Character Analysis

The character, Ronnie “Ronald”, in the 2007 blockbuster film, Distrubia, was portrayed by Aaron Yoo, a twenty-nine year old Asian from East Brunswick, New Jersey. Ronnie is the average teenager that is the silly, immature, yet intelligent friend everyone has amongst their group of friends or self-proclaimed ‘clique’. Through auditory elements, Ronnie is shown to be the ‘jokester’ amongst everyone through his playful attitude and vulgar innuendos to attract attention- shown during the first few minutes of the movie where he says perhaps in Spanish as it sounds like ‘kiss ass’. These acts of foolishness point to the fact that Ronnie is that guy everyone knows that doesn’t take much seriously but is still an over all well-rounded guy, funny to talk to but sometimes annoying and hard to put up with. Through visual elements, the audiences of the movie can see that Ronnie does not think much of his stunts through before completion. In a scene where Kale, Shia Lebeouf’s character, shows Ronnie the girl next door swimming half-naked in a bikini, Ronnie tries to get a better view of the scenery by pushing the binoculars up close to the window and then hurting himself from the due force. The scene was very humorous but showed not only the perverted side of the character, but the stupidity behind his actions. Common-sense knows that binoculars magnify scenery, but Ronnie does not think logically in this scene- nor the scene after it when the girl catches him and his friend spying on her and looks out the window anyway- after a warning from Kale- to see if she was coming over to tell them off. It is these random acts of hilarity that make Ronnie a believable character in the movie and not some terrible actor that over thinks the part. Ronnie’s character can be related to anyone’s group of friends or close relative with a similar personality. The character serves as comic relief in a way while bringing seriousness and naivety to the movie to keep in tune with the plot line. Ronnie can be related back to anyone’s close friend that is the funny one that is the smart one but acts incredible dumb.

Truth Questions

1)
What Sojourner Truth is responding to in her powerful oratory at the Women’s Rights Convention are the people that counter argue against her claims of deserving women and civil rights and the nonbelievers who consider her not only not a female, but not a human being as well. Through this direct address, Sojourner Truth responds to the issues facing her gender as female that corresponds with current law forbidding certain liberties for females while combating the wrongs and immoralities done in slavery that prohibits any kind of freedom to the enslaved black individual.

2)
The examples in Truth’s argument are personal incidents that happened in her life that give her the evidence and the “foundation” of her argument in acquiring the equal rights as any white woman. Her examples show that she is equally qualified to be treated with as much respect and decency as any other woman because she has done the required tasks to becomes the “true” woman, bearing children and becoming a mother, while exceeding those limits to new heights that were considered masculine- plowing, planting, getting whipped with intense ferocity suit only for a powerful man, eating as much food as a man would when starved. These examples of being of equal status with a man, if not higher, are the source of Truth’s argument stating that she deserves the equal rights every white woman has and then some with her extensive background experience of being both the feminine figure as well as the masculine one. She wishes to have men help her in her time of need and come to her aid when needed, but because of her sin color, they cannot and will not do such thing. She repeats the saying “Aren’t I a woman?” to emphasize that, despite her color pigmentation, she is still a female and should be treated with as much fragile care as any other white woman would. The examples provided by Truth show that she is still a female and even with her being a slave, she is still a woman with no less value of innovation. She has been though and gotten over obstacles that normal women in that society could never defeat, and justified in getting rewarded with the trivial token of respect and decency of being feminine.

3)
If I were in the audience during Truth’s speech, I would have had the perception that she was a strong woman who had done a great amount of rigorous work to gain such muscle and strength suited for only a man, while commending her on getting up and telling her personal story as a slave and speaking out about her troubles she has in being ostracized as a female due to her skin color. I also would have thought her voice would have sounded masculine and strong due to the detail and little side notes displaying the actions done during and after Truth’s speech. I doubt Truth could counter my perception based on the simple fact that they are mostly obvious observations, but I think she might have went into detail about how her manly features should take away from that fact that she is female and should be respected as such.

