Every post from now on will be for Coming-of-Age :DD

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Kindred: Definition of HOME

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Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler, follows the story of Dana’s experiences of time-traveling back to her ancestor’s plantation in the pre-Civil War era. Dana starts her journey as an observer, watching the atrocities of slavery. As Dana’s trips increase in frequency and duration, she becomes increasingly involved in this dangerous world. At one point, Dana makes an interesting observation on how the 19th-century plantation feels more like home than her new house in California. Such a statement appears nonsensical, as living as a colored woman constantly places Dana in grievous slave labor and physical danger. Dana’s story raises a powerful question regarding the definition of home : would one define home by the hard frame of chronological and physical location, or the intangible measures of time spent and the people one shares it with? One of her returns to the present, Dana expresses how she feels out of place. She struggles with simple tasks such as looking for aspirin and kitchen knives...
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Is Mrs. Greenwood a Good Mother?

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The Bell Jar follows the mental breakdown of Esther Greenwood as she struggles through the social expectations and pressures of early 1950s America. As Esther’s mental state descends into depression, she sends many cries for help to her mother, Mrs. Greenwood. Yet, many of Mrs. Greenwood's responses only seem to exacerbate Esther’s condition. But is Mrs. Greenwood really a bad, indifferent mother? Undeniably, many of Mrs. Greenwood’s comments on Esther’s condition are inappropriate. When Esther tells her that she has not slept consecutively for seven nights, Mrs. Greenwood completely denies her insomnia by stating that she “must have slept, it was impossible not to sleep in all that time (Plath 127).” Instead of taking Ester’s confession as a serious warning sign, Mrs. Greenwood dismisses it as an exaggeration. Her response both invalidates Esther’s struggles and pushes her into deeper isolation. A similar instance happens after Esther receives her first electroshock treatment. Wh...
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Fun Home: Do we trust Alison?

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Fun Home is Alison’s attempted reconstruction of her father’s enigmatic accidental death. Throughout the novel, Alison jumps back and forth between understanding it as a random death and a kind of deliberate, maybe even artistic, suicide. Alison narrates in a very analytical tone. She constantly draws on evidence, citing books, pictures, and handwritten letters. Yet, the novel is still characterized by uncertainty. Alison often retells the same event again and again, each time revealing more details, perspectives, and interpretations. An example is her mother's reaction to Alison’s coming-out. At first, Alison recalls her mother telling her “your father has had affairs with other men (Bechdel 58).” Later, as if she had just remembered, she adds on that the victim is Roy, their babysitter (211). This sort of revision to memory makes the narrative more like a puzzle being actively pieced together than a fixed account. This novel isn’t Alison’s theory on Bruce’s death, but her worki...
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