Another example that depicts the overall theme of “disorder” is the organization of her essays; most obviously, the essay titled “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”. Her organization within that essay is choppy and confusing, much like a diary entry. The confusing organization of that essay, and of the entire book, is used by Didion to demonstrate to the reader a central claim that is prevalent throughout the novel: life is chaotic and disorderly and there is nothing any one can do about it. That claim can be easily interpreted as cynical; however, Didion’s final conclusion is this: one must come to terms with and embrace the chaos in order to live a full life. 2.
Anna Avalon is the rather graceful and adventurous main character of the short story “The Leap” by Louise Edrich. Anna’s acquired characteristics have made her out to be a very desirable woman. Many of her characteristics showed throughout the short story have proved her to be graceful; brave and cautious. Anna is the surviving half and a courageous blindfolded trapeze act. She made herself into a stunning performer, alongside her husband; they created “The Flying Avalon’s.” She performed many wild stunts, “double summersaults and heart-stopping catches.” (pg190) A horrific tragedy ended the career of “The Flying Avalon’s.” While Anna was 7 months pregnant, lighting struck the main metal pole running directly through the center of the circus tent.
This applies to Jane's life when her home life wasn't great and it just kept getting worse, until she got to go to Lowood and she liked Lowood more then home. Then she went to work as a governess at Thornfield and to her it was a whole new experience for her, being appreciated. “The wheel breaks the butterfly.” My interpretation of this line is that the “wheel” is really life itself and the “butterfly” is a delicate young girls dreams and life or reality 'breaks' the dreams. The reminds me of Jane because reality hit her when she was young because of her family. She knew at a young age that life was rough and woman didn't have much say in anything.
Anne Bradstreet’s publication, ‘The Author to Her Book”, dating back to 1678 is an atypical poem that accurately depicts the meaning of a controlling metaphor. Through the use of devices such as tone, diction, and characterization, Bradstreet is able to convey her complex attitude of the public’s criticism of her “unfinished” work. As early as the first sentence, Bradstreet already expresses a critical tone in her writing. By making use of the words “ill-formed” and “feeble” it is easy to understand that the author is not comfortable with her own work as she views it as an actual pre-mature baby. In addition, she portrays similar tones such as desperation and mournfulness.
Chirp little birdie, keep flying” don’t stop, she says smiling. Phoenix crosses the log she had cross before. She sees the same bush she got stuck in early, but ignores it this time.” Pretty bush you can’t fool me this time, “she said fearlessly. Mr. Scarecrow it’s you gain, I can’t dance I’m worn out, but let’s shake hands. The scarecrow is speechless, but hand stuck out.
Contrary to that, there are also multiple similarities between their societal behaviors involving mental illnesses and ours. In Jane Eyre, there can be many arguments made on characters that can be considered ‘mentally incompetent’ or ‘insane’. One example would be Aunt Reed, who found it impossible to care for Jane as her own child simply because she did not like the child’s mother. Today, Aunt Reed would be designated as having Avoidant Attachment Disorder. This mental illness would be diagnosed based upon her hostility, her criticism, her self-important image and her lack of empathy towards Jane.
For example, the poor memory system applies to the case study where Diane recalls to have trouble remembering whether she turned off the gas or not. According to cognitive perspective, patients with OCD have different obsessive thinking patterns which cannot be dismissed and often are misinterpreted leading to exaggerated sense of responsibility. This concept can be applied to Diane’s case where she took a big responsibility as a child for her mother’s life by obsessively praying for her safety. Individuals with OCD blame themselves for having these thoughts and for the terrible things that will happen as a consequence of them (Shafran, 2005). Another episode from the case study where Diane had intrusive obsessional thoughts of strangling her own children with the dressing gown cords suggests that Diane had maladaptive cognition and she believed that her thoughts would help to cause events (thought-action fusion) e.g.
Discuss madness in relation to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. The ‘revolting’(pg 3) paper is the eponymous metaphor of the novella. The wallpaper has layers, hidden depths and intricacies which can only be seen by close examination and only understood by the narrator by her when her obsessive interrogation of it reaches its disturbing climax. This wallpaper is an allegory which represents the complications of a woman’s position in conventional marriage behind the façade, or outer ‘pattern’(pg 3) of the sanction. Throughout the text, Gilman attempts to uncover the often disturbing truths that lurk beneath the surface of something seemingly innocent with reference to her own socio-economic philosophy; that is the economics of marriage and the nature of the mentally destructive sub-ordination of women within it.
Her use of words in ‘Elm’ is also interesting. “Faults” could be emotional and/or physical and this shows the psychological states explored throughout Sylvia Plath’s work. “Malignity” symbolises evil and the intensity of how disturbed her life was.Another poem by Plath that I found to be personal on an intense and disturbing way was ‘Mirror’. It is clear as Plath looks into the mirror that she is unhappy, watching her age. A mirror never lies, but Plath cannot find solace in what she sees.
Sylvia Plath What are the overarching themes of Sylvia Plath’s poetry? How does she channel her frustrations into her work? Throughout Slyvia Plath’s life she had to face several different complications which lead to how she lived. Due to the there are several overarching themes that is presented throughout her poems some of these themes include suicide, revenge and her struggle to survive under the influence of male figures. Through Slyvia Plath’s poetry we were able to see these themes demonstrated, two poems in which exhibit these themes are ‘Daddy’ and ‘Lady Lazarus’.