If The Fair Gwen had not judged Max Freak and Max would not have become friends. On page 20 the narrator states, “... she’s scared of me” (Philbrick 20). This shows that The Fair Gwen is scared of Max because of his demeanor. However if The Fair Gwen had not judged Max, she would not have felt bad about judging him by his size, she would not have invited Max over to dinner to apologize about her behavior.
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” written by Katherine Anne Porter, is about a grandmother who is in denial that she is about to die. And “A Good Man is Hard to Find” written by Flannery O’Connor, is about a family that goes to visit family in Tennessee but are brutally murdered before they get there. These two stories share many similarities and differences in both the characters, and conflict.
This week we read and discussed The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. This book is an in depth novel about a human being experiencing grief. So far, we have read books about institutions and cultures of death. However, this is the first book we have read that is a personal experience. The discussion in class about this book was a different feeling than the rest of the books we have discussed.
In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” Porter uses multiple allusions to three of Emily Dickinson’s poems to show the change from total, unwavering Christian faith, to the absence of Jesus as Granny dies. In the story, Porter describes Granny stepping into a cart, whose driver Granny knew by his hands, and whose face she did not have to see, because she “knew without seeing” (Porter). This scene is almost identical to the scene in Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for death-.” This allusion aids in conveying the Christian idea of death as Granny has come to accept it: a tranquil figure, Death, calmly and peacefully carries one’s soul to an eternity where centuries feel like days.
Through the loss of contact along with her sudden realization of what Mathew had done, Ellen went crazy, deciding to leave him to die. Likewise, in “The Lamp at Noon,” Paul’s selfishness triggered Ellen to spiral into insanity. “You’re a farmer’s wife now. It doesn’t matter what you used to be, or how you were brought up. You get enough to eat and wear.
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons is a realistic fiction about an eleven year old girl, named Ellen, who suffers through physical, psychological, and sexual abuse from many adult figures throughout her childhood. Her best friend, Starletta, who is a disadvantaged black girl indirectly aids Ellen through some of her worst times. The story is a first person narrative that consists of many grammatical errors. There are also two time periods in the novel, one being Ellen’s comfortable present and the other is her difficult life beginning from her mother’s death and leading up to the present. Kaye Gibbons writes a fantastic piece of writing that many people can learn from.
All people grow and develop at different rates, with factors such as heredity and environment strongly influencing one's development. The age-old debate of nature-vs-nurture is at the forefront, as always. The people one meets, and the experiences one goes through play vital roles in forming that person. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford grows as a woman with the men she was married to. Through the tides of life and relationships she realizes how a person is truly supposed to live their life.
Ellen knows that she is not going to live with her abusive father forever, she believes that she will find a loving family that will take her in and a place to call home. When Ellen goes to Church she notices a foster mother with many children. “I went to church and figured that the woman with all the girls lined up by her had to be the new mama for me and then I looked up and thanked the lord for sending me that dress. I said I look like I am worth something today and she will notice the dress first and then me inside it and say to herself I sure would like to have a girl like her”.
There is a point in everyone's life when they are presented with a life altering situation. In The Lamp at Noon by Sinclair Ross, Paul and Ellen’s relationship is strained. They are mentally isolated from each other. Paul becomes accustomed to this isolation and does not sympathize with Ellen’s need for companionship and purpose. In order for Paul to identify with Ellen’s world, he must first overcome the barriers set between them.
In Confession of Dorothy Day’s, The Long Loneliness, on pages 9-10 it states, “Going to confession is hard – hard when you have sins to confess, hard when you haven’t… You do not want to make too much of your constant imperfections and venial sins, but you want to drag them out to the light of day as the first step in getting rid of them.” This relates to the CIT question, “What does it mean to be human?” As humans, we all makes mistakes, no one is perfect.
Unlike Jane, Helen endures the hardships in her life without complaint because she believes God will reward her by accepting her into heaven. While she sits on her deathbed, she says, “I am very happy, Jane; and when you hear that I am dead, you must be sure and not grieve: there is nothing to grieve about. We all must die one day, and the illness which is removing me is not painful; it is gentle and gradual: my mind is at rest … By dying young, I shall escape great sufferings” (Brontë 93). Despite not having lived a full life, Helen welcomes death.
Andrew Ayotte Mr. Bradshaw English 11H 14 April 2023 When in fearful situations, many people do their best to stay positive and to remain hopeful that things will improve as a way to get through the hardship. Georgia Douglas Johnson’s poem “I Want to Die While You Love Me” and Zora Neale Hurston’s 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God both give examples of hope being used to try and conquer fear. Since people often hope for good things in their lives to continue and fear the end of those good times, Janie wishes to stay with Tea Cake during the hurricane; she holds out hope that Tea Cake will recover from his illness; and ultimately, she faces her fears in a final showdown with Tea Cake. In Georgia Douglas Johnson's 1928 poem "I Want to
The concept of death is a concept that most, if not, all humans fear. Yet, in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie sees death differently; she doesn’t only view death in fear. We humans desire to live our lives and accomplish our dreams as does Janie who accomplishes her vision of love in her relationship with Tea Cake. She, however, is a unique kind of human among us and sees beyond the humane fear of death. The way Hurston utilizes fragmentation to unification in Janie creates a movement within her to perceive death not with fear but with acceptance.
The short story of The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter, conveys life more than death. Granny is dying throughout the story as she thinks about her life when she was younger and healthy. Therefore, the story makes one more focused on her life and what she has gone through. The story does not convey death and how she is slowly dying. Granny signals death by speaking of certain events like, “John, get the Doctor now, Hapsy’s time has come.
I really liked the story because is a consciousness description of Granny Weatherall's thoughts on her deathbed, focusing particularly on her being jilted at the altar when she was a young woman. It seems clear that Granny has never really gotten over the incident even though she tells herself otherwise. She has kept it hidden from her children, and the shame and sorrow of the incident loom large in her final thoughts. Granny is so focused on her abandonment that she lets it overshadow the enormous self-reliance she has developed in her life. In the end, she feels abandoned by God in death just as she felt abandoned by her fiancé in life, but the evidence in the story suggests she is not alone at all.
