Abstract This three-page undergraduate paper discusses the work of CarsonMcCullers and Katherine Paterson in terms of which writer is more realistic in dealing with adolescent identity problems. The paper compares their major novels and concludes that Paterson's portrayal of the issue is more realistic than McCullers'.
Abstract This paper reviews the short story "A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud" by CarsonMcCullers. The writer describes the main characters of the story, their interaction with each other and explains their literary roles as defined by the author.
From the Paper "There are three central characters, two of whom have minimal dialogue, and only one of whom is given a name. Leo is the owner of the cafe where the story takes place. The newspaper boy who visits the cafe early in the morning while on his rounds is twelve and is never named. The focus is on the drunken man sitting alone at a table, a man who makes a surprising comment to the boy and who then expands on his comment by telling his own story. The situation between the boy and the drunk involves a series of implied contrasts between youth and age, innocence and experience. A secondary contrast is evident between the drunken man and Leo, here between an open and accepting spirit and a closed and angry one. What the drunken man imparts to the boy is a difficult lesson learned, and the rather elliptical way the older man imparts this lesson suggests that the boy will have to learn it for himself, probably through experience, just as the older man has."
Abstract This paper centers on the character of Frankie Adams' incomplete development and the symbolic use of music in CarsonMcCullers' classic novel "The Member of the Wedding." One of the most important examples of how the author uses music to signify Frankie's development is illustrated through the jazz horn in part one of the book while in part two the music of the piano foreshadows her progression towards maturity. This paper also examines how music signifies Frankie's instability within herself and the world around her.
From the Paper "In part two of the novella, the music of the piano also foreshadows Frankie's progression towards maturity. As the neighbor's piano is being tuned, it carries out the sound of interrupted music. With every repeated stop and start, it shows the music is out of Frankie's control. Because the music is disoriented, it represents the unpredictable ways of Frankie not finishing her transition to young adulthood. The musical references symbolize the confusion and chaos Frankie associates with her transition in the world."
Abstract This paper explains that, in CarsonMcCullers' novel "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", which is set in a small town in the South in the late 1930s, five main characters are isolated from the rest of the society for different reasons. The author relates that Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland, the noblest character in the novel, is isolated because he is alienated from his family and from the other black people of the community. He is well educated and knows what is needed to solve the problems of the black community in his small southern town. The paper concludes that his isolation is because he has a very intellectual approach in explaining his viewpoints through his speeches, which cannot be clearly understood by people who have little or no education.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Overview of the Story
Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland
Facts
Principles
Conflicts and Isolation of Dr. Copeland
Speeches of Dr. Copeland
Conclusion
From the Paper "Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland is a man of principles and believes that furthering one's education will further one's standing in life. As a young man, Dr. Copeland went to the North to get a good college education. When he became a doctor, he came back to the South so that he can make use of his education in order to uplift the way of life in the black community of his small southern home town.
Dr. Copeland also believes that blacks are being stereotyped as ignorant because of the way they speak. This is why Dr. Copeland is very cautious on how he speaks."
Tags: isolation, flaws, physician, education, pride
Abstract CarsonMcCullers' classic novel, "The Member of the Wedding', tells the story of a lonely 12 year old girl, Frankie Adams, suffering from typical adolescence crisis. In the course of being disconnected from the world, she reveals her frustration by not being a member of anything. This paper examines how CarsonMcCullers throughout the novella uses music to signify Frankie's incomplete development. It looks at how the many versions of music in the novella indicate Frankie's special burden of childhood, ultimately revealing her position of not being ready to become a teenager.
From the Paper "One of the most important examples of how McCullers uses music to signify Frankie's incomplete development is illustrated through the jazz horn in part one of the novella. When Frankie is visiting John Henry, she overhears someone playing blues on a horn. Her first notion about the tune takes her back to the spring, when all kinds of things began to hurt her. It was known as the season that troubled her: "it was like the telling of that long season of trouble" thought Frankie (44). The sadness of the tune reminds her of her disturbed childhood days. She is able to relate to the grieving tune. Then in a sudden moment the horn plays a wild jazz and Frankie is swept away by the off beat rhythm. "
Abstract This paper will cover the book "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by CarsonMcCullers and seek to understand the author's style and form. By understanding the nature of the novel in the way that McCullers seems to change characters on every chapter, we can understand the experimental side of this author's technique in literature. The style that he uses to reveal the nature of the scope of the novel and its characters will also be discussed for his approach in technique.
Abstract This paper discusses the book "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" by CarsonMcCullers, a tale involving five main characters that struggle against the isolation and despair brought on by circumstances in their lives. The paper contends that McCullers wrote this story in order to analyze the lives of social outcasts and to learn how they try to break out of their unfavorable positions in life. The paper claims that she wished to show that despite being misfits in society, either due to their unpopular opinions on important issues or unusual circumstances in life, they were still complex individuals who also wished to love and be loved by others.
