In the novel, Birdie, Bernice is on a journey to heal herself from her past. After, being raped by her uncle Larry, a lot of terrible events happened to her. Which lead her to live on the streets of Edmonton. While in Edmonton, she crossed paths with one of her cousin, who took her back to the rez so she could visit the rest of her family. While being at the rez she comes across uncle Larry who becomes aroused
at the sight of Freda and Bernice. Bernice sends Freda away, stating that she could handle him. Fortunately, her uncle has a heart attack, Bernice is able to escape and lits her house on fire with Larry in it. Therefore, she was left with scarred and wounded skin.
“The more she scratched at it, she thinks of herself as habitable.
The book “Birdie” takes place in several different settings because the main character fluidly moves through her timeline. In the first five chapters of the book, she is most commonly at her “current” home in Gibsons, BC with Lola, and she is at her childhood home, Loon Lake. When she eventually goes to an all girls Christian school in Grandetowne when she is staying with her aunt. All of these settings play an important role in her life and her perception of the events and people around her. Since time is a fluid experience for Birdie, she remembers places by what she felt and what she could smell and hear around her.
The case of Marlene Bird was a brutal attack and sexual assault by a Leslie Black in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (The Canadian Press, August 2017). In July of 2014, a homeless Marlene Bird was attacked, assaulted, and set on fire in downtown Prince Albert, Sask.; although she survived the attack, later in hospital doctors had to amputate both her legs (McCue, 2017). According to James (2015) After months of recovery and numerous surgeries, Marlene came out alive but missing both her legs and the vision in her left eye. In April of 2015, Leslie black pleaded guilty to the attempted murder and aggravated sexual assault of Marlene when he was identified at the scene (James, 2015).
Writing, as described by E.L. Doctorow, is an exploration. In her novel, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott explores the writing process, providing her insight on stylistic, theoretical, and instructional points. These points are essential in the composure of a book and are prevalent in many literary works such as Tim O’Brien’s The Things they Carried. In his book, O’Brien relives his time on the frontlines of the Vietnam War, telling fictional stories of life before, during, and post war. The novels are tied together with O’Brien’s use of character development, dialogue, and design setting strategies as discussed in Bird by Bird.
Events in the story help establish he change helps Bernice and how it hurts her. Prior to following the advice of her cousin, Marjorie, Bernice is described as, “…no fun on a party.” And that her poor reputation of: “…not being frequently cut in on makes her position at a dance unfortunate.” This implies that Bernice is not will liked by others and that people tended to stay away from her. Once Bernice starts taking Marjorie’s advice to heart, at the next party, she is: “…cut in on several times in the past five minutes.” This means that several people were going out of their way to dance with her. Another advantage to this change was that Bernice is now described as being, “…pretty, distinctly pretty; and to-night her face seemed really vivacious.” People are starting to have a more positive outlook on her. However, changing herself to please others would unfortunately lead to Bernice’s
Montag finds out that Mildred was the one that put in the alarm when she comes running out of the front door and into a beetle taxi mumbling about how the family is ruined. After personally burning his house down with the flamethrower, Beatty announced to him that he was under arrest. While Beatty was lecturing Montag, the green bullet fell out of his ear. Knowing he had no other choice, Montag turned the flamethrower on Beatty and watcher him burn alive. Having nowhere else to go, Montag takes off with a hurt leg due to the Mechanical Hound. Stopping at Mr. Black’s house along the way to Faber’s, Montag drops off a book and calls in an alarm to watch his house go up in flames. Continuing on his way, Montag shows up at Faber’s house where he is welcomed inside only to let Faber know he can’t stay for long.
In any family argument it is often difficult to pick sides, but nonetheless is imperative to relate to the side that you see best fit. Therefore, I would have to state that I tend to choose Bernice’s side in the argument against Boy Willie. My reasoning is simple, I tend to admire my family roots, thus I have a tough time parting with an heirloom such as the piano. I tend to see the side of Berniece because I would want to protect and take care of an object that inhibits so much of my family’s legacy and not to mention died over. I think that Boy Willie is looking to the future by purchasing the land, but I feel it is important to keep an heirloom such as this piano.
