Violence in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre :: Jane Eyre Essays

Violence in Jane Eyre    Charlotte Bronte uses violence in several scenes throughout the novel. The violence in the novel is not fatal to anyone, it is just used to catch the readers eye. This novel consists of many emotional aspects. For example, the violence in the scene where Mr. Mason gets attacked. The attack really upsets Jane and Mr. Rochester. In the novel Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte uses several acts of violence to create suspense, mystery, and characterization.    This scene is probably the best one to create the suspense of the novel. It keeps a person interested in the book and wanting to know what happens next. There is no way of knowing why this happened, who does it, or if Mr. Mason is going to live or die. That is why Charlotte Bronte used violence   to create this kind of suspense. So a person would be interested enough in the novel to keep reading. The mystery is a mystery itself, there is a secret at Thornfield and Jane can sense this. Then there is the mystery of the person who committed this act of violence. Jane suspects who it might be, but she is not for sure. To find out the mystery of the house and the person who did it a person has to solve it. Finally, there is the characterization of Bertha. From the way Rochester talks about Bertha at first she seems pretty normal, but he says how she become after they get married. She turned into someone he did not know, a crazy psychopath, mad woman. Rochester wanted to hide this from e veryone even Jane, Bertha cares for no one but herself. She does not care who she hurts, she proved this when she hurt Mr.

Assessment of Grandmother’s Character in ” a Good Man Is Hard to Find”

An Assessment of the Grandmother from â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† by Flannery O’Connor The grandmother who remains unnamed all throughout in the story is the protagonist and the central character of Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man is hard to Find, a tragic story of a family who decided to go on vacation but got killed randomly on the road by a criminal on the loose named â€Å"The Misfit†. She is endowed with a joyful spirit, a passion in life in spite of her age. She is a non-stereotypical woman whose old fashion clothing and beliefs contradict her strong, manipulative mind, an opposite trait of a passive and complacent woman in her time. The Grandmother is a smart woman who knows how to assert herself by trying to use all the available resources around her and manipulating them by appealing to their morality. From this information we say that the grandmother is a round and dynamic character as her character changes from being a manipulative mother to her son Bailey, to a quirky, playful grandmother who ignite her grandchildren’s imagination by her stories, and finally, to a humble human being who experiences â€Å"awakening† and acceptance of defeat in her moral battle and failed manipulation scheme with The Misfit. Right from the beginning of the story, we are introduced to a powerful trait of the grandmother—her strong and manipulative character. She did not want to go to Florida, as her son Bailey has planned for the family. Instead she wanted to go to Tennessee to visit her old friends and â€Å"she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind† (356). She would use everything around her to complete her scheme and set things her way. She picks up a newspaper and shows him the news about a criminal on the loose from the Federal Penitentiary who is headed towards Florida, and attacks his conscience and morals by saying, †I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that a loose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did† (356). When her first attempt gets no response, she uses her grandchildren and hopes to convince Bailey’s mind this time by saying that the â€Å"children need to see the other parts of the world and be broad† (356). Finally, when she realizes defeat, the grandmother is the first one all set to go the next morning, an indication of the dynamism and flexibility of her character. This same manipulative character is so important in the development of the plot that it will set fire and conflict of the story. The grandmother persuades her son Bailey to make a detour and let the family see an old house off road. When Bailey says no, she again uses her grandchildren by telling them lies about the secret panel in the house where the old family that used to stay in that house hid their silver. The grandmother knows she ignites the children’s imagination and senses winning this time. This sends the children to a frantic tantrum and ultimately changes Bailey’s mind. The detour causes them an accident and their encounter with The Misfit. In her encounter with The Misfit, still high with power over her ability to changer her son’s mind, she does the same tactic to The Misfit, and hopes not to get killed by persuading The Misfit to change his ways. She evangelizes on his morality and flatters him by constantly telling him he is a good man and that he comes from a nice people (364). Her desperation is overwhelming as she desperately tries to reach out with The Misfit by calling him â€Å"one of her children† and touching him on his shoulders. This desperate action brings her to her death in the hands of The Misfit. Apparently, her manipulative scheme does not work with The Misfit, instead gets him more irritated and angry as he states, â€Å"She would have been a good woman†¦if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life† (368). Another indication of the grandmother’s unique personality is her clothing and style. The author presents her to us as being a prim and proper lady dressed in a navy blue suit with a matching navy blue sailor hat and white cotton gloves. What makes her clothing and style peculiar and interesting is its inappropriateness to the humid condition of her surroundings. The grandmother seems unmindful about it instead she focuses on her aristocratic and old-fashion views in life. She states, â€Å"In case of accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady† (357). Instead of viewing the grandmother as hypocrite and superficial, we could look at her as a lost spirit in a lost time frame and space. Her old-fashioned clothing, ways and thinking indicate her imprisonment and nostalgia for the old days. This is shown through her constant recalling of the past, her yearning to reconnect with her old friends in Tennessee, and her nostalgia with the old house in the hill. These are important indications of a suppressed spirit trapped in the pain and joys of unresolved past. Tragically, this constant yearning of the past will take her and her family to doom and death. Compared to the other characters in the story, the grandmother’s character is the most dynamic and vibrant just like how her choice of clothing stands out. Her son, Bailey, is a cold-hearted and self-absorbed individual whose character is just as boring as his yellow parrot shirt. He consciously defies his mother’s control and hates her sunny disposition,† The children’s mother put a dime in the machine and played ‘The Tennessee Waltz’, and the grandmother said that tune always made her want to dance. She asked Bailey if he would like to dance but he only glared at her†. Bailey’s wife on the other hand, is a passive character whose only obsession is to hold her baby day and night. To illustrate it more graphically, â€Å"the grandmother is a giant red rose in the midst of weathered weeds in a field†. It becomes more vibrant in her encounter with the antagonist of the story, The Misfit. The grandmother’s and The Misfit’s characters are both strong and contrast with each other and it is reflected in their opposing choice of clothing and differing views on morality. Reading between them is like watching the Battle of Endor in Star Wars-Return of the Jedi where the â€Å"good†Ã¢â‚¬â€Luke Skywalker battles with the â€Å"evil†Ã¢â‚¬â€Darth Vader. The encounter brings us to a hopeful anticipation whether the good will prevail evil and hopes that the grandmother will persuade The Misfit to spare her life and change his ways. But to no avail. The grandmother will be shot three times on her chest. The death of the grandmother in the hands of The Misfit will evoke us differing reactions. At first instance, we may feel vindictive for the grandmother, and that she only got what she deserved as payback for her selfishness and manipulative character. At the same time, we are also saddened of the evil’s triumph over goodness, a brush of reality that at times or most of the time, â€Å"guns are still mightier than words or even religion†. The story concludes with a life lesson that a man’s character and morality are so embedded in the individual that it cannot be changed overnight nor by the mere mention of God or religion. It has to be noted though that when the grandmother dies, the author describes her as â€Å"half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky (368), as if full of peace and divine grace. This demonstrates O’Connor’s conviction on salvation through religion that everyone has the chance to be saved no matter how deceitful the individual’s actions may have been in the past. All throughout the story, our relationship with the grandmother fluctuates from hatred to love, anger to sadness. We love her for her playfulness, her sunny disposition, and nostalgia for the past, yet we hate her for resembling with our own grandmothers or mothers who never shut up at our homes and who seem to know everything in the world constantly asserting their power and dominance over us. This ability to evoke an ambivalent feeling and familiarity with reality is what makes this story worth reading all over again. References: O’ Connor, F. (1955). A Good Man Is Hard to Find. In G. Giola, & J. Kennedy (Ed. ), Backpack Literature (pp. 355-368). USA: Pearson

