... people other then her family talked to her, she could rarely reply with out being sick. For example, when Jim O"Conner cam to dinner with Tom Wingfield, Laura could not answer the door to let the two inside. She feared people in general. On the other hand, Sylvia was a very outspoken, outgoing young girl. Growing ... or not. Sylvia had many friends to whom she could talk. If something was wrong, she could speak to her friends about it. That is a luxury that Laura did not have. Having friends to talk to made Sylvia happy, to some extent, even if she was making fun of them. During the stor...

• Word Count: 414
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... significant events. "Reaching out delicately like tendrils" (Page 14, Paragraph 1) is an example of a simile that is used to describe the action, Mrs. Bixby used when reaching out for her Labrador Mink coat. This engages the reader with the text and adds to the emphasis of the quality of ... the coat. Descriptive language also engages the reader with the text and is often used in the story to describe certain characters like Mrs. Bixby. "She looked dazzling, radiant, rich, brilliant and voluptuous all at the same time" (Page 14). This use of descriptive language creates ... reader. Thr...

• Word Count: 890
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... deals with many different forms of conflict throughout the story. She struggles to make her way to town for her grandson sacrificing and risking her own self. Mrs. Jackson deals with man versus man conflict when the hunter pointed his gun at her and intimidated her with his dog. Phoenix contends with nature as she ... struggles to free herself from a thorn bush, and she does not want to rip her dress. She talks to the bush stating "Thorns, you doing your appointed work. Never want to let folks pass, no sir. Old eyes thought you was ... a pretty little green bush" However, she manages to...

• Word Count: 1135
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... main narrative, an example being the brilliant Alias Grace. However, The Blind Assassin is her most ambitious work to date, combining Iris Chase's memoir, Laura Chase's novel, the Sakiel-Norn story told by the fictional Alex Thomas, the elements of his story that also turn up in an actual book ... wounded in more vital ways than the assassin and the temple girl. Details come out that inform the reader that, like the temple girl, Laura had been committed to an institution at one time, to keep her from talking about unsuitable matters. However, she ultimately gains her voice through ... he...

• Word Count: 988
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... other people, are together drinking and talking about life and what "love" really means to them. Mel and Terri are one couple while Nick and Laura are the other couple. Throughout the story, the characters that talk the most are Mel and Terri, talking about past events in their lives: As the couples ... tell their story, they both disagree on what they truly think love is and give their reasons on why they are right while Nick and Laura do not really say much: "He was dangerous. If you call that love, you can have it"(Carver 358). This quotes comes after Mel ... people and whether or no...

• Word Count: 981
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... 's short story, A White Heron, goes through a plethora of events and personal decision making while unknowingly finding herself. Mrs. Tilley, Sylvia's grandmother, chose Sylvia to live with on a farm in New England near the woods. Mrs. Tilley thinks Sylvia takes after Dan, her only child still alive other than Sylvia's mother. Sylvia promptly fell in ... and on their way. As the cow stopped for a drink of water, Sylvia heard a loud whistle. She left the cow and attempted to hide behind a bush, but it was too late. A young man spotted her and asked her if she could tell him the way to the...

• Word Count: 850
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... than from the other works chosen. Amanda's treatment towards her children differs between the two. Amanda treats Laura as if her impairment is non-existent, trying to block this out of her and Laura's mind. Which leads to many problems in Laura's life. With this treatment Laura now has become very confused, if her mother tells her she has no impairment, then why does ... she have trouble walking up the stairs. This is the type of question she will ask herself when she's confronted by her own thoughts. Without knowledge of the impairment Laura cannot accept her impairment. The father is ...

• Word Count: 989
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... will. Then, in a crushing blow, everything she has just realized and begun to look forward to is stolen from her grasp. Upon learning of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard realizes that she is now free. She repeats the words "...Free, free, free!" (257), and feels her body come alive. "Her pulse beats faster, ... Unfortunately, this opportunity is taken from her just as her chance of freedom is taken from her when she learns that Mr. Mallard still lives. When Mrs. Mallard sees her husband walk through the front door, the disappointment and the devastation of loss that she suffers causes ...

