Her Faulty Heart

Superior Essays
“We survive here in dependence on others” a quote said by Dalai Lama XIV, reflects the behaviour of human society. On that account, since the beginning of time, humans have been conditioned to continually trust and form bonds with one another. To show the consequences of this nature, Kate Chopin, William Hunt, and Margaret Atwood use several different literary devices such as contrasting imagery, symbolism, and a pessimistic mood in order to convey the theme: the devotion an individual might give to another through trust and loyalty, sacrifices his or her own independence and the opportunities that await him or her, leading to that individual becoming miserable and despondent.
For instance, Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” indicates the
…show more content…
To achieve this mood, Atwood provides denotation and connotation. For example, in stanza five where the woman describes the actions of her heart, she says “It forces me to listen.” To force someone into doing something means that it is being done against his or her will. In other words, the woman is unable to be her own self and must follow the directions that she is being told. The feeling of distress emits from this piece of text and draws attention to the importance of the woman not being able to be freely independent, exaggerating the emotions felt by her. The dramatization repeats throughout the story and it can be seen on stanza seven where it states “Long ago I gave up singing to it / it will never be satisfied or lulled.” The use of denotation for the words “gave up” and “never” help contribute to this cheerless mood, as well as the inclusion of “long ago” which gives the connotation of a desolate past. The quote creates the stress of being helpless to go against the control of the heart as well as the alarming hopelessness of ever becoming free. By giving up her independence to the heart, she allows it to take free rein over her mind and body despite her

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Fishhawk Poem Analysis

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Author used words such as “on and on”(line 11) to demonstrate the deepness and the intensiveness of the young man’s desire toward the woman. An image of the young man alone in the bed, “tossed from one side to another”(line 2) showed how much he suffered from loving the woman he was unable to get. This stanza conveyed sorrows and pains the man went through when the maiden he thought of day and night rejected him, and this created in a sad tone in contrast to the happy and exciting tone before. Nonetheless, starting from the fourth stanza, the tone seemed to move back toward the happy side of the scale. In line 16, “With harps we bring her company”, the young man shortened the distance between him and the maiden through playing harps.…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sometimes life is best explained in metaphors. Sometimes the hurt, pain, and anger found in life are more easily grasped when one looks at them in terms of other objects. This is how the poem,“The Minefield,” written by Diane Thiel, looks at pain and anger. Written in short and choppy lines with no clear rhythm or rhyming pattern, this poem tells the story of a man who witnessed his friend blown to pieces in a minefield. Because of this, the man who witnessed this terrifying tragedy has grown into an angry and broken soul.…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Congenital Heart Defect

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The congenital heart defect is influenced with many factors, economic, politic, social, emotional, psychological and physically, so it is needed that,to the increase of the knowledge, attitude and practices of parent who have children with congenital heart defect to prevent complication. About 20% to 30% of people with a Congenital congenital heart defect have other physical problems or developmental or cognitive disorders, Children children with Congenital congenital heart defect are about 50% more likely to receive special education services compared to children without birth defects (Miller, Riehle-Colarusso, Alverson, Frias, Correa , 2011; Shillingford , et al., 2008; Limperopoulos , et al., 2000). Congenital heart anomalies are divided into levels of complexity: mild, moderate, and severe, more than half of with a critical type of congenital heart defect have…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Margaret Fuller published “The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men. Woman versus Women” in the July 1843 number of the Dial before its revision and expansion into a book in late 1844 under the title Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Phyllis Cole in “Fuller’s Lawsuit and Feminist History” mainly refers to Fuller’s use and expansion of the arguments made by feminist predecessors Mary Wollstonecraft and Sarah Grimke. Cole then identifies that Fuller’s use of “the rhetoric of expectancy as a means to its own fulfillment” is her “greatest gift to nascent feminism”. However, David Robinson states that Fuller’s contribution in the demand for social change is evident in the title “The Great Lawsuit” as he argues that she not only includes the Emersonian distinction…

