Analysis Of Under The Influence By Joyce Maynard

Was all of that alcohol really worth all the damage it caused to you? Poe was an alcoholic, if Poe wasn’t writing he was drinking. He drank his life away not just figuratively but literally. Yet seeing Poe outside of a saloon in soiled clothes and disoriented in Baltimore, on election day leads one to speculate about what may have happened to him. This scene could cause one to think that Poe was a victim of a political kidnapping, where they would get people drunk. Poe would have certainly fallen for this because, he was an alcoholic who struggled with this sickness his whole life.

Helen personality in the beginning of the movie is tolerant. Being able to put up with the way Charles treated her. At the end she’s courageous; she’s not afraid to stand up for what she wants. As Helen take care of Charles, she acts on her emotions by acting out in anger towards him, and also feeling the need to get back at him and leaving Orlando because she’s scared to be with someone other than Charles. She values the relationship with Charles; she thinks or feels the need to stay with him or feels she still loves him but in reality just wants payback for what he did. She leaves Orlando wanting to stay friends, but Orlando said,” how can I be friends with someone I’m in love with.”Running back to Charles to take care of him was just a way to treat him the way he treated her for 18 years.

Kath thinks that Kevin has bias against her and got angry. Helen is a round character in the story. “ the girls picking on me were secretly miserable or something”(McNaughton,65). It shows that Helen does not have a good friendship with other people. When Kath asked her about Robyn, her reacion was “Helen ducked her head like she’d been hit” (Mcnaughton,63). It shows that Helen is a kind of unconfident and timid. Although she is quite, she still want to prove herself and change other people’s view about her. She participated the talent show auditions with Kevin and it was successful at last. Both Helen and Kevin recieved a big round of applause. Helen proves that she sings well. “I had a feeling no one would ever call her Mouse again” (McNaghton,67). This sentence show that other people change their views about Helen. She gets complimented from Chirstine who is the popular girl. She becames more confident. Kevin is a static character. He never changes his personality. He not only helps Helen but also cares about kath. “Queen of nothing now” (McNaghton,67). This sentence show that his thoughts don’t change too. He thinks that Kath isn’t the queen of the

In her short story “Alice,” the author Paulette White shares the narrator’s views on her early childhood neighbor named Alice. However, the narrator's memory could have become foggy after many years passed. In the story the narrator makes encounters with Alice after her childhood as a grown adult. This creates the narrator's reliability to come off, or even be, completely unreliable. Using this narration of a character in the story illuminates in the end that idealism and arrogance blind the child, but acceptance and humiliation is the key to make the adult see.

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

From a brief reading of “Under the Influence”, by Scott Russell Sanders, one can understand being shamed and being condemned for actions that is not their own fault, but instead brought upon themselves as a consequence of others. Son of an alcoholic, Sanders was a deprived man, who believes himself--a criminal. However, the crime, which he has set in stone is a debt that can truly never be fulfilled, because the victim is already dead. To exact life into the meaning over Sander’s adversity is to invade within the depths of the man’s skeleton closet; by understanding the meaning behind inner privacy between father and son. The bond between father and son can be said as the man’s greatest fortunate or self-inflicted trauma, in Sander’s reality it proves to be the latter, as it latches itself on to his son. The series of misfortune events continues delegate, not only in Sander’s past reality, but also in his present. Writing as a memoir to dead father, writing as a note to his son, and writing as an outlet of relief can all be explained as the purposes of the narrative. However, this offsets who it is actually to—himself, as a reminder to not become his father.

