The Struggle for Self-Definition in Boys and Girls by...

The Struggle for Self-Definition in Boys and Girls When we are adolescents we see the world through our parents eyes. We struggle to define ourselves within their world, or to even break away from their world. Often, the birth of our self is defined in a moment of truth or a moment of heightened self-awareness that is the culmination of a group of events or the result of a life crisis or struggle. In literature we refer to this birth of self as an epiphany. Alice Munro writes in Boys and Girls about her own battle to define herself. She is torn between the inside world of her mother and the outside world of her father. In the beginning her fathers world prevails, but by the finale, her mothers world invades her†¦show more content†¦Yet, she is filled with the sense of being a part of something important. It seemed to me that work . . . done out of doors, and in my fathers service, was ritualistically important (113). She is contributing to the family income in her own way when each year she rakes the grass, carries w ater for the foxes, or cleans the watering dishes. Her father may be stern, but he is proud of his tom-boy. He remarks to a passing salesman, Like to have you meet my new hired man. This praise from her father fills her with delight, I turned away and raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure (112). Children need praise from their parents like they need food. Then, in the months prior to Christmas, Father slaughters the animals, skins them, and sells their pelts for the familys yearly income. He actually skins the foxes in the basement of the house where she lives. The smell of the pelting process . . . penetrated all parts of the house. The reader finds the whole process and the fact that she watches this process with her brother, Laird, repulsive at first, but she describes the process as reassuringly seasonal, like the smell of oranges and pine needles. These things are normal for her, yet in the following passage there is an under current that her fathers business is upsetting to her, although she is not fully aware of this until later in the story. We see the foreshadowing of this in the following line: WeShow MoreRelatedThe Feminist Movement By Kate Chopin And Boys And Girls By Alice Munro1231 Words   |  5 Pageseconomic rights equal to that of men. Two short stories, â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin and à ¢â‚¬Å"Boys and Girls† by Alice Munro, relate experiences from female perspectives, highlighting oppression against women. The authors use different techniques to show the protagonists’ similar struggle for liberation in their male-dominated environments. While Alice Munro uses the voice of a young girl to establish the limitations women face throughout their entire life, Kate Chopin uses the â€Å"heart disease†Read MoreJourney Motif in Boys and Girls by Alice Munro Essay1270 Words   |  6 PagesAlice Munros Journey Motif in Boys and Girls Many short stories are recognized as milestones in the development of modern realist fiction. â€Å"Boys and Girls† is a short story that evokes a realistic rather than romantic view of a girl’s journey towards finding herself. This short story includes the fight for her gender, and her struggle with her identity. Also, in addition to these two defining aspects, this short story contains the realistic account of who and what she is to become. Clearly

How Background and Upbringing Effect a Child, Especially...

In the first few pages of Wild, it describes the present being of strayed but is quickly followed by flashbacks to her past. These flashbacks are a reminder of how the story has reached the point where it opened, on the Pacific Coast Trail (PCT). This book is more than a memoir recounting just her hike up the western coast; it is a story of her life’s journey. It explains how who she presently is directly determined by who she used to be. Each step on the trail is another step forward in her growth. Her challenges in her youth created background to give her strength and independence on the PCT. Her beat the odds mentality instilled in her during her upbringing gave her the will to successfully finish the hike and more importantly find the†¦show more content†¦Instead they explain how he blamed his father’s leaving as the reason for him never being a good person with a good set of ethics and morals. To extent it is fair to say that the morals of one father was d ifferent than the others but as Cheryl Strayed puts it in Wild, â€Å"The father’s job is to teach his children how to be warriors, to give them the confidence to get on the horse to ride into battle when it’s necessary to do so. If you don’t get that from your father, you have to teach yourself.† (Part 4) Yes, there is some responsibility for a father to act appropriately, but it is not a justifiable excuse for a child without a father to say they cannot do the same things as a child with an engaged father. Strayed proved that in her own journey because in taking the Hike on the PCT she was recognizing she could no longer excuse her lapses in character or her lack of paternal care. Strayed wasn’t doing drugs because of her father never being there, she was doing drugs because she felt that was what people without father who cared did. However If Strayed wanted to change she didn’t need a father. By stopping and changing the course of her li fe Strayed proves the defeated Wes wrong and confirms the claim that it was not the actions of another during her up bringing that affected her being a good person, but her reaction to the actions of another in her youth that impacted how she thought and went about life, always