From the Paper "The novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers is a tale involving five main characters that struggle against the isolation and despair brought on by circumstances in their lives. The story takes place during the late 1930's in an unnamed deep Southern town. McCullers begins the story by introducing the deaf-mute John Singer; he used to live with his friend Spiros Antonapoulos who was also a deaf-mute. Singer doted on his friend a great deal even though it was apparent that Antonapoulos never showed any appreciation towards it. Later Antonapoulos became mentally ill and was taken away to an insane asylum despite Singer's protestations. Due to this, Singer had to move out of the home he once shared with his friend and become a boarder at the house of the Kelly's."
Abstract This paper analyzes the role of ghosts in the plot, themes, and language of CarsonMcCullers's novel, "The Member of the Wedding." Using Judith Butler's theories on kinship and queer relationality in "Antigone's Claim," the paper argues that ghosts help the novel to present an expanded vision of the field of human love.
From the Paper Carson McCullers? The Member of the Wedding is, essentially, the story of a twelve-yeard-old girl named Frankie Addams searching for love and connection in a lonely world. Frankie's world is frightening, even nightmarish at times, and it is filled with the ghosts that inhabit her imagination and described in the textually ghostly terms of the unknown, the secret, and the unnameable. The figure of the "ghost" ? as imagined by Frankie and as a primary descriptive device in McCullers? prose ? quite literally haunts the novel, complicating its conceptions of human relationality and connection. The ghosts enable the novel to posit a tenuous definition of what it is to be a living human being; every living figure in the novel is not only deeply aware of the presence of non-living figures but is in constant danger of falling out of the realm of the living, of becoming a ghost, and every relationship between the living is negotiated over the presence of the dead. Ultimately, the novel's ? and its characters ? ghosts allow for the at once terrifying and redemptive possibility of relationships and identities that transgress not only normative societal boundaries but the boundaries between the living and the dead.
Abstract This paper examines how "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" by CarsonMcCullers is an interesting tale that focuses on strange nature of the emotion called love. It looks at how it deals with interesting yet complicated relationship between three people who are not our average protagonists where looks and appearance are concerned. It also discusses how relationships play an important role for the simple reason that author has taken up the uniqueness of this emotion of love as the central theme.
From the Paper "Miss Amelia is not our usual female protagonist because she is neither beautiful nor rich. She is an ordinary woman with less than average looks and an unusual appearance. About 6'1 tall, she is not very feminine but is well respected in her town because of her small store where she sells wine. Marvin Macy is a handsome man who lacks morals since he is an outlaw and has often been convicted of stealing and robbing. However for some inexplicable reason, he falls in love with Miss Amelia and this brings us to the strangeness of this emotion."
Abstract This paper discusses how the heroine, Frankie Adams, of CarsonMcCullers' "The Member of the Wedding" is primarily defined by her familial relationships. It looks at how Frankie seems ostracized from what is left of her biological family, even though she is not consciously aware of this fact. It concludes that Frankie learns that family is not particular to brothers, fathers, or mothers, but can be found within the hearts of anyone who cares enough to listen and understand her needs, thoughts, and feelings.
From the Paper "Although Frankie does not realize her confusion about growing up until she talks to Bernice, Frankie's childlike status and need for a mother soon becomes clear when the reader leans she is scared to sleep alone. Early on in the book, she demands that her six-year-old cousin stay overnight to keep her company. However, like the twelve-year-old she is, Frankie is also determined to seem like a young woman and conceal her feelings of neediness and desire for protection, as she tries to seem mature before her father when he informs her of her uncle's death. Her family does not see this need for protection and maturity all at once--they are too preoccupied with the wedding. Only Bernice truly understands Frankie's emotional conflict, as a mother should."
This study analyzes the misbehavior of adolescent girls as exemplified by the character of Frankie Addams in CarsonMcCullers' "The Member of the Wedding" and by the character of Beverly Ann Donofrio in her autobiographical "Riding in Cars With Boys".
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 2 sources, 1994, $ 47.95
From the Paper "This study will analyze the misbehavior of adolescent girls as exemplified by the character of Frankie Addams in Carson McCullers' "The Member of the Wedding" and by the character of Beverly Ann Donofrio in her autobiographical "Riding in Cars With Boys". The study will consider what makes an adolescent girl a "bad girl" or a "good girl," what leads them to misbehave, how each of the two girls sees herself, how each girl's culture judges her, and how this reader sees each of them.
