Tennesse Williams wrote the play The Glass Menagerie and Lorrain Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun, which both similarly talks about families that are very much alike and different consecutively. Two characters really caught the attention of being different and similar in many aspects. These two characters are Laura Wingfield, from The Glass Menagerie, and Beneatha Younger, from A Raisin in the Sun. Laura and Beneatha both live in a fatherless household where their mother’s reign above the household and where their brothers are a primary source of income along with their mother’s income. Though I concede that both Laura and Beneatha are capable of working hard and achieving goals, I still insist that Beneatha has a brighter future …show more content…
She shows her low self-esteem referring to her leg when she tells Jim, “To me it sounded like-thunder!” (The Glass Menagerie 1.7.35-36). Not only does she have low self-esteem, but her self-esteem is so low that she could not handle finishing Business School as she drops out. Through Laura’s small lies to Amanda, her mother, Amanda finds out and explains while quoting Laura’s teacher, “ And she said, “…..The first time we gave a speed-test, she broke down completely- was sick at the stomach and almost had to be carried into the wash-room!...”.” (The Glass Menagerie, 1.2.42-47 ). This quote supports the characteristic of low self-esteem. Self-esteem is how one shows themselves to society. Positive self-esteem shows confidence and optimism while low self-esteem prohibits individuals from knowing their full potential and they make their self believe that they are unworthy or incapable of many things (Self-Esteem). In The Glass Menagerie, Laura clearly shows low self-esteem as she is not confident and holds back from doing many things, including finishing Business School, because she believes she has a
Laura is presented as an extremely shy and sensitive person. Her shyness is
The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls is story that revolves around a family that faces the hardships of a low class life, constant frustration, and hopelessness. I believe this story is centralized by the title of the book. “The glass castle” throughout the book is a dream, it is dream to Jeanette and her whole family, it represents a better life in a better place. Jeannette Walls centralizes her writing based on diction, the writer specifically chose unique words to show her experiences and emotions, this helps readers interpret the story from the writer's point of view.
Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a captivating memoir about the early life of Jeannette Walls and her family. It demonstrates the darker side of the American dream as they struggle with poverty, homelessness, bullying, hunger, and as far as the children's neglectful treatment from their parents. “The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.” (cited https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream) We see multiple instances of poverty, homelessness, discrimination,
Unforgiving Life… Everyone learns lessons in life. These lessons can come from a book, experience and legends. Books have a theme that you can learn from that is what make books important. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry both have the themes of responsibility, family and dream that runs through the main characters Tom Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie and Walter Lee Younger from A Raisin in The Sun.
“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” A mockingbird is a type of bird that imitates other birds’ songs; not unlike children, including the main character Scout in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout is a representation of these birds in the sense that they imitate what they hear others say even if they do not know what it means. Scout is a young girl who is living in an incredibly complex world.
In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it tells about how the Walls family move to different desert towns, settling in for as long as their father, Rex, can hold a job. However, his perspective of the state and society, and his alcoholism led them to move frequently. The children - Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and little Maureen- experiences unusual childhood, where they travel like nomads to find new money source. This lead to the theme, sometimes you can be mature and responsible at a very young age. The theme is developed by how Jeannette learns how to take care of herself and her younger siblings, and the way her parent taught her.
In the memoir The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, her parent’s values are different from hers and her siblings. Specifically, Walls remembers a time where her and her brother found a ring and their mother took it from them: “She was keeping it… to replace the wedding ring her mother had given her, the one Dad had pawned shortly after they got married. “But Mom,” I said, “that ring could get us a lot of food.” “That’s true,” Mom said, “but it could also improve my self-esteem. And at times like these, self-esteem is even more vital than food.””
I have read numerous different books in my Contemporary Literature class; I have chosen to compare and contrast The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Ironically, they both have meanings that are fairly relatable for anyone; we are all impressionable as children however our innocence is often stripped away by life’s challenges. The two contemporary literature books I chose, both show and help to explain how our life experiences influence who we grow up to be. Jeannette Walls wrote The Glass Castle, it is the story of her life growing up in a somewhat dysfunctional yet loving family. Consequently, she uses vivid details and language to help the reader to really feel and understand what
Kai Sebastian English 10H Mrs. Denchfield 8/27/15 10H Summer Assignment: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 1.“‘We could live like this forever,’ I said. ‘I think we’re going to,’ she said.” (Walls 18) This is near the beginning of the books between the two siblings of the narrator (Jeannette Walls) and her older sister (Lori Walls) as they are lying underneath the stars on a clear night in the desert. The reason for these exchange of words was the fact they were on one of their dad’s
The 1950s were oppressive and degrading towards the culture and identity of African Americans. This principle is especially personified through the drama, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. As a black female author in this time period, she was easily able to capture the racism and forced stereotypes poignant within the lives of the minorities. Beneatha, a fictional character in the play, represents the ambitious and suppressed black female intellectual who is stripped of her identity at every turn. The men in her life are as different as black and white, and in essence that is what they are.
Family is important to everyone in some way because family sticks together no matter what. The play A Raisin in the Sun is about a black family named the Youngers and the hardships they face together as a family. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Ruth Younger is motivated by her family. This is shown by Ruth wanting to make her family happy, her working even though she is tired, and later when Ruth finds out there is going to be another mouth to feed. Ruth Younger is constantly worrying about her family’s well being and happiness for them.
Hardships of the Youngers In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the characters of Mama, Walter ,and Beneatha are faced with hardships associated with their dreams being destroyed by discriminatory housing,racial inequality and lack of support from her family towards her education. In the play all the characters have some kind of dream. Mama wants to get a house for the family, Walter wants to have money to provide for his family and plans to do that with a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to become a doctor. Beneatha is going to school and at the same time she’s trying to discover herself,but her family is not supportive of this.
The character purchased a house for her family to enrich and grow in life, regardless of the challenges they face just like the plant with little sunlight to survive. The family soon held together once they moved into their new house which also meant a new beginning. Susan Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, themes identified are dreams and faith that each character signifies throughout the entire play. The family was slowly falling apart from the challenges that they faced that pushed their dreams away and faith was slowly leaving as well. Through these trials, Lena Younger did what she felt was the right and new beginning for her
A Doll’s House: Character Comparison and Contrast Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House contains a cast of deeply complex characters that emulate the 1800’s societal norms that they belong to. Two characters that compare and contrast each other throughout the play are Nora Helmer and Kristine Linde. Nora and Kristine are similar because they both display a sense of independence. Their personalities differ as Nora presents herself as inexperienced, while Kristine is more grounded in reality.
Just within the recent decades, men and women started to fight against the gender stereotypes and started to challenge their roles in a family and in the society. The play, A Raisin in the Sun, portrays the lives of African–Americans during the 1950s. Lorraine Hansberry, a writer and a social activist, reinforced the traditional gender roles, especially female’s, by depicting how the Youngers interact and how they act in an economical struggle. Throughout the play, A Raisin in the Sun, she uses Walter Lee Younger, Ruth Younger and Lena Younger to reinforce the traditional role of fathers, wives and mothers within a family.