The Polarities in Kate Chopins Short Story Ripe Figs - Research Paper Example

The Polarities in Kate Chopin’s Short Story Ripe Figs This essay will examine the polarities in Chopin's short story. In order to do this we will analyze the following: restlessness versus patience; bubbly versus staidness; informal versus formal; candidness versus caution. The first element is restlessness versus patience. The child is anxious to make the visit and the godmother is not anxious for time to pass quickly. The child in the story must measure her wait against the growth of the figs, their ripening marking the time that she can go to see her cousins. This helps to mark a specific setting in Louisiana for the work (Walker 108). Her godmother, who had control of when she would be able to go, marked this time as appropriate for the visit. The child restlessly goes to the trees in order to see if the figs are ready so that she can go, but the figs seem to take a very long time in her measure of time. She is restless to go, while the godmother instills a forced patience upon her as she waits. At the end, the godmother marks the time when she will see Tante Frosine when the chrysanthemums bloom, marking her own visit as well by the growth in nature (Barnett, Cain, and Burton 11). The comparison provides the contast of the impatience of youth against the wisdom and patience of age. The second element is bubbly versus staidness. While the child exudes an exited and animated nature, the godmother is calm and steady in her way of handling the child. The second element is the way in which the writing shows the contrasts between the child in her effervescence of youth and the adult in her slow moving, carefully planned style of approaching life. One can almost feel the skip of the child as she goes to look at the figs, her arms moving in exasperation as she is betraying her disappointment as a child would do when faced with having to continue that patience. The feeling of the writing is sweet and tender, the natural references of the sugarcane, the figs, and the growth of nature creating a sentimentality about the way in which the two female characters relate to one another. This interplay provides a clear, narrative point of view from which to understand the nature of the relating of the story (Resseguie 12) The third element is informal versus formal. The child uses a relaxed method of approaching her godmother while the godmother maintains a more structured way in which to handle the child which is exampled by creating consistency. The way in which the two female figures relate to one another can also be contrasted between the traditions of formality in combination with the informal nature of intimacy. The godmother has given her a formal framework in which to see the timing of her visit and the child has responded in kind through a formal presentation of the figs. However, the way in which these formalities are expressed also expresses an intimacy of the relationship. The godmother gives the child respect by framing the time in a way she could easily measure it and the child responds through the presentation of the figs. The fourth element is candidness versus caution. The child is very straight forward about how she feels while the godmother stays in control and shows temperance in the way that she speaks to the child. The godmother has meticulously judged when she could allow the child to visit and has spoken with caution to that child in order not to disappoint her. She expresses how quickly the time has come, but in a candid moment, the child says she believes that it has taken a very long time. The child is very clear, even in her respect of her godmother, that she does not understand the relevance of the ripening figs to her visit. However, the godmother uses this as a measure for the child, not revealing more than was necessary for the child to understand that she could not go immediately. The godmother is cautious about how she takes care of the child’s world, not burdening her with more than she needed to know. The child only knows the measure, not what it marks other than a time when she could visit. The narrative is clear about the way in which the two relate. These four elements allow for a very short story to tell a great deal about the intimacy and the history of the relationship of the child to her godmother. Works Cited Barnett, Sylvan, William E. Cain and William Burton. Literature for Composition. New York: Pearson, 2008. pg 11. Resseguie, James L. Narrative Criticism of the New Testament: An Introduction. New York: Baker Academic, 2005, p. 12. Walker, Nancy A. Kate Chopin: A Literary Life. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2001, p. 108. Clients Name Name of Professor Name of Class Date Life and aging: Robert Frost’s The Span of a Life This essay will compare the lives of a dog and a man as shown in this short poem. In order to do this I will examine three elements. These elements are: memory, generation of life, life cycle of birth and death. The first element is memory. The dog and the man both represent the retention of the knowledge of the past through the way in which they are linked in the poem. The man and the dog have lived a span of a life, both remembering their past as a child or a pup, and both situated after a long time of living into advanced age. The poem is developed through an economy of words, starting with one line and ending abruptly with the next. The message, however, can be examined for a great deal of elemental variations on themes on the issue of the memory. The first line shows the dog turning back, his bark coming from a stationary place, but looking back as if he is looking behind him to his past (Frost 103). In this poem the space from the pup to the bark is filled with the memories that make up the span of a life. The second element is the generation of life. The man and the dog both belong to a period of time in which they have lived out years that puts them nearer the end of their life than the beginning. A term that can be discussed in reference to the generation of life is nostalgia. The concept of nostalgia is also hinted at as the narrator uses the word pup, a reference that has a sentimental tone and can be interpreted to provide an intimacy with the dog. The dog as a symbol more than likely refers to the narrator, the nostalgia that he confers on the dog actually coming from the memories that he has of his own life. Bloom discusses the concept of nostalgia as it is referenced in a human and a non-human figurative space. The human sense of nostalgia is conveyed through the use of the non-human figure, the concept of memory. Bloom states that he must “liken it to a human sigh”, the non-human configuration of nostalgia in this case wrapped in his backwards bark (Bloom 95). The poem has a finite space in which it communicates its message. According to Schleuter, in reading a piece of writing it is important to understand the temporal placement of the end of the work (Schleuter 86). This poem continues past its ending, a story unfolding