1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.
I think I would use The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao here. We have the conflict between Lola and Belicia Cabral, her mommy. They have the most complex relationship. Her mother calls her ugly, tells her she is going to grow up to be nothing, however, there is still love there. i would talk about three scenes to meditate on the complex relationships: Lola burning the wig, Belicia calling Lola to check out her lump, Lola running away and then turning back to help her fallen mother only be caught. The internal strife in the family between mother and daughter also relflects upon the love-hate relationship between Belicia Cabral their mother land, the Dominican republic. Overall the conflict most adds to the work because it not only comments on the strife present in immigrant, and more specifically DR families, but it creates a conducive environment for Oscar to think about his home country and investigate his roots and past. The conflict between his siter and mother, hte sight of his dying mother, make him turn to the past.
ReplyDeleteI would also use The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but I would apply it a bit differently. Conflict between mother and daughter are shown in two generations: the first between La Inca and Beli and the latter between Beli and Lola. What is consistent is a sense that the both mothers see their daughters as an extension of their own life and legacy, whilst the daughters fight to claim a separate identity. This struggle ties into the central focus of the novel because it fundamentally reflects the immigrant experience. The prinicipal immigrant mentality is to give one's children a better life than one has had, which makes the parental generation's success coalesce with that of their progeny. This is why La Inca is obsessed with Beli remembering that her father was a doctor and her mother was a nurse - her duty as a daughter is to continue their legacy. It is also why Beli is so harsh with Lol - she wants her to be everything that she never was.
DeleteI would try and copy rachel's essay. When i saw mother daughter i immediately thought of Lola and Beli. That pared with the contrasting relationship between La Inca and Beli would illustrate the ideas of family and loyalty that emerge in this text. Even though for the most part these women seem to hate each other they still love one another and are there for each other. The fight scenes (Lola lighting the wig on fire, the scene on the board walk at wild wood, Beli's fight with La Inca about Jack and about the gangster) and the reconciliation's between these characters give an honest portrayal of the love in a family which i believe was the overall theme of the text.
DeleteI'm not sure if we're supposed to write about books that we didn't cover on this blog post, but I'd be very tempted to write about Lolita. Also Beloved. But for the books we covered in class, I think the one that I'd choose would be Medea. Maybe it's the obvious pick for this one, but there's a lot to write about. The sources of the conflict are less that Medea's children oppose her or something, but instead she kills them because she can use it against Jason. Medea's murder of her children is probably among the most notable and studied aspects of the text, so I would say that there would be a lot to talk about for the overall meaning of the text. I would probably cover the Marxist power struggle aspect as well as the feminist aspect of this scene and what it means for that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, sorry if this is late. I don't know what time this was posted, but I only see one comment above mine, so I have no idea.
DeleteI would use Hard Times and discuss the relationship between Mr. Gradgrind and his daughter Louisa. The source of the conflict is Thomas Gradgrind's belief in facts. Mr. Gradgrind is an "eminently practical" man, Only when Louisa collapses does he realize too late that facts are not everything in life. Through out her whole life, Louisa's naturally curious mind (as seen when she was a child) was put in conflict with her father's quest for facts only. When Mr. Gradgrind talks to Louisa about Mr. Bounderby’s marriage proposal, Louisa accepts, not considering her feelings, because her father pressed her to only consider the facts and material gains. His “system” of logic and scientific correctness does not take into consideration “heart knowledge” or any other representation of fancy. During her meltdown, and the climax of the book, Louisa blames her father for making her coldhearted, as the way she was when Harthouse came into her life. This is the key point in Dicken's satire so as to criticize the facts based and strict teachings of people like Gradgrind, leading to the demise of his daughter and son.
ReplyDeleteI would also use Hard Times and talk about Mr. Grandgrind's relationship with his daughter Louisa, although I was tempted to use a different text to discuss the "complex relationship between father and son". Louisa's strained relationship with her father represents the limitations of facts in general but also, more specifically, Gradgrind's entirely fact-based belief system, in terms of maintaining relations between human beings. Gradgrind rejects all forms of feeling and emotion, which are necessary in a relationship between people, who despite Gradgrind's belief are not machines. The collapse of Louisa's marriage also represents the failure of Gradgrind's efforts to impose his appreciation (worship, really) of cold, hard facts on his students, as Louisa (his most important pupil... because she's his daughter) buckles under the pressure of his fact-based way of living.
DeleteI would write about Siddartha, and the conflict between Siddartha and his father in the beginning of the novel, when his father denies him permission to leave the family. I would focus on the epiphany that led Siddartha to want to leave his way of life as significant to the meaning of the work, both religiously and thematically, as the source of the conflict. The other aspect of the conflict that I would focus on would be the way in which Siddartha tries to achieve what he wants – by standing outside his father’s bedroom for three straight days. This reflects the discipline and desire required to achieve eventual happiness. The entire conflict is also symbolic. His father represents a typical way of life without total happiness or satisfaction, and Siddartha represents the desire to achieve more in life, despite the obvious challenges and sacrifices.
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