Gathering Blue Character Analysis

Cripple Nancy Mairs, a woman with multiple sclerosis wrote Cripple to express the feelings she has towards people labeling her, and how she can only be the one to label herself as a “cripple”. In the passage, she claims that even though she --or anyone-- is crippled, they are still the same person. Nancy Mairs presents herself as a brave woman by expressing the confidence she has in herself, having a direct frank tone, and going through every obstacle in her path. The confidence she has conveys that as long as she’s content and happy, other’s opinions do not matter. Creating this brave face to achieve one’s happiness without looking back.

On her essay entitled ‘’On Being a Cripple, the author Nancy Mairs uses her confident tone and seductive ways of telling details to tell her own story as a person who experienced both conditions of being a healthy attractive woman who becomes over the years someone who depends on a wheel chair in order to help her moving yet independent in her mind accepting her situation and taking advantage of every new day with joy and satisfaction. Mairs Starts her essay with an expressive epigraph that gives the reader a hint about the strong piece of writing that he is about to read. Associating the tittle to Louise Bogan’s quote is a cleaver trigger to hook the reader’s attention, too. The writer, who lives the experience of being crippled for the

She explains how in addition to studying she teaches writing courses, teaches medical students, and she picks up freelance editing jobs, in her free time. She also explains how she does motherly things, like raising a foster child, cooking for her family, and doing laundry. She addresses her context in this by explaining that being crippled does not stop her from doing the normal things that non-crippled people do. This appeals to her audience because she is explaining that just because she is crippled, that does not stop her from doing everyday things that non-crippled people

She takes a comical approach when examining the idea of the word “cripple” when giving her experiences throughout the paper. In the very first paragraph of the essay Mairs says, “… landing fully clothed on the toilet seat with my legs splayed in front of me: the old beetle-on-it’s-back routine” (page 1). Society has put a negative connotation behind the word “cripple.” It largely comes off as an offense towards someone with a physical incapability, however Mairs has embraced the word because it is “straightforward and precise” (Mairs page 1). She outcasts herself from the rest of society in that she finds other words: “disabled”, handicapped”, and especially “differently abled” slightly offensive because they take away from her humanity. In other words, these works make her feel like she is not accepted like the rest of the fully, physically functioning people in society because people feel that they must baby those who are handicapped as though they are not able to do any simple task.

Even though she still continues to wear black, her hair is out of the rag and back into a braid. She makes further character progress when she reflects on how her Nanny raised her. By accepting that Nanny taught her values she doesnt not agree with, she is forming her own sense of right and wrong. It conicides with her chance to live life how she wants to. By her own will, she does not seek out a new husband, despite the large amount suitors that are coming to her.

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

She uses her desire to further her education, an escape plan with her sister, and her shame from being a forager to motivate her to bring a change into her life. Despite the constrictions

Her home, her misinterpretation of respect, and her place in society shows how powerless she was in class.

The elements were used well in this story, but because the story was set in such a different culture, it was hard to recognize those elements being used. For example, one of the elements of fantasy is that there is a death involved or the storyline includes a threat or danger, which are both true about this book. In the middle, Annabella dies (133). Kira is very surprised at this death and wonders if it wasn’t an accident (141). This book also includes a threat or danger- physically and futuristically. Kira fears the alleged beasts that could physically hurt her and towards the end, Kira fears her Jamison- the power he has and what he is doing with it which could harm her future (123). During the parts describing Kira’s weaving talent and how it just comes to her, the reader may wonder if that is just her imagination, when it is really in her brain the whole time (45). This is another important element used wisely for this story because the reader can understand Kira’s confusion at her weaving talent, the reader can understand why she doesn’t even believe it herself because they have a hard time believing it. Although, it really did come to her magically, and the reader’s skepticality mirrors Kira’s own, in a way so that the reader understands her feelings (29). Another element that was used greatly throughout the story, was symbolism. For example, the Fen symbolized poverty, and the

She has no idea who her family is, and can’t remember a single detail about her past life or herself. Her Mom makes her watch home tapes to hopefully regain some of her memory. As she learns to navigate the new world and find out who she really is, she makes many new friends and

The drastic changes in Maris’ life forced her to reevaluate the way the thought about everyday existence. The way she goes about living is drastically different than those around her. Mairs commented on her own life saying, “Of late, I have begun to catch myself wondering how people can propel themselves without canes” (Mairs 67). She has become used to her disability and this has created a disconnect between her and the rest of the world. While others are free of even giving a thought to what she handles everyday, she has a adapted into a way of thinking that accommodates to her life. Even the way she perceived others interactions was changed and she feared that any act of kindness from others was out of pity and shame. The author has completely altered the way she interacts with the world because of just one single part of her life. People become used to thinking of their lives in a certain way, not objectively as just a part of society. Throughout her emotional journey, she had to accept who she was.

Racism had tainted her life from the very beginning. During her childhood she attended a one-room school for blacks only. She was only allowed to attend school for a short time due to the ailing health of

The 1900’s – a time when blacks were segregated from whites and women were seen as inferior to men. Alice Walker's character Celie, from The Color Purple, was ugly and terrified as a young girl. Though many trials and tribulations, she would become strong and independent. In addition, Celie built up a resistance to the hurt and suffering that she painfully endured from her stepfather and husband. She eventually allowed herself to not take simple things for granted therefore recognize the beauty of everyday life. In her final years, Celie is portrayed in a blissful state and displays her independence as a mature woman. Alice Walker’s use of the first-person point of view, tone, and

     Throughout this passage Nancy Mairs uses the word cripple to describe who she is and the beliefs of her condition. She does this by describing her condition in a few different ways; the opinion of others and the opinion of herself. As anyone should she decides what her title as a person should be and she doesn’t listen or care for anyone’s opinion outside of her own. Her tone is very straightforward throughout the passage. Mairs describes her condition and how it relates to the actions and response of other people in any situation.

The daughter is bored with her mother's dreams and lets her pride take over. She often questions her self-worth, and she decides that she respects herself as nothing more than the normal girl that she is and always will be. Her mother is trying to mold her into something that she can never be, she believes, and only by her futile attempts to rebel can she hold on to the respect that she has for herself. The daughter is motivated only to fail so that she may continue on her quest to be normal. Her only motivation for success derives from her own vanity; although she cannot admit it to herself or her mother, she wants the audience to see her as that something that she is not, that same something that her mother hopes she could be.