Mattie Gokey In A Northern Light

She tried taking her skirt and getting fish from the stream, she does this despite that she is very hot and doesn’t know if it will work. In addition to this, Mattie carries water all the way to Grandfather because he had a “ summer gripe”. Therefore she was selfless and caring for her Grandfather. Next, Mattie got the fever and was very ill, and she survives. For instance, she was at the Bush Hill hospital and she had to lay in bed all day and could barely eat.

Matilda Cook is an adventurous and independence seeking 14-year old girl. Although she always being pestered by her mother, Mattie loves her mother dearly and worries when her mother does not return home after going the the Luddington’s farm. Mattie struggle with

The journey that Janie embarks on is to find herself. She learns that she can be happy with or without a man, and with or without riches and superficial items. It is also a quest for love and fulfillment. In her marriage to Joe, Janie has all of the worldly possessions one could dream of having, but she does not love Joe. She is not happy in that marriage because even though she has every tangible item she could want, she does not have love, and that is an essential part of life. With Tea Cake, however, she does not have expensive items galore, but she does have love. Her marriage to Tea Cake shows that you do not need what money can buy to make you happy, you need love. The contrast between the two places also shows that individual freedom is necessary to be happy. Living with limited expression is harmful to a person. No one desires to live a life, having their ideas suppressed by another. Janie’s need to be free and for expression is one that every person in the world can relate to. The contrast between Eatonville and the Everglades highlights the meaning of the

She’s thrilled by this, but Mattie is still trying to palliate Nells situation. By the time Eliza's two nephew twins get sick, Mattie has decided to help out Nell until she can find a home for her. When Mattie helps Eliza and the Free African American Society, she realizes how much pain everyone else around her is also encountering. “A dying woman in a cot surrounded by strangers was sorrowful, but a dying woman surrounded by her children, her handiwork, the home where she worked so hard, left me in tears” (pg. 192). This can show that pain is everywhere, and it will be with everyone for years to come, and we learn from it, that it will never cease and it becomes a part of us.

Even if Mattie couldn’t take care of herself she would take care of Nell. When Mattie had to take Nell to the orphan house she got sad. Then when Elixa said she could keep her that show Eliza that Mattie was growing up. “‘ Seems she’s better off with you,’ Eliza noted. I wanted to dance”(Anderson 185).

Taylor could not afford the new tires she needed for her car so Mattie allowed Taylor to store her car at the shop. She eventually gave Taylor a job, so she could save money to pay for the tires. This showed that Mattie had a caring heart and was happy to help those in need. She taught Taylor many useful lessons, such as teaching Taylor to be a confident mother for Turtle. She told Taylor that raising a kid could be challenging but worth it if you were willing to try. Even through the bad times, Mattie was willing to give Taylor the love and support she needed, the whole way through. Mattie started off as being a good friend to Taylor, but due to her big, gentle heart, she was more like family. Through thick and thin, family is always there no matter

Mattie is the older character in this book that was owned “Jesus is Lord Tires” and was a character that acted as a mother to multiple characters. “She looked at me the way Mama would have,” (Kingsolver 252). This quote was found near the end of the book that signified Mattie looking at Taylor and Taylor observing that look and thinking that it is similar to her real mother’s. Mattie gave some money to Taylor for the trip and Taylor refused to take it, so Mattie said that it was for everyone in the car and gave her the look that reminded Taylor of her biological mother. “’I’ve got some peanut butter crackers,’ Mattie said leaning over Turtle. ‘Will she eat peanut butter?’,” (Kingsolver 252). Mattie seemed worried about Turtle and offered her something to eat. She acted as a mother figure to Turtle because she fed her and gave her more food when Turtle hinted for it. Mattie was the one that fit as a mother figure to a lot of characters in the book. She was the person that led a sanctuary and was the one who took care of the many.

In the book, Mattie starts out as a lazy teenager who needs to be told what to do by her over controlling mother, but throughout the story, she becomes more responsible and adult-like. For

Since Lynn was a busy town of commerce and trade, the middle-class inhabitants were wealthy. The status of Margery?s father, John, several times mayor of Lynn, helped to instill Margery with self-respect. She was very much influenced by the people of Lynn?s concern with status and wealth: ?She had a very great envy of her neighbors that they should be as well arrayed as she.? In her Book, she even goes so far as to say that her marriage to businessman John Kempe did no justice to her ?worthy kindred? and was a socially-imbalanced relationship, although they both belonged to the same social class. This haughtiness and sense of pride are distinguishing features of Margery throughout her life.

