From the beginning when we were first introduced to Dee, we find that she has changed her name to Wangero saying that Dee is “dead” because she didn’t think her name, Dicie, had any cultural significance and so she choice a name she felt suited her more. She says she couldn’t bear being named after people who oppress her. She has no connection or respect with her family. This is sad because she doesn’t like who she once was. Although she has learned a lot from her schooling and has a better knowledge than her mom & sister, I feel she possesses this know-it-all attitude about what heritage really is.
In Gilead being a handmaid means that Offred is stripped of her former normality, she is no longer able to do the simplest of things, such as reading, due to the oppressive policies of the Republic. Through Offred’s role as a handmaid Atwood shows us that she can no longer express who she truly is, or was, before the takeover of the regime even her name is taken from her and changed to that of her 'owner' - the Commander. Gilead tries to indoctrinate all the women who are to become handmaids, that being a handmaid is their only use and their only form of identity is their bodies, which they must use to the benefit of the regime or suffer the consequences. Atwood shows us how Offred, reconstructs her physical and psychological identity including how her identity is effected by how she is perceived by other characters involved in the regime. Being reduced to the role of a handmaid has meant Offred's physical identity has been severely altered from how it was in her past life, Atwood presents her attempts reconstruct her physical identity under the supervision of the regime throughout the novel.
I believe this song is about her reactions to her relationships and over the course of this song she tries too hard to match her partner’s aspirations. By doing so she forgets who she really is and, in the process it emotionally traumatises her, leaving her with a symbolic “scar”. “A triangle trying to squeeze through a circle/He tried to cut me so I'd fit” is a metaphor located in the hook of the song. The triangle represents Missy and the circle represents her partner’s expectations for her. In this case she is trying to fit into what her partner wants her to be, but the only way she could do that is to change, or ‘cut’ away at who she really is.
Another example is “Mildred stopped screaming as soon as she started.” Mildred found out that Guy held books in their house. This showed that Mildred did not want to held accountable for what Guy did. She was scared, wanted to run away, and turn him in to Beatty. The American marriage relates to this because each person is in it for
A negative relationship can, in fact, be the catalyst for a search for identity to emerge. It is often through these negative relationships that people seek alternate relationships that will help them on their journey of discovery. In Lonesome Howl, Lucy’s detrimental relationship with her family led her to start questioning who she was. Years of constant abuse led her to begin her search for identity. She felt, however, that she could not go on such a journey by herself.
Her first published novel entitled The Bluest Eye, portrays two female characters who take two different choices. Pecola Breedlove chooses to divorce herself from her own values and personality. However, her action only results in failure. She becomes insane because of her impossible wish to have the bluest eye. On the other hand, Claudia is able to maintain her values though she cannot fit the beauty standard.
In their day and age these characters would be judged by many factors including social and cultural backgrounds, crimes committed and personal traits. Both of these writers seem to conjure their audience into a state where it compels them to relate to certain characters. Lady Macbeth certainly loses or suppresses her feelings of cowardice. Throughout her appalling invocation to the spirits of evil to “unsex her”, proving her ambition to attain her goal. In Jacobean times women were seen as inferior and even in the Victoria era, thus she required external forces to crush her conscience to allow her to fulfil her ambition.
For the most part, she has a pessimistic explanatory style. She attributes her situation to an internal cause; she believes that she is not a strong enough person to stand up for what she believes in. She tells V that she thinks she is not as brave as her parents, and therefore cannot fight back against the government as they did. She declares: “I wish I wasn’t afraid all of the time, but I am.” Evey assumes that the conditions she lives under are stable; she doesn’t think that they are going to get any better. Also, she makes global attributions for the decisions that she and others have to make.
The very first descriptions illustrate her initial animus by describing it as “one of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” (Perkins 41-42). This is significant for it reflects the narrator’s own presence—she is committing an artistic sin during her marriage by having her engaging imagination and her need to compose. Her husband, John, dislikes this, and as a result, the narrator deliberately feels stifled and has to obscure her writing so that her husband will not know. The narrator is characterized as having a nervous state and is overly protected by her
“But that’s not the way I am and there’s nothing I can do to change that.” ‘The Curious Incident… shows that all people are capable of change if they have a goal they really care about’. Discuss. In The Curious Incident… Christopher’s mother writes to her son that she left partly because of the continual conflicts between her and Christopher and Christopher’s father. She admits she is short tempered and feels pessimistic about her power to change this. However, by the end of the novel she is making an effort to take control over her emotions: she sees a doctor and receives medication for her depression, and attempts to be patient in dealing with Christopher.