William Shakespeare was born on the 26d of April, 1564 on St.George Day. He was the son of John Shakespeare, who was elected to civil which gave a position in the community, and Mary Arden. his parent owned a prosperous wool and farm products business which eventually went bankrupt. William was the third of eight children. He had four sisters and three brothers. Joan was the first, she died from a plague before William was born. Margret came after but she died as baby at a year or maybe less. Then there was Joan and then the last child Anne. His brothers where Edmund, Richard and Gilbert. Gilbert was a trade man and a haberdasher.
As a child form the age of six to age 13 William attended the Stratford Grammer School. Whilst attending school he fell i love with reading stories written by Latin authors and learning learning to speak and write English. Having been born into a large family he earn money as a child buy working for a butcher in his community. It is not certain how long he worked for the butcher but we know that he got married to twenty-six year old Anne Hathaway at the age of 18. She was pregnant with their first child Susanna at the time.
They had three children. Two years after the birth of Suzanna, Anne gave birth to a set of twins who they called Hamnet and Judith. Sadly Hamnet died at the age of eleven from a plague the hit England in 1596. William spent approximately six years form 1585 to 1592 acquiring skills as an actor and playwright. These careers in addition to being a talented poet made him a very wealthy man. He died at the age of 52 on the 23rd of April 1616. Although he has been dead for hundreds of years his work still lives on in the hearts of many.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Symbolism in Brother Man
The novel brother man can me seen as symbolic in a number of way. If one carefully analyze the novel it is clear that the book is practically made up of symbolism. The character John Powers(brother man) may be one of the most symbolic features in the novel. His story tells how unfair and ungrateful the world is. Looking at it from a biblical point of view, his story is like the story of Jesus. He did and still do so much for mankind and everyday they reject his word and ignores his teachings. From a family point of view his story is a symbol of some children ingratitude towards their parents. some parents do everything in there power using all means possible to ensure that their children have a better life than they had, to ensure that the are able to succeed inn any and everything they put their minds to. some of these children after their parent do everything they could to get them to the place where they desire to be they don't even turn back and say thank you. this is exactly what brother man's story portray.
Symbolism is also portrayed in the story of Papacita and Girlie. Their story can be seen as a symbol of trouble in an possessive common law union. Like most the common law union we have today a partner tends to be unfaithful at one point or the other. This story show how danger it is to live with a possessive lover and secondly how some irresponsible men behave when they know they have a good woman waiting 4 them at home. Like Papacita most men in a common law union are reluctant to get married because they don't want to feel tied down having to live with one woman for the rest of their lives. their mentality is "why pay for the cow when you can get the milk for free." Girlie symbolizes what most women this kind of relationship are like. They do all the work, they take care of the home and still the man,waiting patiently for the man to take them his wife. When the man decides to "sale in new waters" and leave them behind they retaliate and as Girlie portray, they always send a deadly blow because they refuse to let all the year spent together be taken for granted.
Symbolism is also portrayed in the story of Papacita and Girlie. Their story can be seen as a symbol of trouble in an possessive common law union. Like most the common law union we have today a partner tends to be unfaithful at one point or the other. This story show how danger it is to live with a possessive lover and secondly how some irresponsible men behave when they know they have a good woman waiting 4 them at home. Like Papacita most men in a common law union are reluctant to get married because they don't want to feel tied down having to live with one woman for the rest of their lives. their mentality is "why pay for the cow when you can get the milk for free." Girlie symbolizes what most women this kind of relationship are like. They do all the work, they take care of the home and still the man,waiting patiently for the man to take them his wife. When the man decides to "sale in new waters" and leave them behind they retaliate and as Girlie portray, they always send a deadly blow because they refuse to let all the year spent together be taken for granted.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Desperation
In the novel Brotherman there are various themes one of the most evident ones is desperation. The picture of desperation is best shown through the character known as Cordelia. Cordelia lived with her son, sister and lover. Her lover Jonas, the soul provider or "bread winner" was a drug dealer so he was arrested and sent to jail. This brought frustration upon Cordelia. With Jonas out of the picture Cordelia had to fend for herself and with the help of her little sister try to provide for her family. It is safe to say that is where her desperation began. After losing her man she got terrible sick but thanks to brotherman who prayed for her she recovered. i believe that at that point she though that things could not get any worse but she was dead wrong. As soon as she recovered her son feel terrible ill. She did what she thought was best and call brotherman to pray for her dear son, her only child, to heal him of his sickness but to her she waited and their was no change she son was still really sick. That is when she reached the peak of her desperation. After losing her man she couldn't stand the thought of losing her only son so she was determined to go to any measure to save her sons life. Desperation can lead people to do a lot of ridiculous thing that they wouldn't even think of doing on a regular basis. In Cordelia's case she turned to obeah to heal her sick son when brother man's prayers didn't work. When the obeah didn't work desperation lead her to insanity.
