The Horse Dealer's Daughter Analysis

Conflict, in general, is a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one. When conflict is studied in literature, the subject is broken down into a few major types, or classes of conflicts. This includes person versus person, person versus nature, person versus society, person versus self, as well as some others. Out of the Dust, a historical fiction novel by Karen Hesse, contains many types of conflicts, with person versus nature being prominent, as the book is based upon the Dust Bowl. However, there are multiple instances in the novel where a person is having a conflict against him/herself, and those conflicts impact their decisions, actions, as well as their relationships.

This shows that, although the worth of these objects was measly, they seemed to fill up the whole table, and in a way the narrator’s world. The narrator describes her mother’s appearance as having “tightly braided hair turning white” and convey that her mother has endured much hardship throughout her life. She also uses words such as “flung”, “crowds”, and “quick” to describe her mother’s actions, suggesting a sense of fervor and urgency when it came to handling

Sara Smolinsky is the youngest of four sisters; the eldest is Bessie, whom everyone calls the “Burden-bearer” because the whole family lives on her pay check. “I knew the landlord came that morning hollering for rent. And the whole family were hanging on Bessie’s neck for her wages. Unless she got work soon, we’d be thrown in the street to shame and to laughter for the whole world.”(1) The second eldest

When James’ stepfather died Ruth was overcome with grief, so James avoided spending time at home because of the emotional impact he would encounter while watching mommy

In the passage from her novel Passing, Nella Larsen uses visual imagery and tone to contrast Clare, Gertrude, and Irene, and the differing social perspectives that each represents. At the beginning of the passage, Larsen uses elaborate adjectives, such as “rich,” “tall,” and “slim,” to illustrate Clare and her wealthy image. Additionally, Clare’s possession of “tea-things,” “rich amber fluid,” “glass pitcher,” and “slim glasses,” stresses Clare’s prosperous materialism, setting the basis that Clare’s advantageous social position from passing allowed her to reach this wealth.

These strict rules made the narrator feel trapped, and she moved away from this parental imprisonment through travel and food. The narrator was an only child and was never married. This lead her to remain home with her parents until the passed

The antithesis of ‘weeping’ and ‘laughing’ highlight to the reader how Mrs Hayward is a character who evokes feelings of both happiness and shame in Stephen, due to her respective actions and emotions. She is a fragmented and incomplete character who is portrayed to the audience through an anaphoric series of present tense memories, which make her actions, and consequent responses of the narrator, seem immediate and continual. She is a character who evokes an emotional response in our narrator almost sixty years after unknown events have occurred, suggesting to the reader that she is going to be central to his journey down ‘memory lane’.

“I know I’m a fool. But I cannot help it. I haven’t the courage to live for myself. My own life is knocked out of me. No wonder Father called me the burden bearer.” This was regarding Bessie, this shows how Bessie’s life was shaped through the influence of religious teachings, forcing herself to stay loyal to the societal expectation and giving up her personal pursuits. She calls herself the “burden bearer” because it was the religion and/or societal teaching for females in Judaism should dedicate their lives to men’s. This was, in fact, the case in which every female figure of the Smolinsky family has suffered throughout the book. Sarah, too, was suffering from such conflict until she realized this is not what she sees herself into if she is to make herself break out the poverty and the so called “religious obedience”.

In his short story, “The Semplica-Girl Diaries”, the author George Saunders crafts an all too human tale as he shows the journal entries of the narrator, a husband and father of three who faces financial insecurity, and displays the effect money, whether in lack or excess, has on our actions and thoughts. The social setting of the story is almost identical to our current society, however there is a distinct divergence in the Semplica Girls, which are girls from impoverished backgrounds that hang from a wire in their heads as an odd, inhumane, and yet expensive, lawn ornament. In the pursuit of the “good life” for both his family and himself, the father places great importance on wealth in order to secure happiness, joy, and status through

Mrs. Bates had worked in the textile mills for a long time, but the town had stirred up rumors that a “boarder” was living with them, and that’s how she made more money. Society also looked down upon her because they said she frequently got drunk and took men for

He sees that by doing so, Richard will not only please the preacher, but he will demonstrate the strong love he has for his mother. This finally makes him do what he was trying to avoid most. Although he has a rough childhood, it is clear that love remains in his heart, but as he begins to be deprived from it more and more, his hunger for it becomes less intense.

However, the ironic power of her attempted suicide is reflected in the sudden action she inspires in Jack. The moment that Jack sees Mabel in the water he is strangely

     By losing this father figure she was left to fend for herself and was virtually helpless.

1. Mrs. Mallard was in a marriage with her husband which passed away in a train accident at work. Mrs. Mallard was heartbroken that not only her husband had passed away, but his friend also passed (so they thought). She was saddened at the thought of having to be alone at first. She loved her husband, but felt a sense of relief that she didn’t she wasn’t going to let his passing hold her back in life. She had her husband in her spirit, heart, and soul.

The next couple of lines portray the idea that it is only through the mother that the father and son are united. In life, her presence and assurances that they are alike linked them, and once she is gone, there is little to bring them together except their shared grief, which as they are so emotionally divided they find impossible to communicate.