Childhood; it's one’s foundation and when that foundation crumbles it tends to leave a lasting effect. When a child has nothing but shattered pieces to base their life on its hard to pick up those pieces when no one is around to help. In Kathy Ackers short stories “Great Expectations” and “My Mother: Demonology” both of the main characters have their childhoods shattered by their mothers, who are normally the ones who are there to pick up the pieces, not smash them into smaller pieces. Acker uses the postmodern element paranoia to parallel how mother-daughter relationships are ever changing and create emotional damage to childhood, which in turn sticks with a child all their life. Postmodern elements of paranoia are present in “Great Expectations” …show more content…
The mother-daughter relationships are always being tested and out through the wringer, which leads to rocky relationships. In both “Great Expectations” and “My Mother: Demonology” the main characters try to run away and escape their mothers, they feel trapped and just want to get away. “Three or four times I tried to escape her” (Acker My Mother; Demonology). Not only did she try once or twice to escape, but four times showing that this wasn't just a one-time occasion. All that just to get away from her mother who she felt was holding her captive. Acker also uses a metaphor to get her point across by saying, “She is a monster everything is a monster. I hate it. I want to run away (Acker Great expectations). She looks at her mom as a monster and “monsters are half and half borderline creatures who horrify precisely because they are at once human and not human natural and unnatural” (Pitchford 61). She thinks her mother isn't human, because no real human could put her through the amount of pain and trouble her mom has put her through. Also, she is struggling with the idea that her mom has good qualities and bad qualities, but the bad seem to shine through more which deem her a monster. Since both main characters felt like they couldn't escape their mothers it drove a wedge their relationships. On account of dealing with constant bad memories and moments, it left them with a bad relationship with their mother, which in turn also left a lasting mark on the
As the story progresses we come to understand the reason behind all of this. Unfortunately her home life is not the best as she lost her brother and her mother a victim of attempting
This excerpt from Maxine Clair’s “Cherry Bomb” is a prime representation of an adult character reminiscing in memories of youth and innocence. Through the description of her “box of private things” and the cherry bomb incident, she uses appropriate diction, figurative language, and imagery while reflecting on past summers where time wasn’t consumed by school, capturing the pure moments of childhood. To begin with, the persona’s younger self picks up the “lofty” saying ‘I am in this world, but not of it’ without a clear understanding of what the message truly entails. She chooses it based on the fact that it seems to sound important. This reflection of her past shows a sense of immaturity, and is supported by other various examples of forward diction that tie back into her young personality at the time.
For instance, in Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, both lose a parent. Which gives them a sense of hopelessness. In Confetti Girl the dad and the daughters have trouble connecting. In the beginning of the passage, it states “Mom always had after-school projects waiting for me. ’Can you help decorate cookies?’she'd say.
The mother in the beginning was sweet and kind but didnt put up with any lollygagging from Bruno. When he snapped at her when they were moving she ended that quick. When he passed away, I think she will become either depressed and angry at the father for what happened because she never agreed with what he was doing in the first place.
When Strayed lost her mother, in a way she also lost the rest of her family and a piece of herself. Strayed’s mother was the glue, the mold that held what family she had left together. Strayed’s mother in highly present through out the book and I would say the inspiration on Strayed’s journey along the PCT.
In the beginning she is described as almost an antagonist, but as the story carries on, she shows her love for
She loved her parents, she really did. The month that Percy had held her captive had been torture on them, and she had missed them terribly. But ever since she had returned, they'd been smothering her. She never had a moment to herself. She found herself looking forward to these rare days when her parents had to attend to their royal duties, and left her alone, as terrible as that seemed.
In both Kaye Gibbon’s Ellen Foster and Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle the protagonists have to endure life growing up with minimal support from their parents or guardians. Both explore the difficulties they have to face growing up alone and how they overcome it. Child neglect forces children to learn and do things themselves. This level of independence at such a young age causes them to become more responsible than their peers and gives them determination to be different from their parents and learn from their own and their parents mistakes. When parents are absent from a majority of the childs life means that the child needs to provide their basic needs for him or herself.
Upon completing A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer for a second time, I am completely convinced becoming an educator is my purpose in life. The first time I read this book was in middle school and although the book did stir up a lot of my emotions and was a difficult read, it does not compare to the effect it had on me as I read it for a second time as an older woman. Dave Pelzer wrote a memoir that highlighted the horrific abuse he received from his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, all while living with his father, siblings, and attending school. The book expresses the torturous, unpredictable games his mother would play with him. These games took a physical, emotional, and mental toll on Dave’s life and this is all evident through his description of the abuse and his desire to no longer live.
The barrier between her and the neighbours after her husband’s death forced her to become reserved and quiet. Her and her son only went into town if they had to. They preferred to stay close to the garden where they felt safe. The death of the husband is the cause of the mothers’ complete change in character. The death let the audience connect with her on a deeper level to understand her pain and suffering.
Raising children is a hard job, and many parents can vouch for that. Parents must be loving, make sure their children grow up to be successful, and provide an equal balance of discipline. Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, follows her from childhood to adulthood as she grows up in an unstable environment but eventually becomes successful in New York City. Jeannette’s parents, Rosemary and Rex Walls, continually make Jeannette’s and her siblings’ – Lori, Brian, and Maureen – childhoods stranger than most. The neglect Jeannette’s parents inflict on her causes her to become stronger and more independent.
He helps her grow by making her comfortable to express herself. He also shows a great deal of value to her which raises her self-esteem. At the end when she has to end his life, it shows how she has become so independent and finds security within
Meeting her mother 's daughters for the first time, is something that is very important in developing her. Accepting that her mother had this other life before her, makes it more believable in why she was the way she
Esther does not feel sympathy for anything though, and later admits that she hates her mother. While this may seem selfish, I do understand Esther’s way of thinking. I have also had problems with my mother throughout my life. These problems are not caused by a simple fight, but they are caused from years of abuse. Esther endured emotional abuse from her mother, and so did I. Esther has talked about never receiving the support or the love that she needed from her mother.
motherhood repetitively throughout the novel “During those years she felt as if she were locked forever in a large box with four perpetually exploding egos”. In The Autobiography of My Mother, Xuela has several substitute mother figures, but none of them were able to fulfill the maternal attachment from a real mother. She was not able to create a real bond with any of them. For Xuela, the most dangerous substitute mother figure was her new step-mother.