Love Letter to The New Yorker free essay sample

For the past three years nothing in my life has remained the same for long; hair grows and then is cut to a new style, girls come and go, seasons change, my ever-fluctuating math and science grades keep me busy, and people die. The only thing that has not changed is a hundred or so pages of highly critical film reviews, literary excerpts, and ostensibly esoteric world news. I am talking, of course, about The New Yorker. Over the years it has provided me with a great and intangible inner warmth that remains throughout the week and kisses the following Monday’s arrival of the next issue. But The New Yorker provides me with much more than intellectual solace and general comfort; it grounds me as a person and provides a door to the world. I have lived in the same mundane suburb my whole life. It reeks of a sweeping uniformity of bourgeois, bored housewives, hedge-fund CEOs, and preppy, wealthy children. We will write a custom essay sample on Love Letter to The New Yorker or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is stifling and numbing. I live in a society where details of Britney Spears’ latest breakdown are held in greater regard than, say, the knowledge of the oeuvres of Magritte and Camus. So then, put yourself in my position; you come home from a day filled with the challenges of high school, compounded by a dual curriculum and hard work. You find the sleek New Yorker lying on your desk with a monocled nineteenth century aristocrat in a top hat on the cover. You open to the table of contents and discover an excerpt of Ha Jin’s new novel, an article on Godard’s relationship with Truffaut, and an op-ed on Russia’s current political climate. Your universe of BlackBerrys and Gucci handbags dissipates like smoke and you enter a world of culture, knowledge, and comfort. The New Yorker to me is more than a magazine to pass the time between the SAT tutor and some other tedious but necessary activity. Slowly over the years, it has ingrained itself into my everyday schedule, influencing the way I think and perceive. The world around me has increased tenfold. It takes me from the cultural purgatory that is my habitat to a cultural nexus of world politics and a potpourri of interesting things. Above all, The New Yorker gives me a feeling that I am part of a group of clandestine intelligentsia (without any intention of elitism) that takes me away from my uninspired and tepid twenty-first century suburban environment.

