When Malachy gets a job, he is unable to keep it because he gets drunk and loses the job. This is a pattern throughout the novel, and never changes. Even when his family does come into some money, his alcoholism gets the best of him once again. There is an apparent cycle of poverty that exists through the novel. Poverty can easily become a malicious finger- pointing circle, and Angela participates in this “game.” She constantly nags Malachy of his alcoholism and his northern accent and odd manner.
Harry is heavily dependent on Helen’s wealth, being it the same reason why he procrastinates so much in his writing endeavor. Harry scratches his leg during his trip and becomes infected, an infection that can possibly kill him. Because of this injury Harry is unable to move or do any menial tasks. Irritated, he takes out his anger out on his wife. Moreover, it is during this time that he reminisces of his life and past memories.
The only problem is that the Congo is not the same as it was during his mothers or Stanleys trip. It is suicide for a white man to attempt this everyone would tell him and very few offer there help and support. After all his planing he finally packed his bags and headed on his journey, his first stop Lubumbashi. Where he already had problems just getting of the plane with nearly every person claiming to be some sort of official and demanding something of him. From there he made his way over Lake Tanganyika then 600 miles on a motorbike to the headwaters of the Congo River.
Thomas runs away from the Mission School and returns to his mountain home. When he arrives he expects to find his brother the bear and the rest of his animal family, but instead he finds a “charred circle” (70) where his lodge used to be. Tom then “…stood among the ashes and whispered the sorrow chant…For small griefs you shout, but for the big griefs you whisper or say nothing. The big griefs must be borne alone, inside” (70.) He knows that it was Blue Elk who did it because there is not one item of worth left behind, not even the knife Tom’s mother gave him.
Although the line, “no-one had got around to fixing it up yet”, shows that he is still seeing everything as a product that has the potential to be fixed. The fifth stanza has an angry tone as Dawe describes people as being “godless, money-hungry, backstabbing and miserable”. In this stanza, his childhood ends and he enters adulthood, this is shown through the line “goodbye stars and soft cries in the corner”, the once innocent child has now become a greedy business man who is selfish and ruthless. In stanza six, his wife (Alice), is driving him home from a not so good dinner party, as he is angry and getting annoyed with his wife, “now take it easy on those curves, Alice, for God’s sake…” they crash. His last words “watch it” demonstrates the irony of being a product, as if to watch it on
He doesn’t know any better and could possibly end up doing something really bad because of this feeling. Mrs. Joe also continuously mentions how Pip is lucky that she has brought him up ‘by hand.’ One day when Pip was asking questions about the marshes, Mrs. Joe loses her patience and yells at Pip, saying, “I tell you what, young fellow, I didn’t bring you up by hand to badger people’s lives out. It would be blame to me, and not praise, if I had. People are put in the Hulks because they murder, and because they rob, and forge, and do all sorts of bad; and they always begin by asking questions.”(Page 13) This places a lot of guilt on Pip, making him feel like he shouldn’t ask any questions at all. To tell a little kid not to ask so many questions is a terrible thing.
He feels like his obsession for Martha has led to his failure as a Lieutenant. The author states, “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry… for the rest of the war” (719). When Lavender is killed Cross believes it is all his fault because he was too busy daydreaming about his love for Martha.
Liz likes Jim very much, she constantly thinks about him and wants him to feel the same about her, but the drunken Jim took advantage of her feelings and raped her, showing no care or liking towards her, leaving Liz to cry in the night alone. The second story that I am using in my discussion, titled “The End of Something” is about the end of the relationship between Nick and Marjorie. Nick is starting to feel very bored about the relationship they are having, and does not want to continue it anymore. He broke up with her subtly, he did not tell her directly that he wants to break up. In the end, Marjorie rows away in the boat, while another character, Bill entered and asked Nick how does he feel, before being sent away by him.
It is evident when he states, “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been quality of a crime” (Frankenstein 34). Victor had become obsessed because he was growing apart from the world and put all his energy into his monster. In the same manner, Macbeth’s ambition also became obsessive. In the beginning Macbeth had no plan to betray King Duncan and to take over the throne. However, all this changed when the three witches planted the seed of betrayal in him and when Lady Macbeth encouraged him to kill King Duncan and become king.
Children’s inexperience to life is a great way for authors to create lesson learning, life-like situations for readers by demonstrating bad decision making. For example, Jackie in “First Confession” is a young boy consumed by his emotions and driven by strong views of his grandmother and sister. He threatens his sister with a butter knife and refuses to eat grandma’s cooked meals because of his reluctance to show any approval of either of them. The hypocrisy he sees in both of them leads him in refusal to interact and even shun them from his life. He eventually plots to kill his own grandmother!