Memory and imagination are central to story telling. Janet Burroway’s non-fiction piece, Embalming Mom, juxtaposes between the present, in which the author is writing, and into the realm of memory and imagination. This short work of creative non-fiction, utilizes memory and imagination from the author’s past in order to cope with the memory of her mother’s death. The author starts out speaking to her mother that she is going to write her into a story. Janet and her mother argue about her role in the story. This is hard for Janet, due to the fact of her divorce and her mother’s strong feelings about marriage. As Janet writes, she looks around the room where she is writing; items in the room bring back memories, which depart her imagination from …show more content…
Her mother’s spirit, is a part of imagination. Janet is alone, while she is attempting to write her story. She is lost within her thoughts, and coping with the memory of her mother's past. Her imagination takes a hold of the, and she almost loses her grip on reality. Janet, still knows that her mother is dead, but her presence is still apart of Janet’s reality. Janet accepts the truth that her mother is dead, and want’s her father to be happy as well. Her father marries after her mother dies. This was hard to explain to the presence of her dead mother, consequently though Janet knows that she cannot escape reality, even through her strong, vivid imagination, “ We carried your ashes up to the top of Marble Mountain, Daddy and I; we flung them over the quarry and the foundations of the house you lived in, over the roof of the general store. And do you know, Mamma, they’re ruble, the ,arrow looks like dry dog food. I saw the mineral in your bones, blue melted minerals in chunks” (Burroway,2006 P.87). Janet is attempting to gain peace from her mother’s death; she attempts to speak the truth to her mother, through her imagination. Janet’s imagination is a powerful tool for her, due to the fact she is a writer. Janet’s writing is a product of both memory and
Jeannette Walls is a very influential writer and has written many stories and books, Also including a book called “The Glass Castle.” Jeannette Walls lives in Park Avenue, New York. She has very nice apartment with many expensive and old things in side. Her mom is homeless and walls doesn’t like that and wants and tries to help her. Her mom goes dumpster diving to find things that still have value still left in them.
A Yellow Raft on Blue Water Character Analysis Rayona, in Michael Dorris’ “A Yellow Raft of Blue Water”, is the perfect example of a fifteen-year-old girl. She is self conscious about her background (half black, half Native American), her height (too tall), her weight (too skinny), and her family (or what passes as one). In addition to her typical teenage conundrums, Rayona must endeavor to keep track of her alcoholic mother, Christine, who is constantly in the hospital for alcohol poisoning (3). Rayona gets no help from her father, Elgin. Elgin abandoned Christine when Rayona was a baby and only periodically checks in on them (5).
Excerpts from ”The Violin”taken from the memoir “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom”, written by Amy Chua, and “Jing-Mei-Woo” taken from the novel “The Joy Luck Club”, written by Amy Chua, both differ in tone and mother-daughter relationships .In the memoir, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom”, Chua and Lulu seem to be much calmer when confronting problems, abstaining from physical confrontation and using a more verbal approach. While in Tan’s novel, Tan and her mother’s relationship is strained and focused on hostility . Chua opens her memoir with her recalling techniques on how to properly play the violin.
In the short story, “A Christmas Memory”, by Truman Capote, a boy relives his most memorable Christmas with his older cousin. During his story the old woman and him both develop strong developments. The use of character to character interaction and visual imagery is key to the suggested theme that the power of memory influences people to relive their lives. One of Capote’s major supporting tactics relies on the clever use of character to character interaction, even when inferred. A certain such example reveals itself early in the story, in which the narrator explains that his cousin calls him “Buddy, in memory of a boy who was formerly her best friend (Capote 1).”
Sarah Rakel Orton differentiates the healing processes of men and women after a traumatic event by using scars and scales as metaphors to examine the reactions of death in a family by surviving members and to juxtapose mental and physical coping methods of men and women in her short story, “Scars and Scales.” After the death of her mother the narrator is left to care for the rest of her family: her father and two brothers. The narrator encounters her own, personal reactions to her mother’s passing. “I saw scars bubbling beneath the surface: rippled flesh, mother to daughter,” (Orton 17). The narrator describes vividly the scarring occurring in her flesh, and the inclusion of the phrase, “mother to daughter” signifies that her mother passes
“No man is lonely eating spaghetti; it requires so much attention. ”- Christopher Morley The quote above displays individual desire love and attention to fulfill their loneliness. It reminds me of Russell Banks’ short story, “My Mother’s Memoirs, My Father’s Lie, and Other True Stories.”
Along for the Ride “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” said Jim Rohn. In the fiction novel Along For the Ride, set in the small beach town of Colby, the main character Auden West witnessed many people who were close to her change themselves.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates the personal growth of the dynamic protagonist Louise Mallard, after hearing news of her husband’s death. The third-person narrator telling the story uses deep insight into Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts and emotions as she sorts through her feelings after her sister informs her of her husband’s death. During a Character analysis of Louise Mallard, a reader will understand that the delicate Mrs. Mallard transforms her grief into excitement over her newly discovered freedom that leads to her death. As Mrs. Mallard sorts through her grief she realizes the importance of this freedom and the strength that she will be able to do it alone.
Literary Fiction is fixated more on themes than on plot. The story “A sorrowful Woman”, relates to literary fiction by concentrating on the individual and discovers some parts of human state. In this instance, they concentrated on the wife that has some sort of ailment and is unable to stand, look at or intermingle with her child. This means that it is now the responsibility of the husband to take both roles as a parent until his wife gets better before she can begin to parent again. At the end, she gained her strength back and began to do her wifely and motherly
The once lively streets of Pennsylvania couldn’t hear shoes clicking against a creaky wooden staircase. The only noise that could be heard in this abandoned ghost town was the sound of a long dress sweeping against the floors of a once prosperous journalist’s home. Only the locked up homes would listen to the drawn out sigh from Mother Smith. But the only person who could hear her thoughts was herself.
Before the knock on the door, Angelina and I played. There was music and laughter overflowing the house, and the scent of kosher dinners wafted from the kitchen. Before the knock on the door, I had a doll. I had a bed, a warm, pink quilt fluffed by the unmade sheets, and stuffed animals under it. Before the knock on the door, I had books.
“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known”(Palahniuk, Chuck. Invisible Monsters. W.W.Norton, September 1999). “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan and “My Mother’s Closet” by Kate Buckley both relate to this quote about self identity.
The Voice Behind the Phone I walked into the back door of a stone house. Accompanied by my parents and younger sibling. I did not recognize my surroundings, the people, nor recall a reason for my presence. The smell of fresh mud and ashes ran up my nose, an unfamiliar environment.
She is afraid of what her father will be, claiming that what he now is “his Ghost – not him!” And thus, the “best of times” has unexpectedly become the
“We’re moving to North Carolina!” Exclaimed my father with particularly excited face. My heart dropped. I thought to myself “Was I really going to be ripped away from everything I’ve ever known?” I felt a cocktail of sadness and anxiety swirling in my gut as I ran out the door onto the porch in an indignant manor.