ipl-logo

Emma Jean Still Hurt, Or Peace?

757 Words4 Pages

Emma Jean Still Hurt, or Peace? Although Perfect Peace is crammed with several interesting characters in its 37 chapters, I chose Emma Jean. Struggling with a traumatic childhood, loving herself, and a developing mental illness Emma Jean still managed to remain a static character. Being a mother of seven in rural Arkansas, in the twentieth century, a faithful member of the church, and a decent homemaker did not save Emma Jean from her past or herself. Class discussions on if Emma Jean was a redeemable character or not would go on forever. I stuck with irredeemable. How could the reader forgive Emma Jean for what she did to Perfect/ Paul and Henrietta, if she never forgave herself? Flashbacks to her childhood and how she was severely beaten by Mae Helen and treated differently from her sisters would haunt Emma Jean throughout the novel. Being raised by Mae Helen made Emma Jean Naïve, insecure, and unsympathetic. Mae Helen was color struck because she thought that being of lighter skin made you more beautiful. Emma Jean was the black sheep of her sisters, almost literally because she was of a darker skin tone. Mae Helen abused Emma Jean mentally and physically because Mae Helen saw herself inside of Emma Jean. If Mae Helen sees herself in her daughter and abuses her, she must hate herself …show more content…

Emma Jean does not change. She is a character that I can sympathize with but not necessarily forgive. What she did to Perfect was just as traumatic as what Mae Helen did to her as a child. All Emma Jean wanted to do was be a better mother than Mae Helen and to prove to her that she was capable of doing so. Emma Jean’s intentions are always selfish. Even after the situation with Perfect turning into Paul, when Henrietta makes Emma Jean work off the suit debt it was so she could be forgiven. With Emma Jean’s craving for forgiveness, it makes her come off as desperate and undeserving of being

Show More
Related
260 Words | 2 Pages

Describing John Knowles, Contemporary Novelists wrote that he "is a fine craftsman, a fine stylist, alert to the infinite resources and nuances of language." Knowles is best known for his first published novel, A Separate Peace. Writing Knowles ' obituary for Entertainment Weekly, Karen Valby said "John Knowles was a god to generations of 10th-grade English classes" - students required to read the coming-of-age classic. One critic writing for the Saint James Guide to Young Adult Writers commented on the novel 's popularity among educators - "it is a very useful text with which to teach students how a good book should be written. " Critics praised A Separate Peace from the time of its publication.

Read More
550 Words | 3 Pages

While she was raised to believe that blacks are inferior, she always had the potential to make changes, especially when she was in college. Even though blacks are being oppressed equally, they are racist in their own race; lighter-skinned blacks believe they are superior to darker skinned blacks. For example, Moody was being oppressed by lighter skin blacks, which she referred to as “mulatto” or “yellow,” which in

Read More
1177 Words | 5 Pages

Emma sharing many parallels with addicts does the something after her sickness subsides because she turns her attentions to religion. High Level Question: Predict how Emma would react if Rodolphe returned to

Read More
425 Words | 2 Pages

In Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, she discusses the hardships that “negroes” faced during a time when segregation was prevalent. Anne Moody, or Essie Mae, as she was often referred to in the book, was a black rights activist. Certain events lead her to be such a strong advocate for African Americans. Her first memory of being separated from white people was at the movie theatre. Children were the last to see color, so they did not realize how sternly the segregation was enforced.

Read More
574 Words | 3 Pages

Anne Moody was a brave woman who challenged her prejudiced society during the decades of the nineties. She endured poverty, fears, torching, police brutality, hangings, and violence to demonstrate that blacks deserve the same privileges and chances as whites, that segregation was not acceptable. Anne Moody first challenged her people when she was only in fifth grade. She went to a play with her mother and siblings, she discovered that she was not allowed to go inside the "white lobby, " Moody began questioning why this was so. She assumed: "...

