Awakening And Madame Bovary Essays - The Awakening, Madame Bovary

Awakening And Madame Bovary Kate Chopin's The Awakening and Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary are both tales of women indignant with their domestic situations; the distinct differences between the two books can be found in the authors' unique tones. Both authors weave similar themes into their writings such as, the escape from the monotony of domestic life, dissatisfaction with marital expectations and suicide. References to "fate" abound throughout both works. In The Awakening, Chopin uses fate to represent the expectations of Edna Pontellier's aristocratic society. Flaubert uses "fate" to portray his characters' compulsive methods of dealing with their guilt and rejecting of personal accountability. Both authors, however seem to believe that it is fate that oppresses these women; their creators view them subjectively, as if they were products of their respective environments. Chopin portrays Edna as an object, and she receives only the same respect as a possession. Edna's husband sees her as and looks, "...at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." (P 2 : The Awakening) Chopin foils their marriage in that of the Ratignolles who, "...understood each other perfectly." She makes the classic mistake of comparing one's insides with others' outsides when she thinks, "If ever the fusion of two human begins into one has been accomplished on this sphere it was surely in their union." (P 56 : The Awakening) This sets the stage for her unhappiness, providing a point of contrast for her despondent marriage to Mr. Pontellier. She blames their marriage for their unhappiness declaring that, "...a wedding is one of the most lamentable spectacles on earth." (P 66 : The Awakening) She sees their lifetime pledge to fidelity and love as merely a social trap; the same forces that bind them oppress her. Simultaneously, Mademoiselle Reisz, who "...sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier's spinal column..." which perhaps is the tremor that marks the beginning of Edna's self discovery. "A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her, - the light which, showing the way, forbids it." (P 13 : The Awakening) As she explores her world, other men, swimming, and her other romantic pursuits, she experiences her epiphany; she finds that the world has much to offer and kills herself in the lamentation of that which she cannot truly have. Edna finds herself filled with "An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness...She did not sit there inwardly upbraiding her husband, lamenting at Fate, which had directed her footsteps to the path which they had taken." (P 6 : The Awakening) Edna takes an active part in finding happiness within her world. She pursues her swimming and other men in the interest of ending the monotony she lives with as a result of her being confined into her aristocratic society. Emma Bovary, being both protagonist and antagonist, by contrast experiences her epiphany solely at death. She takes the arsenic when she realizes all that she will not get from what she already has. Her light of discovery is found only in the darkness of her death. She laments not what she does not possess, but what happiness her world does not give her. Hers is a story of spiritual emptiness and foolish idealism. "...Emma tried to find out what one meant exactly in life by the words bliss, passion, ecstasy, that had seemed to her so beautiful in books." (P 24 : Madame Bovary) She searches for that which is found in the fantasy world of books in her own world and falls short of her expectations. Charles, her husband, she takes for granted as "She would have done so to the logs in the fireplace or to the pendulum of the clock." (P 44 : Madame Bovary) Flaubert allows her to see Charles as an object just as Mr. Pontellier sees his wife as an object. Although the characters are of the opposite sex, leaving both of the women displeased with their men, and moreover, their lives. Edna and Emma both use people (Emma is also used herself) when needed, and are discarded when they have outlived their usefulness: "Charles was someone to talk to, an ever-open ear, an ever-ready approbation. She even confided many a thing to her greyhound!" Emma treats Charles as her personal dog, she uses him as she uses everyone else in the book. Perhaps it is because of her antagonistic nature that, "She would open his letters, spy on his whereabouts, and listen behind the partition when there were women in

neutral principles essays

neutral principles essays "As a legal system grows, the remedies that it affords substantially proliferate, a development to which the courts contribute, but in which the legislature has an even larger hand. There has been major growth of this kind in our system..." 1 Weschler argues that evidence for general jurisdiction is present in the constitutional text itself, and because of this, judges have a duty to look to principles. I will examine the arguments Weschler gives to support his basis for jurisdiction. There are situations where the neutral solution to principles is difficult to determine, and no action is taken to make changes to the law. In the case of US drug law, neutrality of principles is difficult to determine because each side of the argument has reasons that support their view. I recognize the benefit Weschler's chain of reasoning has given to a legal system, but I will highlight an aspect of the legal system that is inconsistent according to a neutrality of principles. Weschler believes judges have a duty to follow principles. He begins the argument by redefining the basis for jurisdiction given to him by Judge Hand. Judge Hand's definition is one in which jurisprudence is "not a logical deduction from the structure of the Constitution but only a practical condition upon its successful operation, it need not be exercised whenever a court sees, or thinks that it sees, an invasion of the Constitution." 2 Weschler disagrees on two aspects. First, he indicates there is textual representation in the US constitution for jurisdiction. This is to be found in a construed meaning of the supremacy clause. 3 Secondly, he states judges have a duty to jurisdiction. "For me, as for anyone who finds the judicial power anchored in the Constitution, there is no such escape from the judicial obligation..." 4 If they have the duty, then judges must look to principles if they are relevant to the case. Furthermore, there needs to b ...