The Day They Set Out Response Brandon Moreira In the short story “The Day They Set Out” by Beverly Harris, the protagonist, Jean is stuck in a life in which she does the same predictable routine. This makes her feel empty inside, and that she needs to try something new. The causes for her emptiness and difficulties are that, because of her lack of social skills, she has almost no friends. Her husband, Ross does not love her anymore, so he looks at other women to satisfy himself. Also, her lack of intelligence has left her with no job and an inability to get a job.
The tone that she uses in her piece seems to be sarcasm and this sarcasm is what leads me to the assumptions I make and the way I read her essay. She obviously wants to go to school and become economically independent and be able to support herself. I think that she is not happy with her current situation of being a mom and a wife and feels unappreciated. She stays home and does all the things she lists for her husband, but she resents this role in society that she is in. I assume that she wants a divorce from her husband but because of the role that society has placed on her, but she is unable to get one because she is very dependent on him.
Annie feels as though her mother is not trust worthy: “ Why, I wonder, didn’t I see the hypocrite in my mother when, over the years, she said that she loved me and could hardly live with out me, while at the same time proposing and arranging separation after separation, including this one. […](Kincaid 89) Annie thinks her mother wants her completely gone from her life. She does not trust that her mother truly loves her and will miss her. She believes that since her mother is the one who set up this separation, she is not as truthful and loving as Annie once believed. Similarly, Lairds sister also felt her mother was not trustworthy: “ My mother I felt was not to be trusted.”(Munro 50) Lairds sister was unwillingly forced by her mother, to stay in the house all day and fill countless jars with various fruits, instead of being outside in the fields with her father doing the work she loved.
She often feels like she has no privacy, and guys constantly hassle her on the street and pressure her from the beginning of a relationship. She never is able to have a long relationship. Likewise, Bethany does not see herself as a success story because she does not see herself as a “beautiful individual” they both envy each other’s success and looks. This alone shows the reader that the characters are very jealous of each other’s lives. The message hidden in this story is that people only see the bad side of their lives
Mayella’s decision to lie on stand after she swore to tell the truth, was well justified by the loneliness in her life, the fear in telling the truth, and her harsh family and background life. Mayella cares for her unprivileged family while her unemployed father, Bob Ewell, the only adult-like figure in the household, spends the little money their family owns on alcohol, the reason for his abusive behavior towards his daughter. Mayella is secluded from the world because of her status as a Ewell, is constantly afraid due to the abuse she endures from her father, and influenced and hindered due to her family history and background. In a town full of prejudice, Mayella is quickly overlooked as a dirty Ewell, however, looking at the whole picture, it is apparent that Mayella’s actions and family life lead her to be a character worthy of
She strongly dislikes her sister’s eagerness to fit in at school and tells Bianca, “You don’t always have to be what other people want you to be”, which shows us that she thinks Bianca should be herself and not follow in the path that her fellow school mates take. These two quotes show us how Kat feels about individuality and how she thinks it affects others. We often see Kat getting kicked out of the classroom for expressing her opinions which shows that she doesn't fit in. One of the first scenes in the movie shows Kat in her worn down car.The punk rock music coming from Kat's car is very different compared to the teenage girls in the car to her left. The camera shows the first group of teenage girls listening to music that you would hear on the radio, and then shows Kat, alone in her car, looking bored with her punk rock music blaring from the speakers of her car.
Since Janet couldn’t make it to meetings they gave her what was “left over” and didn’t even keep her in mind. Janet was a hard worker and wanted to contribute to the group, but since she had been pre classified by her group she couldn’t fit in the way she wanted to. Life was basically a struggle for Janet and being in a group that did not consider her struggle made her feel more alone than ever. She finally snapped over the cafeteria incident. She stopped to get something to eat and saw her whole group meeting without her, she felt extremely unappreciated and knew the group members didn’t respect her contributions.
For instance a family bounded by fundamentalist values or a school regulated by strict rules can conflict with individual freedom. This is evident in the film “Skin” where Sandra, the protagonist is forbidden by her father to see the person she loves, because of their skin difference. It is also evident when the school she attends isolates her from the rest of her peers and mistreats her. Sandra as a character was hindered by her family and government from developing her own identity; she was faced with an unfortunate circumstance in an unfortunate era to appear colored, and as resulted she does not come in to terms with her identity. A media that chooses to broadcast propaganda is also a repressive institution that limits freedom of information.
Maggie was very uneasy around her sister; her mother tells her anxiousness in regard to Dee’s visitation: “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe” (119). Dee undermines her sister, not always knowing what type of impact she impresses upon Maggie. Dee does not appreciate her sister or her mother, both of which is barely educated and lives in a poor, dilapidated home. In fact, Dee had her own way of making this noticeable in one instance when she stood off in the distance while their first home burned down with her mother and sister inside (121). She does not feel comfortable taking on the old fashioned lifestyle her mother and sister do.
My absolute worst teacher ever was during my sophomore year of high school. Her name is Mrs. Garvin she was so mean and I dreaded going into her class for several reasons. First, she had this way of making her students feel ignorant. Second, she was an English teacher and I that was not my strongest subject, and finally she was extremely mean and impatient. First, she had this way of making her students feel ignorant.