• Word Count: 1010
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... . Typical Victorian women in the late nineteenth century were often presented as fragile. This is evident by the opening sentence when Chopin writes, "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard [is] afflicted with a heart trouble, great care [is] taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death ... begins to cry immediately with "wild abandonment" (Chopin 54). Once finished crying, she decides to excuse herself to go to her room alone. Mrs. Mallard's growing sense of independence begins to emerge at this point and becomes increasingly evident as Chopin writes "She would have no ...

• Word Count: 1036
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... typical life and marriage of a woman in this time era. Most women led oppressed lives, and catered to their authoritative husbands. One can infer, that Mrs. Mallard was bonded to the institution of marriage through her husband, society and the church. Chopin's, "The Story of an Hour" expresses a woman's desire ... hearing the news of the death of her husband. The "dead weight" which pressed down upon her body crushed her own sense of being. Apparently, Mrs. Mallard had a young, fair, and calm face. This may indicate that she was fairly young in age. Her physical attributes may symbolize ...

• Word Count: 939
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Ms. Mallard defies the traditional role of the women by overcoming the feeling of sadness and instead replacing it with the feeling of joy. Mrs. Mallard realizes that her husband's death should not be seen as an atrocity but instead as an act of freedom. This is made apparent by the words ... should have while there husband are alive, women should not have to wait for a man to die in order t gain some sense of independence (11). When Mrs. Mallard discovers that her husband is indeed alive, she dies of heart disease. The doctor diagnosed her death as "a joy that kills", however one can a...

• Word Count: 789
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... on the reader. Some people may see the symbol as one thing while others think a completely different idea. The basis of the story is a woman (Mrs. Wright) is being accused of killing her husband (Mr. Wright), and the whole of the play takes place in her kitchen as various county officials are ... investigating the house. The main part of the story is two women (Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters) looking through her kitchen and gathering things to make her more at home while she is being detained. These two women discover all sorts ... beautifully stitched except the most recent blocks. These bl...

• Word Count: 1057
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... to Literature. The story was written in the late 19th century when women were inferior to not only their husbands, but men in general. Mrs. Mallard, the main character, experiences realistic situations that Chopin either experienced one way or another in her own life, or was exposed to ... period when the relationship between men and women differs from today's culture, to express her beliefs and individuality through her writing. Both Chopin and Mrs. Mallard suffered the death of a close one from a train accident, lived and married in societies where women were to be submissive to men ......

• Word Count: 1052
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Wright is accused of murder of her husband. While the sheriff and other men are looking in the room upstairs for some evidence of a crime, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters not only find the evidence the men overlook, but start wondering if the woman could have been the victim. The story reveals, through Glaspell ... . Their husbands define these women. Without their husbands, they would be nothing and because they are married, they feel privileged to be referred as to Mrs. Peters or Mrs. Hale. Mrs. Peters is viewed only as a sheriff's wife; Mr. Peters, the sheriff, says "for that matter a sherif...

• Word Count: 1048
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... elegance to her. She is at a theater, all alone, at a young age and her parents are not present. She wants to get into the play and asks Mrs. Miller to buy her ticket for her because the workers wouldn"t let her in. We later find out that she has a large vocabulary and seems a bit rude. ... disappears in the theater to find a good seat. Another reason she is a ghost is because of her character. She shows up at Mrs. Miller home late into the night. Mrs. Miller soon points out that her name is not listed in the phone book and is curious how Miriam knows her address. When she ... white. ...

• Word Count: 652
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the way. In the short story "The Displaced Person" by Flannery O"Connor, a man named Mr. Guizac comes from Poland with his family to work on Mrs. McIntyre's farm and just his presence impacts the lives of all the people that are at the farm. When Mr. Guizac arrives, he is referred to ... (251). Not wanting to work without a partner, Astor leaves as well. Though all of these workers acquire a feeling of displacement from Mr. Guizac's arrival, Mrs. McIntyre also shares these feelings. She is the owner of the farm and it is apparent that, even before Mr. Guizac appears, she already feels o...

