Gothic Tradition Analysis Flannery O’Connor was born and raised in Georgia and lived from 1925 to 1964 (DiYanni, 2007, p.184). She was raised with a very southern influence and incorporates this into her writing. O’Connor was Roman Catholic and would work evil and redemption into her stories like “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. In this story, she capitalizes southern violence and the need for having religion. She writes in a term called southern gothic, meaning “a style of writing practiced by many writers of the American South whose stories set in that region are characterized by grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents” (Southern Gothic, 2009).
Mary’s motivation for writing The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave Related by Herself was to enlighten the English people about the dehumanizing nature of slavery. I will argue that Mary Prince’s novel focuses on how slavery destroyed families, as well as her courageous attempts to stand up for her rights and redeem her personal freedom. Her account of the atrocities of slavery eventually culminated in its abolishment, although she never achieved her goal to be a free person in the eyes of the law. Nothing is more painful than to separate an infant from her family and subject her to countless acts of abuse and overwhelming cruelties. Slavery destroyed families because infants were bought and separated from their parents.
Marilyn Arnold in her article “Eudora Welty” published in MagillOnLiteraturePlus states that every writer needs “a deep sense of place” (5). Arnold goes on to state Welty’s fiction “is deep rooted, like its creator in the South” but that “for all its down-home southern flavor,” it “attest to the universality of her vision” and her belief that “her subject is not the South, but humanity” (5, 6). The reality of Welty’s South is existence of strict racial segregation. Even though the Civil War ended slavery in 1865, the relations between the dominant white population and the African Americans were strictly separate and demanded that each group recognized their place and remain in their place. This reality is graphically demonstrated in “The Worn Path.” Phoenix Jackson is a very old former slave.
Zora Neale Hurston’s world view was that of a cynical tirade that would sweep the nation’s shortcomings for lack of diversity, and openness to growth. With such vivid and depict voices in her book Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston tackles life’s most intriguing problems of isolation, society, culture, religion, and sex. Their Eyes Were Watching God is most often celebrated for Hurston’s unique use of language, particularly her mastery of rural Southern black dialect. Throughout the novel, she utilizes an interesting narrative structure, splitting the presentation of the story between high literary narration and idiomatic discourse. The long passages of discourse celebrate the culturally rich voices of Janie’s world; these characters
In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne conveys several different types of irony – not just in the characters but in the symbolism and true meanings as well. There are numerous examples throughout the novel. One example is the rosebush, a plant which stands outside of the prison and is considered the only living thing in society. The rosebush is ironic because it is marked by both the thorn and the color red and it is where Hester is located for a period of punishment of love. One of the most obvious examples of irony is that Dimmesdale is a minister who is highly admired for his sermons but is Hester’s lover.
Desiree’s Baby Written by Kate Chopin Désirée's Baby is a short story centering on human relationships in the southern United States before the Civil War. Kate Chopin wrote it in the fall of 1892 and Vogue magazine published it in January 1893. The story takes place in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century on two Louisiana plantations, one called Valmondé, a family name, and the other called L'Abri which is French for shelter. The story begins in the warm-weather months and ends in autumn. The story is told in the third person view, explaining the events that took place as well as each character’s thoughts.
Finally irony is represented in Tea Cakes death because he is the one that taught Janie how to shoot. There are many metaphors in the story such as when Jaine compares herself to a pear tree. Metaphors are also used when in chapter two Nanny compares black women to mules. In chapter one a metaphor is used when Jaine's hair is compared to rope. The strongest metaphor in the story is the pear tree itself.
Pearl said she had not been made at all but that she had been plucked by her mother off the wild rose bush that grew by the prison door. 6. He persuades Governor Bellingham and Mr. Wilson that Hester should be allowed to keep Pearl because God has given Hester both a blessing and a reminder of her
Critical Analysis of O’Connor’s Revelation. Flannery O’Connor is by far one of the most religion oriented writers in the American South. Her Southern upbringing and Catholic faith allowed her to paint a very straightforward picture of sin, inequality, racism, and salvation in the short story “Revelation”. O’Connor sums up her thoughts about South, “What has given the South her identity are those beliefs and qualities which she has absorbed from the Scriptures and from her own history of defeat and violation (Arbery).” During her lifetime South consisted of people who were prejudiced toward people of color and lower social status; therefore, those who were less fortunate had to experience racism, inferiority, and even hatred. “As late as 1983, Cleanth Brooks declared the American South “something of a subculture,” differing from the rest of the nation both in its “attitudes toward family, religion, place and history” and in its special “interest and aptitude for narrative that includes a vigorous oral tradition as well as formal narration in stories and novels (Davis).” O’Connor was able to recreate Southern attitude and understanding of religion.
Dealing with social conditions like slavery, structural racism, poverty and a denial of education, they called attention to the needs of black women in the U.S. in their own unique ways Walker had made purple the symbol of African-american womanhookd inher novel the color purple 1982 which inaugurated a decade of majour fictionby African-american woman writere. The colou purpe is an epistolary novel, combining the letter of two black sisters from rural Georgia in the early 1900s, Nettie and Celie and also also touching on taboo themes of estrangement between black women and men bisexuality, sexual abuse and incest. Celie is the brutalized sister, raped by the man she believes is her father, forced to give up her children for adoption, and sold into the marriage in which she is beaten, exploited and deprived . Nettie the more educated sister, escapes joins the black missionary movement in African and eventually marries the widowed missionary she accompanies. Her letters describe an African villag and tribe, the