Helga Crane struggles with numerous forces, which include class and racial stereotypes, social expectations, and emotional baggage. The following article exploits her biggest struggle and the circumstances that would have made her more successful in pursuing happiness. Helga Crane’s biggest obstacle is her emotional baggage (Larsen). Her lack of self-awareness, appreciation, integrity and gratifications for herself, and her life results from emotional baggage. Helga’s constant pursuit of leisure, attention, and beautiful surrounding, is as a result of her emotional struggles. The recognition of her self-worth would make the other social ills, such as, class and racial stereotypes and social expectations become irrelevant, as she would recognise herself, and what she is worth (Larsen). Helga Crane desires to strive for inner happiness; rather than, the material wealth of the society would have made her happier. Her constant pursuit for happiness in the external society; rather than, the quest for happiness inwardly, caused her to seek gratification and happiness from material wealth and the chase from men (Larsen). The need for her to use her body and beauty to lure wealthy and affluent men reflects on her lack of gratification and appreciation for what she has and this would make her seek for status and class; rather than internal happiness. Helga constant search for leisure, beautiful surrounding, and attention, would have been replaced with a search for meaningful relationships, innate happiness, and the internal self-awareness and peace (Larsen). Helga should pursue value systems, …show more content…
If Helga pursuits inner happiness and meaningful relationships; rather than, external happiness, she would have been more successful in her pursuit of happiness. Works Cited Larsen, Nella. "Quicksand." Baym, Nina and Robert S Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012.
She is constantly bringing up her childhood and her shyness which gives us information that there is a problem, but we don't know what it is. The author also starts the story off with "Helga Crane felt no regret as the cliff-like towers faded" and she seems very to herself. Though she shows moments of her getting out of her comfort zone and she is distracted by things like a large crowd of people (paragraph 8), her aunt (paragraph 10). She did bring up her aunts husband which could also potentially be a problem stating "A deep pang of misgiving nauseated her at the thought of her aunt's husband, acquired since Helga's childhood visit. Painfully, vividly, she remembered the frightened anger of Uncle Peter's new wife, and looking back at her precipitate departure from America, she was amazed at her own stupidity.
This imagery is the first sign of Helga’s need to escape the confusion she has for her feelings and Dr. Anderson. The second motive for leaving is to return home. In the case of Helga, her Aunt represents her home life. When
Harwood therefore articulates the experiences of the 1950’s suburban housewives who were expected to forget the other aspects of their lives and simply be content with the joys and burdens of
Rather than exploring the world around her, Hulga seems content to stay within the boundaries of her farm, missing out on the chance to learn from other cultures and experiences. Her reluctance to connect with others also keeps her from forming relationships that could bring joy and meaning to her life. It's a shame, because Hulga is clearly intelligent, but her refusal to embrace change has prevented her from reaching her full potential. If she were to open herself up to new experiences and relationships, she could find the personal growth and fulfillment she's been
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published in 1850. It focuses on the life of the main protagonist, Hester Prynne, living in a Puritan community. Both Yamin Wang and Maria Stromberg offer insight into The Scarlet Letter and analyze multiple aspects of the story.. Both Wang and Stromberg claim that there is an underlying ideology hidden in the texts of the book. Wang approaches the story from a feminist approach and states that Hester represents the feminism in the Puritan community, and she analyzes the Puritan’s outlook on women in their society.
She does not seem to live a very lonely life “except that 3 am lights and television seem to proclaim it,” (Ascher P. 15) Although the women lives a lonely lifestyle, ahe turns to solitude to help her keep
Fatal flaws have been shown in works of literature throughout the centuries, causing the destruction of many characters. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, three of the main characters each have a fatal flaw. The novel, set in Puritan Boston between 1642-1679, tells the story of Hester Prynne through third person narrative. Hester begins her journey in the novel when she is brought from jail for her punishment in having an affair with someone in the town, resulting in her pregnancy. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, who she believed dead, sought out revenge against the unknown father of Hester’s child.
Joy’s mother, Mrs. Hopewell, states that it is hard to think of her daughter as an adult, and that Joy’s prosthetic leg has kept her from experiencing “any normal good times” that people her age have experienced (O’Connor 3). Despite the fact that Joy has no experience with people outside of her home, Joy has contempt and spite around her mother and acquaintances alike. In fact, when Joy changed her name to Hulga, she considered it “her highest creative act” and found a self-serving pleasure when the name brought dissatisfaction to her mother (O’Connor 3). When Joy expresses her disgust with her hometown, she also shares that she would much rather be “lecturing to people who knew what she was talking about” (O’Connor 4). Therefore, Joy suggests that the people and ideas that have surrounded her are inferior to her intelligence, and this
Amanda Vicente The Scarlet Letter Reading Response AP English Language Period J 16 August 2016 Journal Entry 1: Chapters 1-2 In The Scarlet Letter, the author sets a mood from the beginning of the book. The setting is old and beat up in front of an aged wooden prison with judgmental Puritans ready to tear a women apart. The Puritans are hypocrites and the author portrays that in the story.
When Hedda married George Tesman, she was lowered to a different social and economic class. She acknowledges the role this plays in her boredom saying, “this shabby little world I’ve ended up in. That’s what makes life so contemptible, so completely ridiculous” (Ibsen 1506). This unhappiness and lack of excitement spur her to find
From her internal thoughts and observations, the reader is given knowledge of the exact extent to which Ellie’s own mortality affects her thoughts, actions, and enjoyment of her whole life. The impact of the knowledge is best demonstrated when the reader is told, “Yet
Throughout the play, Hedda’s extreme lack of empathy exhibits her narcissism through her intentional malice and inability to recognize the feelings and needs of others. A prevailing example of Hedda’s lack of empathy is shown through her intentional deriding of Aunt Julies hat
Further, situational irony is present through the reaction that Louise Mallard has after learning about her husband’s death. Upon first learning of her husband’s death she is very devastated and distraught. As soon as she is alone in the bathroom however, it is clear to the readers she is not as upset. In fact she is slightly relieved in that “she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (235).
As the daughter of the late and esteemed General Gabler, Hedda requires a husband with social standing, an elegant home, money, servants, and other amenities stamping her as a refined and respectable aristocrat. However, stirring within her is a desire to live with democratic derring-do—to think and act independently, to take risks. But she largely represses this desire, preferring to maintain the appearances of propriety and stability instead. Thus, she rejects the intriguing but irreputable Løvborg for the humdrum but reputable Tesman. She lets it be known that she will not tolerate even insignificant offenses to her standards of propriety, such as Juliana Tesman’s new bonnet.
The attitude becomes “Why are you happy and I’m not? I will make you pay for me not also being happy like you are.” It is important to recognize the intense despair of one who feels left out of life. It is also extremely important to notice when one is going through hardship because then sadistic behaviors come out. In this case, Hedda makes the attempt by making endless demands.