Symbolism In Little Women
In Louis May Alcott’s Little Women, four young girls in nineteenth-century New England live in a society where marriage comes before profession, and passivity is valued over independence. Financially challenged, the March sisters struggle to fit in when they are exposed to lavish events or are treated condescendingly on account of their family’s income. In Little Women, Alcott utilizes the symbols of gloves, burns, and flowers to explore the contrast between abiding by the traditions of society and staying true to oneself. Gloves portray the girls’ obstacles as they strive to comply with the social standards of being young women. While Meg constantly stresses the importance of having proper gloves, Jo’s refusal to wear them illustrates her …show more content…
At Annie Moffat’s house, Meg senses the pity that the other girls feel for her, and is ashamed of her modest attire. One evening, a box of flowers is delivered while the girls are getting dressed. Everyone assumes they are for Belle, and are deeply intrigued when they are in fact addressed to Meg from Laurie. Meg immediately cheers up, and turns the flowers into bouquets for her new friends. However, her newfound content does not last as she later overhears the girls discussing her family’s friendship with the wealthy Laurences. One girl exclaims, “Mrs. M has made her plans, I dare say, and will play her cards well”. (Alcott 92) Meg is both hurt and furious that the girls would consider her superficial, and the flowers she had generously offered them before now only made her feel foolish and over-trusting. Flowers also convey the difficulties of poverty whenever the March sisters use them to complement their old and worn-out clothes. They envy other girls who have precious jewelry and embellishments on their dresses. However, they remain satisfied with adorning their dresses with flowers, and over time begin to see beauty in their simplicity. Alcott uses Meg’s experience at the Moffat ‘s and the girls’ substitution for jewelry to exemplify the March sisters’ modesty and sincerity despite the need to constantly keep up with society’s expectations. In Little
Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By Florence Kelley
412 Words | 2 PagesThis speech is being delivered in Philadelphia to a convention of vigorous women who are willing to fight for their desires. An emotional appear is used to target the nurturing side of each and every woman in attendance. The adults of the United States are sound asleep while the sweet, innocent children are slaving away in factories. Kelley even goes as far as to criticize the women for ignoring this fight while “the children make [their] shoes in the shoe factories; knit [their] stockings, [their] knitted underwear in the knitting factories.” The author intends to use this appeal to provoke the motherly instincts of the attendees to join her and her cause.
How Does Myrtle Change In The Great Gatsby
443 Words | 2 PagesHer dress is also made of “chiffon,” which is an expensive, fancy fabric worn to important events, further displaying the significance of the party. Myrtle’s dress is described as being “swept” across the room, further connecting to her “costume.” “Swept” causes one to assume cleanliness, something a wife of Tom would be expected to uphold, suggesting her “costume” to be the role of Tom’s wife. Continuing with the idea of change, Myrtle’s personality is described to change from an “intense vitality” to an “impressive hauteur.” Her “vitality” is representative of her lively, animated self.
Social Conflict In Louisa May Alcott's An Old Fashioned Girl
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The Metaphor By Budge Wilson Analysis
604 Words | 3 PagesCharlotte’s mother made it clear that Ms. Hancock was not conventional, nevertheless, seventh graders were inspired by her to love writing. This irony shows that society can be blinded by its own rules that someone like Miss Hancock is looked down
Essay On Colonial Women
1301 Words | 6 PagesThe life women in the American colonies was treacherous, yet rewarding. There was so much death and sickness around at the beginning of the new world it is a wonder anyone survived. Had it not been for the nurturing and healing offered by women, this country may have never gotten itself off the ground. Women took care of the home, and the family and this remained the main focal point of the American colonial women. Although women’s lives changed exponentially over the century and a half, especially during the market revolution and the second great awakening, the true belief of what a woman was remained unchanged.
Character Analysis Of Dee Kemanjo In Everyday Use By Alice Walker
664 Words | 3 PagesAt that point, she starts to discuss how her mom and sister are as yet living out-dated and how they would never think about the world. She doesn 't generally comprehend that Mama and Maggie are cheerful just they way
Symbolism In Marigolds By Eugenia Collier
660 Words | 3 PagesThe world she lived in was so ugly and plain and she choose to “create beauty in the midst of [all that] ugliness" (62). This helps to create the theme because even though Miss Lottie had so little she still worked hard to care for the beautiful marigolds. In “Marigolds” the author uses diction, symbolism and point of view, to develop the theme that people can create beauty even in the poorest of situations. Through diction, Collier is able to show the reader the contrast between the beauty of the marigolds compared to the run-down town the story is set in.
Comparing Women In The Yellow Wallpaper And The Birthmark
801 Words | 4 PagesIn the nineteenth century, woman had no power over men in society. They were limited in their freedom, as their lives were controlled by their husbands. Some women did not mind this lifestyle, and remained obedient, while some rebelled and demanded their rights. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, are short stories that exposes the lifestyle women lived in the nineteenth century. The protagonists from both stories, Jane and Georgiana, similarly lived a male dominated lifestyle.
Irony In Alice Walker's Everyday Use
1283 Words | 6 Pages‘Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!’ She said. ‘She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.’ … ‘But, they're priceless!’ ” (172).
Everyday Use Theme Essay
869 Words | 4 PagesMs. Johnson didn't have an education, yet she knew the value of the quilts and she didn’t let a few words from Dee change her decision of giving the quilts to Maggie. Dee leaves her mother’s house quite upset and tells her sister, “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker 12).
Social Class In Eliza Haywood's Fantomina
830 Words | 4 PagesEliza Haywood’s Fantomina; or, Love in a Maze is about unnamed young woman who changes her identity multiple times in order to maintain a relationship with the man she loves. Her high standing social class does not allow her to freely communicate with men. This issue prompts her to disguise herself as prostitute for the chance to be with Beauplaisir. The restrictions set by society heighten her curiosity and desire for love—it becomes her biggest yearning. The extreme measures this woman takes throughout the story demonstrates how society made finding a sensual relationship extremely difficult, if not impossible, for high classed women during the eighteenth century.
Gender Roles In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tale
1035 Words | 5 PagesHowever, she is unhappily trapped in this new society she advocated for, where her hands have to endlessly knit for wool scarves and also touch flowers that mock her sterility. She has no choice but to support Offred’s and the Commander’s Ceremony for the future of the household. Through illustrating women who do not show solidarity to their gender, Atwood wants the reader to realize how they are also a product of their society, caught in their gender
Mathilde's Greed In The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant
785 Words | 4 Pages(227). Mathilde's dishonest behavior represents her fear of appearing ordinary in front of society, when in fact, taking Madame Forestier’s necklace to appear affluent is an act. Her actions, conversations, and thoughts let readers understand Mathilde's distinct
Metaphors In A Doll House
1567 Words | 7 PagesIn 1880s, women in America were trapped by their family because of the culture that they were living in. They loved their family and husband, but meanwhile, they had hard time suffering in same patterns that women in United States always had. With their limited rights, women hoped liberation from their family because they were entirely complaisant to their husband. Therefore, women were in conflicting directions by two compelling forces, their responsibility and pressure. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses metaphors of a doll’s house and irony conversation between Nora and Torvald to emphasize reality versus appearance in order to convey that the Victorian Era women were discriminated because of gender and forced to make irrational decision by inequity society.
Criticism And Realism In The Necklace, By Guy De Maupassant
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