Through his death, Mattie is pushed into a new kind of independence and begins walking the streets looking for a miracle. ““How many dead, Sir?” “More than three thousand, enough to fill house after house, street after street.” “I went to the market, but found no food,” I said. “Few farmers dare come into town.

Often times, individuals use the phrase “set your priorities straight” to indicate they need a realignment on what is valued more. An individual’s priorities vary, depending on one’s values. Some put their individual values before others’; while some give others’ priorities more value than their own. Authors occasionally engrave this moral into their novels to leave an impact in the reader’s lives. John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row tells a story of Mack and the boys, who want to show their appreciation for Doc by throwing him a surprise party at the comfort of his home.

During her life, Miss Jenkyns seemed to reign over the community, dictating the rights and wrongs of proper etiquette. She prevented or otherwise limited her sister Miss Matty’s happiness in many ways. For example, when Miss Matty met Thomas Holbrook, she believed she had no choice other than to reject his proposal of marriage. Her sister’s disapproval controlled and affected her so deeply, Miss Matty neglected to choose the life that might have brought her happiness. Even after her sister’s death, Miss Matty is reluctant to visit Mr. Holbrook, because “She did not think Deborah would have liked her to go” (41). In other ways, the idea of weighing others’ opinions as superior to one’s own image of themselves is a constant within the book. Women compete with each other to be the finest lady, and if this were a true feminist utopian society, women might coexist more

The Sheridans are an affluent family of New Zealand; they are prominent and social, often hosting parties and luncheons for other families of the same social rank. They live in a world protected from the realities of life such as poverty, death, and unhappiness, and this bubble contains all the joy, perfection, and grandeur that is stereotypically accompanied with having an abundance of wealth. As a whole, the Sheridan family is one-dimensional; they cannot see beyond their own way of life, and cannot comprehend the hardships faced by others. The family consists primarily of cold and self absorbed individuals, but these characteristics are only revealed when their way of life is challenged or infringed upon; often they appear to be lovely, happy, and fortuitous citizens who are enjoying the benefits of their propitious life.

Since the beginning, children are taught to be selfless and think of others before themselves because it will lead to a blissful life. However, one’s selfless acts are often taken for granted. Russell Banks’s novel, The Sweet Hereafter, highlights that people generally do not value selflessness, so one should prioritize his/her needs before others because that will help to attain a happy, and fulfilled life. In the novel, Risa prioritizes herself by having an affair with Billy. Billy and Lydia do the same when they go on vacation and use marijuana, with their children present, and so does Nichole by lying in her deposition. All these examples make these characters quite happy. They also prove that in today’s society, small generous gestures can manage to make one feel good about him or herself. Nonetheless, one should address his/her personal needs in certain situations, as people do not appreciate immense selfless acts.

In American society, people fill their lives with work in hopes of securing a rewarding job and a superb reputation -- often forgetting about their morals and happiness. Human beings from all social classes aim for reaching ‘success’, regularly forgetting some of the more meaningful, if more abstract, ideals of life -- like friendship and adventure. Chris McCandless was repulsed by the modern western interpretation of happiness because it is engulfed in material goods and capitalistic greed. Chris was raised in an upper-class family, that showed their love and support with material objects instead of tangible physical affection, which in turn made Chris detest American materialism. Sean Penn, the director of Into The Wild, depicts Chris’s departure from the temporal world and his journey to ‘ultimate freedom’ -- Alaska. The movie illustrates both his journey to Alaska and his time in the wilderness. By flashing back and forth between the two, Penn illuminates the connections McCandless-- or Alexander Supertramp as the people he met knew him as-- made and then he juxtaposed them with the difficulties he experienced when he finally escaped society. The story Into the Wild portrays a young man’s journey to become self-reliant--physically and spiritually-- in order to emphasize how capitalistic ideals corrupt people