Love Me Not Unit

In "You're Ugly, Too" by Moore, the main character Zoe characterizes all of the people of the Midwest through the use of anecdotes. The narrator speaks of a chairman, who calls Zoe in only to "study" her. Also, as Zoe reminisces about her past boyfriends, she thinks about the parking ticket bureaucrat. He comments upon her appearance and asks her to buy new clothes. These anecdotes demonstrates Zoe's dismissive behavior. She dislikes the Midwest. She believes that they are "complacent" and "spoiled". They care too much about their appearance, which made them ugly. These stories characterizes Zoe. She bundles all of the Midwestern people into the category of snobbish and greedy people.

Love Me Not Unit

The setting in the poem "February" by Maragret Atwood is very definite and helps convey the speaker's lack of love and happiness. This poem takes place in the month of February. In most parts of the Western hemisphere, the weather coerces people inside to stay away from the frigid temperatures. It is a time of sadness because people are inside without much to do. Most likely, the speaker lives in Canada because he speaks of watching hockey and eating French fries with vinegar, which Canadians partake in doing often. In Canada, the temperatures stay cold longer. Because his winters are very cold, he is inside most of the time. This cold shows his sadness for not having love. The month of February is known for Valentine's Day. However, he alludes to this day saying that the heart is skewered. At the end, he tells his cat to get rid of his depression and "make it be spring". This message is directed at himself also. He wishes to have a renewal. He wants to find love.

Love Me Not Unit

Irony abounds greatly in Kate Chopin's piece called the "Story of an Hour". She utilizes both dramatic and situational irony to show that as humans, we make mistakes. Dramatic irony appears when Louise's cousin Josephine knocks on the door. After they discovered that Louise's husband is dead, she locks herself away from Josephine and Richards, who told her the news. Josephine worries about her cousin by imploring that she opens the door. She believes that she will sicken herself by thinking about the death. However, Louise finally feels free from her husband that she only loved some of the time. She asks God for a long life because now she possessed "self-assertion", which is more important to her than her husband's assumed death. Also, situational irony appears when the supposedly dead man walks in the front door. Throughout the short story, the audience and the other characters believe that he died in a "railroad disaster". However, he is far away from the incident. Then, his wife dies from the surprise. Both were very unexpected. In an irony all of its own, Louise is free to make her own choices. She is free from his love and desires.

Love Me Not Unit

In "Popular Mechanics", Ettlinger creates a new version of King Solomon's wise decision. In this story, two women ask their King to decide who is the mother of the child. One woman stole the child and left her dead baby for the other woman. Knowing this was not hers, she went to the King for his judgment. He decided to cut the baby in half, but before this could happen, the rightful mother screamed for them to stop. She would rather have her child live with the other woman than to be killed. This sign of love eluded to the correct mother. Similarly, Ettlinger utilizes this old plot; however, he revamps and tweaks it. The parents of a child are fighting for the custody of their child. Both want it, and so they try to rip him from the other's grasp. The final line, "In this manner, the issue was decided," eludes to the death of the child. Instead of wanting the child to live, they both greedily pulled at him until he died. This implicit ending demonstrates the theme that people do not always do what is the best for everyone in the situation. Rather, humans greedily pull and take until someone is hurt. The man killed his son when he "pulled back very hard", and now, both are without a baby. 

In a similar way, I remember a cartoon from my childhood called Recess. A small boy became King of the Playground for the day and handled a situation between two girls and a doll. (4:30 minutes into the video)

Love Unit

In "Eveline" by James Joyce, the statement, "He would give her life, perhaps love, too. But she wanted to live (221)" foreshadows Eveline leaving Frank. She believes that she needs someone to save her. She stays in the same house with her verbally abusive father. Promising her mother to keep the family together, she felt an obligation to stay with them. Nevertheless, she feels unhappy and needs to move to become happy again.  In the end, Eveline cannot find the courage to leave the place she has known all her life and embark for Argentina. As she looks upon the boat, she realizes that she cannot go to a new, foreign place. She realizes that she does not love him. Also, she wanted to live. She felt smothered by him. Therefore, she stayed behind.

Love Unit

In many ways, Edie and Mrs. Peebles are FOIL characters in "How I Met My Husband" by Munro. Mrs. Peebles seems allergic to any type of work although it is much easier than the work Edie is used to completing. She takes naps during the day. Also, she lives her life in a higher class than Edie. Mrs. Peebles does not have to work for a living and can randomly leave her house without worry about any of the chores. On the other hand, Edie worked hard for most of her life. She worked with her family before gaining a job of housekeeper at the Peebles' house. This creates a lot of misunderstanding between the two characters. Nevertheless, Mrs. Peebles protects Edie from Alice Kelling's rage. She is the voice of reason when she asked, "I'm wondering, if you know what being intimate means. Now tell me (144)." Whether she protects her because she did not want to find another housekeeper or became attached to Edie throughout the years, Mrs. Peebles defended her when Kelling screeched at her.

Love Unit

Within the poem "Delight in Disorder", Robert Herrick exposes a paradox of women. They like to look disheveled to grasp the attention of men. However, they procure this look in a way that "is too precise in every part (979)." He describes the different articles of clothing like a scarf and a dress. These clothing pieces are laid upon the woman to create an air of seduction. They seem to lay upon her without any order or care. Although women try to create this sense of facility in beauty, they spend much of their time to do so. They have learned so much from the reactions of men. Now, they can skillfully create an attraction. Herrick states that they entice him so much that seduction has become an art.

Love Unit

             Wendy Cope creates different people within a newspaper through her poem, "Lonely Hearts". While looking for love, she formulates a parody of people's desire to find love. Each person composes his or her advertisement for a newspaper. Every single person tries to find his soul mate. However, he makes crucial specifications that a person must have to be happy. For example, an executive is looking for a new person "perhaps bisexual woman, arty, young (973)." He searches for someone who he may not get. He enumerates the qualities that he deems worthy of "something new". This person may not be the best for his soul mate because a reader may see him as trying to get a good time. He will always be alone because he cannot be happy with the woman he might get.