In her work “I Stand Here Ironing” Olsen uses the theme of regret and the mother’s inner conflict to show her concern about her daughter’s life. The works writers produce are heavily influenced by the lives they live. This is especially true for Tillie Olsen. Even though Tillie Olsen’s early life was very strict because of the parents she was born into, her middle years and writing career were extremely eventful. Tillie Lerner Olsen was born on January 14, 1912 to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents in Wahoo, Nebraska and moved to Omaha while a young child (Rohrberger).
Frida Kahlo, the renowned impressionist artist, had a profound impact on modern art. Despite the various hindrances that she encountered during her lifetime, she achieved recognition in her profession as a woman and racial minority. Ever since her birth in the humble Coyoacán, Mexico, Kahlo faced obstacles that made being the ordinary girl that she wanted to be, difficult. At age six, she contracted polio. For months she was bedridden, leaning upon her family for support; unwavering in her efforts to combat the deadly disease.
Mabel is more attached to death than life. Lawrence presents a very strong image when he writes: “For the life she followed here in the world was for less real than the world of death she inherited from her mother.” (Lawrence, p. 66) Mabel’s life is defined by the periods before and after her mother’s death. Before, her family was wealthy, having both money and servants; she was secure in her mother’s love and was confident and proud. Now, after her mother’s death, when Mabel was 14, her world tumbles around her. Her father dies, leaving the family estate bankrupt and having to be sold.
Jane Eyre(1847) by Charlotte Bronte is an epic love story which marks the triumph of ordinary women. It was written at a time when social conditioning of girls began at an early age and they were in every way trained to become an efficient housewife and hosekeeper.Jane begins her story as an orphan raised by her wealthy aunt.She is alienated by her cousins and is regarded inferior.Symptoms of an upcoming rebel are visible in Jane’s childhood,which are apparent through her confrontations with John and Mrs.Reed.Since her childhood itself,Jane defies the norms set for her by the patriarchy and challenges the social preconceptions of the nineteenth century Victorian society.The red room scene marks an important phase in Jane’s life.It gives the reader a sense of literal and metaphorical imprisonment and also exemplifies the Victorian doctrine of feminine control.Bronte uses images of “mad cat” and “rebel slave”,which hints at the underlying class and gender hierarchies of the Victorian society. Jane spends the first half of her childhood in confinement and containment at Gateshead(Gatedhead,the name itself is symbolic).From there she moves to the “bosky darkness and spiritual abyss” of Lowood.She endures harsh conditions,cruel teachers and the tyranny of Mr.Brocklehurst in her early years at Lowood.Time and again,an indication of unfulfilled,unsatisfied appetite is witnessed during her stay at Lowood.The three important people-Mr.Brocklehurst,Helen Burns,Miss Temple;who cast a deep impression on Jane’s character are also encountered at this point in the novel. Jane is apparently ignorant of religion in her early years(doesn’t like psalms),but she gains a better understanding of religion at Lowood in Helen’s aquaintance.Even after this she remains indifferent to the shallow religious values preached
In the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Kathleen Boo, the destitute life of poverty in Annawadi serves as a double-edged sword in Asha’s life; while it inspired her determination to lead a superior life, it also gradually corroded the humanity within her mind. Motivated by her impoverished childhood life and the poor living conditions in the slum, Asha had developed her strong determination to rise above her current situation and to live a better life with power and money. Unfortunately, she had gone through a difficult childhood in her hometown in northeastern Maharashtra. As one of the women in her hometown recalled, “She’d been distinguished by her ability to work like a donkey even when she had not eaten for days” (136). Despite the lack of food and terrible living conditions, Asha had been working hard since she was a child.
When Granny speaks and thinks of her life, she identifies herself as a strong woman, Granny mentions many of the things she had to do on her own when she was younger due to the fact that her husband, John, died at such an early age. From the reader’s point of view, it is clear to see that even though Granny is ill in bed, she still gives the reader the impression that she feels her illness is “nothing serious” and something temporary. Granny feels like it is something she will be able to get up and walk away from soon enough. Towards the end of the story, however, we start to sense a change in Granny and notice how her illness is finally starting to affect and weaken her. She starts becoming aware of her surroundings and the
Kate Chopin an independent woman born way before her time was a rebel, and a writer of scandalous stories who dared to be different. Taking nothing from anyone she was a self-reliant woman who met challenges head on. Kate Chopin was born Katherine O’Flaherty February 8, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri to Thomas O’Flaherty of Ireland who worked for the railroad, and Eliza Faris whose family was French Creole. English and French were both spoken in Kate’s home, therefore she became fluent in both languages. (Koloski 3).
The book ends during the early stages of Obamaʼs presidential campaign and touches on the shift away from Obama pointing out her husbandʼs domestic failings to someone who helped tell his story and continue to introduce him to the American public. Who is the First Lady? She is an impressive woman - intense, intelligent, confident, attractive, and free-speaking and someone her husband calls the rock of the Obama family. She is both mother and wife, the nurturing, stern and supportive woman who holds it all together. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson grew up in a family that had faced many hardships throughout their life, but nonetheless made sure to motivate her and have her reach for the stars.
Lockhart’s Genuine Fraud is told through the eyes of a deceiving girl named Jule West Williams who is born from a complicated and harsh past with her parents dying very early in her life. However Jule doesn't let that stop. Jule is a girl who knows how to take care of herself. She’s a fighter – she’s rough, and she’s does everything for her own well being. She’ll do whatever she can to keep herself safe and so she enjoys life.
The Theodore Dreiser novel Sister Carrie can be viewed from a critical standpoint as a critique of conspicuous consumerism which pervaded metropolitan Americans during the late nineteenth century. The central figure in the novel is one Carrie Meeber, an eighteen year old girl traveling to the big city of Chicago in order to experience life. A Wisconsin farm girl, Carrie dresses true to her ordinary circumstances. She wears a plain blue dress and old shoes, and observes a demure, lady-like disposition. She initially feels twinges of sadness at leaving her parents and her home but quickly puts those feelings aside in order to take in everything about her beginning adventure.