He would leave the letters under the print shop door at night, when his brother was away. Her autobiography mirrored and mocked the prejudices by showing her as a helpless woman whom was only there to be a wife and mother. It says, “I could be easily persuaded to marry”, and “As nothing is more common with us women, than to be grieving for nothing, when we have nothing else to grieve for”. Similar to Bradstreet, it’s sarcastic towards the views of how women should be, and what is expected. They both are struggling to get over the stereotypes. The letters also show how women were not appreciated for what they did. They could do everything right, but it would still be less than a…
While I perceive the poem to be one that reflects on her youth and reminisces on the wonderful memories she shared with her family and the feeling of protection and safety gained from them, others may read it differently. For example a colleague of mine proposed the idea that Harwood was now an older women, depressed and trying to find or remember a time in her life when she was in fact happy, that she is trying to escape the inevitability of death by escaping to her youth. Either way her poems offer the responder a variety of readings, which, I think, offer her work an integrity that is not eroded by…
The author treats the story like a joke, but there are probably very few women who enjoyed reading his work at all. He speaks jokingly throughout most of it, mentioning at the beginning how he had been drinking and now just wants to avoid his wife, which is the reason he writes a story. He procrastinates at first, not exactly sure what he will be writing about. He then becomes quite self-righteous and conceded, thinking he is the best writer and can make any girl beautiful. Again, the sexism and offensive is especially sensed when he says this, because he thinks he can fulfill every girl’s dream of being…
‘The richness of Gwen Harwood’s poetry lies in their ability to lend themselves to particular interpretations, reflecting different concerns and values’. Discuss…
Gwen Harwood’s work is influenced by several elements; poetic power, dramatic presentation and psychological insights, each to create compelling poetry. Significantly her rich feministic, religious and melancholic perceptions, influenced by her life experience and personal context is reflected in her poetry. This is clearly depicted in the poems, ‘Father & Child’, ‘The Violets’ and, ‘At Mornington’. Each of the aspects of Harwood’s work can be analysed independently in to receive the implications of whether “a pervading pessimism clouds her achievement”.…
emphasizes the disgusting use of the word ni**er in in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. She quotes, “…it goes…
In many instances, Mrs. Hopewell shows that she is incapable of reasoning or understanding the situations her daughter goes through and why. Mrs. Hopewell refuses to accept the fact that her daughter is no longer a young child anymore because ‘it tore her heart to think instead of the poor stout girl in her thirties who had never danced a step or had any normal good times’ (O’Connor, 3). Mrs. Hopewell is too concerned about what others may think of her because of Hulga’s “not so normal life”, rather than trying to find ways to help her daughter adjust. It seems that Hulga never receives any positive feedback from her mother; all Hulga…
Besides their similarities, Miss Hancock and Charlottes mother are so different that they contrast each other. Miss Hancock is unmarried woman who encourages Charlotte to be expressive. On the other hand, Charlotte’s Mother doesn’t support or care much about Charlotte’s enthusiasm for the subject. As a child, playing with toys wasn’t allowed because it made a mess “A toy ceased to be a toy once it left the toy cupboard” (p 65). Miss Hancock loves teaching children, so if she were Charlotte’s mother, she would tell her to make as much of a mess as she wants. Miss Hancock and Charlotte’s mother are an example of character foil.…
The feminist reading of this poem is due to the fact that Harwood had some strong feminists in her immediate family. Her mother and grandmother were quite strong women and often protested for equal rights, Harwood was presumed to take most of this role from her mother. In the poem, Harwood compares herself to Mozart, this comparison shows the audience her feminist views that only men are allowed to be creative. This comparison also shows her view of how men are more dominant in society. The disadvantages that Harwood is expressing is that a woman must be a wife and a mother before she has…