Shooting an Elephant free essay sample

When the wordâ€Å"dictator† comes to mind, humans are dolorous and empathetic. A great proof of this fact was observed during the early parts of the 20th century when oppression and iron fisted rule was established as a social normalcy in much of the world. The oppressive days of totalitarianism have passed and were marked by the death of the infamous and grandiose era of imperialism. Nonetheless, it left a bad imprint upon the countries and people that were involved. To understand the conflict and struggles entailed by imperialism and its oppression, Shooting an Elephant written by George Orwell in the early 1900s uses the example of British controlled Myanmar, an area at the time known as Burma. This event affected the author’s perception of imperialism in a negative connotation. In his essay, Orwell recounts what he personified as one of his most adventurous experiences as an imperial officer in India. We will write a custom essay sample on Shooting an Elephant or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page To the general readers, it would appear that Orwell was telling a story about his own life. However, his real intentions is to portray a picture of how imperialism influenced the lives of both the imperialistic officer and the natives within the colonized nations. Throughout his essay, Orwell effectively uses the rhetorical devices of metaphor, imagery, and tone in order to illustrate the absolute iniquity of imperialism. Orwell begins his essay by first claiming his perspective on British imperialism as an evil that he is fully against. Orwell’s point is demonstrated by the portrayal finding of an elephant as a metaphor to show the destructive and unethical power of imperialism. We can see the destruction of imperialism when Orwell depicts â€Å"An elephant was ravaging the bazaar† (Orwell 285) and â€Å"It had already destroyed somebody’s bamboo huts, kill a cow and raided some fruit-stalls and devoured the stock;† (Orwell 286). Orwell uses this metaphor of an elephant’s rage and destruction of homes, theft of food shelves, and even killings as an exemplification to the inner working of imperialism. Metaphorically, Orwell expands his argument about how imperialism is tyrannical towards to the Burmese people by comparing an elephant’s rage to that of the British Empire’s invasion of Burma and its destruction of the native life. Similarly, the elephant’s theft of food represents the barrage of pilfering the British Empire’s imperialism has brought upon the Burmese people. They try to implement their aim of domination upon Burma without any care upon the Burmese way of life. This event not only makes the oppressed country become the victims of the imperialism, but it also is the foundation of Orwell’s dilemma regarding the killing of an elephant or the peer pressure he feels towards killing. In short, the use of metaphorical devices found throughout Orwell’s narrative help emphasizing the similarities of imperialism to that of an elephant ravaging through a town, illustrating the catastrophic effects it has upon the Burmese people. Beyond the use of metaphorical techniques, Orwell also uses vivid imagery to the strongest extent, to further his stand against the imperial forces. Under the oppression of British imperialism, the Burmese people become â€Å"wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long-term convicts† (Orwell 285). Orwell applies negative connotations such as â€Å"wretched†, â€Å"cowed†, and â€Å"flogged† to describe harsh images of prisoners and convicts that have been stripped and locked up against their own will. Orwell uses such forms of extreme imagery to highlight imperialism and its brutal and vicious practices. Orwell also uses strong images to portray the horrifying impact of imperialism upon native British citizens as well. I had had to think out of my problems in the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East† (Orwell 285). As Orwell mulls over the critical decision of killing an elephant, he comes upon the realization that the â€Å"white man† must be able to display strength and authority when people demand it. Orwell juxtaposes the role of the ever-powerful â€Å"white man† against his strongest image â€Å"an absurd puppet† whose actions have no free will of their own, but rather are a reflection of the puppeteer. Although Orwell believes the â€Å"white man† with the â€Å"magical gun† as being technically in power, he feels degraded and oppressed by the natives-the puppeteer and their will. He recognizes the true position of whites in the East and how imperialism has hurt both the oppressed people as well as the oppressor themselves. Orwell’s reflection of native British workers exemplifies the role of a puppet victimized by both the Burmese people and the orders of their own regime. Orwell’s statement of caving in to the  unrelenting pressure of the natives by killing an elephant as well as the proceeding image of a pitiful creature rotting in pain imprinted his argument of oppressor into the minds of the readers. The violent images of a dying elephant emphasize the awful, sad, even perhaps disgusting reality of the circumstance established by imperialism. Orwell chooses strong words such as â€Å"thick blood†, â€Å"tortured breathing†, and â€Å"great agony† to help increasing the audience’s anger through his strong emotion associate imperialism to such a gruesome tragedy. As a result of his personal experiences within a moral dilemma, George Orwell conveys to the reader the evils of imperialism and the double-edged sword that runs in the direction of both the conqueror and the conquered. In addition to imagery, Orwell uses a negative tone to portray an environment to the readers of repulsion towards to the figure of imperialism and it atrocities. The tone of the essay set by Orwell delineates the setting to be â€Å"a cloudy, stuffy morning at the beginning of the rains† (Orwell 286). Orwell’s depiction gives the readers a sensation of a dark atmosphere. It also attributes to the author’s ideas against imperialism. Orwell’s use of great imagery while depicting the finding of the elephant, â€Å"it was a very poor quarter, a labyrinth of squalid bamboo huts, thatched with palm-leaf, winding all over a steep hillside† (Orwell 286) seems to illustrate neighboring sentences together to stress his stance and render the readers the sense of poverty of the Burmese people since the oppressors arrived. His word choice such as â€Å"cloudy†, â€Å"stuffy†, â€Å"poor†, and â€Å"squalid† contributes to the negative tone of the essay, and it also helps the audience imagine his point of view of imperialism. Moreover, Orwell’s use of tone sets the stage for his internal conflict in doing his job and killing the elephant with a bitter attitude. The use of bitter direct language such as â€Å"dirty work† and â€Å"hatred† illustrates frankly how he felt about totalitarianism through his job. The bitter attitude of his opposition to imperialism while his obedience to rule as a police officer also portrays a struggle held deep within him towards both his job and beliefs. All of the elements working together contribute to the success of his stance, and it powerfully demonstrates his position of negativity towards imperialism. George Orwell’s use of flexible metaphor, visual imagery, and bitter tone strongly demonstrates the peril of imperialism in Shooting an Elephant. Through his anecdotal attack of imperialism, and the persuasive tools used, Orwell illuminates his argument establishes the viewpoint of domineering British imperialism and its ruthless oppression on Burma. The portrayal gives a message of imperialism’s disastrous impact on both the colonizer and the colonized while communicating to the reader emotions and thoughts about the damage done tosociety in oppression and the underlying effects it may entail upon a society.