I am not a singer

All For Rewards

Cruel is the word that best describes the scene. Several men trying to preserve their dignity by fighting others. They are promised lots of things just to be humiliated. The main character with the idea of giving his speech is willing to take lots of pain. He will resist everything just to impress the white men because they can give him a chance. At a part, a man screams to the two final fighters that he wants the big one to win. Our character contemplates the idea of losing on purpose just to satisfy the requests from white men, because this could possibly bring to him greater prizes.

All of the fighters are trying to survive and make it through the evening so they can win some money, blindfolded, they fight each other. The worse part would be the electrified rug. What kind of person sees someone in need, and makes them suffer even more just so they can be entertained? Even though the fighters are aware of the rug, the continue to collect coins, finding techniques and trying to hide the pain by laughing. Giving the observers whatever they want to see.

Our Invisible Man, before, had a huge need of being recognized by society, he tried to please everyone he met, and followed societal standards. He went to the meeting with the intention of sharing his speech, and even after all the suffering, he stands up in front of them and pleases them, excusing himself when he mentions things that make the others mad. With a desperate need to fit in, he is being humiliated, however he looks at it as if he was doing a good thing because the white men accept him. Ignoring all the pain that he felt because of them, he thanks them and tries to become just like them.

During the fighting there are similes used to describe how the bodies of the fighters react to the punches, "A blow to my head as I danced about sent my right eye popping like a jack-in-the-box and settled my dilemma". Also, there is imagery, "blood shaping itself into a butterfly, glistening and soaking into the soiled gray world of the canvas". These literary figures show us how the fighters are really suffering, they help us understand how the fight is real and rough.  

Visibility.

It's ironic how Mr. Pontellier is always acting to be seen by society, he doesn't want to be an outcast and how on the other opposite, the character in Invisible Man is declaring himself invisible. It is clear that Pontellier hides most of his reality to fit into society, he camouflages Edna's decisions, for example when she moved out and he said they were remodeling the house, or when she wouldn't go to the wedding and he went only to excuse her. In Invisible Man, the character doesn't care about society, he lives his way and even commits crimes. He is stealing constant energy supply from Monopolated Light and Power saying, "it allows me to feel my vital aliveness". The reason why he does it, is to teach the company a lesson. While he was trying to fit in society, this light company took lots of his money so now he does this as revenge. The character in Invisible Man tries to teach society a lesson. He takes matters into his hands, for example that night he got into a fight with a man on the street. Trying to get some respect, the character tries to make the blonde man apologize, with no result, he starts kicking him, thinking that there has to be some kind of respect. Then it just came to his mind that it is possible that the man hadn't actually seen him, just as he was about to kill him. Perfect timing.

At the beginning of the book, there seem to be a lot of similes and metaphors. The invisible man compares himself several times to different things. He uses a simile to say he is invisible "like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in the circus sideshows", most times these heads aren't seen because they are ignored by the crowd just like everyone ignores him. He then uses a metaphor to question whether he actually exists or if he is only a phantom in the mind of others. He not only compares his invisibility but he also compares his actions to those of visible man. After having kicked the man, he compares his actions with the actions of a drunken man. It's ironic that he compares himself to a drunken man, because humans under the influence of alcohol seem to be everything but invisible. They are loud and they are constantly moving around, disturbing others. The reason he compares his actions to this man is that drunk men usually don't think their actions through, so when he attacks the man he bumped into, he feels thoughtless.  

An object?

How to continue? Every effort reduced to nothing. The end of the awakening is not that shocking. A person like Edna, full of internal problems and desires tries to make everything right for her, unfortunately she turns even more depressed that before. Her love towards Robert disappears when he views her as an object, she abandons all her intentions and desires. Everything Robert had been for her loses value because he views her as something other than a human being. Enda's intention is to becomes someone in life, she wants to accomplish things, with the help from Robert, she manages to do it for some time but his thoughts towards her trigger her death. What kills Edna is the idea that she left everything behind just to be with Robert, she pauses everything to realize he wouldn't come near her because she is owned by Pontellier.

Our Choice

During times, humans have been raised to follow social constraints. It is Kate Chopin that expresses her concern towards the people that don't overcome what society wants, that are always trying to satisfy others above them. With the character of Edna, Chopin shows how a single human can change to make life a pleasure at least for a little time. As Kate Chopin writes, "how few of us ever emerge from such beginnings!"(pg.35). Robert, is one of the emerging souls. He follows his desires and does what will make him happy. During their visit to the Grand Isle, Robert choses to abandon everything and leaves to Mexico, however he comes back and becomes a perish soul thus succumbing to what society expects from him.     

Changing Tides

After Edna's sudden behavioral change, Mr. Pontellier was shocked to see how his wife was drifting away from her role in society. Instead of keeping up her act Edna decided to rebel against what was always expected of her. Mr. Pontellier who worried very much about what people thought of him tried to repress Edna. However, Mr.Pontellier's actions caused his wife's reactions to be stronger. For example, when Mr. Pontellier orders Edna to enter to the house and she refuses at the beginning of the book. This reaction makes Mr.Pontellier mad and he tries to control her even more. The entire situation strains their relationship. Edna has evolved into a new personality and Mr.Pontelier is stuck in what she used to be. While she tries to live freely, Mr. Pontellier pulls her back every time by constantly controlling her. Edna pushes Pontellier out of her life, staying only with the people that don't judge her (Robert) or with the people that are unaware of her actions like her children. Edna realizes she has nothing to do in her life, if she wanted to spend time with her children, all she could do is watch them play because the quadroon is always taking care of them. If Edna wanted to change something in the house she would have to wait for Pontellier's approval. Therefor, Edna wants to change and do something with her life.