The detailed poem explores and illustrates the image of women physically and mentally through the theme 'Desperate for freedom'. This theme outlines in detail how women wanted their own freedom rights and were desperate for it. Judith Beveridge reveals these ideas through a wide range of techniques and visual imagery such as being physically disabled, doing nothing but chores and highlighting women's domestic violence. The theme, Desperate for Freedom, is a strong and appealing theme that Judith Beveridge portrays women through. Judith first reveals the sight of the theme, 'Desperate for Freedom' when she mentions “Bruised-apple eyed” in line 5. This eye-catching metaphor reveals a hidden image that leads to the domestic violence of women. Not only does Judith point out the hidden meaning, she also attaches a dull feeling to the metaphor. The dull feeling adds a stronger background feeling and image to the metaphor. The poet later on mentions another metaphor that is illustrated in line 16 when she mentions the words “wire-cripple”. In this featured metaphor, Women seem to be portrayed as being disabled, but not physically disabled. This gets the persona thinking on why she is described as being mentally disabled. Due to her freedom being taken away from her since she is in an enclosed space, the author decided to portray and describe her as having a disabled image. Towards the end of the poem, Judith mentions a repetitive action when she includes “She circles the pen, licks the wire, mimics a gum-chewing audience.” on lines 19-20. This course of action gives the reader the thought of repetitive action for example,…
These lines express an envious tone, showing that the speaker acknowledges Helen’s beauty, but tries to insult it at…
3 So on that day, all the women in the village let their hair hang loose to dry over their shoulders. Some of the women with flowering hair were as beautiful as vineyard fairies, others as hideous as monsters. Take my fifth uncle's wife for example-a squat, withered old hag. On her nearly-bald head she used black ash to draw in square hairline, and then painted her scalp pitch black. Thus when shampooing her hair, the charcoal was completely washed away, and out shone the half-bald, shiny crown of her head, fringed with thin wisps of hair fluttering down her back. She would hobble to and fro helping my mother fix dinner. I never dared glance her way.…
It begins with the impatient grunt of Mr. Smeeth, he is upset by his daughter. Once he was fond of her, but now he is irritated. The usage of detached construction “and, for that matter, he was still fond of her” sets some border between her childhood and adolescence. He is not satisfied by her “way of acting, of looking, of talking”, by this enumeration, the author describes almost every situation of their life. Speaking about the language of the author, if we compare it to the language he used in “Dangerous Corner” – it is different. He uses such epithets to draw the portrait of Edna: “smallish girl, greyish-greenish-bluish eyes, prettyish” and they point out that she wasn’t a complete human, according to these epithets she was still in development. The contrastive…
In the second phase of the dealing begins with a ‘self confession’. The very word self confession in the poem signifies the bitter experience the poet has gone through because of skin colour. The black poet knows the adverse effect his skin has on the white society, hence the ‘self-confession.’ It is ironic that this is called a self-confession since the poet has done nothing wrong to confess his wrongdoing. As a warning he points out to the landlady that “I am African”. He says this as a precautionary measure against a ‘wasted journey, as if the poet knows the immediate reaction the white lady would have. He derisively condemns the polite English woman whose so called ‘good breeding’ does not allow her to come up with the aversion which the poet knows she has for the black. Hence his admission is met with silence. Irony is used in the description of the landlady. The landlady is described with nothing but positive terms. The speaker mentions her "good breeding", "lipstick-coated voice"; these qualities suggest the woman is a dignified and respectable woman. In the expression of "long gold rolled cigarette…
In the first part of the story, where we learn about their relations and background, Avril is presented as “a scraggy, haggard and pitifully brave woman”, who used to wear “expensive, daring green shoes with satin bows, all the better to flirt in”, but today her shoes are “still green, but somehow vulgar and pitiable”. Helen, in her turn, is presented as a “solid and worthy woman”, who can “afford to be gracious”. She wore “cheap navy shoes with sensible heels, all the better to work in”. Today her shoes are still navy, “but expensive and comfortable”. The author uses various parallel constructions and repetitions to stress the difference in their social positions and even family statues.…