Fredrick Douglass questions

1)

Some ways Fredrick Douglass taught himself to read and write are:

a- Having his master’s mistress teach him to read through daily teachings of the alphabet.

b- Having poor white children teach him how to read in exchange for food.

c- Reading the dictionary and other scholarly books.

d- Watching ships-man carve letters in larboard and learn and memorize those letters.

e- Copy and learn the writings in Webster’s Spelling Book

f- Read, copy, and memorize Master Thomas’ copy-books.

2)

Other than Fredrick Douglass, his master’s mistress undergoes a learning process of realizing that slaves are potental threats to her society's reality with knowledge equal to a white child's education and the results of said process are fatal and yet a tragedy due to the loss of a closeted abolishitionist that could have been one of many voices to speak on Douglass' behalf to a right of a decent chance at learning. Douglass describes his mistress as nothing less similar to a tender loving lamb that clothes the naked, feeds the poor, and comforts all mourners who come seek her counsel. He tells the anecdote of how she would defy all moral code of not teaching a slave how to read by patiently educating Douglass on the alphabet, endangering the wellbeing of his life as well as hers if they were to be caught, while treating Douglass as a human being an not as someone’s inanimate property. As time progressed, Douglass noticed a change in his mistress’ behavior and saw that her kind disposition was surrogated for one that resembled pure demonic wrath and villainous ferocity. He states that with her change in attitude came her change in behavior, her daily teachings of forbidden education coming to an immediate halt, her privileges she once had given- reading the newspaper for example- now taken away, as novel beatings that proceeded her malicious acts.
According to Fredrick Douglass, the shift in behavior came from the realization that Douglass could be a potential threat to the lavished life of luxury they lived in and to society as a whole. Education for a slave only resulted in revolt and death for their captures, so the conclusion of having a slave left in “mental darkness” through the restrictions of knowledge was the only prevention method to ensure slaveholders safety. The results of Douglass’ mistress abandoning her teachings of Douglass showed that anyone can be persuaded to think a certain one when provoked with the right methods, and ordinary, kind, gentle people can alter their personalities to suit ones resembling devil’s advocates themselves. With Douglass’ mistress “learning” that by teaching a slave to read could pose as a potential threat to her life as well as her families, she was “taught” that what she was doing through acts of kindness could only lead to her downfall and inevitable doom with the knowledge he’ll soon acquire just from reading books about the reality in the lies slave masters had told them.

3)

Although Fredrick Douglass and Malcolm X’s personal experiences are different, their quests for getting a profound education are very much alike. Douglass was born a slave and taught himself to read and write though copy and memorization methods- looking at words, letters, or a combination of both- and applying that to his daily learning. Although he had acquired a head start from the generous counsel of his mistress’s teachings of the alphabet, Douglass found himself buying his education through the exchange of food for thought and tedious readings in scholarly literature that could expand his knowledge. Malcolm X, however, was imprisoned when he learned to “read” and write. Malcolm X knew the words he spoke in public but did not know how to convey his thoughts on paper through the written language of English. In prison, Malcolm X would sit in the library and copy, write, and memorize the words a given dictionary would offer him. He would then go back to his cell and recite what he had written aloud to make better understanding of his work and apply his new found knowledge of words he never knew existed and better penmanship to his occasional writings and debates the prison would often have. He states that there was a time where one could not wedge himself out of a book, that binding novel being his only “escape” from prison and onto another far beyond place. Just like Douglass, Malcolm X was a man who went to great lengths and beyond to get a decent education that would make him be considered articulate and innovative. Both men used the copy and memorize method and read the dictionary- the mini-encyclopedia according to “X”- to learn more about the unknown that modern culture did not want them to be taught. They were both black men in search of a greater channel of thinking and acquired that through the hard work and dedication of reading, writing, and patience in a society that deems the average black man as unintelligent and inferior. They withstood obstacles that could have taken their lives but pursued an education despite the odds of racial tension.

