Mademoiselle

Roland Maiuro states that “nearly 50% of both men and women have experienced some form of psychological abuse by their intimate partner” (V). In Tod Robbins’s short story “Spurs,” we witness emotional and physical abuse between Jacques Coube and Mademoiselle Jeanne, a newly married couple that had gotten together for the wrong intentions. Emotional abuse is also seen in Graham Greene’s story “The Basement Room,” amongst Mr. and Mrs.…

towards her husband. The parrot is also in a cage which represents her feelings are also imprisoned and she cannot express them freely. At one point in the novel there is a mocking bird which is also caged. This bird represents a character named Mademoiselle Reisz since a mocking bird is the only bird that is capable of understanding the parrots Spanish. She is the only character throughout the novel that can understand Edna. In general, a caged bird represents all the women of the 1890s. This…

A show gathers a crowd. People come to see the magic, to see the talent the performer can offer. The performance puts the audience into a trance; “Watch me, watch me! Look at what I can do!”. The performer captivates the spectators attention, giving the performer power. Power is the force that drives humanity; it is what humans fight for. Everyone wants to be the performer and have the power. However, in society in the 1960s and years prior, power has only ever been granted to men; women were…

Mademoiselle Reisz instructs Edna that she must have strong wings in order to survive the difficulties she will face if she plans to act on her love for Robert. She warns, “The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have…

Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty, is considered one of the first feminist authors of the 20th century. She was born 8 February 1851 in St. Louis, Missouri to Thomas and Eliza O'Flaherty. Her father, a wealthy businessman, was an Irish immigrant that was killed in a railroad accident in 1855 when Kate was only at the tender age of five. Her mother was left to raise Kate; however, she did not raise her alone. Her mother sought the help of the elderly women in the family. She lived in a house…

Frankly, one week isn't enough time to explore very much of France, let alone Paris. A scant seven days will force you to make some hard choices, because all of France's major and interesting sights are scattered to the whole country. Seven days may not seem like a long time, but with the right approach, you can see the big sights such as Musée du Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and Versailles. Our suggested itinerary takes you to some o f France’s major attractions and charming towns. Feel…

How have cultural and economic factors influenced the dating world? In Beth Bailey’s book From Front Porch to Back Seat, Bailey discusses the “private” world of dating, and its public influences. Additionally, she discusses how dating trends have shifted throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as a result of these factors. These factors have reached beyond the dating shifts that Bailey discusses, and have influenced current dating trends as well. In the early 1900s, the idea of…

The Awakening by Kate Chopin takes place in the late nineteenth century and revolves around a woman named Edna Pontellier who cannot conform to the society in which she lives in. Throughout the novel, Edna slowly breaks free of the reigns in which society holds her to by rebelling against the ideas and morals of motherhood and femininity and chooses love and solitude instead. Early on in the novel, however, Chopin alludes to the existence of Edna's dual life through the following quote, "At a…

Joyce Carol Oates is an acclaimed writer has written many works that can relate to the everyday person. She writes in a way that causes people to think about their own lives. Her stories tend to connect. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a story of a promiscuous girl who is stuck between a rock and a hard place. “ Pumpkin Head” is a story of a seasoned woman who befriends a man who is mentally unstable when he drinks. Her works shows forth reality and the way some humans suffer in…

In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the gender roles and expectations of the novella’s time period were challenged, primarily through the character Edna. Edna was a married woman with two children who had never been fully comfortable with her role as mother or wife. Despite her dissatisfaction with her life, she unthinkingly “[went] through the daily treadmill of the life which had been portioned out to [her]” (Chopin 31) until she met Robert Lebrun, a young and interesting man who awoke the…