Clean Sweep Characters

Some mothers lose their children or lose their lives from childbirth and Katie does not realize how thankful she is to never experience that.  Neeley was the first baby to be born healthy. Since Francie was born sickly, Katie decided to “ love this boy more than the girl” (Smith 95). This shows how Katie chose to neglect her child even though a mother’s instinct should be to love her children.  Katie’s “long term of negligence can cause psychiatric disorders” (Johnson 1). She thought she was only toughening Francie into thin invisible steel. Katie also chose to “send Neeley to high school instead of Francie, so he could become a doctor” (Smith 384). This indicates that she cares about Neeley’s future more than Francie’s. Katie did not appreciate or love her daughter while women who mourned for their dead children would

In “The Author to Her Book,” Bradstreet is inundated in indecision and internal struggles over the virtues and shortfalls of her abilities and the book that she produced. As human beings we associate and sympathize with each other through similar experiences. It is difficult to sympathize with someone when you don’t know where they are coming from and don’t know what they are dealing with. Similar experiences and common bonds are what allow us to extend our sincere appreciation and understanding for another human being’s situation. In this poem an elaborate struggle between pride and shame manifests itself through an extended metaphor in which she equates her book to her own child.

Charlotte rejects her mother’s ideology from a young age, and has the perspective to see past the illusions of perfection her mother creates, and Miss. Hancock gives her the weapons to fight her mother. In seventh grade, Miss. Hancock teaches Charlotte about the metaphor, sparking the creativity within Charlotte her mother shunned. The metaphor becomes a symbol throughout the short story, but it also develops into something deeper. The metaphor becomes an allegory of Charlotte 's rebellion against her mother’s influence, and her future. Writing is an outlet, an opportunity for Charlotte to express and understand herself. The form of expression was a gift from Miss. Hancock, who arms her with the power of creativity. “‘My home,’ I said aloud, ‘is a box It is cool and quiet and empty and uninteresting. Nobody lives in the box,” Charlotte says in seventh grade. She has a complex understanding of herself, and is able to articulate her frustrations through metaphors. After graduating out of Miss. Hancock’s seventh grade class, the story picks up introducing the reader to Charlotte as a

“How I Learned to Sweep” explains a story of when a little girl first starts to sweep. The girl had often seen her mother sweep, yet she never taught her daughter. Once the girl is finished sweeping the floor of the house, the television catches her attention. She now begins to see images of the current war, The Vietnam War, and this is intriguing to her. After gazing away from the television, she realizes that the floor, she had been sweeping does not seem to be clean for her anymore. She begins to sweep again, but in her mind, the images she saw on television were too overwhelming. Her mother enters the room and turns off the television and the floor appears to be clean again. The idea of the dust that was scattered throughout the floor represented the narrator’s mental state. She had been watching soldiers die on her television that was flooding her mind and causing her trouble.

She wanted to be a role model for her children and at the same time, she wanted to become friend with them. Helen valued education, and she wanted Julie to go to college and have a successful life. However, after she found out that Julie had secretly being together with Tod, the poor, unambitious man. She was disappointed, betrayed, sad. Julie moved out of Helen’s home. Later, when Helen found out that Julie and her husband Tod had nowhere to live, she let them move in with her. She is a permissive parent, yet, she cares about her children, provides them as much support as she can. Helen stayed calm when Gary told her he wanted to live with his dad for a while. I can see her heart was bleeding when she heard her son’s words. She gave Gary his father’s phone number anyway, and Gary talked to his dad over the phone and figured out the cruel fact that his dad didn’t care for them anymore. Helen wanted to comfort Gary but he refused to talk. I felt Helen’s guilt and desperation at that moment. After she broke into Gary’s room and found out that Gary was carrying the bag that contains pornography, she immediately asked Tod’s help to talk to Gary. She had a chance to talk to Tod and had learned that Tod came from a broken family. She had a better idea of who Tod was and his help to Gary gained Helen’s respect. Helen supported Tod and helped her daughter Julie overcame the tough situation in marriage. Helen

By selecting which details to include Viramontes is able to depict Estrella’s change from being a perplexed child who does not read to someone who reads and understands the need to learn. Key idea worth developing--how does she arrive at this insight? Viramontes begins the excerpt with the question “So what is this?” (line 1) Then, she explains the red tool chest and Estrella's disorientation. She states, “Estrella hated when things were kept from her” (line 12) and the toolbox was an example of something that was kept from her, a secret.The toolbox held secrets and “funny shaped objects” (lines 6-7). All of which Estrella was unaware and uninformed about. Furthermore, in school Estrella is unable to learn essential skills, such as reading and writing, due to the fact that teachers will not answer her questions. Additionally, some teachers care more about Estrella’s hygiene rather than her education, this lack of interest in her

