Loneliness In Helga's The Awakening

Published at the turn of the century in 1899, women had limited writes and privileges in the traditional, patriarchal society, leaving many feeling limited in personal pursuits. A woman’s place was in the home and there would be no arguing about that. The story takes place in Louisiana where the families depicted were financially well to do, especially those on the scenes set on Grand Isle. Women in The Awakening seemed to truly embrace their roles of wives and mothers, finding these responsibilities to be fulfilling, even exciting. Edna was the quintessence of domestic achievement for a woman in the late 1800s, yet despite her advantages she became dissatisfied with her role as wife and mother. This dissatisfaction leads Edna down a slippery

Priestly depicts gender stereotypes to emphasise gender in a capitalistic, misogynistic and patriarchal society, in his play 'An Inspector Calls'. Priestly portrays women as emotional, commodified, materialistic and irresponsible to highlight the way that a misogynistic capitalist society operates. In a similar manner, Priestly presents men as arrogant, ambitious, dominant, and strong. By doing this Priestly aims to critique capitalism and the underlying implications and undercurrent of problems which capitalism brings to provoke a reaction in the audience to promote socialism.

Life can be separated into two equal parts totally independent from one another. The inner self, being the innermost thoughts and feelings of the individual, and the outer self, how the individual decides to conduct itself around the others in society. Often times one of these parts takes control of the other, suppressing its partner. The suppression is often not of equal frequency because of the obligation humans feel to be liked and to fit in causes the outermost self to be given the most thought and worry. Eventually the suppression of the inner self builds a desire to express the individual’s true feelings. The urge to express oneself is at its core, a right, and is not unlike one of the most

Post-apocalyptic literature encourages us to consider what our society values are, through observing human relationships and the ways in which our connections to others either builds or destroys a sense of community, and how the failure of these relationships can lead to a loss of innocence. Mark Smith in his novel The Road to Winter, explores the value of relationships, particularly as a means of survival; also, he suggests that the failure of society to regulate its own progress will lead to a future where innocence is lost. Margaret Atwood in her poem "Burned House" similarly explores the loss of innocence that results from a post-apocalyptic event, suggesting that the grief

Each regional area has it’s own stereotypes. The South, or the country, is one of the many regions in the United States that gets stereotyped. When thinking about the people of this region, they are usually described as nice, simple, religious and not well educated. In Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People”, Hulga’s stereotypical view about country people makes her feel superior towards others; however,that backfires when Manley Pointer easily tricks her by acting like a simple and religious person.

Often times when a person is forced to outwardly conform while questioning themselves it leads to a struggle between their inner selves and what is expected of them. Outward conformity often oppresses a character’s true feelings of loneliness and being misunderstood. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, leads a dissatisfactory life. She is stuck in a loveless marriage, and has children, all in an attempt to conform to the social norm of the Victorian woman. However, she inwardly questions whether or not she should try to break free from this life to find her own independence and happiness. Edna continually questions whether or not she is destined to live a life of subordination or if she can find her own freedom. Edna Pontellier’s defiant nature is brought out

In stories meant to scare the reader, transformation symbolizes the cultural changes occuring in society. For example, in the stories “House Taken Over” and “The Feather Pillow” the authors use transformation and scary elements that happen to the charters to frighten us. Both stories are examples of Magical Realism. Magical Realism is realistic fiction. In both these stories there is practial tone, normal charters, and interesting events. The lifestyle of the charaters in both stories go from calm to abnormal, they differ in scary elements. In addition, the stories including my personal expirence all forshadow the following events.

Throughout the passage from The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Hester’s baby, Pearl, to illuminate the theme of beauty in a dark place. Once released from prison, Hester, an adulterer, becomes a public spectacle. Through this hard time, Hester has her daughter Pearl to soothe her and to bring her strength and hope for a better future. By using vivid imagery and juxtaposition, Hawthorne depicts Pearl as Hester’s happiness, light, and beauty during a sad and lonely time.

Within the past year, the treatment and perceptions of women have been challenged due to the various marches and movements. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romance, The Scarlet Letter, presents how women were viewed in a Puritan society, falling into a rigid dichotomy of either being the “saint” or “sinner.” This is otherwise known as the “Madonna/Whore complex,” which is explored through the life of the novel’s protagonist, Hyster Prynne. Her struggles and experiences through this dichotomy ultimately affect her both physically and emotionally as it represses her femininity.

Individuals are usually judged by their superficial appearances and not by their characteristics, which could cause a wrong perception of an individual true self-leading their status and identity to become an outcast from the society. Furthermore, it could lead an individual to have psychological effects on their mental health. For instance, it could lead an individual to obtain the feelings of emptiness and hopelessness, to conclude with a decision to commit suicide. Margaret Atwood’s short story, “Lusus Naturae,” is written in a first person perspective, in which the protagonist tells the story herself. The readers of the story are able to know what is going on in the protagonist mind and how she is feeling throughout the story. However,

Flannery O’Connor’s stories always contain a flawed character that is usually crippled in a spiritual or a moral sense to embody an ongoing issue in her time through that flaw. In O’Connor’s story, “Good Country People,” the protagonist’s physical and spiritual flaws represent weaknesses in a certain movement that swept up the early-mid 20th Century: the movement of Nihilism. She invalidates Nihilism through Joy’s (who changed her name to Hulga) three physical imperfections and at her “moment of grace” in which she loses her artificial leg.

Mary Shelley, in the last pages of Frankenstein, expresses that loneliness is the source of anguish. Shelley supports this with the juxtaposition of happiness and despair, biblical allusion, and parallel structure in order to point out that one’s affliction is caused by a lack of compassion and companionship. Shelley’s purpose is to show the result of perpetual loneliness so that she may better point out the necessary requirements of meaningful existence.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapters fourteen through twenty-four, concludes the novel with astonishment. Due to previous events, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter as a form of punishment but surprisingly, with time, she begins to be respected and admired by society. Later, we realize that chillingworth is plotting against Dimmesdale and should be stopped. Hester and dimmesdale have a meet at the woods where things get rather intimate. After the meet on the woods events occur which lead to dimmesdale’s death but also his release from guilt. It is no surprise that at last Hester gets her happy ending.

Hedda Gabler is a work of literature focused on realism. In Ibsen’s writing he depicts an accurate representation of everyday life at the time, where women were not regarded outside their houses, and were enslaved in gender roles. Hedda, the famous daughter of General Gabler, married George Tesman out of desperation, but she found life with him to be dull and tedious. Hedda is repressed both socially and sexually. Her tragedy lies not only in her own suicide but in her desire that Ejlert should have a "beautiful" suicide: she hopes that life can be beautiful, can measure up to a certain standard, regardless of practicalities like

Sakoto Fujikasa featured work of artistry displayed within the Harn Museum is know as “Stream.” This piece in particular demonstrates a medium that has been contorted to displays various ripples and waves to resembled that of flowing water. Hence, the name “stream” best befitting it’s whimsical nature. However, at a deeper interpretation of her piece, it can be seen that there is a hiding meaning. My initial thought of the piece was that she was creating a scene encompassing the changing of seasons and how they flow from one to another, parallel to that of a stream. Patiently, over time, this piece’s identity began to morph into a more complex ideology. The theme that Sakoto Fujikasa is expressing through her piece is to show how the encompassment of life is comprised of the various emotions we express and sense.