Before their family tragedy occurs, none of them could ever think about changing mentality or lifestyle, therefore all characters are psychologically unready to survive their loss. Moreover, this event makes some of the characters starting to think differently. Nandana is one of the main characters who can also be considered a hero. She initially lives an illusion when she refuses to accept that her parents died. As she refuses to talk to anybody, the child created her own imaginary world being unwilling to look at the reality: “Why couldn't he understand that if he kept quiet, if all of them kept quiet, her parents would hear her and come to take her home?” (47).
In her poem “Mothers”, Nikki Giovanni talks about the relationship she have with her mother and the struggles her mother went through. The poet’s implied claim is the importance of mothers and how much they affect our lives today by the good and bad values they teach us. Nikki thought of her mother as a beautiful woman, but she put so much faith and trust in men. Part of her mother’s struggle was waiting for Nikki’s father to come home “she was very deliberately waiting perhaps for my father to come home from his night job “. This struggle Giovanni’s mother taught to her so being educated about that, Giovanni teaches the ethics of being a Good man to her son; so he will grow and become a good man and see the struggle being a bad one can cause women.
“I don’t see any cars,’ Henry said, ‘so they must have rooms.’/ ‘When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.”(Dunn 70) In this quote, The Pollocks have just arrived at Netherbank. Henry merely makes a helpful comment and his mother immediately yells at him for speaking out of turn. This is important to the plot because it shows how much Henry’s parents overreact to his very normal-child-like behavior. This severe parenting problem also applies to Jing-mei Woo. “Of course, you can be a prodigy, too,’ my mother told me when I was nine.
They wake her up early and help her stretch her legs in hope that they will one day be straight/normal. They showed the compassion that her birth mother would never give to her child. Linda later recalls, “I must have been held so much that the sensation became a part of me”(65). Fifty years later when Linda and her mother Nancy finally meet for dinner, they don’t hug or even shake hands. The mother may be the birth mother and be related by blood but she sure doesn’t show any love toward her handicapped daughter that she abandoned.
Jennifer’s inspirations had been her father and mother, for they had always been good role models and were constantly laughing and inspiring her to be better. Her parents divorced when Jennifer was a mere age nine. These experiences would later prove very helpful because many actors use their life experiences to create emotions while performing. Jennifer got her first major role in a horror film called Leprechaun. She stated in a very humorous tone that she didn’t think horror movies were for her.
“A Sorrowful Woman” by Gail Godwin, opened with once upon a time, but this short story is far from a fairy tale. The woman is never named throughout the story, leading the reader to believe she feels she has no identity, and the fact that her family is never named either could lead one to believe there is no connection to them. In the very beginning, the husband is described as “durable, receptive, gentle; the child a tender golden three” (39), but the sight of them makes her “sad and sick” (39). As a reader, I want to know how these feelings of despise and disgust came to be. As the story unfolds, the unnamed wife becomes increasingly distant from the love of her husband and son.
The Influence of Grandparents In the stories “Inspired Eccentricities” and “Spirit,” both by Bell Hooks, the main characters really take after their grandparent(s) and learn a lot from them despite what their parents might think. In “Inspired Eccentricities,” the daughter really looks up to Baba and Daddy Gus even though her mother tells her to ignore most everything that they say because she doesn’t want her daughter to end up like them. In “Spirit,” the daughter gets all of the spirit that she has from her grandmother, and since the dad does not like his kids having any spirit, he tries to break her of her spirit whenever she or any of her siblings does something wrong. “Inspired Eccentricities” is about a child who really looks up to her grandparents. She explains everything about her grandparents to us and how odd they are compared to normal people, but how much she loves them for that.
Amaka acts a catalyst to some extent for Kambili’s changes along with Aunt Ifeoma. Without Amaka’s and Aunt Ifeoma’s pressure, Kambili would have not opened her door to the outer world and new experiences. The inner character of Amaka influenced Kambili to change over time. Kambili was quiet, shy, and always tried to win papa’s love. Her actions were based upon whether papa’s acceptance and always thought about whether papa would love what she was doing or not.
Nanny responded with, “’Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection. ...He (God) done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life.”(p.14) Nanny instilled the sense of needing a man for safety on Janie that Janie keeps with her throughout her life. After Nanny’s death, Janie continued to stay with Logan despite her dislike for him. She would have left immediately, however, if she did not need to depend on him. The next man Janie has to lean on is Joe Starks.
Nora is the most admirable character in the whole play. Back in the day when it takes place, it was unthinkable that a woman could leave her husband to obtain freedom. However, Nora had the courage to take the step forward and abandon the man she no longer loved. She chose to support herself and educate herself to be a better person. The marriage between her and Torvald was not a true marriage; they never understood each other and never talked about serious matters.