Reflections of Brotherman
The West Indian novel brotherman has proven to be one the most interesting exciting novels I've read in literature. I was really captivated by the story of Papacita and Girlie. Thier story was by far the most interesting. Papacita to me is like most men they have a good woman at home but they are still not satisfied they chase after women on the outside live thier faithful women at home to take care of the house and sometimes kids. Girlie, like any other women who knows that her man is going around chasing other women and hardly ever providing for his family, is a jealous lover that would fight with all she has to keep her man. You can't really blame her for being so posessive; any woman that loves her man so much that she was willing to maintain him would behave that way.
The story of Minette and John(Brotherman) was also on that had me on my toes. It was a bit sad to se the position Minette was in. She was a young, beautiful, respectful woman who was in love with a man that saw her as nothing more than a daughter. I LOVE brotherman he is the by far the best character in the novel. He is a perfect picture of what a man should be. he is respectful, kind hearted and religious. He is like a hero to me. Thoughout the novel we see him go through so many trials.He helped so many people and asked for nothing in return. if everybody in the world was like him the world would be a better place. His story however, stuck anger in my heart. It made me so angry to see how ungreatful and cruel human beings can be. he did so much for the people and one mistake he made, and it wasn't even his mistake(he was framed) and everyone was against him. i guess it is human mature one wrong cancels out all the good. My only disappointmen with him is that he didn't marry Minette in the end but i Guess it happen that way for a reason.
Jesmina wasnt really interesting to me. she was a faithful friend and sister and all the struggles she went through came about because of he semi-insane sister Cordelia. It seems like after her man went to prison for drugs it seemed like everything started going wrong. i guess that the economic stress that she encounter from losing her man plus her sons sickness wasto much for her to handle psychologically.
Brotherman is a really touchimg novel. It covers every aspect of life it shows how the righteous should live and and it a it shows how some commonlaw relationships works out. This book is so kool. i would read it over and over again. the stories are so real i could actually relate to it.
The story of Minette and John(Brotherman) was also on that had me on my toes. It was a bit sad to se the position Minette was in. She was a young, beautiful, respectful woman who was in love with a man that saw her as nothing more than a daughter. I LOVE brotherman he is the by far the best character in the novel. He is a perfect picture of what a man should be. he is respectful, kind hearted and religious. He is like a hero to me. Thoughout the novel we see him go through so many trials.He helped so many people and asked for nothing in return. if everybody in the world was like him the world would be a better place. His story however, stuck anger in my heart. It made me so angry to see how ungreatful and cruel human beings can be. he did so much for the people and one mistake he made, and it wasn't even his mistake(he was framed) and everyone was against him. i guess it is human mature one wrong cancels out all the good. My only disappointmen with him is that he didn't marry Minette in the end but i Guess it happen that way for a reason.
Jesmina wasnt really interesting to me. she was a faithful friend and sister and all the struggles she went through came about because of he semi-insane sister Cordelia. It seems like after her man went to prison for drugs it seemed like everything started going wrong. i guess that the economic stress that she encounter from losing her man plus her sons sickness wasto much for her to handle psychologically.
Brotherman is a really touchimg novel. It covers every aspect of life it shows how the righteous should live and and it a it shows how some commonlaw relationships works out. This book is so kool. i would read it over and over again. the stories are so real i could actually relate to it.
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