Counter for the Case Against Chores Abstract Jane Smiley attempts to give parents advice about household chores in her essay The Case Against Chores, which was featured in an issue of Harper’s magazine in 1995. I think that Jane had a somewhat privileged childhood; if it weren’t for finding the way to hard work through working with horses, she would most likely not have a clue of how to operate in the adult world. I grew up in a house with a chore list, and it helped me on my path to be a functioning adult and mother. Agreed that most children would celebrate Jane Smiley’s case against chores, but is it any good? In her essay, The Case against Chores, Jane Smiley shows her contempt for chores by giving some opinions that I simply do not agree with.
The women in Dadi’s family mostly dominate the agricultural process and distributions, and also care for the household. The men, however, represent the family politically and dominate agricultural production. The role for men in Dadi’s family is basically to be the governing leader while the women work hard both in the field and at home. Many husbands expect their wives to perform labor in the field, fetch water and cow dung, and still have food and water waiting at home for them. Many women in India, especially in Dadi’s family, suffered from many
As Alice had to grow up basically looking after her self and her younger siblings she learned that even if you do not have support you still need to follow your dreams and live you life. This is a large aspect to how Alice discovered herself. Alice's parents get extremely angry at her and blame her completely for the accident. This circumstance is a critical one on Alice's journey to self-discovery. Alice learns how protective and careful she has to be while looking after her brothers and sisters.
As Nomi’s older sister Natasha begins to question their faith, Nomi lives in perpetual terror that her sister is going to hell. Their father is a strong believer; the church is what glues his soul together. And although their mother grew up in the community, she had always been an independent thinker, and could not watch her oldest daughter suffer for a lifetime in a place she hated, following a religion she could no longer identify with. After Nomi’s mother and Natasha leave East Village, Nomi is faced with living in a broken family, and begins to question her faith as well. While trying to avoid the sad existence that seems inevitable if she stays in the community, Nomi dreams of a life in the real world, but can’t seem to get up the courage it will take to leave.
Connie rightfully believes her mother is jealous of her. “Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn‘t much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it ‘Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you’re so pretty?’ she would say.” Connie’s mother certainly does not help the relationship by acting jealous of her daughter, she is simply adding fuel to the fire. Connie had somewhat of a split personality.
Observant and wise, my mom always said Olga and I had a special connection. Whether it was playing in the backyard or trying to block out her noisy snoring during the night, she was unlike anything else. But as days went on, guilt built up. Our whole family didn’t like to see Olga’s sad, neglected face when we drove away to go on with our daily routines. So after many pleads and pleases to my parents, it wouldn’t just be one bulldog at the Browning household.
Growing up in the same environment does not always mean that siblings will grow to be the same person with the same values and beliefs. Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" is about the conflict that multi-generational families have with understanding the importance of identity and ancestry. The story focuses on the relationship between a mother and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie, over their grandmothers quilts. Unlike Mama, Dee is educated and is envied, Maggie, who was scarred in a house fire when she was little. Dee has returned from a long trip away from home and now determines her culture by the things she gathers from the house like the quilts and butter churn but in the end Maggie is the one with the right idea about her heritage.
Gender roles are assumed and there is a lack of communication amongst them. My mom has always taught me to help her maintain the household by cleaning and cooking for the rest of my family. I am the only daughter of a family of three children and have always had the responsibility of accommodating the men in my family. This has caused some resentment towards my brothers. Because the men leave family and home economics to the women, they assume the women will take care of it.
The characters within the novel, Catherine Earnshaw and Isabella Linton, are majorly affected by the difference in the Heights and the Grange, yet Nelly Dean never seemed to conform her ways into the difference between the two. Catherine Earnshaw grew up at the Heights without a care in the world as an energetic and playful child. Although she enjoyed her wild personality, she always aspired and craved the life of the Lintons, which is exactly what she received on arrival to Thrushcross Grange. The family at the Grange, the Linton’s, took Catherine into their household after being injured by a guard dog, teaching her their ways of manners and how to act like a lady. After marrying Edgar Linton, her free spirit started drifting away into the seriousness of reality, angering Heathcliff.
That made her love Nicky very strongly, and she accepted he did a lot of things that the three older sons never were allowed to. Nicky was spoiled, and sometimes he acted like he has known he was meant to be a girl: “I think Nicky must have known he was meant to have been a girl because when he grew up all his emphasis was in the other direction. More than any of his brothers, he was indulged like none of his brothers had been – his mother’s favourite despite, or because of not being a girl” (l. 12 to l.18). After Nicky’s death in a young age, Nicky’s parents have to make difficult decisions, and it becomes clear that the mother is the strongest of them – mentally. The father, Frank Randall, does not have the strength to step forward and say what he thinks they should do with his sons heart: “Twenty-five years of being in charge of 400 acres and all that lived on it, generations of Randalls ruling the roost, of which he was the latest heir, hadn’t made him capable at that moment of being the one to step forward and speak” (l.122 to l.125).