Nina G. 20th Century Novel

In Wide Sargasso Sea, Tia only appears twice however, she is an important character when showing us what the society and social dynamics were during that time period in that particular place. Tia is the daughter of one of Christophine’s friends and is initially introduced because Antoinette needed a friend. When I first read about Tia, I didn’t like her character very much. The way she taunted Antoinette and then betrayed her absolutely infuriated me. However, after reflecting on Tia as a person rather that her actions, my view of her is now a little more sympathetic. The first main scene with Tia is when her and Antoinette are at the pool. Tia dares Antoinette to perform a somersault and if she can’t do it, then Tia gets to take Antoinette’s pennies. Antoinette does the somersault but comes up from the water choking and coughing. Wanting the pennies, Tia lies and says that Antoinette failed in her somersault, taking the pennies. After this event, Antoinette isn’t disappointed ab...

From the first line of The Stranger, we are introduced to what would seem to us as a very important female character: Meursault’s mother. However, when talking about it, Meursault focuses on the time rather than who died or the verb “died”. As he goes on, he doesn’t pay much attention to the event at hand but instead is nervous about his work, his temperature and his appetite. To some people, that can send a message of not caring, showing little love for his mother. For others, this can convey how he deals with his grief. At first, I was more supportive of this being the way that he deals with his grief. However, my opinion of this event has fluctuated throughout what we have read of the book. Later Meursault introduces us to Salamano and his dog. He explains that the dog has an intense skin condition and that Salamano abuses his dog. When asked his opinion on this matter, he doesn’t give one. He believes that it isn’t his place to judge or intervene. He doesn’t even voice his op...

The minute I read the first line of The Metamorphosis, I wondered why Gregor turned into a bug. Why not a reptile or mammal? What made an insect so special? One argument would be that Kafka had a fascination with bugs. However, I don’t believe that to be a substantial reason. For bugs such as ants and bees, they have one purpose in life. This reminded me of both Kafka and Gregor. Kafka was known to be an ordinary man with a secret writing life. The people that surrounded him in his work environment (most of the time) were most likely “ordinary men” like himself. Before he died, he wanted all his works burned so that no one would discover his secret. He could have wanted to conceal this part of him in order to maintain his “normal presence”. For some reason, he could have felt that he wasn’t supposed to be writing, being in the environment he was in. This idea of having one purpose aligns very strongly with insects and the possible mind mentality of Kafka. We also see this narr...

Brett and Clarissa can be viewed as complete opposites yet they have subtle similarities much like Septimus and Jake. Brett is viewed as a bachelorette. She goes out with many men and is introducing many styles for women that haven’t emerged yet in that time period (short hair and loose clothes). She is very confident in who she is and is just there for a good time. Clarissa however is married and is extremely self-conscious. She, like Brett, enjoys parties however becomes very stressed with the people at the parties. Clarissa is constantly second-guessing herself and her “role” in society. She hates being criticized of extreme femininity (when Peter calls her a “perfect hostess”) yet she is worried about pleasing Richard and satisfying her role as a wife. Brett, quite frankly, isn’t worried about any of this. She married her first husband for his money, divorced him, is going to marry another man whom she doesn’t love, and is going out with many other men. She also doesn’t care a...

I was very surprised with this movie. To start off, I didn’t know what to expect and was a little confused in the beginning. As the movie continued, I noticed the stark similarities between the movie and the book. The book transitions smoothly between characters and this was an aspect that I was concerned about in the movie. However, the movie did a great job of connecting the characters and making its transitions. By having Woolf’s story being narrated along with the other characters helped me realize how much she related to the book. I found Clarissa Dalloway to be one of the more intriguing characters. The movie combined the Clarissa Dalloway book character and the Lucrezia book character to create the Clarissa Dalloway movie character. We see that she takes care of Richard (who was almost exactly like Septimus), she went out to buy flowers, and she was going to host a party. She also goes through some of the same thoughts as both characters in the book did. She becomes extreme...

More recently (especially with Septimus) there has been the discussion of masculinity and femininity during this time period. We first encounter “femininity” with Clarissa. As a woman, she feels she has a certain responsibility to her husband (like hosting parties and socializing) and that was the expectation of a woman during that time. We see that Peter makes fun of her for almost being “too feminine” when he sees her fixing her dress and fretting about the upcoming party. He believes that she needs to get out and see the world instead of being wrapped up in the societal expectations. Yet, she is also bothered with the idea of not having her own identity. She is known as Mrs. Richard Dalloway rather than Clarissa. During that time period, this was not something a woman should be thinking about. If anything, the woman was supposed to be proud to be her husband’s wife. Throughout the book, we encounter Clarissa experiencing fluctuating levels of what was considered “femininity” an...