She had no confidence in her mother growing up, and saw her as a “limit” and an “embarrassment”. Later in Tan’s life, she found several surveys which led her to realize that she was not alone; there were other Asian-Americans who may have shared the same struggles as her. Tan creates a symbolic diction through the use of words like “broken”, “limited”, and “fractured”. She is very repetitive with her use of these words, although she explains how she hated when people described her mother’s english that way. Although Tan knows that the way her and her mother converse is not grammatically correct, she has grown to love it.
The Elf Child October 4, 2012 In the novel The Scarlet Letter the character of Pearl is one that represents every since of the word ambiguous. Pearl is nothing but a child; she is an untamed and disobedient little “elf”, despite that she is a beautiful and loving child of her mother. Throughout the book, Pearl is depicted mocking her mother and other authority figures in her life, including governors, but she is also shown standing up for her mother and herself in various situations. These two different sides of Pearl make her highly ambiguous, and creates the effect of uncertainty in the reader of how they feel about her. Her ambiguity is significant because it represents the ambiguous atmosphere surrounding the affair between Hester
This novel also asks the question, what does it mean to be different from everyone else? This comes out in Peter as he is always tormented for being different and also in Josie who almost hates herself for not being real. A final theme in the book is the idea of hiding behind facades and failed relationships, for example the relationship between Josie and her mother is so false but neither one of them is willing to acknowledge they hardly even know each other anymore. In the novel the idea of the media is partly blamed for fuelling the panic. The author in this case is trying to test the idea of blame and the security it brings within her characters in the novel.
As a baby, Pearl seems instinctively drawn the A. Symbolically, this suggests a connection between the baby and the A as they are born from the same sin, but some may speculate that the decorative nature of the letter during a time period of particularly bland dress would draw one’s attention. As she grows older, Pearl tortures her mother by giving attention the A. One might argue that the dark nature of her birth (sinful in fact) gives her the impish behavior that inspires her to press Hester’s buttons. 3. What did the townspeople say about Pearl?
Antoinette has to endure insults such as “Go away white cockroach” which further compounds the unforgiving nature of the Negros where she lives. Antoinette faces the brunt of the racial discrimination the most as her mother seems to favour Pierre, Antoinette’s younger brother, over her. During the beginning of the novel, Antoinette has a terrible nightmare and awakes crying loudly. Instead of offering appropriate consolation to her child, Antoinette’s mother sighs and says, “You were making such a noise. I must go to Pierre, you’ve frightened him.”
Maggie is envious of her sisters looks and feels overshadow by her. She displays this by acting like a wallflower the whole time her sister Dee is present. However, it is Dee who does not know the meaning of the word "no" that really exhibits her sentiments of jealousy and frustration when their mother prohibits her from taking Maggie's quilt. Dee insults her sister by saying that she'd be "backwards enough to put them to every day use." That gives you a glimpse as to what Dee thinks of her sister and how she handles herself when she feels
The Puritans in The Scarlet Letter ironically condemn Hester by hypocritically reacting to her sin and by foolishly praising the preacher who actually committed adultery with her. Once the puritans realize Hester was pregnant, they began to condemn her and give her harsh consequences. All together they banished her from the town and tried to take her daughter away from her. These consequences were given hypocritically since the majority of the town participated in witchcraft. The town, in order to justify it's sin, acted like they actually held standards by harshly attacking Hester's sin.
While In court with Mary Warren, Abigail and the girls say, “Why do you come, yellow bird?” (106). They claim that Mary Warren is sending the devil upon them. They all establish lie in order to be heard over Mary Warren. The girls and Abigail feel as though since they lack power in the community that lying is the only way they can gain that power and feel as though they impact the community. Through all of history women have struggled to have a voice.
Knowledge is not always power because the more you know does not necessarily mean you understand what you have learned. In the short story “Everyday Use”, education seemed to make a rift in the relationship not only between the mother and the daughter, but also between the sisters. Dee was one to always try and outsmart her family members always seeking answers knowing no one knew. It was mama who eventually got the community together to help send Dee to school so her daughter would be happy and satisfied. The values of heritage seem to have been lost with the gain of knowledge when Dee has gone to college.
This poem expresses the pain and sorrow of a battle that someone is fighting against themselves. Someone who is tore between her aging self and her youth. The woman knows that she is no longer a child but she’s having a hard time letting that part of her go because she feels that her youth is the only good thing about her. “Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon,” indicates that the woman turns to those who only throw lies at her, the lies that she wants to hear. Candles and the moon don’t swallow the image of what stands before them yet they reflect off a brightness, a lying goodness.