Appearances vs Reality in Eve's Bayou
Mignon Adeloye
PLS – 392-98
Seminar in Humanities
Professor Amanda Putnam
Appearance vs Reality - The Literary Devices in Eve 's Bayou
Using clever antics writer and director Kasi Lemmons takes her audience on a very provocative journey through the posturing of an upper middle class Creole family literally coming undone by the pull of the truth and appearances. With a patriarch appearing to suffer from all the pitfalls of his profession as a medical physician whose charisma casts spells on countless numbers of female patients and whose character spirals both he and his loved ones into the inescapable grasp of tragedy. An elegant southern belle like, wife who suffers the lot of women who are so entrenched in their roles as mothers and dutiful wives they scarcely have any presence as individuals, existing in the shadows of their husbands suffering in silence for the trappings of the privileged lifestyles they live at the cost of love. Next the aspect of female children, who seem to nearly hate and also profoundly love one another while seemingly wanting not to share their parents with each other, is a powerful issue in this film. Then there is finally, Mozelle who just as her brother Louis seems almost as if to be a pied piper of men as much as Louis is of women. They each seem the male and female mirror image of one another. Mozelle, causes the men in her life the conflict that victimizes them to their very death, in much the same way as her brother Louis is victimized by his passion for other women including the wife of Lenny Mereaux. In the end Mozelle watches her brother suffer the same victimization the men in her life ultimately see their end by, because of their unchecked love and lust. Lemmons presents each of these dynamics as connected to the underlying motivation that pulls and tares away at the core fiber of this family. Finally in the ultimate confrontation that occurs through Louis the facades are all ripped away, leaving the gritty
PLS – 392-98
Seminar in Humanities
Professor Amanda Putnam
Appearance vs Reality - The Literary Devices in Eve 's Bayou
Using clever antics writer and director Kasi Lemmons takes her audience on a very provocative journey through the posturing of an upper middle class Creole family literally coming undone by the pull of the truth and appearances. With a patriarch appearing to suffer from all the pitfalls of his profession as a medical physician whose charisma casts spells on countless numbers of female patients and whose character spirals both he and his loved ones into the inescapable grasp of tragedy. An elegant southern belle like, wife who suffers the lot of women who are so entrenched in their roles as mothers and dutiful wives they scarcely have any presence as individuals, existing in the shadows of their husbands suffering in silence for the trappings of the privileged lifestyles they live at the cost of love. Next the aspect of female children, who seem to nearly hate and also profoundly love one another while seemingly wanting not to share their parents with each other, is a powerful issue in this film. Then there is finally, Mozelle who just as her brother Louis seems almost as if to be a pied piper of men as much as Louis is of women. They each seem the male and female mirror image of one another. Mozelle, causes the men in her life the conflict that victimizes them to their very death, in much the same way as her brother Louis is victimized by his passion for other women including the wife of Lenny Mereaux. In the end Mozelle watches her brother suffer the same victimization the men in her life ultimately see their end by, because of their unchecked love and lust. Lemmons presents each of these dynamics as connected to the underlying motivation that pulls and tares away at the core fiber of this family. Finally in the ultimate confrontation that occurs through Louis the facades are all ripped away, leaving the gritty
Cited: Eve 's Bayou. Tri Mark Studios, . DVD. Dir. Dir. Kasi Lemmons. Perf. Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield. Perf. Jurnee Smollett. 1997. K & W Farms, Inc. History of the Fig . 11 October 2011 <http://www.meccagold.com/history.htm>. McEachern, George Ray. Figs Extension Horticulturist Texas A & M University. 9 December 1996. 14 October 2011 <http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/fruit/figs/figs.html>. Morton, J. Fig Ficus carica. 1987. 9 October 2011 <http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/fig.html>.