Essay on Death and Love in Little Women

Faith and religion rests in the core of Jane’s character and actions, but also causes tension with her independence. At Lowood, she struggles to reconcile her desire to rebel against oppression and injustice with the words of Helen saying to submit like Christ. She chooses to submit, experiencing an “extraordinary sensation”, feeling “as if she was a martyr” (67). Through her submissions, she learns to be virtuous. This virtue is challenged when she must choose either to be Rochester’s mistress, or to forsake the man she loves, jeopardizing her happiness. Abiding by God’s law, she leaves, believing that “God directed [her] to a correct choice” (366). Jane faces her fiercest tension when she faces St. John’s proposal to marry him and become a missionary’s wife. She desires to continue in God’s will, telling St. John that “I will give my heart to God”, but knows that marrying him goes against her every desire. She wishes to be free from St. John; she desires her independence. She nearly submits, were she “but convinced that it is God’s will” that she marry St. John (426). She prays for Heaven to “show [her] the path” (426). Jane truly seeks God’s will, and in return, “seemed to penetrate very near a Mighty Spirit” (427). Her devotion to God is rewarded as she prays in her “different way to St. John’s” (427). God releases Jane from a life married to St. John and allows her to return to Rochester and become his wife. Jane’s faith in God allows her to make virtuous

The novel Denton Little’s Death Date by Lance Rubin is about seventeen year old Denton Little, a high school senior, who lives in a world exactly like our own except that updates in science have made it possible to accurately predict almost everyone’s death date. Denton Little is due to die on the day of his senior prom, ironically with the theme of Livin It Up, though is unsure as to how and when. Despite his early status, death date before the age of 21, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life. With only two days left of his life and preparing for his funeral, his seemingly last hours as his death approaches are jam packed with Denton surrounded with drama and chaos as he uncovers a possible conspiracy, a strange cop who keeps following him around, a strange man who promises he knows mysterious

After an extended period of mourning, her father asked her why she would not remove her veil, for surely "the woman...led you into wickedness. How long will you mourn her, who deserves no mourning?" to which the girl replied, "It is my own...sin that I mourn." From then on she slunk about in rags and with ashes covering her face, forgotten by most everyone, and always sitting by the hearth, refusing to wash up, for she was "glad to be humble before God and men."

Jo is mostly a tomboy and not as caring to everyone else as Beth is. But when Beth died, this left an everlasting effect on her, and she now tries to be more caring to

Beth is a static and flat character; she does not change throughout the novel, and, on surface levels, does not appear to want to change. She is stuck in her ways of wanting everyone to think her life is still perfect. At a party in the beginning of the novel she avoids questions about her son or answers them falsely to keep her imperfect life hidden from the outside world. One example of this is when other guests at the party asked questions about Conrad and she states “He was sick for awhile...He’s fine, now.”(661) this is one way she tries to avoid questions. She put out a false sense of well being to allow herself to feel better about others opinions of her. The fight within herself to accept everything that has happened, Buck dying and Conrad trying to kill himself, has shut her off into isolation. This self induced isolation has lead her to believe everything Conrad did was to hurt her. In a later fight with Calvin she expresses this by “That whole vicious thing. He made it as vicious, as sickening as he

The characters in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones are faced with the difficult task of overcoming the loss of Susie, their daughter and sister. Jack, Abigail, Buckley, and Lindsey each deal with the loss differently. However, it is Susie who has the most difficulty accepting the loss of her own life. Several psychologists separate the grieving process into two main categories: intuitive and instrumental grievers. Intuitive grievers communicate their emotional distress and “experience, express, and adapt to grief on a very affective level” (Doka, par. 27). Instrumental grievers focus their attention towards an activity, whether it is into work or into a hobby, usually relating to the loss (Doka par. 28). Although each character deals with

Although Jo and Laurie had great times together as friends, Jo knew that carrying their relationship to a new level would break it. When she rejects Laurie’s proposal, she acknowledges the fact that their tempers and determination would get in the way of their

The journey that Richard and Mildred Loving took is important for history and for the future of civil rights in the United States. I recently watched the documentary The Loving Story and enjoyed the footage, pictures, and interviews of everyone involved in the Loving v. Virginia case. The documentary addressed the issue of interracial marriage in Virginia in 1967.

William joins the military and while he’s gone Margaret invites William’s mother Mrs. Anglin and brother Marshall to her parents’ house for dinner, which doesn’t go well because Mr. and Mrs. Ryder refuse to sign in an even more awkward silence. William comes back injured but not crippled and they live with her parents until he’s accepted into college. Margaret’s parents are sad to see her go but as soon as they can they go see her and it was unannounced. Margaret’s parents are very upset to see the place where she’s living and go to sign how upset they are that William hasn’t provided better for their daughter. Her parents never visit her again. The next time Margaret sees her parents is when she’s very pregnant to let them know that they’ll be grandparents. Lastly William and Margaret move into better housing where they will raise their child till William graduates from college. Margaret and William invite everyone to their baby shower after the birth of their son and her parents show up after everyone has gone. Margaret is upstairs with her son and William answers the door and her parents surprise her. When they see each other all the turmoil between them is gone and they enjoy each other’s company. The movie ends with Janice’s retirement party where Abel, Margaret, William and their son go and Janice’s signs a speech that Margaret

Death and dying is a natural and unavoidable process that all living creatures will experience at some point in life, whether it is one’s own person death or the death of a close friend or family member. Along with the experience of death comes the process of grieving which is the dealing and coping with the loss of the loved one. Any living thing can grieve and relate to a loss, even children (Shortle, Young, & Williams, 1993). “Childhood grief and mourning of family and friends may have immediate and long-lasting consequences including depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, behavioral disturbances, and school underachievement” (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2006, p. 61). American children today grow up in cultures that attempt to avoid grief and

In A Taste of Honey, relationship between Jo and Peter is strained or one could say barely even exists. Both of them are prejudiced against each other from the beginning. They both think of each other as a hurdle or an obstacle to overcome. When Peter appears first and Helen is trying to send Jo away, Peter urges her to obey her mother despite knowing anything of their relationship and being a stranger to Jo (Delaney 16). He always refers to her as “a snotty-nosed daughter” (Delaney 17). Jo, on her part, impolitely asks her mother in front of Peter whether he stays with them or not (Delaney 16). Later Jo asks Helen whether Peter is leaving or not (19). Furthermore, relationships between step-parents and step-children are often unhealthy if

Curley had caught up and George was in any mood to stop and look back

The Victorian Era hailed many prolific authors, which were mostly male. A woman who wanted to be a writer at this time was not respected and would have been accused of being whimsical and flighty. However, women such as Louisa May Alcott redefined the norms and followed her heart with her pen by writing Little Women. The novel follows the lives of the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood trying to find their place in society. Even though so much has changed in the last fifty years, gender roles still take a huge toll in society. Unfortunately, breaking down gender roles is not easy; as women are still

The love of affection is a term that I feel I have had in my life and was easily portrayed as a need. My parents are the people in who brought me into this world. They have shown me their ways of becoming a person- by me making my own decisions, and most importantly having a walk with Christ. They may have been a pain to me through discipline, but they always have shown me their love through affection.

At an opportune time, Conrad tells his parents that he is seeing Dr Berger. Calvin is pleased to hear the news but Beth feels threatened. What if her friends find out? What an embarrassment! What would her friends think? Beth is so used to covering up and controlling her own feelings that the idea of someone prying into her family life is unbearable to her. We could speculate that perhaps her mother’s mannerisms and personality traits have rubbed off on Beth. Beth’s mother, Ellen, fakes a warm personality, which masks true critical