Motherhood In Nella Larsen's Passing

Throughout her life span irrational decisions strained her path to Hollywood fame. Curley’s wife was vulnerable due to the strict guidelines set in place by her mother. These guidelines caused Curley's wife to make the sporadic decision to marry him and escape her mother's discouragement, “I always thought my ol' lady stole it. Well, I wasn't gonna stay no place where I couldn't get nowhere or make something of myself, an' where they stole your letters, I ast her if she stole it, too, an' she says no. So I married Curley.”(Curley's wife 88).

Emily Grierson in the short story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner goes through depressing events in her life, but how she deals with these stressors is what is interesting. Ms. Grierson has to deal with the loss of her father. Additionally, the fact that her new found lover did not want to marry her and could leave her at anytime causes more stress. Both of these situations lead her to isolate herself from other people, fearing the thought of the town looking at her as weak. The loss of her father, her lover Barron possibly leaving her, and the thought of being weak, causes Emily Grierson to obtain the fear of abandonment.

She simultaneously loves and resents her children because, while she is their mother, she feels that they have taken away her freedom and self-purpose. As Edna journeys in her awakening, she strives to find meaning for herself as Edna, not her children's mother. To prove she is more than just a mother, she distances herself from normal motherly responsibilities. “He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?”(Chopin, 15) Edna's neglect of her children stems from others expectations for her to submit to and look after her

In Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, the author uses thematic symbols such as “the black thing” and Annie and her mother seeing “eye to eye” to guide the reader to a position where it is clear to see that Annie and her mother do not have the same, sweet relationship they used to have. Overtime, Kincaid develops the story in such a way where it is easy to see that the relationship between Annie John and her mother begins to go downhill and is not the same as it was in the beginning of the novel. Annie clearly begins to despise her mother as she realizes that her mother is not treating her like the little girl she used to be. In this passage of Annie John, the use of “the two black things” provides a clear example of how the Annie John and her mother are very similar, yet they are never able to retain a good relationship because there is space between them. Throughout the novel, there are many circumstances where Annie wants to be loved and treated like a child by her mother, however, her mother treats her in a different manner than what she expects.

Throughout Nella Larsen 's novel Passing the protagonist, Irene Redfield, finds herself drawn to the character, Clare Kendry despite repeatedly attempting to create distance between herself and Clare. Although she opposes the idea of passing on the surface, Irene finds herself occasionally passing for small luxuries not afforded dark skinned people. During one such excursion, Irene runs into Clare, a childhood friend who long ago decided to permanently pass, after the death of her father, by marrying a wealthy, exceedingly racist, white man, John Bellew. It is Clare’s connection to such an intensely racist man, along with the threat that he poses Clare should he learn of her racial background, that forces Irene to withdraw from her. Ultimately, Irene, time and time again, despite her desire for distance for both her sake and Clare’s, finds herself captivated by Clare out of unrecognized interest in her fascinating presence; understanding this connection allows the reader to better understand the dynamics between Irene and all the characters.

O’Connor also carefully draws out her characters. O’Connor made the Grandmother a women so that any reader felt lower than and feel below in authority. The grandmother is shown as a pushy woman with characteristics of selfishness. These characteristics show when she insisted on going to the old house. When she realized that Bailey was not too keen on the idea, she made up a story about treasure to get the kid’s to help beg their dad.

Ruth is really hard to like especially when we as reader see what's really going on with Dawn and what she's going through. Ruth always turns to Barbra thinking that one of these times something will change. I really think that that's a bad idea and she shouldn't do that. If i were Ruth and i kept getting nervous calls concerning a child i would try to do so much more than give the mother another chance. Dawn almost killed herself because of her mother not being there for her and loving her like normal parents would do for their children.

Such a statement to the person that has allowed her to stay long after Juliet finished breastfeeding is one that could cost her the loss of a second child. The Nurse continuously claims that Juliet is like her daughter, and defying Lord Capulet could lead her too far worse consequences than what Juliet gets for defying him. The fact that the Nurse is the one to call out Capulet for his misbehavior clearly shows

Therefore, Mama Elena knows to keep the two apart and threatens Tita if she ever does anything she is not supposed to. Tita is a strong female character who undergoes many challenges such as, losing the love of her life, being mistreated by her mother, and trying to not hurt her sister’s feelings. When Tita announced that Pedro would like to speak to Mama Elena about marrying her, she was lectured about their family’s tradition and in response Tita just “lowered her head, and the realization

. Mom knows that Dee has irregular ways and is not necessarily like her or Maggie, but she in some ways looks up to Dee and longs for Dee to accept her. (Nancy Tuten) agrees by saying, "Mama's distaste for Dee's egotism is tempered by her desire to be respected by her daughter.” The Mom’s character changes during the quilt scene, as she realizes that Maggie shares the appreciation of culture and heritage, and Dee's appreciation is entirely different from theirs. During the quilt scene, Dee is demanding Mom to give her the quilts, and Mom says, "when I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet.” In other words the daughter who she has always thought so highly of knew little of their culture and had little appreciation for their heritage. Walker creates the “mom” character to help defend her point, which is the importance of upholding the values and traditions in the African American