What Does A Vegetarian Diet - 1591 Words

What does a â€Å"vegetarian diet† mean? The term â€Å"vegetarian† is quite often misunderstood. Vegetarian simply means a plant-based diet. There are several kinds of vegetarian diets, defined by what types of foods are consumed. I for example am a Lacto-vegetarians which includes dairy products in their diet. Lacto-ovo- vegetarians also eat dairy products, eggs and some including me don’t eat fish either. My name is jenna and i will have been a vegetarian for three years this lent. Today. I will try to persuade you all to become vegetarian. Something my mom has told me thousands of times is that not eating meat is a lifestyle and that i should respect people s choices.There are some pretentious vegetarians out there and i think its great theyre standing up for what they believe in, but im not reciting this speech to bully meateaters. No, i do not hate you for eating meat, i just hope you all listen closely because i have some important points to make today and i hope no one is offended. I will be discussing the horrific conditions of slaughterhouses, what exactly you are eating, pros and cons of going vegetarian, and commonly asked questions. What goes on inside a slaughterhouse is something the meat industry does not want you to find out about. They like to portray happy farm animals, but we both know thats not true. In the U.S alone over 500,000 animals are killed merciless every hour for their meat. â€Å"Over 56 billion farmed animals are killed every year by humans. More thanShow MoreRelatedThe Key to a Healthy Vegetarian Diet719 Words   |  3 Pagesthousands of years; then why is maintaining a vegetarian diet so difficult in the 21st century? The key to a healthy vegetarian diet is knowing what to eat and what not to eat, rather than simply avoiding meat. 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Vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian, and vegan are some of the many types of diets people can choose from today that can lower the risks for diseases and illnesses