Read More
1140 Words | 5 Pages

Although she has the chance to flee town without the wrath of what she has done, she chooses to stay because New England "had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom" (Hawthorne 61). She chose to accept her sins and try to be forgiven. Once her secret lover admits of his involvement in their adulterous actions, they decide to leave town. After trying to escape the misery brought upon her by the town, she realizes she is cannot run away from what she is and decides to return to Boston where her

Read More
875 Words | 4 Pages

Abigail is the most unforgivable character because of her actions that forced innocent people to get hurt. For example, she has an obsession towards John Proctor before and after their affair, and will do anything to get him to acknowledge her again. Abigail shows her

Read More
1155 Words | 5 Pages

To the others in the room she is extremely resentful. She is racist, she thanked Jesus for not making her a “nigger or white-trash or ugly!” (O'Connor 436) Not because of what she has or who she is but because she's not them. When she noticed Mary Grace whom she referred to as the“ugly girl”, she doesn't understand why this girl is staring at her. She thought that the “girl might be confusing her with somebody else”.

Read More
865 Words | 4 Pages

Many people forget the simplistic and common values that their child selves once held; values such as innocence and bliss, which children have always had since humans have walked the Earth. Their inability to see the harsher side of life has inspired many tales and exciting adventures from their point of view, which always adds an interesting way of thinking about the world. People so often lose this innocence that they fail to see and admire some of the things only kids can see. This much and more is most certainly true of Jean Louise Finch, the narrator and main character of Harper Lee’s famous book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Jean Louise, also known as Scout in the story, has many admirable qualities as a kid because she has the ability to think beyond herself and shows courage to the people around her.

Read More
1452 Words | 6 Pages

She was an isolated soul that was made to believe she should be kept hiding from the outside world. Being discriminated against her looks not only brought her will to live down but caused her to see the world a place that she did not belong in. This caused her to have depression. A person should not be treated for how they look or how they are. Doing things such as discriminating or isolating a person could very well lead them to believe that they have no part or say in the world they live in.

Read More
1384 Words | 6 Pages

The question consists of stating “We are a proud, strong people and it is our destiny to unite our people, then take our rightful place in history and subjugate those that oppose us.” The main issue of this statement is saying that people should be able to make her “rightful” place in history and punish/subjugate those who oppose their ideology and beliefs, regardless of the circumstances, to apparently “unite our people”. An Nationalistic ideology is what the author would support as it basically states that regardless of why people are opposing their views, they shall be subjugated. It is in support of nationalists/ultra nationalist because people may do whatever they need to do to support their national interest, which supposedly would benefit

Read More
991 Words | 4 Pages

“Jean Louise then discovers that her father, Atticus, her hero and as close to a perfectly honorable man as she can imagine-"Integrity, humor, and patience were the three words for Atticus Finch"-has joined one of the marginally respectable Citizens ' Councils, a kind of less covert version of the Klan” (Gopnik). Correspondingly, this affects other characters in the story, such as Jean Louise. Jean Louise realizes that her father is not the same man she once believed he was. This changes not only her view of her father, but the readers as well. Through other descriptions of Atticus, the reader learns how he has changed from the previous

Read More
1012 Words | 5 Pages

To advance in society, the characters must stick together and not attempt to tear each other apart. It is hypocritical for someone to condemn another person for something that they also practice; “colorism and traditional U.S. racism are inextricably intertwined, yet distinct” (Harris 54). However, this demonstrates how racism has influenced the thoughts of those oppressed by it. It is ironic that although Janie is the person with the lightest skin and has grown up in a white household, she does not have these views. The people with darker skin have these colorist views toward her.

Read More
724 Words | 3 Pages

This shows how the grandmother looks down upon the black race which ultimately makes her arrogant of her own race. In doing so, the grandmother ends up getting killed because of her attitude towards those who she feels are inferior to her. Emily and the grandmother both show qualities of racism that both authors criticize them for encouraging, even though it is the norm at the time and place that these short stories take

Read More
1005 Words | 5 Pages

Emma is one of those girls who is very popular at school and cares about her friends and family, but doesn’t care about much else. She is a really nice sister, but she can get to be a pain sometimes. Emma is actually a decent student though, no matter what people think about the “popular group” of kids at school, Emma is part of them and still a good student. She normally gets Bs and B+s for grades, and listens and learns when necessary. Did I mention that she can be a pain?

Read More

More about Emma Jean Still Hurt, Or Peace?

Related Topics

Open Document