Preview

The Theme Of Searching For Love Through The Bergen Family

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
461 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Theme Of Searching For Love Through The Bergen Family
The theme of people longing for love can be seen throughout the novel through the Bergen Family. Bette Greene has a way with words while she tells the tale of this small town, Jewish family, and how Patty Bergen hides a German POW.
Harry Bergen, Patty’s father, is wounded. He is also harmful. Harry hurts Patty physically and mentally. “...telling me that he did not ever want me playing with that Dowd boy, not ever again.” (Greene 64). By telling Patty she could not play with Freddy, that hurt her mentally. He is trying to take away one of her only friends. When Patty and Freddy were together, Harry would beat his daughter, therefore hurting her physically. Harry finds himself in distress over Patty. “He stood watching the housekeeper help you into the house.” While Harry watches Ruth help Patty into the house, he realizes what is going on. The realization that Patty, and others, did not love him. These things hurt Harry really bad. …show more content…
Pearl needs her parents’ attention. “If Grandmother tries to give you money you just tell her you do not need anything.” (29). Pearl, spoiled with attention from her parents, wants more from them. She does not feel loved enough by them. She wants her parents to spend their time and money on her and not Patty and Sharon. Pearl not only has a bad relationship with her parents, but with her husband as well. “Oh Harry, leave her alone.” Harry does not listen to his wife. They do not discuss their decisions, specifically when it comes to their kids. Pearl, like any woman, wants a good relationship with her
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Book Summary: Midnight Pearl By Debbie Viguie
    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Book Summary: Midnight Pearl By Debbie Viguie

    They were afraid she was gonna be noticed very well. He said that their town does not do different than them. Thirteen years go by, and Pearl finds her odd appearance makes her different from the townsfolk. Her only friend is James, the prince of Aster, who also knows how it feels to be under pressure. Together they share…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Difference Between A House In The Veldt By Ray Bradbury
    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Difference Between A House In The Veldt By Ray Bradbury

    From the story Cradle Hold, Harry would help support duke in whatever he would do and Harry would do it with a smile. Harry wanted Duke to succeed so he would do what it takes and if that is just going to all of his games he would do it because he wanted Duke to succeed. Near the end of the story Duke’s mom started to come to the games because she realized how much that just coming to his games would impacted Duke and it made him feel a lot better about himself and it made him play better. Also from the story Harry would walk around with Duke and try to get him to do things that he would do when he was a boy but Duke would not want to and Harry would try and try and if Duke would not do it he would go try another thing until he found somthing that Duke would want to do. This shows that Harry would do anything to help Duke and if somthing did not work he would go to the next thing until he found something that work for…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Letter Character Analysis Essay
    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Scarlet Letter Character Analysis Essay

    First of all, in many instances the reader sees how Pearl wishes for Arthur Dimmesdale to stand by her and embrace her. In chapter 12, the reader becomes accustomed to Pearl’s insistence in seeking a desired response. In this chapter, Pearl continually asks Dimmesdale whether he will stand with Hester and herself, despite his denials. Secondly, Hawthorne stresses Pearl’s rebellious nature in a couple of occurrences, one of which happens when Hester takes Pearl with her to the Governor’s house. In chapter 8, when Governor Bellingham questions Pearl as to whom created her, implying that it was God, Pearl smugly responds that she “had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses, that grew by the prison door.” (Pg. 76) Knowing full well that her answer will result in a maddened reaction from the Governor, Pearl proudly claims that her mother specifically chose her. This comment illustrates Pearl’s rebellious nature and disregard for what others think of her. Lastly, Pearl repeatedly demonstrates her inquisitive manner when interacting with main characters such as her mother. In several cases, Pearl continually pesters Hester, inquiring about the scarlet letter on her chest until Hester dismisses the question or remarks such as, “Go now, child, and thou shalt tease me as thou wilt another time.”(Pg.128). Furthermore, when Pearl posed a question to Hester, Pearl…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Analysis of the Scarlet Letter 1
    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Analysis of the Scarlet Letter 1

    Dimmesdale and Hester, at the time Pearl is conceived, only thought of themselves and their love instead of thinking about the depth of their sin (Morey 91). Their selfishness makes…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Is Pearl's Role In The Scarlet Letter
    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What Is Pearl's Role In The Scarlet Letter

    If the children gathered about her, Pearl would grow positively terrible in her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them, with shrill, incoherent exclamations, that made her mother tremble. Children always imitate their parents, thus they don’t know what Hester did though, they just do what they see from their…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Night Of The Hunter Analysis
    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Night Of The Hunter Analysis

    All Pearl wants in her cruel world is to be loved by someone, and her blindness to the Preacher’s evilness causes her to keep falling back into his trap. Even when the Preacher threatens to,"tear...[her] arm off," (140) and grabs her physically, Pearl forgets this and she’s willing to fall back in his arms later. These traumatic experiences, such as when the Preacher flips to his evil side and Pearl doesn’t recognize it because she mistakes his duplicitousness for love, are very disturbing to…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On The Symbolism Of Pearl In The Scarlet Letter
    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Essay On The Symbolism Of Pearl In The Scarlet Letter

    Pearl is often described as an elf-child because of her misbehavior. She often screams when spoken to by strangers or teased by other children. Pearl lashes out when something displeases her when she is the age of three, and also at the age of seven. Pearl is chaotic and always restless. This is how she is a symbol of the chaos inside of Hester. Hester feels an abundance of grief for her sin and Pearl is a constant reminder of how she feels inside. Pearl torments Hester by her obsession with the Scarlet Letter. Hester even asks her…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Pearl: Scarlet Letter
    • 2882 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Pearl: Scarlet Letter