4)

I learned that Africa is a messed up country right now because of civil-war outbreaks and other countries are more focused on democratizing Iraq than helping a once powerful continent regain its place in the world as a stable country. I love the fact that I come from a continent with so many great monuments and treasures that are valued by the entire world, but am slightly ashamed that my “original” home is a land of complete chaos and confusion that was brought on by the very people that brought me to America in the first place. I learned a lot about my culture and where I came from with the facts and knowledge about Kings and Queens that ruled Africa with an iron fist, but also realized that that strong monarchy is long gone and replaced with European ideas in exchange for their loss of identity. It is a pleasure to know I come from a lineage of prestige power, but painful to know that my people are now fighting each other rather than the “true” enemy.

Literary Response

The poem, A Slave’s Dream, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a written piece of literature dedicated in portraying the inner thoughts and feelings of a captive slave through the use of syntax, pathos, and imagery. The syntax is used throughout the poem to convey the thoughts and ideas of the wilting slave as he passes from his life on earth to heaven where his soul remains free from all confinements that once withheld him from liberty. The words used in each sentence were formed precisely to portray the idea of freedom from captivity through death. “Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep, He saw his Native Land.”(A Slave’s Dream, line 5-6) is an example of the use of syntax to convey the thoughts of the slave as he died that was only obtainable through his dreams, the shadow of sleep representing the slow process of falling into an eternal slumber of death as the dream of the Slave’s native land replays in his mind before he passes; resembling the act of simply dozing off and becoming lost in a dream of the mind. The sentence structure is dedicated to the process of making the reader understand the feelings and thoughts of the slave through acts of pathos- the connection of sleeping and dying being the equal for a slave having an emotional effect on most, if not all, his readers through suggestions of physical and emotional captivity. Emotion plays a paramount role in the progression of the poem with the ties of relation and thought to the readers freedom of choice and liberty of life; comparing their own liberties to the one’s of slave’s making a drastic emotional effect on the reader with intense thought and ambiguity about real freedom- while tying them back to the idea of freedom after death and freedom of a slave through sleep.
“For Death had illumined the Land of Sleep” (A Slave’s Dream, line 46) is another example of the use of syntax due to the formatting and language the author uses to convey liberty after death. Death illuminating the Land of Sleep was a use of figurative language as an extended metaphor or an allegorical comparison to give the thought of dying as being similar to dreaming; again, playing with pathos as well as imagery to portray the thought of someone sleeping and their dreams being their innermost desires and wishes of life. Throughout the slave’s dream sequences, the reader is given vivid descriptions of his life back in his Native Land of Africa through the details and imagery the author provides as his reader’s visual during the poem progression. The syntax used in the sentence is representing how dying shadows sleeping and dreaming, the slave’s death being the equivalent to him drifting off into slumber and dreaming of his previous life before his captivity being the ultimate freedom he can obtain only through death and sleep, and the only reachable freedom he had while living on earth being the outlet of his dreams. Imagery and pathos suggests that his dreams are the thoughts of his homeland and his death is the only escape route he to get there.

Lincoln Questions

1. a) slavery
b) What he, as president, plans to do to resolve slavery.
c) How he is going to resolve the civil war.
d) How the government was going to help the people.
e) What people the government helped.
f) Will slavery be abolished.

2. The last sentence in Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address is the closing argument that leaves his audience with a powerful message of preserving their government from a civil-war that can tear it apart, and dedicating themselves to finishing the task of keeping the American nation under peace and equal order the fallen soldiers of the American army had already started to defend with honor. This closing argument is the “topping” to Lincoln’s powerful speech in Gettysburg, despite its shortness in length, serving as an inspiration to all who may have lost hope in the American government and their ability to control their people. All persons who have had the pleasure of hearing such a speech may have been moved by Lincoln’s powerful and persuasive oratory that could effect people’s emotions in a positive way of influence, his words directing attention on preserving the American rights and nation rather than a simple dedication to those who have died in battle; honoring them wholeheartedly but feeling that the consecrated battle ground was already a dedication in itself, the deaths of the ones they lost not being in vain because of persistence and determination by the American people. The sentence in the speech is set to inspire and motivate the American public, keeping their hope and faith alive in the government that controls them while ensuring that all changes that need to be made to keep all balance in the nation will be carried out with haste and emotional drive for excellence. I think the audience in the crowd had been moved by Lincoln’s speech due to his intense oratory he is infamous for and the message he had given to inspire and reassure. His words were filled with emotion and had the honest-to-Abe truth was known for.

I rather be dead and buried in soil six feet below the ground than be controlled and manipulated by another- Liberty and freedom that are in my god-given rights to happiness taking hold over my imagination- the spirit within me that causes my suppressed soul to stir out of condemnation- that my children’s lives will be free and holy if I set an example for them to follow- and my unalienable right of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness won’t be overlooked because of the color of my skin.

3. The Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence are similar in ways of writing style and powerful persuasive dialogue but differ in subject title. Lincoln uses his speech as a way to ensure the American people that the government is still fighting a strong war to stand tall against an object of peril that is testing the limits of young America and the founding fathers of our nation uses their speech as a way to tell the king of Britain that he is no longer in power over the thirteen colonies- that they are their own country- and the wrongs done by the King onto them are the justifications of their withdrawal from his leadership, the lists of “He has” quotes stating such wrongs as evidence. Each document was written to convey a message that each individual thought was the main priority of the United States and could ensure the well-being of the American people. Although the messages of both are different in audience, length, and subject, they both carry that powerful aura of inspiration and authority that was easily understood and persuasive.

4. Speeches I have heard are similar to Lincoln’s Address in category of topic and powerful oratory, but the language used and subject audience differs drastically. Most speeches I have had the privilege of listening to had dealt with modern day problems such as education, teenage pregnancy, and how to further your life, not war between the North and the South over unfair advantages and slavery. The speaker always carried that same air of confidence Lincoln was known for, as well as authority when speaking, but used a more modern, comprehensive language the audience- teenager in this case- could relate to.

Scarlet Letter Review Questions

1. Hester’s sin in the Scarlet Letter: A) is committing the acts of adultery with another man other than her husband, lead by lust, sexual passion, and admiration for a man she had not devoted her life to. B) Breaking religious and moral ethical ‘law’ in the Puritan society where a ‘true’ woman was one who was faithful to her husband while attending to all the domestic responsibilities a female provider were supposed to attend to as the male caregiver- the husband- provided; withholding all needs and desires of stepping out of place from the role given to avoid conflict in the home.
The consequences of Hester’s sins are is that she is left pregnant, alone, and looked down upon as the town ‘whore’ due to her little ‘one-night stand’. She is forced to wear a delicately- yet artistically-designed scarlet ‘A’ that stands for adulteress on her bosom everyday until the day she dies; becoming an exile in her village and forced to live in a remote area with her daughter, Pearl. Not only has Hester lost all her friends, family, dignity, and respect, she is fated to carry the burden of her sin with each passing moment of Pearl’s youth, constantly reminded that she had had intimate relations with another man that was brashly forbidden in her culture. Although Hester isn’t as defiant and carefree as she was when she had her rendezvous, she still keeps the same air of confidence, ferocity, and individuality she once wore upon entering and exiting the jailhouse.

Arthur Dimmesdale’s sins in the Scarlet Letter: A) having ‘relations’ with Hester Prynne when he knew she was married. B) Breaking religious and ethical ‘law’ in Puritan society that states the precise roles for a man, especially ones in power, and a woman.
The consequences for Dimmesdale’s sins are his ailing health that is steadily decaying him to his early- yet inevitable- death from the immense torture to his soul from have a guilty conscience of sleeping with Hester Prynne; she forced to wear the scarlet letter that causes her public humiliation that causes Dimmesdale to have a dark soul from the shame he has in staying quiet and hidden and the birth of a daughter he does not have the liberty or chance of befriending. This effects the minister’s character by giving him a miserable and intolerable life lived in a lie that he wish he could repent for in public, in response, allowing the young man to have a negative outlook on the world before him and everything of splendor. He suffers with his hand placed over his heart in a symbolic pain of the torture he feels in his soul from Hester Prynne’s scandal and his days hidden in solitude to remain undiscovered as her ally in their conjoined sin.