• Word Count: 1210
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... and is caught up in the illusion she is living the right way by God. The majority of the story is in a doctor's waiting room where Mrs. Turpin has taken her husband Claud for treatment. In the waiting room, she occupies her thoughts by putting the patients into categories. They are put in many ... ; next to them not above, just away from were the white trash, then above them the home owners, then the home and landowners" (Paragraph 24). Mrs. Turpin and Claud are home and land owners, so she thinks very highly of herself compared to the other classes of people. This shows that a person's ...

• Word Count: 742
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... late 1900's. The whole incident takes about an hour total. The story is written with an ironic undertone. The very first sentence shows this. "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death" (Baym ... ,425). Then the story goes on to show how after her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard looks forward to living again only to die soon after she realizes this. It is written in third person and this helps the reader understand ... blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a ...

• Word Count: 522
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... by Ann and Samuel Charters. "One of those pretty and charming girls," Mathilde Loisel, a dynamic character portrays to be very unhappy. Mrs. Loisel makes it evident that she is depressed and discontent with her lifestyle. She feels that she is better than what her social class allows her ... did not realize the necklace was gone. She searched high and low but still no necklace. Overtaken by her own pride Mathilde did not mention to Mrs. Forestier that the necklace was lost instead decide to replace the necklace. "They went from jeweler to jeweler searching for a necklace like the other ....

• Word Count: 685
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... tell her son that she was wrong about the house, her family was shot (O"Connor 1428-1439). The Mays from Greenleaf also value position in society. Mrs. May is furious that her workers, the Greenleafs, might be moving up in society. The Greenleaf boys had joined the military and made something of themselves ... " (O"Connor 1445). The May boys, on the other hand, are single and still live at home. Mrs. Greenleaf's religion is also below Mrs. May. Her "prayer healing" so bothers Mrs. May, that she once told Mrs. Greenleaf "Jesus would be ashamed of you. He would tell you to get up from there...

• Word Count: 1220
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank..." The symbolic feeling of the armchair is warm, inviting and calm. The open window is opportunity. Out this window Mrs. Mallard could see "tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life." Looking out the window at her new life, she is seeing rebirth ... the other..." Though life may seem beyond horrible, Chopin is showing that there is happiness beyond devastation; people just need to open their eyes to see it. Mrs. Mallard understands this. She "abandoned herself" and realizes that while her "repression" is dead, she is aliv...

• Word Count: 704
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Hour." While discussing the story in class I realized Chopin's use of these symbols. One example of symbolism could possibly be in the opening line of the short story; "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death." "A heart trouble," could signify that ... Mrs. Mallard had heart problems medically or that her husband did not hold a special place in her heart anymore. Another instance of symbolism is that the window represents a gateway to happiness ... and rebirth. When Mrs. Mall...

• Word Count: 666
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... her, would then lead to Alice making serious decisions on whether or not she should knock on Mrs. Taylor's door. Alice eventually declined from knocking which lead to Mrs. Taylor's death in her sleep. Alice and Mrs. Taylor are women who attended a conference on Christianity. This conference was of high class not just ... been a member of the conference for some time now, "She's been a member of this Conference for years." (778). The conflict of this short story starts when Mrs. Taylor makes a rude gesture to Alice's face, "I've never eaten with a nigger and I"m too old to begin now" (777...

• Word Count: 691
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... too many lines in the story that give away a theme of racism, one line establishes that Marian is black and Mrs Ericson is white. This line is when Marian is talking to Mrs Ericson and she says, "They probably like it better if a white person shows up with you." Pg 115 Not only ... takes the driving instructor by surprise. We are encouraged to like Marian and respect her for what she is mainly through the dialogue between Mrs Ericson and herself. Pg 115-116 Mrs Ericson is a very sweet, kind and fun-loving person she is anything but racist. She employs Marian as a sort of maid ... a high ...

• Word Count: 1005
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... for murder. In the cold, uncaring atmosphere of the Wright house, the warmth of these women validates Minnie's plight. The bitter cold outside heightened Mrs. Hale's sense of loneliness and dispair about the house. Regret washed over her as she moved out of the icy cold wind and into the ... the background but began to observe the conditions of the surrounding room. When the rocking chair in which Mr. Hale found Minnie was pointed out, Mrs. Hale observed that the worn, broken chair didn't fit the personality of the Minnie Foster she once knew. Glaspell mentions twice that the women ... ...

• Word Count: 871
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School