs. Richardson, this unique style differs from her own, so she chooses to judge. Furthermore, when Mrs. Richardson thinks about Mia’s artwork, she has an especially judgemental and negative attitude toward the art and thinks, “What kind of person… would transform a woman into a spider? What kind of person… saw a woman and even thought spider? (138). Mrs. Richardson repeats the phrase “What kind of person” twice as she thinks about Mia’s art and style. She immediately sees Mia’s artwork as strange and judges the art by ignoring the different styles and ways of thinking possible. The repetition of the phrase by Mrs. Richardson demonstrates that she questions herself if Mia categorizes as a normal and sane person by creating artwork so abnormal and different from what she usually
In Adam Bagdasarian’s historical novel Forgotten Fire, the characters are deprived of their Human rights as they experience various examples of Dehumanization; stage of genocide. In chapter 7 of Forgotten Fire, Vahan, and his family are taken to a building called “Goryan’s inn” that is filthy and has a horrid smell due to the many bodies that were kept in the building. As Vahan and his family pray for water, Vahan hears a man in the back say, “Why don't they kill us now” (Bagdasarian 45). People would argue that this man has these thoughts of being murdered by the Turks due to dehumanization. Because they are kept in morbid places with extreme humidity and horrible stench, as a result of being Armenian they are given no water and little to no food.
The others believe she has been driven mad and do not take her cautions into account. She cries, “‘Look! Look at this fire! This terrible fire! Have mercy on me!’”
The story takes place at a time in the 1900s where racism still exists. Mama is the provider of the family. Mama’s younger daughter Maggie was severely burned in a house fire when she was a child. As a result of that incident, Maggie is a nervous and maladjusted girl. Maggies appearance from the fire hides her generous personality.
Ragav Jeevanantham Mr. Macomber Honors English 10 5 May 2023 A family should be able to provide their children with the basic needs of life, including love, support, and a sense of belonging. The custody battle for May Ling between the McCulloughs and Bebe in the novel Little Fires Everywhere raises complex ethical and moral questions about the nature of parenthood and family. On one hand, the McCulloughs are a well-established and financially stable family that can provide the best opportunities for May Ling.
Jared Flournoy Marchand 4 4/1/23 English lll Honors In her novel, Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng uses the characteristics like secretive and conformist behaviors in the characters Mia and Pearl in the setting of Shaker Heights to reveal the theme of hiding one’s true self will only lead to pain and unhappiness in the end. In the novel, Little Fires Everywhere, the character of Pearl is a teen who can be easily influenced by others, all for the sake of fitting into certain groups. Pearl’s mother, Mia shows concern for her daughter’s behavior, noticing “as the weeks went on, it worried Mia a little, the influence Richardson’s seemed to have over Pearl, the way they seemed to have absorbed her into their lives—or vice versa” (Ng 38).
Perfectly sculpted bodies and smiles whiter than fresh snow. She, and many others like her, have stopped being able to express their own individuality. Instead they try so hard to conform to society’s expectations. A scene where this can be seen can be found on page 46. “ And suddenly she was so strange he couldn’t believe he knew her at all.
Even when faced with the possibility that her house might be burnt down, Mildred remarks, ‘he might come and burn the house and the “family”,’ truly showing how isolated she has become (page
He does this by creating a sense of sympathy for the mother’s mental illness and her actions, whilst allowing the audience to understand how her actions have negatively affected the girl. The audience gathers a developed understanding of how the detrimental state of the mother has affected the girl when she describes her as ‘sick, and bitter, and afraid’, from the use of sharp single-word descriptions it is obvious that the girl is fed up and isn’t scared to tell the truth about her mother’s issues. This independence shown by the girl elicits a sympathetic feeling for her mother and her apparent mental illness. At the end of the first page, Winton depicts a scene of havoc with the mother severely burning herself after a smoking accident, the aftermath of her mother’s accident is described by the girl as like a ‘charred side of beef’, whilst this symbolises how the mothers' actions have resulted in her relationship with her daughter being ‘charred’ or burnt, it also describes the sense of olfaction as it is easy for the audience to understand how charred beef smells, emphasizing a burnt, fierce aroma which connotates a feeling of shame and wastefulness. Throughout the novel, it is implied that the mother is incapable and a waste of space, Winton provides sympathetic perspectives for the mother whilst solidifying that her alcohol addiction has led her to this
you got your hair fixed-- what the hell stinks? Hairspray? You don’t see your sister using that junk (Chopra).” Her mother is always nagging Connie and comparing her to her older sister. This tension between them causes Connie to become untruthful and distant, as they have a troubled relationship.
One day, she got hungry and decided to make herself a hot dog. Her mother was in another room, completely oblivious to what was happening in the kitchen, so when things went south for Jeannette, Rose Mary was not quick to jump to the rescue. Even after Rose Mary saw that her daughter was on fire, she moved slowly as if nothing was wrong. Rose Mary took her time while walking to the neighbor’s house to ask to borrow their car. Jeannette recalls that the neighbor was more panicked about the situation than Rose Mary.
“I was always on the lookout for bigger fires. Whenever neighbors burned trash, I ran over and watched the blaze trying to escape the garbage can” ( Walls,15). Jeanette and her siblings have encountered occasions when they thought their parents would leave them instantly forever, and they were willing to forgive them. “I had to forgive them for coming back, " I told myself. If I didn't believe, then they might not return-
It was hard for her just like others to see past the truth of the disaster being made to the community. When Montag had come back from a traumatizing experience from work, he had explained to Mildred about the incident. A women who’s house contained books was caught by the authority and so firemen came to burn her house. Unlike the usual encounterments, this woman chose to stay with her books in the house and burn along with them. Even after they tried to convince her to leave the
Aimee uses the imagery of our perceptions of what we as the reader have the effect of power to help characterize our characters. For the fire girl, she wrote “They put the fire girl in jail. She’s a danger, everyone said, she burns things, she burns people. She likes it.” (125) For the ice girl, things were better.
Her patronizing tone used to reference Mia and her art further shows how much better Mrs. Richardson wants to be. Mrs. Richardson also uses the opportunity to critique Mia’s art because that
Kingston’s mother exposes the story of her aunt to her as somewhat of a warning. Kingston’s mother explains to her how crucial it is to understand that what she does as a woman in their society is looked upon closely