The sin of Roger Chillingworth in the Scarlet Letter is: A) the intentional torture of a man’s soul to pry out necessary information about his ex-wife and the scandal concerning her. B) Using such information to use against his friend, the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, in his emotional and physical downfall from the highest religious pillar in society to his dramatic death of public branding. C) Disowning his wife, Hester Prynne for her disgrace in their matrimony.
The consequences of the sins committed by Roger Chillingworth are simple the unhappiness and incompletion he feels once returning home from being a captive by Native Americans to see his wife bearing a child that is not his. He feels humiliated and dishonored when he sees Hester on the stage in town square, showing off her Scarlet Letter and the newborn infant she bore from it, as punishment. This dishonor and humiliation is portrayed when Hester sees her husband once her punishment of public humiliation and symbolic awareness has been served, his gesture of placing a single finger over his lips to remain unknown as her husband shows his discomfort and hurt pride while, also, his sin of disowning his wife. He is now a ‘divorced’ man living a lonely life as a physician while playing part-time detective in exposing the culprit of his wife’s fall from womanhood. The effect this has on Roger Chillingworth’s character is the ‘chilly’ disposition and cold demeanor he carries out of self-hatred for stealing away his wife’s youth with his old age and/or hatred for the man that was the ally in his wife’s sin that has remained quiet and hidden to preserve his reputation, holding his newfound personality up to his name as someone who brings a scare or “chill” down one’s spine.

2. Three characteristics of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing style would be: Allegory, descriptive wording to convey the five senses, and vivid imagery for the reader. The allegory was used as a technique to show how one thing can affect another and what comes as result of such union. One example of allegory would be Hester Prynne’s daughter, Pearl. Pearl is outcome of an intimate relationship her mother had with the minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. She is shown as the byproduct of something so evil and sinister, but is portrayed as a beautiful being with the grace and beauty of a fair maiden. Her symbolism is in her name. Her name is the great price her mother paid in giving birth to her out the sin of adultery and is the only treasure her mother holds dear. The child’s name conveys an expensive token that is searched for by all and paid with excessive amounts of money to be cherished. That same rationale is thought by Hester Prynne as she watches her baby grow with grace and beauty as she cherishes the only vale she has.

“But she named the infant “Pearl”, as being of great price- purchased with all she had,- her mother’s only treasure.” (Scarlet Letter page 82, paragraph 1)

An example of descriptive wording in Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter would be when he describes the scenery, setting, people, and emotions of such individuals with great detail and splendor. Since there were no printing presses back in Hawthorne’s era, the reader had to rely on intense descriptions in the novel to get a visual of what they were reading for better comprehension and understanding. The text was written in overly formal English but held captivating emotion and detail that allowed the reader to imagine the scene playing in their mind like a theatre. Everything from the descriptions of the scenery around the characters to the sounds of little miscellaneous items in the scene were described to give the reader feeling of the scene played before them with all the emotions the character’s feel.

“The day was chill and sombre. Overhead was a grey expanse of cloud, slightly stirred, however, by a breeze; so that the gleam of flickering sunshine might now and then be seen at its solitary play along the path.” (Scarlet Letter page 168, paragraph 3)

An example of vivid imagery in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing would be when he wrote his descriptive scenes between characters and their conflicts that would allow the reader to visualize everything taking place in great detail. Hawthorne put his readers in the place of his characters when writing and did so with extensive amounts of detail that created pictures laid out before the reader. It felt as if the reader were listening to a narration from the novel in their ear as they gazed into a picture that conveyed the scene down to the slightest component, imagining that they were in the characters shoes while the entire focused on them and their struggle with conflict.

“We have spoken of Pearl’s rich and luxuriant beauty: a beauty that shone with deep and vivid tints; a bright complexion, eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already a deep, glossy brown, and which, in after years, would be nearly akin to black. There was a fire in her and throughout her; she seemed the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment.”


“Her mother, in contriving the child’s garb, had allowed the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination their full play; arraying her in a crimson velvet tunic, a peculiar cut, abundantly embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold-thread.” (page 93, paragraph 3)

3. Pearl, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth’s names are symbolic in the Scarlet Letter because, each of their names represents their personality in the novel as well as their purpose.

Pearl: Her name is symbolic because she is her mother’s only treasure that was paid for by a great price: loss of dignity, respect, family, friends, and true “womanhood”. Pearl is a priceless artifact to the protagonist and plays a role in her daily survival. Without Pearl, Hester Prynne would have no reason to live in a world were she is shone because she committed the acts of adultery. This conveys the “treasure” in Hester’s logic about her daughter as well as the price she paid to give birth to her.

Chillingworth: His name is symbolic because he is an older man with a cold disposition that everyone around him seems to take notice; due to his dishonor and humiliation from Hester Prynne. His demeanor is resembles one of a stoic stature when he conducts his business as a physician and his disposition- along with the clamor of his voice- is almost terrifying to all who are near. He gives off an icy or “chilly” front to show his inner feelings of betrayal while keeping others at arms length that serve no purpose to him from which he can gain.

Dimmesdale: Arthur Dimmesdale’s name is symbolic in the novel because it reflects his boring “Blah” personality throughout the book. He is the religious minister that has sinned with Hester Prynne through adultery, but, besides that, nothing else about him is interesting enough for the reader to really take a liking to the young man or even remember he was one of the main characters. He is “dim” and has no real purpose in the novel besides being Hester’s lover, and co-sinner, his die-hard religion related speeches and talks about heaven, sin, and other related holy things becoming tiring- if not annoying- to the reader after the tenth chapter.

4. Hester’s attitude changes from when she was released from the jailhouse to the last scene on the scaffold by her air of confidence and pride. When exiting the jailhouse year’s back- when Pearl was just an infant- she held her head high with a fake air of buoyancy to convey a false sense of a nonchalant attitude, despite her sin of committing adultery and public mockery. As she walked from the jail, she played the part of a strong woman without any care of her wrongdoing, but had the inner feelings of agony and humiliation in her heart and soul; wishing her torture and punishment would end and she could go home and be alone. On the final scene on the scaffold, she, Pearl, and Reverend Dimmesdale are before the town people while the minister confesses his sin as being the one who had ‘relations’ with Hester and the child she bore was, in fact, his; showing the scarlet letter branded on his chest to signify his sin. Hester, this time, did not put on a fake air of poise but held her head high with the man she thought would never repent for their sins and confess that he was the counterpart in her duo sin. She holds grace while showing herself proudly before the townspeople along side her ‘man’ and daughter, not afraid to show her affection for the clergyman as he slowly wilts away, along with the secret that had been eating away at his soul for years.

5. Hester is one of literature’s first feminist due to the fact that she defied the role society had given her to play in a strictly religious, male-dominated Puritan colony. Women back in the 1700’s were the “Angel’s of the Household”. They were supposed to be pure when married and were only allowed to have sexual relations with the man they devoted themselves to through holy matrimony. A ‘true’ woman was one who was white, a virgin, and middle-class, holding devoted religious faith and know-how of domestic abilities to keep the home in order and under natural societal law. The woman was the one who was expected to remain faithful and ignore all desires she felt for anything unholy that would have shamed her and her family, the man- although it was frowned upon but not punished as severely- allowed to have affairs outside the marriage.
Hester Prynne was that single woman who went against all Puritan laws and lived up to those sexual desires she had built up with forced entry because of her husband’s absence. Having had intercourse with another man and married, she was ostracized in her town and lost all respect and rights she had a “real” woman. Even with such disobedience, Hester never allowed her predicament to write the future of her life, seizing the opportunity of being alone and standing as a fallen woman, to lead and live her life the way she planned it; an option women in that era had not acquired because of their gender. Her defiance paved the way for many women after, serving as a guide for them to follow for self-happiness and self-thought. Hester is one of literature’s first feminist because she defied moral conduct and thought for herself, not letting a male tell her in any shape, way, form, or fashion, what to do and how to do it.

