The Esssence of Rebirth and Death in Literature Essay -- essays resear

The Essence of Rebirth and Death in Literature   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Literature has always been a powerful way for people to express their ideas, opinions, and feelings. Authors often use literature to depict aspects of society that can affect a man or woman’s life. In the stories, â€Å"The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,† Life in the Iron Mills, â€Å"Barbie Doll,† and The Awakening the women of the stories do not seem to adapt to societal expectations. The inadequacy of the women of these stories to meet the view of society has lead to either a rebirth or ultimately a drive to suicide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In D.H. Lawrence’s â€Å"The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,† rebirth is a central theme of the story. Lawrence uses his main character, Mabel, to take part in this transformation. Mabel’s role in society is defined by the death of her mother, her father’s occupation, as the title suggests, and how her life is altered by the death of her father. She finds herself alone, her household in ruins, and all her money gone. She is constantly being pressured by her siblings to come to terms with what she will be doing with the rest of her life. Her brothers are eager to make sure she or someone else takes responsibility for her life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mabel feels the pressure of having to prove herself. She is impassive and almost paralyzed with fear about her future. It is because of her unappeasable life that she seeks a way to find fulfillment. The only way she feels she can pursue this is to be reunited with her beloved mother. When she goes to the graveyard where her mother is buried she carries with her shears, a sponge, and scrubbing brushes to clean the headstone and in a sense prepares herself for her own death. While she is at the grave sight Dr. Ferguson passes by. He is moved by the way she takes responsibility for her mother’s plot. At this point he realizes how in touch she is with the nonliving world. One analyst says, â€Å"His quick (alive) eyes sees her tending the grave as if spellbound, and he is touched by her conjunction with the world of death† (Meyers 347). At the same time Mabel with her life in ruins, her parents gone, her brothers close to striking out on their own, and all her financial resources gone, decides it would be better to be with her mother by taking her life. She plans to do this by drowning herself.   Ã‚  Ã‚   ... ...er’s Daughter† and Life in the Iron Mills, both Mabel and Deb experience a rebirth that challenged society to accept them as they accepted themselves. In the two other works which I have discussed â€Å"Barbie Doll† and The Awakening both the girl and Edna disobey society by committing the ultimate act of suicide to free themselves of the burden of society. In all the works, the main female characters denounced society’s expectations in order to gain personal pleasure. Works Cited Davis, Rebecca Harding. Life in the Iron Mills and Other Stories. New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York, 1985. Green, Suzanne D. â€Å"The Awakening.† Novels for Students. 56-66. Hughes, Sheila Hassell. â€Å"Between the Bodies of Knowledge there is a Great Gulf Fixed: A Liberationist Reading of Class and Gender in Life in the Iron Mills.† 1997. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_ quarterly/v049/49.1hughes.html. November 15,1999. Lawrence, D.H. â€Å"The Horse Dealer’s Daughter.† Meyers, Jeffrey. â€Å"D.H. Lawrence and Tradition: ‘The Horse Dealer’s Daughter’.† Studies in Short Fiction. Ed. Gayle R. Swanson. Newberry, South Carolina: Newberry College, 1989. 346-351. Piercy, Marge. â€Å"Barbie Doll.†