through the imagination of the reader, past and present coming together as a story of the life of the dog, paralleling the life of the person who is reading the work. Through the turn of the head to the back, the dog has indicated a space between his present, and the past that is alluded to by the narrator, suggesting the generation of life. The space in between is the span of life, a much longer story that slides between the first line and the last. The third element is the life cycle of birth and death. In remembering the past of being young, and in remembering how life has gone through a cycle of life as they both approach their end, the man and the dog represent a length of time that represents the span of time and its connecting events. The two references to age, both the concept of the old dog in contrast with the concept of the pup, provide a framework for a discourse on aging, thus discussing the cycle of birth and then death that each living creature must pass through in his or her journey. As the narrator states that he remembers when the dog was a pup, he provides a clue to age in reference to both the dog and to himself. Age is a familiar topic for Frost, his work Age providing a discussion on the way in which the hope of age and the reality of age can be two different things, the contents of a life not reflecting the hopes of youth (Faggen 44). One can almost take the age poem and place it in the space in between the past and the present The comparison that Frost makes between the narrator and the dog can be examined through the three elements of memory, generation of life, life cycle of birth and death. The concepts are captured within the space of the two line poem, the economy in words reflecting a full story in between the lines. The span of the life of both the man and the dog reflect a passage of time that contain wistful memories in its spaces. Works Cited Barnett, Sylvan, William E. Cain and William Burton. Literature for Composition. New York: Pearson, 2008. pg 103. Bloom, Harold. Robert Frost. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2003. pg 95. Faggen, Robert. The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. pg 44. Schlueter, June. Dramatic Closure: Reading the End. Madison [N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1995. pg 86. Clients Name Name of Professor Name of Class Date “A Comparison of Two Scriptural Narratives: The Judgment of King Solomon and The Prodigal Son” This essay will compare these two biblical narratives. In order to do this I will use the following elements: wisdom; authority figure; jealousy, and compassion. The first element is wisdom. Solomon shows an accumulation of learning through an understanding of the experience of motherhood, in understanding what it means to truly be a mother, Solomon is able to reveal the truth by threatening the child. Because he understands that a true mother would sacrifice anything for the well-being of her child, he finds the truth of the issue through her reaction to his threat. In The Prodigal Son, the father’s sense of knowledge that comes from experience is defined by the order that is found within a family household. The son leaves the household, thus showing foolishness, but in deciding to return, he is showing that he has learned wisdom (Alles 111). In both stories, the chaos of the world outside of the family is shown to be foolishness, with a return to the family element shown as the source of wisdom. The second element is authority figure. The father in “The Prodigal Son” and Solomon in “The Judgment of Solomon” represent people who have been given the responsibility of guiding and instructing others. Both, through their central roles in their societies, have the power to exert their authority over those for which they provide care. Solomon is the authority through his power as a ruler, but it is his wisdom that helps him to maintain his position. His practicality is applied to his wisdom, thus making his decisions based upon the lessons he has learned in life. This gives his authority validation (Parker 2). The father in “The Prodigal Son” is the authority figure by both his position as father and his role as head of the household, which includes the business that supports the family. It is in his capacity to forgive, however, that his wisdom is proven that is in support of his position as the authority over the family. Both figures, in have the power of authority also prove that they have the capacity to perform in their roles of authority through their wisdom. The third element is jealousy. The negative feelings of envy towards that which is given to the younger son that the older son in “The Prodigal Son” represents is a contrast to the forgiveness that is shown by his father. In the story of Solomon, the woman who is not the mother of the son exhibits envy for what the other mother has as she tries to usurp the position of the true mother in the life of the child. In both stories, the jealous character looks to the gifts bestowed on others and has a negative reaction that is centered upon the self, rather than to express happiness at the benefits that others experiences (Nouwen 104). The father who welcomes his youngest child in no way intends to reject his elder son merely by celebrating his youngest. Neither of these jealous people seems to understand the world outside of their own experience. The fourth element is compassion. A feeling of sympathy is shown by Solomon and by the father through acting towards those who have a need by fulfilling those needs. Solomon allows the truth to be revealed and in doing so shows compassion. The father welcomes his son home even though he had left the family. In ordering the child cut in half with each woman to receive half of the child, Solomon depends on the compassion of the true mother over the jealousy of the other woman to reveal the truth of the role of the true mother of the child. It is compassion that drives the wisdom of both men, Solomon counting on the evil of jealousy to reveal his wisdom and the father not comprehending the jealousy of his eldest son as he sees nothing but the good in the event of the youngest son’s return. In conclusion, the study of the symbolic structures of the narratives reveal the elements from which the stories create the intended morals of the stories. Wisdom and authority are used as a catalyst in which to explore the human reactions of compassion and jealousy. The narratives are defined by the ways in which human experience and emotional context is used to support the intended message to the reader. Works Cited Alles, Tyrell J. The Narrative Meaning and Function of the Parable of the Prodigal Son: Luke 15:11-32. , 2008. P. 111. Barnett, Sylvan, William E. Cain and William Burton. Literature for Composition. New York: Pearson, 2008. P. 121. Nouwen, Henri J. M. The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming. New York: Image, 1993. P. 104. Parker, Joseph. The People's Bible: Discourses Upon Holy Scripture. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1895. P. 2. Read More