6. The second scene in the Scarlet Letter serves as the novels climax due to a foreshadowing of events with Arthur Dimmesdale. Reverend Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold where Hester and Pearl stood years back- when the scandal concerning the scarlet letter first became known- and lets out a scream to show his inner pain and torture due to his sin of partnered adultery with Hester. This scene foreshadows that the minister is a step closer in confessing his sins of adultery due to the fact that his guilt is becoming almost unbearable to handle and conceal, his conscience and neediness to repent to god for forgiveness taking more of a priority. This also serves as the novels climax because it shows intense reactions from the minister, who, throughout the course of the novel, remained quiet and unopinionated about the scandal concerning the Scarlet Letter. This is the minister’s first severe reaction about the scarlet letter and his affiliation with the sin. This shows that the minister is tired of remaining quiet about his relationship with Hester and that Pearl is his daughter, his care for his reputation almost nonexistent but still holding by a thread due to his confession still being withheld out of cowardice.

Links to Sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_literature

essay

Love is pain. It causes heartbreak and unwanted emotions to bombard an unsuspecting victim in order to bring them down a fiery pit of uncertainty and confusion; spiraling out of control to distort the ever powerful mind and destroy the tender loving heart. I, personally, don’t believe love is a real emotion. It is a word that is thrown around so carelessly like a used rag, damp with the quintessence of false hopes and aspirations of feelings unknown to the naïve mind. “I love you” is a phrase I believe to be a cliché. It leaves no thought or curiosity behind the elegant wording, but can deceit unsuspecting with its initial feeling of wanting, although it is void of anything but.
My mother got divorced a few years back after a ten year marriage. A marriage filled tender moments that could make cupid himself blush. While most marry out of love, she married out of the duty to her soon-to-be family, a vow to not have another child out of wedlock and be the typical Black parent. I was her only child before she met and married the man she divorced and he grew to love and treat me like I was his own daughter not too soon after; buying me gifts on my birthday, fixing my scrapped knee when I feel, being my pillar of support when I felt unstable and isolated in reality. My mother raised me by her lonesome and wanted to marry in order to have a man to help her with my developing baby brother.
My mother’s plan of having a man around in order to keep and maintain the “typical” American family did not work. After my brother was born, soon came a sister, and then another brother right after that. I found myself in a house full of children, practically raising them all myself because my mother was working for herself, out all hours of the day, and her husband- my step-father- was too busy being lazy to help me raise his children. His words did not directly tell me he wanted to be bothered with raising children, but his actions and negligence after the third child was born did. I saw myself as a ten year old raising two kids alone, my mother out working to provide for our needs and necessities financially and her husband out with his friends doing gods knows what in god knows where. I found myself maturing faster than hoped and having an outlook on the world that suited a legislator. Everything has its reason and there is a reason for everything.
My philosophy was- and if figured this out when I was ten- if s a person really loves someone, they would go to great lengths to help them, support, them, be more than a lover but also and friend or confidant. My mother’s husband was neither, his actions, sudden episodes away from the home, and constant bickering with my mother that started all because of the sudden realization that this wasn’t the fairy-tale reality she hoped for like the classic damsel in distress that played in Disney movies. Even an added bonus of a hidden affair with an anonymous woman who went by the name of a seeded fruit/berry, was the reason to which I found myself not wanting this relationship of love and devoted anointment, tears spilling and cascaded like overflowing waterfalls were the very epitome of my hatred towards the dreaded “I Do.” And the “I love you” that was to follow in its void footsteps.
Not to my surprise- but the time span that it survived this long- my mother’s marriage ended in a bitter-sweet divorce. She was relieved that an unknown burden had been released from her life and her husband- now an unknown entity of which resemble a ghost figure rather than a man of devoted and bountiful affection- was now free to frolic and go happily to wherever he chose. Now, they hate each other like a possum and a rat, and treat each other like common strangers, side glances toward each other as if the other were a passerby. They weren’t in love, but loved the thought of one another.