Themes: Culture and Identity Looking for Alibrandi is a powerful struggle of multicultural Australia, and the struggles that each generation of immigrants has with finding their place in Australian society and defining their identity. Josie, Christina, Nonna Katia and in fact all of the characters have a story to tell about culture in Australian society. • What are some of the skills, arts, beliefs and customs of Italian-Australians you see represented in the film? • How are these traditions passed on from generation to generation? • What are some of the customs of Italian-Australians that Josie resents?
For example, in this passage we understand that Norah is struggling with the grief of her lost daughter and doesn't want to let go of her memory, "Phoebe she would keep alive in her heart." (88) It helps us understand the reasoning behind her actions of drunk driving, dreams of lost things, and escalated emotion at random as well as other actions the character demonstrates through out the novel. The deception of her daughter effects Norah and explains why she bought the camera,"...So he'd capture every moment, so he'd never forget. "(88) Norah doesn't want her husband, sister and not even neighbours to dismiss her daughter as unimportant. Norah's great pain because of the "death" of her child causes her to be scared of change, she wishes she could capture a happy moment, and stay in that moment-perhaps forever. "
She constantly interacts with her Italian heritage both within herself and with others and comes to a deeper understanding of it. Her arch-enemy, Poison Ivy, becomes simply Ivy, but her relationship with Jacob ends. At the end of it all Josie feels stronger and more optimistic as a result of the changes. Some of these changes seem to be serendipitous, that is, changes that occur simply through chance, but this is what life is often about.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Top Girls By Caryl Churchill both feature motherhood and marriage as one of their main themes even though the texts were set at different points in time. The Bell Jar was published in 1963 around the time of the publication of Betty Freidan’s Feminine Mystique. The Feminine Mystique stated that the ideal housewives of the 1960’s were a myth as each one of them were secretly unhappy but never spoke out about their unhappiness due to fear of not abiding by the social normality of the time. This feeling of displacement in the social norm is what Plath bases the experiences of protagonist Esther upon and what eventually drives Esther into mental instability. Motherhood and marriage is seen to be a key factor in the society of which The Bell Jar is set ,and is portrayed as one of the things that supresses female identity when Esther is asked to be “Mrs Buddy Willard” as if she is owned by Buddy and not her own person.
Aunt Fay writes to her niece Alice in the hope of teaching her about Austen and her writing and what better way to do that than by direct reference to Austen’s most successful text, Pride and Prejudice? Weldon in turn helps the actual reader understand Pride and Prejudice by commenting on the characters’ behaviour and the plot by giving her personal opinion, as well as identifying typical language features and explaining why Austen is valued today. She expresses empathy for Mrs Bennet which encourages the reader to reconsider their own opinion Her use of first person language tells the reader that they are reading a biased opinion, but also helps the reader trust Weldon as she is speaking
In the auto-biographical novel "Red Scarf Girl" by Ji-li Jiang, the protagonist Ji-li, greatly influences her own little world. Because of Ji-li’s actions, her family’s life is changed drastically. Ji-li was taught to put her country above her family. Throughout the story Ji-li's feelings about Mao Zedong continue to evolve. In the beginning she is very pro-revolutionary, but as time passes she realizes that Chairman Mao’s policies are not always correct.
She wants to prove to George, and possibly reaffirm to herself, that his jilting did not ruin her nor did it stop her from pursuing familial happiness. He did, however, affect her life and produce a change in her—she became adamant with life management and order. This change explains why Granny tries to control her time of death (for the second time). Becker contends that “despite the fact that her external life is so carefully ordered, her internal life is not redeemed” (1168). In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” Granny’s journey towards death grants the reader an understanding of two archetypes: the unhealable wound—George jilting Granny which induces her overwhelming independent nature—and journeying towards death/rebirth—which is Granny’s time spent on her death bed, reflecting on George jilting her.
I think Ismene changed her mid because Antigone is her sister and you always stand up for family. She didn’t want to commit the crime because she was trying to talk Antigone out of doing the crime. In the end Ismene is the only one who lives and has a kind of guilt free life. She may not have family left besides Creon but at least she tried to save them. I think out all the characters she made the smarter choices and she thought about the consequences.
26 Oct 2009 In my analysis we will compare the wittings of Amy Tans “Mother Tongue” and “Se Habla Espanol” written by Tanya Barrientos. And show the views and prejudices placed by society on those whom don’t speak the perfect language. As well as the negative and positive affects it as placed upon the lives of Amy Tan’s mother and Tanya Barrientos. But on the flip side you have Amy Tan’s writing of “Mother Tongue” in which she describes that her culture was embraced into the home, that both English and the Chinese language was a regularly mixed ingredient inside the home. Society has also played an important influence on both these Authors as Tanya Barrientos explains in Se Habla Espanol.
Regret because it made me think how much different my life could be right now if I would still live with my parents, and guilt because well I'm guilty of doing exactly as the author had mentioned is a problem in America. Before reading this I've had some thought that I made a bad life choice leaving so early, but Natadecha-Sponsel does such an immaculate job at connecting this cultural difference to me personally, I think I'm going to have to run home after reading it and give my mom a hug! The author showed me that just because as a society we're brought up to be so individual doesn't mean that other people don’t still appreciate your company, or need you. Along with that I also feel sort of curious to how different not only me, but my family would be if we were brought up in Thailand rather than