    PearlHester’s illegitimate daughter. Pearl is a young girl with a moody, mischievous spirit and the ability to perceive things others do not. She quickly discerns the truth about her mother and Dimmesdale, though neither will confirm her suspicions. The townspeople say that she barely seems human and spread rumors that her unknown father is actually the Devil. Pearl has grown up with her mother outside of the town, and she often terrorizes the town’s children, who view her as a curiosity. She is wise beyond her years, frequently engaging in ironic play having to do with her mother’s scarlet letter.…

    • 2882 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale Is a Coward
    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dimmesdale Is a Coward

    Invision this: you live your entire life being unaware of your paternity. Worse yet, your father refuses to accept you as his daugher. Unfortunately Pearl has to live with this tragic fate. As Pearl flourishes from infant to animated child her father, Reverend Dimmesdale, observes unobtrusively. Yet, he remains anonymous, refusing to affirm the truth, of his role. As if this abandonment is not bad enough, Dimmesdale constrains himself from interacting with Pearl. The inadvertency and desertion of a father contributes to Pearl’s ideas regarding her earthly and heavenly father. Readers who conceive Dimmesdale as not a coward dispute that, despite his dismissal of Pearl, he endorses Hester as caregiver to sustain Pearl. Admittedly, keeping Pearl is a benefit, as “she [Pearl] is the only treasure in my [Hester’s] life.” Nevertheless, Dimmesdale abstains from helping Pearl; monetarily, physically, emotionally. His actions leave Pearl indignant with fatherly figures. Readers detect the trait when Pearl renounces her heavenly father, and later when she hails her birth father as the devil. Pearl’s etiquette is normal by the inexistence of a father figurehead, Dimmesdale. By being cowardly and not accepting Pearl as his own, Arthur sentences her to a rough life. What Dimmesdale does to Hester however is iniquitous.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Who Is Nathan Huffner Selfish
    • 1537 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Who Is Nathan Huffner Selfish

    He didn’t let his child to enjoy her life as a child. He just fed Patty with knowledge and other complicated things and never let her feel the feeling of what a normal little girl should feel. That made him an authoritarian parent; the one that discourages expressions of disagreement. He has strict standards; he wants Patty to be a perfect human. As a result, Patty was unsociable with other children. She was unfriendly to others. She was withdrawn and was acting and reacting weird to situations that seems normal to other children (an example is the “thumb magic” of Gil to the children; others had fun with that magic while Patty screamed and ran away. Maybe that’s because of too many scientific facts in her head that made her think that that magic was disgusting.) Another scene that showed Patty being different from other children was in the party of Kevin; she saw a boy turning around and around, she asked her mother what was the boy doing, that means that Patty was unable to do the things that a normal child experiences, which is doing silly things and enjoying those silly…

    • 1537 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Letter- Pearl
    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Scarlet Letter- Pearl

    The product of Hester’s sin and agony, Pearl was a painfully constant reminder of her mother’s violation of the Seventh Commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery. Hester herself felt that Pearl was given to her not only as a blessing but a punishment worse than death or ignominy. She is tormented by her daughter’s childish teasing and endless questioning about the scarlet “A” and it’s relation to Minister Dimmesdale and his maladies. After Pearl has created a letter “A” on her own breast out of seaweed, she asks her mother:…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Kisses in the Scarlet Letter
    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Kisses in the Scarlet Letter

    At Governor Bellingham’s mansion, Pearl elicits the first kiss. She gently places Dimmesdale’s hand on her cheek, as if to ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬draw out a paternal response. Hester catches this encounter and finds it so out of character from her daughter’s typical petulance that she remarks, “Is that my Pearl?” (169). With important town officials nearby, Dimmesdale is touched but hesitant to return the sweet gesture. Still, he kisses Pearl on the brow, filling her with an uninhibited glee. In her joy, Pearl gives way to her usual, elfin self by appearing to dance on air. The kiss brings about a crossover of natural instinct and societal restraint. Pearl becomes kind before the kiss. Dimmesdale appears to lose his societal inhibition just before he kisses her. Both act in unfamiliar ways prior to the interaction. Though afterwards they return to their respective norms: Pearl to being the passionate, unconventional girl unaccepted by society, Dimmesdale to being the sober, conventional minister the Puritans expect him to be. The natural Pearl wants a natural family. What seems like a paternal response to her, the kiss represents a promise of a fulfilling father-daughter relationship and the natural family she desires. For Dimmesdale, whether the kiss is a genuine act of fatherly love or the act of a minister, a connection is established between them.…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maus
    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Maus

    The story has two main threads. The first is the true story of Holocaust survivor Vladek Spiegelman's experiences as a young Jewish man during the horrors leading up to and including his confinement in Auschwitz. The second intertwining story is about Vladek as an old man, recounting his history to his son Art, the author of the book, and the complicated relationship between the two of them. It's a difficult process for both father and son, as Vladek tries to make sense of his twighlight years, indelibly marked by his experiences and a slave to the processes he had to resort to in order to make it through. On this level, it's also about Art, as he comes to terms with what his father went through, while still finding the more irritating aspects of his father's personality difficult to live with.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Case Study And Treatment Recommendations JP
    • 1899 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Case Study And Treatment Recommendations JP

    Patty is the fifth child of eight children. Patty’s mother, Rosa does not work and currently receives a monthly welfare check. Patty admits that her, her mother and siblings can sometime have strained relationships due to their current drug use which often is a center of conflict for the family. Patty…

    • 1899 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Miss Brill homework answers
    • 905 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Miss Brill homework answers

    have had a knock, somehow." In this parts of story we can see that Miss Brill might be…

    • 905 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics