Sympathy For Grace In Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace

Literary genius is a term thrown around often in this day and time. Many might say that the literary world has been diluted. However, if there is one who deserves that title, it is Alice Walker. It is especially so for her piece, ‘Everyday Use’. The short story was first published in 1973 as part of the author’s short story compilation. The collection was aptly named ‘In love and trouble’. The Pulitzer Prize winner uses the book to interrogate how black women deal with race identity and racism in the United States. This writer shall offer an analysis of the short story.

The 1920s is a time of technological, economical, and social exploration. Myrtle, Daisy, and Jordan display the full image of what it is like to be a women in New York during the 1920s. They each have a personal struggle with society and the fight between what they want and what is expected of them. Each of these women wants to experience the glamor of the 1920s but has to maintain some of the traditional elegance of a woman. If the neglect to do so, they are treated harshly by society. Daisy shows her struggles with the social status of women through her daughter and relationship with Tom. Jordan proves that being a “new” women of the 1920s comes with a price of judgment and accusations of dishonesty. Myrtle seeks to become a member of the

In the drama film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, Patrick McMurphy was moved from a prison farm to a mental institution to get evaluated for his erratic behavior. Upon being transported to the institution, all his assumptions about his new home were completely wrong. The head nurse, Nurse Ratched, has the whole hospital under her control with little to no freedom for the patients. All the inmates at the institution go through rigorous training to become obedient to Nurse Ratched and her strict schedule and rules. The institution was a very controlled environment with the patients having no control over their own life’s while there. There are four characteristics of a controlled environment and they include the following: status hierarchy,

Hellen Keller once said that, “Although the worlds is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” In Hellen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life, she wrote about her experiences with learning as a person who was both blind and deaf. In this passage taken from her book, she described her transformation from a child who fought fervently against learning, to an individual who yearned to understand and describe the world around her. Keller presented her shift in the passaged as one that altered her perspective of every aspect of her life, and awakened a sense of happiness and fulfillment within her. She portrayed this change through devices that allowed the reader to closely follow her experiences and understand the emotions that she carried with her

The categories I used in this essay are women’s role in the economy and women’s rank in society, religion and politics.

In Ken Kensey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it conveys messages all throughout the novel. The messages conveyed towards the reader regards oppression, role models, and living a self-determined life. Although McMurphy is cast as a savior of sorts, ultimately Bromden saves himself. McMurphy’s role and Bromden’s thoughts and actions throughout the novel, especially at the end.

Throughout the 1920’s, the role women played in society was changing. Fitzgerald shows this in The Great Gatsby by the characters: Daisy, and Jordan. The morals and iimages of the woman changed. During this time period females began to go against the “norms” of society. Things like this upset people, mostly the men in particular. The men were upset because this showed that they were losing the dominance they had over the female society. In the story, the narrator, Nick Carraway meets Daisy and Jordan, two women who are greatly impacted by the effects of society. Fitzgerald uses the role of women to demonstrate the impact of society on women during this time.

A woman’s place in Puritan society was very limited during these times. A preface was added to her narrative by a puritan pastor as approval for her to publish her prose. Before her captivity Rowlandson didn’t know what a struggle consisted of. She was the typical housewife in a Puritan society. She never went without food, shelter, or clothing before her captivity. Rowlandson became very depressed during her captivity. She began to lose sleep because she was so depressed throughout her journey. After a while she began to get use to the lifestyle and began to appreciate things she had such as food and most of all her life, even though she was going through a bad

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, is full of themes of wealth, love, and tragedy. Also during the time this book was written, women’s suffrage had begun, so women were taking their first steps towards equality with men. The three main women characters in the novel: Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker, all have things in common but can be vastly different; they reflect the view of women in the early 20th century. The Great Gatsby portrays the characters Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan as stereotypes of women during the 1920s, seen in their behavior, beliefs, and their ultimate fate.

Have you ever found yourself rooting for the little man? If so, you will more than likely identify with the theme of George Orwell’s book 1984. The main characters, Winston and Julia, in 1984, rebelled against the parties control, over their daily life’s. Winston and Julia conspire to lash out against the Party’s oppression, and they carry out a love affair, which was strictly forbidden by Big Brother.

The movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” gives an inside look into the life of a patient living in a mental institution; helping to give a new definition of mental illnesses. From a medical standpoint, determinants of mental illness are considered to be internal; physically and in the mind, while they are seen as external; in the environment or the person’s social situation, from a sociological perspective (Stockton, 2014). Additionally, the movie also explores the idea of power relations that exist between an authorized person (Nurse Ratched) and a patient and further looks into the punishment a deviant actor receives (ie. McMurphy contesting Nurse Ratched).

The essay Yellow Woman and the Beauty of the Spirit by Silko is written in the first person, and it is reflective. Silko uses her exposition structure that makes her experiences clear convincing and engaging to the reader.

When first writing in my journal I struggled with how deep to go with my discussion questions and what I should be asking my classmates. I feel that I have struggled with this because I lack confidence on what I am trying to prove or say in my writing. When reading in the past I have never pushed myself to question the author’s purpose or ask questions that invoke much thought. Up to this point in the year writing in my journal as well as annotating in the text, has helped my reading and writing immensely. My journal this year mostly contains quotes from texts and points from in class discussions that I felt were useful to understanding the novel and its purpose. I do not journal as much as

Realizing is to understand, while denying is to contradict. We as people understand that there is more to any relationship than the just the surface. The Great Gatsby, a mysterious but intense novel, is based off of the ideas of denying but realizing, leaving the story intriguing to readers. Not only does one of the most important characters in this novel, Daisy Buchanan, realize what is going on in her reality but she also chooses to deny it. In this case, her convenience is more important than the truth. Daisy is a victim of denying what is below the surface. This is seen in many different aspects throughout the novel. By approaching reality in a deeper way, everything will automatically become more complicated in countless ways. Even as readers, we do not know everything there is to know, especially when dealing with Jay Gatsby, but what we do know still manages to be contradicted by the complicated character of Daisy. It is recognizable that Daisy continually denies reality for her own convenience within her individual relationships mainly involving Tom and Gatsby, which deal with Tom’s affair, the situation of Gatsby, the feeling of regret following the realization of her first love, and her past of loving Tom.

There are numerous amounts of techniques authors use in their novels to project a message, and interest the reader. However, certain styles may not work due to the fact that it possibly can result in an overdoing of such style, causing the reader to get bored and stop reading. The novel “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley Is a novel about developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that come together to change society. This book has a unique science-fiction theme and takes place in the future. Another book called “Alias Grace” by Margaret Atwood is a fictional book based on a true story about a girl named Grace who gets wrongfully convicted of a double murder. Brave New World is a fictional novel, with non-fictional features such as classical conditioning, which is an actual psychological experiment. Also, Alias Grace is a fictional book based on a true story, which shows some similarities between the two books.