In the section “Red Clowns” from the book The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros illustrates how being chosen is not as innocent as society makes it seem when the character Esperanza gets raped. While Esperanza and her friend Sally are at a carnival, Sally is chosen by a big boy and leaves with him (99). Sally is chosen because she was pretty and her being chosen was a positive event for her as she left voluntarily. She gets to be the fairy tale princess and gets a happy ending for the night. Meanwhile Esperanza is left behind and is chosen, but in a negative way. After being raped, Esperanza describes being chosen is not like how it is in “all the storybooks and movies” (99). In fairytales, being chosen is a wonderful thing since the…
In the book, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls portrays her life searching for steady ground in a world of chaos, created by her alcoholic father and irresponsible mother. Lori, Jeannette’s oldest sister blazes the trail for her siblings escape from their whirlwind childhood into a stable adult life. Lori voices her feelings and emotions through sarcastic comments as well as providing emphasis or relief to the situations.…
This excerpt from a book chapter, written by well-known feminist scholars Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, examines the meaning of the poem Goblin Market in terms of female sexuality and economic exchange. Their book The madwoman in the attic: The woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination explores female writers in the 19th century and the implications of their work on the feminist movement. Gilbert and Gubar are known for their work concerning feminist literature, with Madwoman in the Attic being one of their most popular collaborative works.…
Ann Bradstreet’s conception of a loving and giving God is not consistent with Jonathan Eduwards’, who views Him as evil and punishing. Even in the worst situation, such as the burning of her house and all of her possessions, she praises the Lord, and has enough faith to “bless His grace that gave and took” (Bradstreet 14). Bradstreet’s use of euphonious diction with soft s, c, v, and g sounds in phrases such as “bless His grace” give a tender, graceful mood to the poem. Also, her word choice has a positive connotation and suggests unconditional praise. She says that the world holds no promises for her, because her “hope and treasure lies above” (54). The irony in this line is relevant because Bradstreet has just lost everything she has ever had, but she realizes that her real treasure is found not in the material world, but in eternal salvation with God. Therefore, she views God as loving and giving due to the promises He has for her in heaven. Jonathan Edwards, however, does not view God in this way. He thinks that God, “the God that holds [him] over the pits of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors [him]” (154). Fearful and tormented, Edwards thinks that God promises nothing but eternal damnation, which contrasts greatly with Bradstreet’s conception of a loving God. By comparing a sinner to a spider, Edwards is insinuating that they are a worthless annoyance to Him. Sinners are helpless in the hands of an angry God, the way spiders are helpless in the hands of an angry person. For these reasons, Ann Bradstreet’s conception of a kind and faithful Lord is different than Jonathan Edwards’ belief in an angry, punishing…
As demonstrated in “Goblin Market,” allusions effectively allow the reader to pick up minute details that otherwise might be missed, adding to the development of the story. Throughout “Goblin Market,” many allusions to Christianity can be seen. For example, the goblins themselves represent the devil, or the entity that manipulates and entices the “Eve,” or victim of the story, in…
Ibsen ideas about gender and societal roles is Ibsen concerns about the position of the women's not society is brought to life in the story A Doll House. He believed that women had a right to develop their own individual but in reality their role was often self sacrificial. Women was not treated as men,either in relation to their husband or society. Women could not conduct business or control their own money they needed the authorization of the men who owned them husband, brother. Son, or father. Women wasn't even educated either that's why men think they are better than women that's why they have so much control over them. Torvalds defines his life of what society finds acceptable and respectable. Krogstad life has been affected by society…
A Doll’s House consists of two examples of foiling. One being Nora Helmer to Christine Linde. At the start of the novel it seems that Nora has it all, a loving and wealthy husband, a few children, and she doesn’t have to work. All she has is some debt that she pays off with her allowance. Unlike Nora, Christine has had a life of hardship. She works for a living and has no family because she is alone. By the end of the novel, it seems as if the two have switched places. Nora has become alone and deserts her family. While Christine has discovered her love with Krogstad, and hopes for a happy family. But in what ways do Nora and Christine differ? They differ simply because they’re opposites of eachother. Ways Nora and Christine differ are Christine has to grind her life out and Nora lives simply, Nora is wealthy and Christine lives on low-income; lastly Christine is content…
There is nothing more beautiful than the human language. Words that flow off of the tongue like honey and paint a van Gough picture in the mind brings readers to a place of tranquility. Anne Sexton’s Transformations reveals dazzling poetic elements to transform the Brothers Grimm fairytales into her own work of confessional poetry. Her poem entitled “Rumpelstiltskin” uses poetic elements such as similes and allusions to enhance the imagery of her poems and transform these short stories into her own work of confessional poetry.…
Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” published in 1862, illustrates her attempt at combating certain problems she identifies within English literature’s canon social norm, specifically the lack of a proper heroine. In Rossetti’s present time period, there are no noteworthy female heroes in English literature. They may make an appearance every once in a while, but none have an outlet for heroic action. Women seem forever bound by their gender-roles in a male-dominated society. In “Goblin Market,” we enter a sort of parallel universe wherein instead of men dominating society, or marketplace, goblins hold the authority and power, while women are still constrained to the same role. Enter Laura and Lizzie, two sisters who are launched into a “complex representation of the religious themes of temptation and sin, and of redemption by vicarious suffering (1489).” Rossetti intertwines these themes with religious beliefs to promote a proper, moral heroine.…
Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” published in 1862 depicts sisters, Lizzie and Laura, as goblin men walk past selling their fruits. In the context of this essay, an allegory is meant to be interpreted as an alternative, figurative understanding of the text that lies underneath the literal meaning of the text. Some critics believe “Goblin Market” to be an allegorical attack on the Victorian woman and the society of Rossetti’s time. In this context, the Victorian woman is to be understood as the ideal woman under the societal norms of 19th century England where women were shackled to the domestic sphere and required to remain “pure”, ignorant of all sexuality. However, an alternative allegorical interpretation exists where the poem is understood as a representation of the Judeo-Christian Eden…
The first argument made by Ericksen is the poems genre. Ericksen begins the article by showing the similarities and differences to the previous poems in the Junius manuscript. These differences and similarities include how the pages of the previous poems are visually clean, whereas, “Satan and Christ” has “worn-looking pages, with more corrections and more densely written text.” (302) These differences show that the physical condition of “Christ and Satan” indicates that it was handled differently than were its companion poems; one possible explanation for this that the poem with its affinities with a category of literature, wisdom literature.” (302) While this poem falls into the wisdom literature genre because it tends to focus more on the…
Women in today’s time can read these stories and feel empowered by the change of how the world views them has become one or independence and strength. In “Goblin Market”, Laura becomes consumed of this fruit and it is only by pure love of her sister’s actions that she is able to set Laura free (Rossetti 524-542) This action by Lizzie can easily represent the actions of Christ dying for the sins of the world. Lizzie allowed her herself to be beaten, mocked and abused all for the sake of saving her sister (Rossetti 424-440). Jesus Christ allowed himself to be beaten, mocked and even killed just to save us from our sins. The main theme that can be seen in “The Chrysanthemums” by the use of the chrysanthemums in relation to Elisa. Elisa seems to be happy and be confident by the idea of how well her flowers are doing. It is easy to see how close Elisa is to the flowers. While her flowers may look beautiful and stand up strong, besides that they have no effect or use in society, much like Elisa sees herself in this era. A wife was at the house to cook, clean, care for the children and maybe do a little garden but besides this she had no authority in her marriage (“Women’s…
and arrogant since it is a sin. The belief in God is also a very important theme in the story;…
In this paper we are going to analyze the work Cain by the British poet Lord Byron, published in 1821, in which we can appreciate an outstanding influence of John Milton's Paradise Lost. The story of Cain and Abel appears in the book of Genesis in the Bible, and the reader must understand that this myth is placed within the Christian doctrine. On the one hand, through this kind of fable the exile of man from Garden of Eden is explained. Because of the mortal sin Eve committed when eating the apple, humanity was cursed and expelled from Paradise. On the other hand, it also explains why human beings suffer during their lifes and finally die. Death is something extremely complicated for humans to understand, and even more difficult to accept. In the Christian doctrine the opposite places of hell and heaven are used to keep people under control and make them follow some rules or dogmas: if they obey they will succeed and go to a beautiful place called heaven but on the contrary if they don't they will be punished and sent to hell, were they will be unhappy for the rest of their lifes. If we look closely to this work, we can perceive that heaven is the same as Garden of Eden (living with God and worship Him) and exile and living in pain wandering on earth wold be a representation of hell. Lord Byron's Cain is considered as a critique to the Christian doctrine, a way to show his own skepticism and an attack to the theocentric conception of universe as appearing in the Bible. His work has been accused of being plainly heretic and blasphemous but otherwise it can be interpreted as a reflection of how dificult is to understand and distinguish the bloody and wrathful God from the merciful and loving one.…
The Doll’s House has a really great meaning to it. There are a few key points in the story that go along with meaning. These key points are how the doll's house is described, why none of the children or parents are kind to the Kelvey’s, and how Kezia is passionate about the lamp in the doll house.…