Character Analysis of Marie from “Puppy” by George Saunders
In the short story “Puppy” by George Saunders, Marie is driving to Callie’s house to purchase a puppy for her children, Josh and Abbie. Throughout the drive to Callie’s, Marie is trying to connect with her children but they are not interested. Once Marie makes it to Callie’s home, we can see how judgmental she is when she talks about the uncleanliness and disorganization. She decides against purchasing the puppy after seeing Bo, Callie’s son, chained to a tree. When she refused to purchase the puppy, she sealed the fate of its death. Marie is a suburban wife, loving mother, and want what’s best for her children. She views her children as her friends and does not discipline them. She
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Throughout the period of her childhood, her mother was abusive. Her mother “left [her] standing in the blizzard for 2 hours after a junior-high dance” (183), “locked [her] in the closet while she [entertained] a ditchdigger” (183), and told Marie, “[she wasn’t] college material” (183). Because of this Marie does not want to be like her mother as a parent and is very permissive as a mother to Josh and Abbie. When Josh “goose[s] her with his Gameboy” (182) and “swat[s] at her affectionately… knocked off her glasses” (183), she laughs it off versus disciplining him. She feels this shows that her children are “well loved” (183). She would rather treat him as a friend rather than discipline them as a parent. Even in the car she describes the car ride, to get the puppy, as a “super field trip” (185). While she does not judge her children, she has no sympathy for others situations.
Marie is judgmental of Callie, when she makes it to her home. She judges Callie by her physical appearance, cleanliness, and dysfunctional organization of her home. She describes how the home looked inside and how she had to resist the urge to wash her hands. She
Marie enjoyed learning, she looked up to her father who was a very smart man. Her father always said, “When you’re smart they can’t take that away, they can take your money, put you in jail and throw away a key, but they can’t take your education”. This quote she too lived by. Marie knew her only way out of poverty was to remain sharp on her education skills because this would take her far. Her father being a smart working man had more opportunity’s to learn rather than her
Doing what is right vs. wrong often causes struggles within other people. Marie little soldier was David's biggest crush until she was found dead in her bedroom. Marie was an Indian women who lived on the reservation before David met her. She was asked to be housekeeper for David's home and also babysit David.
Mrs. Figard reports that Shellbe is confrontational and defensive when it comes to being corrected or asked to complete a task. Shellbe will become argumentative and give multiple reasons to why she should not be getting in trouble or why a task should not be completed. Mrs. Figard has discussed with Shellbe the household rules and expectations a number of times. Shellbe will ignore the rules and expectations and will argue with Mrs. Figard to avoid guilt or responsibility. Shellbe also becomes confrontational when she believes that she knows better than her foster parents.
They live in various dilapidated hotels in Montreal’s red light district. As Karl Marx famously said “[People] make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past." Likewise, the foundation that affected Baby’s development was fractured prior to her birth. Baby was born in an unstable and derelict environment, paired with minimal parental support from a heroin addicted father, which hindered her childhood development.
Do you value the people and places around you? If you do, your milieu can influence your life in a gratifying way. In Papa’s Parrot by Cynthia Rylant, Harry’s father, Mr. Tillian, valued his son, his parrot, and his candy shop. In Papa’s Parrot, the possessions and beings Mr. Tillian most valued were his son, his shop, and his parrot.
When Jeannette writes about how her parents allowed her and her siblings to do anything they wanted, she explains how her, “Mom believed that children shouldn’t be burdened with a lot of rules and restrictions… She felt it was good for kids to do what they wanted because they learned a lot from their mistakes. ” (Walls 59). Jeanette’s mom is not the type of mother that gives their children rules, but by doing so she is putting her children in more danger. So from a young age, Jeannette has already had many dangerous experiences, which makes her a stronger person over time.
She loved the Harling children as her own. She served Jim’s grandparents as if she was their bondservant. Whatever she did, she did wholeheartedly, tending the seeds of love and hope she had planted. And this did not fail her, for at long last she harvested the love, admiration, and respect of everyone around
Nanny is successfully able to convince her granddaughter through her own traumatic experiences and make her feel “sympathy” as she tells Janie she doesn’t want her life to be spoiled like her own life was. At first, Janie refuses to marry Logan Killicks. Nanny being the older one, defends herself by saying “put me down easy” since she can no longer care for Janie and only her wish is for Janie to get married and be protected from the dangers she and her own daughter faced. By calling herself a “cracked plate” Nanny further elucidates that she went through many hardships in her own life and wants to do the right thing for her granddaughter by
Her Mother Paulina was like any other caring mother trying to keep her family uplifted through bad times. Magdalena Socha Leopold 's wife was like a second mother she helped the Chigger family out by washing their
Nanny’s act of cruelty against Janie reveals both nanny’s sincere
The Lord Of The Flies by William Golding is a book about a plane full of boys crashing on an island. The boys are by themselves no adults so they have to survive on their own and establish their own government. Piggy is one of the first characters we meet as a boy with poor eyesight, a weight problem and asthma so the readers already like him even if no one else likes him. Piggy is the closest thing the boys have to an adult on the island. Throughout the story Piggy embraces the character traits of being intellectually intelligent, Mature and loyal.
‘“I said no. This is ridiculous. I'm exhausted. I'm not filling it back in”’ (104). In the end she left them to go and be spoiled by her parents in the city.
Wesley would like to do nothing but on the other hand his wife Gail is loyal to Maire and wants justice. Marie’s sickness is sort of a blessing in disguise when it comes down to it, if she had not been sick, then frank would have not be caught. Therefore even though Marie lacks power she was able to help other Native American girls in the future because they will no longer have to face Frank as a doctor. Another example of attitude towards Native Americans is Frank Hayden’s. “As if he had no more concern for what he did than if…..if he had kicked a dog.
Marie has a loving family dynamic of spending time together playing games and having fun. Callie has a tougher outlook on life as she sees no wrong in teaching her children natural selection and pleasing her husband even though the relationship may not be perfect. Marie has more of a higher class outlook on life as on how she views Callie and her living situation and what she thinks about the puppy. Callie also seems content on sheltering her child in a yard or a small space because of his tenacity to run off however she also wants the children to experience what the world is really like. Marie uses Callie’s family dynamic to teach her children the treatment others receive and what they have to endure.
Starting with “Puppy” each prospect point is told in the third person and feels like it is coming from the character’s mind. The first scene concentrates on Marie, a mother of two children who has some problems but still living a nice-looking useful life. Her son Josh is headlong to forcible burst but has mellow