There are similarities and differences between the two girls in terms of why they are "bad" in the eyes of those around them. They come from very different socioeconomic backgrounds, Beverly from a poor neighborhood, Frankie from a wealthier family with a cook and other conveniences. They live in different era---Frankie in the 1940s of World War II, Beverly in the 1960s, but both eras ... "
Abstract Isolation is a word that denotes loneliness and being alone. This is not merely a physical condition, but can be a state of mind, as well. This paper discusses the stories of William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily", and McCullers"s, "The Ballad of the Sad Caf"", in which this theme is highlighted. It shows how both writers create protagonists that are isolated due to their thoughts and struggles in the course of life, rather than solely by society and the constraints it puts on people.
From the Paper "Isolation is a harsh word that brings up an image of a person living alone in the desert or equally far away place that has little human habitation. The word is rarely used for people living in the middle of a social town or city for it seems impossible that a person could be alone in the midst of a relatively large population. Yet, some people refuse to accept that their lives must be inexplicably linked with the others who live amongst the society for humans are not social animals for recreation purposes, though that is an added advantage, the fact is humans are social for survival. For without the human touch even an infant slowly dies. Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner is a story of a woman who seems to be lost in her search for love and companionship, through out her life."
Abstract The paper looks at the life of Christopher "Kit" Carson, an almost mythic character in American history. He played an important role in the United State's expansion as a major player in the government's war with the Navajo Indians, finally forcing them off their lands. The paper reports on Carson's childhood. As his father died when he was nine years old, the need to work prevented him from ever receiving an education. His story is remarkable because in his lifetime Carson played so many roles that aided in Westward expansion in addition to Indian fighter: mountain man, trapper, guide, and sheep rancher. Both during and after Carson's life, astounding stories were told about his bravery, great strength and heroic deeds he had performed. The paper concludes that the story of Carson reveals both the good and the bad; while playing an important role in the Untied States expansion, he participated in important ways in subjugation and mistreatment of Native Americans. He was an army officer who followed his orders, but today those actions are recognized as wrong. His life is an example of those complex times.
From the Paper "Christopher "Kit" Carson, who was born in 1809 and died in 1868, has become an almost mythic character in American history. He started out as an apprentice to a saddle-maker, but made his way to the West, where he became a fur trapper and guide. He started out enjoying good relationships with Native Americans and even married Native American women twice in his life. Eventually he was an officer in the Civil War, and he played a major role in the American government's war with the Navajo Indians, finally forcing them off their lands."
Abstract Rachel Carson's 1962 book, "Silent Spring," unquestionably served as a catalyst in the formation of the modern environmental movement, rousing many to action, and profoundly altering the public conception of government, industry, and the human relationship to the natural world. This paper explores the myriad ways in which Carson revolutionized nature writing and her profound impact on American life.
From the Paper "Perhaps the most noticeable aspect of Carson's writing is its lack of overt glorification of the natural world. Gone are Muir's mountain "temples," "bathed in light, bathed in floods of singing water," or "the wild sheep of God" that populate Mary Austin's' landscape. Carson boldly does away with the grandiose language usually used to evoke emotion, and in its place she creates an overriding tone of objectivity. A trained biologist, she presents a vast body of information in a style that is succinct and straightforward, designed to have a logical, rather than artistic or spiritual, appeal. References to the divine, for example, are almost entirely lacking - a marked contrast between her work and that of most other writers. Rather, one races through a series of vividly sketched case studies and statistics, which together paint an increasingly convincing and dire picture. It is this tone of objectivity, somewhat ironically, that creates much of Silent Spring's tremendous emotional impact."
Abstract This paper examines Anne Carson's prose poem "The Glass Essay" in terms of the post-modern condition, which reduces human experience to the self and fragmented meanings, to loneliness and senselessness. It focuses on particular events in the poem, such as Carson's descriptions of her mother and a past love affair, and her insights into the mind of Emily Bronte. The paper ends by pointing out that, though the poem is written in the post-modern form and tradition, its conclusion presents a not so post-modern self but rather a very human, heartening, and timeless self.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
A Past Love Affair
An Aging Mother
On Emily Bronte
The Post-modern Self
Concluding Remarks
From the Paper "Throughout "The Glass Essay" Carson describes the profound loneliness that has always been part of human experience known to some individuals more than others and that is seen as a strong part of the postmodern personality. The world is thought to have changed with a great loss of faith in authorities, institutions or ideas of art or value that leave many people feeling they have no bearings, or that life is only absurd and senseless. People are believed to be more cut off from one another than was true in the past and with the resulting loneliness involving only the self as a reliable reality. It may be said that postmodern ideas of the self stress this extreme individuality and its results, no past grouping or category seeming to have relevance."
