* Mr. Green Body paragraph Assignment - Essay Example

Task Mr. Green In Mr. Green", Butler uses plot to develop the theme of a woman’s self- realization. The woman has personal inconsistency because of the way she grew up, in a Vietnamese customary way (Mendoza, 2005; Swensson, 2009). The story gives details of how the narrator grew up from a child leaving in Vietnam to an adult leaving in America. Throughout the anecdote, the protagonist maintains a good relationship between two antagonists, a parrot and her grandfather (Butler, 1993). The protagonist is faced by domestic as well as external conflicts.

She thinks of her religion as a catholic as well as making her grandparent happy by worshiping the ancestors, though this seems impossible since she is a woman. The antagonists enforce the narrator’s external struggle about the issue of gender, death and belief. The grandfather makes her feel distraught when he tells her that she cannot worship the ancestors because she is a girl. The antagonist uses the term “Not possible”, which shows the extent of restrictions in their cultural beliefs in respect to leadership by women (Butler, 1993).

There is discrimination of the Vietnamese women; therefore, they do not have freedom and power to honor their ancestors. The two antagonists use the terms, “Not possible”, and “What then”, to show that these are circumstances that cannot be changed and that they are inevitable. For example, the grand father used the phrase, “what then” when the narrator and the family wanted to move to the North Vietnam and then to the United States (Butler, 1993), to show that there was yet a necessity to worship the ancestors.

When they visited the bird market, the narrator’s grandfather referred to the blackbirds as fools since they kept on bubbling among themselves. He frowned at them saying that they were “just a bunch of old women”, a phrase that showed how much their culture discriminated women (Carr, 2007). At the same time, when the narrator’s mother and grandmother were talking, he said that they sounded foolish, and this shows how women were viewed as inferiors. After the grandfather’s death, the protagonist still took care of the parrot, which was a sign of honor to the ancestors’ spirits.

However, the Parrot reminds her of the grandfather through his actions such as coughing and use of words like “Not possible”, and “What then” (Cassillas, 2006). Therefore, this symbolizes that the protagonist was still living in the past (Swensson, 2009). At last, when the parrot started showing signs of death, the narrator twisted his head and killed him (Butler, 1993). This was a sign of resolution to the protagonist’s conflicts on belief and discrimination. She finally chose her faith as a catholic and the story of Jesus and the “Two Mary’s” symbolizes gender equality and religious belief in today’s life.

Works CitedButler, Robert Olen. Mr. Green. Welcome To De Anza College. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, 1993. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. .Carr, Michael. A study of “Mr. Green” by Robert Olen Butler. Modified Tradition for Today. 30 March. 2007. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. Cassillas, Jason. A promise. 24 May. 2006. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. Mendoza, Victoriano. Mr. Green’s Dilemma. 12 Dec. 2005. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. Swensson, John. Unit 10- Analyzing Literature. Welcome to De Anza College. 18 Sept. 2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. .