The film, Splendor in the Grass directed by Elia Kazan, examines the plights faced by two adolescents, Wilma “Deanie” Dean Loomis played by Natalie Wood and Bud Stamper portrayed by Warren Beatty-living in the 1920s in Kansas. Due to the immutable morals of those days, their carnal yearnings had no means of release or expression. This results in Deanie trying to take her own life.
Although for the most part the movie strikes itself as being a conventional love story, it is crucial to take into account the film’s emphasis on values and a lifestyle that is stagnant. Moreover, Splendor in the Grass studies the attributes of selfdom and disposition of the bogus facade that depicts human beings as virtuous while discrediting sensibility. Both, Mrs. Loomis and Ace Stamper both symbolize the morals that are up for us as the viewers to analyze. They both place confidence in that what they are enforcing will give out an advantageous outcome for their offspring. Even though, it is disproved time and time again.
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Loomis symbolizes the failure to transition or (ironically) mature and to understand human connections’ complexity. It is as though she sees Deanie as more of an asset than a person. She holds Deanie’s virginity at such high “value” that she’s more concerned with her physical state than her mental state. She regularly stifles her daughter’s natural inclinations as to display a forged facade of Deanie as a girl with no libido.
Ace Stamper parallel to Mrs. Loomis is unable to give Bud proper direction. When Bud approaches his father to speak about his yearnings and what he actually wants to do with his life, Ace takes no notice and instead insists that he attend
Society’s moral and ethical values are relentless towards criminals as society demands justice for crimes. However, Day provokes the audience to challenge these rigid ideals by presenting Harry Lavender as a product of his own unfortunate upbringing. Day introduces and develops the character of Harry Lavender through unique chapters in the novel which are extracts from his biography. It is through these extracts that the context of Harry’s past is revealed. Harry makes reference to how an upbringing of an individual shapes the person they become.
On the one hand, George and Lennie’s wish of having their own farm, Cnady and Crook’s will of joining them, and Curley’s wife’s dream of being a movie star, were all unfulfilled in the end. These all symbolize the impossibility of American dreams On the other hand, almost all characters contained his or her own weakness, such as Lennie’s mental problems, Candy’s disability and old age, Crook’s color, women for Curley, and Curley wife’s gender and dissatisfaction. These characteristics make the story on the farm a symbol of predatory nature of human existence. Plus, racial and gender discrimination was recognized as a signify problem in this
In Janie’s growth, her thoughts and fantasies were shaped to only focus on simple matters. Nancy would pressure Janie to settle down, get married to a rich man, and live a certain lifestyle. The pressure Nanny applied succeeded as Janie married again and again to certain men. That man, being wealthy [Joe] which did lead her to wealth and prestige, yet did not grant what she deeply desired: freedom and happiness.
She fools herself into thinking she is an adult because she assumes the appearance of one when she is not home: “She wore a pullover jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home” (396). Through her dressing and going out with several boys, she strives to present herself as a sexually attractive mature woman. Only realizing the sexual aspect of maturity, Connie is not prepared for the responsibilities associated with independence. She is careless as an adolescent, as she spends a different night with a different boy: “All the boys… dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling” (397). The word “dissolve” provides an image of a distant blur of a teenager’s insignificant relationships and not concrete and meaningful relationships that an adult would engage in.
When people lose hope and fall into despair, their emotions take over and lead to decisions that can change one’s life. In the short story “Marigolds”, written by Eugenia Collier, 14-year-old Lizabeth lives during the Great Depression in a black community in Maryland. She loses hope after hearing about her family's struggles and ragingly destroys Miss Lottie’s marigolds. Though, she realizes what deep meaning they have and empathizes with Miss Lottie. Collier emphazises that the loss of hope doesn’t mean it’s all destructiveness, yet feeling empathy for others who have had similar experiences through symbols and conflicts.
They hold unhealthy ideologies that no kid can thrive in. After burning themselves, being pushed out of moving vehicles, burning themselves again, and becoming subjects of sexual assault multiple times, these children never experience true nurture and healing of their pain. The parents have a ‘big kids don’t cry’ attitude which is not a lifestyle young kids thrive in. Jeanette’s issues are shot down especially by her mother. When she informs her mom her Uncle Stanley was touching her and “...playing with himself”, Rose Mary sympathizes with Uncle Stanley’s loneliness and tells Lori, “If you don’t think you’re hurt, then you aren’t” (Walls 184).
The last stage Lucy experiences in her autobiography is Intimacy verses Isolation. She also experiences this stage out of the realm of Erikson’s set age range. From high school and beyond graduate school, she lives a life of loneliness, having sex with anyone, and convinced no one will ever love her. It is not until an attractive man talks with her in a café that Lucy eventually looks at her reflection to see if she is finally released from the imposter that is her face and have hope that someone could love her and find her
It seemed that they were in charge of the children only for the day; it was hard to believe they were regularly responsible for anything other than themselves (16). ” There is a very prominent lack of motherly feelings between Mrs. Das and her children. She acts more like an uniterested teenage sibling than a composed, mature mother. What is quite shocking is the way that Mrs. Das interacts with her daughter.
Throughout Janie’s life, her relationships with other people have forced her downwards into a submissive, acquiescent role; “Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to talk” (53). She is unable to clearly define her own wants to others, resulting in her repeatedly being perceived as complacent in unpleasant relationships and circumstances. Ordinarily as the book continues she slowly progresses towards full realization by expressing her feelings in which she felt “ She was a rut in the road” and “she mostly lived between her hat and her heels, with her emotional disturbances like shade patterns” (76). Furthermore, her expressing that she felt like “She was a rut in the road” expands on her loneliness and barring emptiness, where she begins to notice the dread that is weighing over her. As the story advances, Janie begins to concede to acknowledging and contributing her distress to others, until finally she up fronts and acknowledges how she feels, confessing her true feelings towards those who suppressed her; “You done lived wid me for twenty years, and you don’t know me atall…
Although Nanny’s act of cruelty brought a new sense of womanhood and tradition to Janie’s outlook on marriage, sex, and love, Janie’s character allows her to continue seeking out new possibilities and experiences that will lead her to finding her true
Losing his father changes Bud’s
In her short story “Marigolds”, Eugenia Collier, tells the story of a young woman named Lizabeth growing up in rural Maryland during the Depression. Lizabeth is on the verge of becoming an adult, but one moment suddenly makes her feel more woman than child and has an impact on the rest of her life. Through her use of diction, point of view, and symbolism, Eugenia Collier develops the theme that people can create beauty in their lives even in the poorest of situations. Through her use of the stylistic device diction, Eugenia Collier is able to describe to the reader the beauty of the marigolds compared to the drab and dusty town the story is set in.
Her town believed she was crazy because of the way she and her father carried themselves, the fact she had never married, and the way she dealt with grief. Throughout her life, her father turned away countless numbers of suitors, even well into her 30s, around marrying age. “None of the
During the 1920s, American society began to adopt values that threatened the traditional values that remained from the 1800s. Many of these changes were a direct result of the youth culture of the time and how their uncertainty of who they were helped contribute to these changes in values. Throughout the decade, the struggle between modern and anti-modern values was exemplified in literature, drama and silent film of the American culture. “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” represents the conflicting modernist and anti-modernist sentiments of the time through its use of cinematography and characterization. “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans”, the 1927 film by F.W. Murnau, is a shining example of the struggle between modern and anti-modern values that
Then he goes on a journey to find his father. According to chapter 1, Bud's mother would not have died. To start off, Bud is in search of his father. Bud usually keeps flyers about his father.