Brent’s brother, Craig, was outside playing basketball when Brent set himself on fire. After Brent realizes what he had done, he started yelling for Craig to help him. Craig was the one who saw Brent when he was on fire. Craig had to get him help. When they were wheeling Brent out of the house, we could see some of Craig’s emotions showing through, “I turn my head and see Craig in the front hall. He’s yelling and punching walls. He’s angry” (Runyon 18). While going to the family therapy sessions, Craig continued to seem angry, and Brent noticed. In a later therapy session, Craig
The first time Li’l Bit is sexually assaulted by her uncle is when she is eleven years old; under the guise of teaching her how to drive, he violates her. Growing up fatherless, this is a man who, in the future, teaches her how to drive and supports her dreams of achieving better things in life. “Over a seven year period Li’l Bit and Uncle Peck develop a sick, but close and needy
He notifies the landlord of the fire, and runs away from his family. ¡§He [Sarty] did not look back¡¨ (¡§Barn Burning¡¨, 25). He does not want to let his father controlling him anymore. He wants to start his own life.
One of the biggest conflicts between Bernice and Marjorie is one over a boy named Warren. Warren grew up across the street from Marjorie, he was “crazy about her” since the beginning; however, the feelings were not reciprocated on Marjorie’s behalf. As the story progresses, Marjorie takes on the task to transform Bernice into a new woman. Bernice’s new appeal is soon taken into consideration when Warren gains an interest in the new Bernice. Even though Marjorie didn’t have feelings for Warren, she still became jealous. Marjorie’s new goal was to destroy the relationship between Bernice and Warren. Marjorie becomes successful in accomplishing her goals by putting Bernice’s reputation at risk.
Bernice becomes quite the “Society Vampire.” Pg.6, after the deal she made with Marjorie, and soon the men were actually into Bernice. It’s like a light switch has been turned on, and Bernice very much so like the results. She wore better clothes, and that alone, made her more becoming to the men, Bernice also carried on conversations that were actually interesting to the men. During the dances; she finds herself being cut in on, which was a big deal during the twenties. She was even cut in on by the most adorn bachelor, G. Reece Stoddard! With all this attention, comes jealousy, Warren McIntyre has now taking a liking to
. Bernice’s cousin, Marjorie, is the socialite of her town. The Queen Bee. All the girls want to be her; all the guys want to be with her. She has Warren, her unofficial boyfriend, wrapped around her finger. But everyone cannot see the real Marjorie, Her true insecure side. They don’t understand that she puts them down to make her feel better about herself, trying to make herself feel superior. Marjorie is putting on a front to give the idea that she is happy and perfect. Underneath, she is a cold and jealous person. She is the one pressuring Bernice, not knowing that it is the way she copes with her own insecurities. Marjorie, although more confident than Bernice, also shows
A few years later Fitzgerald scribbled “Basis of Bernice” on the heading of the letter’s first page. These letters became the basis of the ten thousand-word story, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”, he drafted in 1919. Fitzgerald sent his story to numerous magazines yet was met with even more rejections. Many editors called it “cliché”, “boring” and trying to please them he cut his manuscript in half and scrapped the ending in hopes of
Through Verna’s conversations with Colin, we learn that Bette deals with physical, sexual and emotional abuse from Herbert on a regular basis, and, therefore, her relationship with Herbert is unhealthy. Verna explains that Herbert sexually abuses Bette when she resists physical affection, exclaiming “[Herbert forcefully] kisser her” (p.78) and even makes her “wash him in the bath” (p.78), when she does not want to. This conveys hopelessness because it portrays the abuse Bette faces and the inability to remove herself from the situation she possesses. At the housewarming party at the Muskie household, we learn that “[Bette’s] got black eyes all the time” (p.109) as Herbert physically abuses her. After the party, he also forces Verna to have a haircut.
sees juna and his son outside because someone lit their house on fire. Kino and juna and their