In this quote, Helen feelings are being described, she was sad and never did any kind of work before. Throughout the novel Helen becomes less dependent on others which can be seen when

Throughout time, there has been a battle present in which females try to rise above the power of men and the hold they have on women. Whether the battle be for the equal treatment of both sexes or simply establishing a level of respect and understanding from the opposite sex, the meaning stands the same in which there is an ever-present power struggle that is continuously ongoing between the sexes. No matter the intentional meaning of the work, women suppression by men are seen when one looks beyond the simple statements given and examines the female characters in great detail to better understand the struggle she endures daily due to men. One author in particular that allows an interesting viewpoint into the mind of a blossoming woman is Susan Minot. Minot demonstrates in her story “Lust” how the female narrator is influenced and altered by her male sexual partners. Through each sexual encounter, the reader is able to see the changes these encounters have on the young woman emotionally and other affects a man has on her as she grows up in a male dominated world. This can all be determined by observing closely the figurative language used in the story, the fluctuations in emotions seen in the female character, and the thoughts the woman has about men throughout the story.

Marya Hornbacher’s memoir, Wasted, describes her lifelong battle with eating disturbances with focuses on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In modern day society, thinness is associated with “wealth, upward mobility, and success” (Hornbacher, 1998, p. 46). Thinness is “an ideal symbolizing self-discipline, control, sexual liberation, assertiveness, competitiveness, and affiliation with a higher socio-economic class.” (p. 46) Not eating also suggests that one have such a full life that food is not a priority. The media influences children to believe that one must be thin in order to be beautiful. To Marya, a self-proclaimed perfectionist, she must be perfect in order to be successful. She believed she could only be perfect if she had a perfect body, a perfect career, perfect relationships, and perfect control over her life and herself (p. 231-232).

Her mother goes back and forth wanting her to stay and wanting Helen to be with her. Helen takes care of herself the same exact way her mother would. Her actions reflect a lot on her mother. Gilbert is struggling to become a U.S. citizen. It is hard for their parents to be there spiritual and not physical for support.

Alicia stood up from her seat, pushed her chair in, and strode confidently to the front of the room and began with,“Hi, I am Alicia King, and for presentation, I researched Spencer Chen, world renowned author, and one of my heroes. One of the reasons I chose to write about Spencer is because of her backstory. (Ordinary World) She was a small town girl living in Maplewood, a town minutes away from New York City. Spencer resided in a quaint, beige colored house teeming with vibrantly colored roses. She grew up in a place just like us, in a

They think it's Benny so they start sending him notes and gifts back but at an art opening they find out it wasn’t him and Louise is so disappointed and embarrassed that she starts bawling and runs away. Henderson finds her in her old house where her mother committed suicide and comforts her while she is getting all of her memories back of her mother. After a couple of weeks of being sick she finds out it was Henderson who sent all of those things and they fall in love. Readers should take in from the story that all broken hearts can be cured. Whatever your going through it will get better you can’t bottle up your emotions it’s better to let the out first and then heal. Louise's grandma supports and recommends this idea when she gets her memories back by telling her to let all of her emotions

Abigail Jay stood in front of the school on the rain drenched steps, rocking on her heels. She was waiting for Jimmy, her uncle to close the shop for ten minutes to come and get. Most of the other students had already left from the campus once the last bell rang, they booked it. Abigail was use to waiting for Jimmy, it wasn’t uncommon for him to be late and if anything she’d be worried if he was on time. Abigail tangled with the pull strings of her hoodie, an excited smile on her face.

Helen first introduced how Stephie is and want some of the problems that Stephie has and how she tries to overcome and make on her mind up. Since their are time that Stephie can be doubtful there are times where she is also insecure of herself. Stephie start to make her decision and want a safe and secure place she could stay. Stephie “ stay open all night night long seemed safe” (44). She was scared and afraid and feel safer then she did before. “How will I take care of it”(44)? Stephie felt like she was not ready to care for a child alone when she is in school. Stephie feels like people are not looking at what is in inside they are look at what is on the outside of us “judge people by certain standard” (60). She feel like people are judge

Lynn Nottage’s play, “Ruined”, is an eye-opening story that takes place in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the Civil War. The play is centered around women who have been sexually abused, and are living and working in a brothel owned by the protagonist Mama Nadi. The play gives deep insight to the hardships women had to go through during that time. The play is a melodrama and a great example of a contemporary version of realism. This play also illustrates three important characteristics of storytelling we discussed in class: stories teach, stories allow us to personalize issues, and stories build compassion.