Essays / The theme of Linda Pastan's poem "Ethics" - Literature Essay Help [6]

My essay is below, if anyone could help me with editing and if it's good and answers the question, any help would be great. O and I have a works cited but I didn't include that in this post. Thank you!!

What is the theme of Linda Pastan's poem "Ethics"?

Understanding Ethics

A poem is made up of several different components. One very important component of a poem is its theme. A poem's theme is its foundation; it is what everything else is built on. Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines theme as, "a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation." In Linda Pastan's poem, "Ethics" the theme is that understanding the meaning of ethics occurs over time through growing older and maturing. Pastan shows us this theme through poetic techniques.

The poem is about Pastan's teacher asking her class an ethical question, "if there were a fire in a museum/which would you save, a Rembrandt painting/or an old woman who hadn't many/ years left anyhow?"(Pastan lines 4-6). Pastan showed that at a young age children don't fully understand what ethics means, they would just do what felt morally right. Pastan showed how she felt as a child by saying, "Sometimes/the woman borrowed my grandmother's face/leaving her usual kitchen to wander/some drafty, half-imagined museum."(lines 9-12). Pastan used a metaphor to relate what she had to choose between with the ethical question.

One year Pastan decided to answer her teachers question with, "why not let the woman decide for herself?"(line 14). Her teacher responded to her question that she, "eschews/the burdens of responsibility."(lines 15-16). Her teacher is pointing out the fact that she is running away from her responsibility of choosing between the painting and the old woman. Ethics is not about which choice you make, but about why you would make that choice.

Pastan learns and understands the meaning of ethics when she is older and more mature. She is standing in front of a real Rembrandt painting and noticing its beauty, "The colors/within this frame are darker than autumn/darker even than winter-the browns of earth, /though earth's most radiant elements burn/ through the canvas," (lines 19-24). Pastan used imagery to show the audience what she saw in the Rembrandt, what a child would not be able to see. Pastan realized that a beautiful painting, and an old women were, "all beyond saving by children" (line 25). Pastan understands that a child would choose to save an old woman rather than a painting because the child feels that it is, morally, the right thing to do.

Throughout Pasten's entire poem we learn how a person must grow and mature to understand what ethics is. In the beginning of the poem Pastan is a young girl who doesn't fully understand what ethics is. At the end, we learn that Pasten understands completely what ethics is. She used poetic techniques to aid the theme in relaying it to the audience. The audience can relate to Pastan comparing the painting with her grandmother because everyone knows of, or has had a grandmother. When Pastan describes in detail the painting the audience can relate to it because everyone has seen something in their life that they would describe in the same in-depth way that she did. By using poetic techniques to support her theme, Pastan showed the theme is understanding why you would make a choice.

Essays / Susan Glaspell's Trifles essay [3]

For my english class I had to write an essay on Susan Glaspell's "Trifles". I was hoping you could edit it and tell me if I answered the question correctly, also I don't know if my conclusion is good enough. Any help would be great!!! Thank you!!

How is symbolism employed to establish and underscore the play's meaning?

Symbolism in Trifles

In Susan Glaspell's, "Trifles," symbolism is used to emphasize the meaning of the play. Glaspell writes of a woman who murdered her husband because he was to blame for her cold and lonely life. The women character's in the play, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, solve the murder, while the men, the county attorney and sheriff, wonder about trying to figure it out. Glaspell used symbolism as clues to the murderer's motive that only the women were able to figure out, and in turn kept the motive of the murderer a secret due to the bond of women.

One example of symbolism seen in the play is the assertion that Mrs. Wright was going to knot rather than quilt the patchwork quilt. At the end of the play the county attorney said to the sheriff, "Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to-what is it you call it, ladies?" (Glaspell 1300). Mrs. Hale replied, "We call it-knot it, Mr. Henderson," (Glaspell 1300). The ladies knew that Mrs. Wright killed her husband by tying a rope around his neck, but they weren't going to tell. Karen Alkalay-Gut stated, "This image conveys the sense of knotting the rope around the husband's neck: they have discovered the murderess. And they will 'knot' tell," (8). The women were not going to tell because, "The bond among the women is the essential knot," (Smith 179). This shows that the women solved the murder of who killed Mr. Wright, but were not going to tell because of the bond that they have with their fellow woman, Mrs. Wright.

Another example of symbolism was the dead canary and bird cage. As the women were gathering some of Mrs. Wright's things they discovered a bird cage with a broken door and no bird. They later find the bird in Mrs. Wright's sewing box neatly placed in silk with its neck broken. Mrs. Hale makes the relation of the bird to Mrs. Wright when she stated, "she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery," (Glaspell 1298). The canary was a substitute for children and it displaced the silence of the house. Alkalay-Gut stated that Mrs. Wright "understood her husband's action as a symbolic strangling of herself, his wife. It is not just because he killed the bird, but because she was a caged bird herself," (6). When the women found the bird, they realized that Mrs. Wright killed her husband because he prevented her from communicating with others. In a sense, by strangling the bird he strangled his wife. The women related the bird with Mrs. Wright and, in a sense, felt that Mr. Wright was the murderer for what he did to his wife.

The jar of cherries was another example of symbolism. When the men were going through the kitchen looking for evidence they came across Mrs. Wright's preserves that had frozen and gone bad. Later when the women were alone in the kitchen Mrs. Hale notices that there was one jar of cherries that were still good. The single intact jar of cherries, "symbolizes the one remaining secret, the motive to complete the prosecutor's case. Mrs. Wright stayed on the shelf, alone and unbefriended on the farm, until the coldness of her marriage, her life in general, broke apart," (Smith 175). This shows that Mrs. Wright's secrets burst from the pressure. She could no longer take living with Mr. Wright; she was too lonely and sad. The only people who came to understand this were the other women because of the female bond.

Symbolism was a key part to this short play. Glaspell used it throughout to show the bonding between the women. She used certain items that only the women could understand and relate to in order to exemplify female bonds. The men in the play didn't understand the jar of cherries or even notice the bird cage without a bird because, as Glaspell showed, the men don't think or notice the same things women do.

Works Cited

Alkalay-Gut, Karen. "Jury of Her Peers: The Importance of Trifles." Studies in Short Fiction 21 (Winter 1984): 1-9.
Glaspell, Susan. "Trifles." Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th Ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007.

Makowsky, Veronica. Susan Glaspell's Century of American Women: A Critical Interpretation of Her Work. New York: Oxford UP, 1993.
Smith, Beverly A. "Women's Work-Trifles? The Skill and Insights of Playwright Susan Glaspell." International Journal of Women's Studies 5 (March 1982): 172-84.

Book Reports / 'A Tragic Character' - "Death of a Salesman" Essay Help [3]

For my class I had to answer a question with an essay about the play. If you could proofread my essay I would appreciate it. I've been having trouble with this class all semester long, my teacher disects my essays, and this is the last one so I really want to get a decent grade on it. If you could also let me know if my essay does answer the question that would be great. Thank you for any help!!!!

What makes Willy Loman a tragic figure?

A Tragic Character

In Arthur Miller's play, "Death of a Salesman," the main character, Willy Loman, is a tragic figure. Throughout the play Miller gives the reader incite into the life of Willy Loman and in doing so he shows us a tragic character. At the end of the play Willy does commit suicide but to me that doesn't make Willy a tragic character. Willy's son Biff, his wife Linda, and his pride are what make Willy Loman tragic.

When Biff was born Willy feared that he would become more financially successful than he was. Willy felt threatened and thought it would ruin his dignity so he decided to tell his kids "that being physically fit would lead to success in the business world," (Caught 22 Para 4). If Biff became rich it would be because of his strength and Willy could say that he, himself, became successful with his mind not his strength. The fact that Willy felt threatened by his son is a tragic. When people have children they always say how they want the best for their child, and that they would do anything to give them the world. Willy decided to lie to his son because he didn't want him to be more successful than him, which in itself is sad and pathetic. A parent shouldn't feel threatened by their child, but Willy does and that is one thing that makes him a tragic figure.

Willy's wife is another reason why the character of Willy is a tragic one. When Willy admits his own shortcomings his wife quickly steps in and makes excuses for him. Thomas Lourdeau wrote, "We are introduced to his wife, who seems to make excuses for his lack of motivation, concentration, or ability to focus for any period of time," (Para. 8). His Wife enables him to live in his fantasy world, ultimately making it seem okay that he is scattered and all over the place. I know that if my husband acted like Willy I wouldn't stand there and make excuses for him because it wouldn't be helping him. Willy acts the way he does because his wife isn't helping him, she is reinforcing his bad behavior.

Pride is another factor that makes Willy a tragic figure. Willy's pride is one of his downfalls. When Willy lost his job his only friend and neighbor, Charley, offered him a job. Willy refused to take him up on the offer because he felt that it would be admitting failure. Willy let his pride get in the way of getting a job. Willy believed that pride was one of the only things in his life that he still had control of, and it was one of the most important things to him.

Willy can be viewed as a lonely man, whose life isn't going the way he wants it to. To me, it's sad that Willy committed suicide, but it is sadder that the people in his life didn't realize he needed help. I place most of the blame on the wife, she took vows and I don't believe that she fulfilled her duty as his wife. She could've been more supportive and maybe Willy wouldn't have felt threatened by his sons being more successful. The main reason why he liked having a mistress is because he could pretend he lived a life he wanted. The character Willy Loman is definitely a tragic figure.

Works Cited:

Lourdeau, Thomas. "Willy Loman & Oedipus-Tragic Heroes?" Associated Content.
Miller, Arthur. "Death of a Salesman."Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th Ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007.

"Willy Loman's Tragic Flaw." Caught 22: Character Analysis.