    • 2084 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Death of a Young Son by Drowning” by Margaret Atwood tells the very vivid story of a mother’s son’s death. The tone used by the author was reflective, happy, and yet still sorrowful. Atwood sort of describes the son’s death as an adventure, giving the poem a happy and optimistic tone. She uses words that make it seem almost like a journey, for instance in line 4 she uses “voyage,” in line 25 “long trip,” and line 13 “reckless adventurer,” that make it seem almost exciting. There is also a shift in tone in lines 16-18 when she says, “There was an accident; the air locked, he was hung in the river like a heart.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Professor and author Roderick Nash describes an ideal in which the wilderness serves as a place for those stressed over the actions of mankind to take refuge from everything occurring while remaining at peace with themselves. So much freedom exists in seclusion that it offers a stage on which humans have the opportunity to express themselves freely with “melancholy or exultation.” However, interactions with several elements of the outside community still have the ability to take place in the wild. While Nash correctly asserts that the simplicity of the wilderness helps the individual escape from society, one cannot possibly achieve complete freedom from man and his works. Literature often uses a character’s thoughts to depict the craving for freedom in the wilderness.…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis of “Head, Heart” Lydia Davis’s poem “Head, Heart” chronicles a short, yet meaningful interaction between the entities Head and Heart. Head and Heart have recently suffered an immense loss and feel great distress. In this time of great sorrow, it is Head’s duty to act as consoler to Heart, to comfort Heart in its moment of despair.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Explication of “Where the Sidewalk Ends” Shel Silverstein’s poem “Where the Sidewalk Ends” is an eclectic concoction; it begins with a playful, childlike stock while stirring in a deeper, mature message. The poem starts its journey in a magically enchanting world, but it shifts suddenly as it travels into darkness. To escape, the speaker suggests following the arrows the children have drawn, pointing away from the grimness to “go where the chalk-white arrows go... To the place where the sidewalk ends” (14,16).…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cardiac Dysfunction

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cardiac dysfunction is the most severe side effect of DOX therapy. Previous studies demonstrate that cardiomyocyte death through apoptosis, necrosis, and other forms is a primary contributor to the development of DOX-induced cardiomyopathy(Zhang et al. ,2009) The anthracycline doxorubicin-induced myocyte apoptosis is mediated by oxy radical chemistry. and change in level of antioxidant in the heart tissues(increase in CAT ,SOD and decrease level of GSH).…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The poem “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot is truly one of a kind. It’s use of symbolic language, analogies and powerful diction created a depressing plot for the reader’s imagination. When using these writing techniques the writer sets up their piece of work for comparison to daily life, through things such as emotions, intellect and politics. Making the poem easily understandable and giving the writer a way of connecting to their reader(s). Emotional pieces of written work are usually the simplest to understand.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Greek Mythology has had a beneficial effect on today's literature, arts and even society. These myths explain today’s world and how things came to be. They also teach us relevant lessons about life through works such as paintings and poems, that go way beyond the paper and give us a deeper meaning. For instance, the story of Ulysses and the Sirens was a story of these irresistible sea creatures that men could not avoid.…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The poem by Margret Atwood, “Marrying the Hangman” exemplifies the conception of humiliation, commendably sanctioning the metamorphosing societal values. Effectively perceiving the perception of deception and guilt. Marrying the Hangman is fused by history which in turn invoked the official, written history of a woman who escaped sentence of death by convincing a condemned man to accept the position of hangman and to marry her, and the oral history of a violent encounter, shared among other women: "These things happen and we sit at a table and tell stories about them so we can finally believe." Atwood demonstrates a remarkable determination to confront humiliation in her poetry. The historical poem “Marrying the Hangman” includes a related observation: An example illustrating the humiliation she withholds, “To live in prison is to live without mirrors.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Siren Song Theme

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Within the alluring propensities of man, Margaret Atwood emphasizes the menace of displaying acquiescence to pleasure in “Siren Song”. In implication of “The Odyssey”, the sirens that entice fellow sailors sings a song of indulgence; only to brutally murder their victims once they succumb to desire. Furthermore, the “irresistible” force connotes to the resentment of existence in favor of stoicism.(3). Idealistically, the ambition to surpass ”the beached skulls” beyond the realm of existentialism; reaching the sirens, is detrimental to accepting the flaws and faults life has to offer. (6).…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A key aspect of humanity is the ability for people to form bonds between each other and create relationships, both intimately and in a broader sense. These bonds which people form are what define humanity. These bonds can both be positive and negative in nature, however every relationship can create a strain on people in that relationship. Sometimes even when it is a loving relationship strain can be in place, which highlights the complexity of human relationships. Pat Barker and Jonathon Teplitzky represent these ideas in in both Regeneration and The Railwayman.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She makes these thematic ideas apparent to the readers by making deliberate choices. Atwood’s usage of motifs, similes, and metaphors all contribute to highlighting the themes of the passage which generates a depressed and melancholy tone through the passage. Firstly,…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays