From Touch to MarriageIn this story, the reason why Matilda and Hadrian married is the order from her father. However, it is “Touch” that made them decide to marry. Matilda and her sister were nervous when they heard about that Hadrian will come back. Especially the author expressed that they had fear of him. The expression of fear in him may indicate a strange feeling of love. In the story, Matilda decorates herself most beautiful when Hadrian comes back. Her behavior would be a part of the expression of her potential interest and affection for Hadrian.One night she went to her father’s room, touching her father’s face, but he was not father but Hadrian. While she touches him, he feels delicate feeling, and Matilda also realizes her own suppressed desire. Their contact resulted in Hadrian’s love for Matilda, and eventually they end up marrying.A warm touch between humans in a devastated society is a starting point for saving humans from a tragic age, and ultimately a media for human as human being. The contact between Matilda and Hadrian made them overcome their class consciousness, and it brought their attitude about worry for legacy because of material thinking into love with each other. Their contact acted as an important media to make them think of each other as a pure human being. This story criticizes the problems of Western industrial society and suggests a solution to the problem connotatively. The author suggested that restoring ailing societies is a restoration of free and harmonious human relationships. And in this story, it is described as “Touch”.
A Boy Who Dreams of Equal SocietyThis poem is about that a white instructor makes a black student write down his own thoughts. But the black boy received ‘B’. There is other meaning in ‘B’ not also grade but color, black. The subject of this poem relates to racism. There is no problem in the United States that is as unmanageable as the problem of racism. Even though time has passed, the skin color cannot be changed, and the colored races can still be ignored and discriminated. In this poem, the boy is wondering why he should be discriminated.Through the words, “colored” and “Harlem”, the speaker’s skin color is black. The reason is that he is colored and he lives in Harlem. In the overall contents, he describes himself as an equivalent human being like white people. He says that he is an equal human being and has emotion, and can express his intention, such as a white man. However, despite the same American, his skin color cannot be changed. At the last line in the poem, “This is my page for English B”, the meaning of “B” is his skin color, Black, and the letter B reflects his identity.The poet of this poem, Langston Huges, is also a person as a black poet. So I think he wrote this poem for appearing distress of black people like him. Humans must be equivalent as human beings, and equally valuable beings. Despite, there is still racism in the United States. Through this poem, I could read the poet’s desire to feel a little bit about distress and sadness they suffered.
A Desire for FreedomThis story is about an hour’s emotional change of Louise Mallard. She is the wife of Brently Mallard. At the end of the story, she dies from a heart attack after seeing her husband alive. In this context, it doesn’t appear that she wasn’t getting along well with her husband, but it is understood that she has been deprived of her freedom since her marriage. Finally, she died of a heart attack just because of sense of loss that her freedom was deprived again just in an hour. Therefore, marriage is not so good as it is, and there is a downside that freedom is suppressed by marriage.Upon hearing the news of her husband’s death, she stops and goes into her room alone. Of course I thought she was sunk in grief. But conversely, she was waiting for freedom in her life with her husband’s disappearance with a view of window and her new life. Everything she feels represents spring and life. But, instead of acknowledging her new self, she describes something “reaching toward her”. This description is a sign of anxiety and hesitation. The moment when she said, “Free, free, free!” is can be seen as a new moment of birth of Louise Mallard. At this moment, she feels joy and the emptiness and the fear in her heart disappear completely.What matters is the male-centered patriarchal marriage system that suppressed her. Her husband always loved her, but the problem is the system and the society itself. As it can be seen in her whispering, “Free! Body and soul free!”, she was eager for freedom. In other words, she hated marriage because of suppression of freedom not the relationship with her husband. So when Brently Mallard came back alive, she died from a heart attack because of suppression of freedom. The thing that suppresses her freedom is the system of marriage and coercion of society. So this story shows the phases of the times well.
The Tragedy of the Little Girl’s JealousyThe title of the movie, Atonement makes sense to the whole story. The tragedy of her young and immature acts is the plot of the movie. Young girl’s immature and foolish feeling of jealousy disturbs the love of Cecilia and Robbie, and their lives are destroyed by her feeling. During the movie, I was angry about Briony. Like the title of the movie, she writes a novel as the main character of Robbie and Cecilia as a sign of atonement for her childhood behavior. I think her mistake is unforgivable. Because the result was too terrible to admit that the emotion of childhood was a big mistake.Briony simply tells to the police that the attacker who raped her cousin sister, Lola is Robbie because of jealousy about him and sense of loss by Cecilia. In fact, she knew that the criminal wasn’t him, but she lied about it. Feeling guilty, she writes a positive ending to Cecilia and Robbie in her lifetime as a sign of atonement. The reality is that they die without seeing each other never once. It can be thought that this is the butterfly effect caused by her foolish lie. I think it is just self-justification. Of course, her childhood feeling can’t be ignored, but because of the wrong determination and judgment, she has driven Cecilia and Robbie to a catastrophe.Children are usually a symbol of pure purity. So most of people think the children will tell the truth. But when Briony was young, she lied because of her feeling. Since childhood is a period of imagination, it is also conceivable that they can visualize things they haven’t seen before. No longer can we describe them as symbols of purity. Her mistake can’t be forgiven even if sincere apologies and atonement are made. She did not offer them a direct and sincere apology. And making atonement through her novel is an atonement for herself, not for them. Although she lived a lifetime with atonement, I think it is a natural result and her mistake can’t be forgiven.
Why Mable Wants to Confirm the Love With Fergusson?Mable, the protagonist who didn’t have certain emotion of Fergusson, wants to confirm the love with him. It’s weird. In the early side of this story, there are no any emotional links between Mable and Fergusson. But when she was near the death, Dr. Fergusson anticipates her death and saves her immediately.From ‘the page of 16 in this textbook’, she tried to confirm the love with him when she recognized herself undressed by Fergusson. At that time Fergusson broke into feeling love emotion through eyes and body of Mable. When stripping the clothes out to rescue her, he was uncomfortable by feeling that desire due to the commitment of doctors. But seeing her body after Mable being awoke, Dr. Fergusson fell in love not platonic but sensual.To know about the reason why she wants to confirm the love with him we need to pay attention to her childhood. She was grown up in the life of abundance without insufficiency. And the fact that her family is rich makes her be confident. She took a lot of affection by her parents but her mother passed away when Mable was 14 years old. Also the father of Mable tried to flourish the family, and he could not pay attention to his children in the meanwhile. Finally, he married second time, and he died. Only huge debts have given the children trouble.Mable who was received her mother’s love than his father’s has lived in the memory of her mother after the death of mother. Even if there were various hardships she could have endurance by virtue of the memory of her mother. At an age when needing mother’s love, she lost her mother and maybe could not be taught about ways to love others and ways to be loved by others because of emotionally ill. In the meantime, three brothers have been troublesome presences with her, and she became a condition of being unsettled emotionally.As a result, Mable feels inclined to make sure the love with Fergusson over and over again. And she shows being swayed by misgivings continuously. So Mable’s love with Dr. Fergusson is made for emptiness of her mind rather than sincere love. The reason why she confirms over and over is about her concern that Fergusson whom she loves is going to leave her like her mother.At last, Fergusson proposed to Mable, but she felt fear of Fergusson’s saying that he needs to her. The fear that Mable felt is emotion about being received love unfamiliarly. If she has received love sincerely by anyone who was near to her before, she would not doubt other’s true mind. What a pity!