“The Lanyard” is a poem written by Billy Collins that emphasizes how wonderful a mom is to do all the things she does for her children for the little she gets in return, and this little she receives is enough to make her and her child even in her heart. In “The Lanyard”, the author is reminded of a lanyard he wove for this mom at summer camp as a kid. Then he goes through his childhood, recalling all the loving things she has done for him growing up, with only his little lanyard to give in return. In the end, he is greatly surprised and appreciative that his mother views them even in her heart, even though all he has given her was the “useless, worthless thing [he] wove” (41). Billy Collins uses repetitive phrases, allusions, and a continuous

By carefully choosing the words and phrases she used to tell Molly’s story, Kline was able to show how the way that people tell stories can reveal personal information about them. For example, when Molly is having conversations with people, she will often have snarky thoughts that she doesn’t say out loud. These are revealed to us by the narrator, who I assume to be Molly as we’re only ever able to see what she is thinking. These sarcastic thoughts reveal to the reader that Molly has a snippy personality. The fact that Molly keeps the majority of these thoughts to herself shows that she is conscientious of the people around her.

In the non-fiction short story, “Clean Sweep” by Joan Bauer, Bauer presents a story about a 16-year-old girl named Katie and her life in the family business, Clean Sweep. Bauer also tells about the conflicts the people around her have. For instance, the first conflict that happens to Katie is her family versus survival after her father dies and they have to sort out all of his papers because they received no insurance from his death. The second conflict that arises in the story to Katie is Katie versus her brother when he doesn’t want to work and she has to take on his job and her job. The third conflict that was presented to Katie in the story is Katie versus Mrs.Leonardo when Mrs. Leonardo begins getting mad because Katie keeps suggesting the different things she should do with the items she has in her attic. The fourth conflict that occurs in the story is Katie versus herself when she gets reminded of her father’s death. The fifth and last affair in the story is Mrs.Leonardo versus her sister, which is when Mrs.Leonardo realizes she never gave her sister the book she asked for when her mother died.

The Mona Lisa has been one of the most debated paintings of all time. The look on the face of the women in this painting leaves a person’s mind wondering. No one really seems to know what this mysterious woman is thinking or feeling. The questions that cannot seem to be answered are what make this painting so famous. The reason for that is because it is raveled in mystery and secrets. All of the small details make the painting stand out by being different from others and the details also make it far more remarkable as well. And surely, the smirk on the face of the Mona Lisa is the major key factor to the painting being so interesting. “Leonardo da Vinci was one of the

an impact on her life based on how she grew up. The two short stories The Flowers and

Anne is figuring out the different aspects of her gender identity. She is taking on new life roles everyday. She must balance her time between being a student, friend, co-worker, lover, all the while making the transition from child to adult. She has been having trouble making the transition from childhood to adulthood. After high school she was holding on to her childhood for dear life but now is learning how to let go and move on.

The Mona Lisa has to be one of my favorite paintings of all time and has lead me to use this specific painting as a topic for this paper. Not to mention the love I have for Leonardo da Vinci. I, myself have always been drawn to da Vinci’s paintings and all of his other achievements that he has given us during his life. I, like Leonardo da Vinci love art and science just as much as it seems he did. He shares a love of art and a fondness for science. It also seems that he loves a good mystery, and the Mona Lisa just happens to be one clouded in mystery. And I too love a good mystery.

Susie worries most about her gifted and petulant sister Lindsay. Lindsay is only one year younger but still is not told directly about what's happened to Susie; instead she hears telephone snippets and bits of conversations between her parents and the police. After hearing her father describe Susie's features, she asks her father not to lie to her, so he doesn't; but even answering her question, he can't face the truth of his words. Susie watches Lindsay sitting alone in her bedroom trying to harden herself. As the story unfolds, it is clear that Lindsay carries the hardest burden, because no one will ever be able to look at her and not think about Susie. By losing her sister, Lindsay is in danger of being robbed of herself.

“Nicole Skylar Cavazos!” Yelled my mom, Heather. I just knew that I was in a heap of trouble with my mom. I had taken my moms beautiful black and silver shimmering necklace, with a sterling silver chain… again. “Where’s my necklace Nicole!” At the moment, I was sitting by my large window on my purple violet chair in my clean room, looking out of the window at the hot and dusty plains covered in dead sandy sad colored grass, and the few little umbrella looking trees with a dark color green wavy tops and rough brown trunks, as furry meerkats, prairie dogs, kangaroo rats, and many other animals scurried about, and admiring the beauty of the necklace shimmering in the sunlight rays. My mom always told me not to touch the necklace in her special, dark brown wooden polished jewelry box, that I had given her for her birthday last year by the way, but I just can’t help myself from taking the necklace. She stomped into my room with her new white sneakers, and started yelling at me some more. “I’m not going to ask you again young lady,where is my necklace!” As I glanced up at her with guilt, she crossed her arms and yelled again, “This is the 4th time this month you have taken my necklace… WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT YOUNG LADY!” I hated it when she yelled at me, which is often, so this time I looked up and said exclaimed, “ It’s right here.” As I pointed down at my neck, where the necklace hung shining in the suns afternoon bright light. My mom came over and took the necklace off of