Women character traits in literature

Women have different character traits and are treated different, such as the ones in A Worn Path, Miss Brill, and A Good Man is Hard to Find, often struggle with memory loss and being treated different because of age. This paper seeks to demonstrate the uniqueness of each character in the three short stories by incorporating the formalist approach. In A Good Man is hard to find, the grandmother, protagonist, is manipulative, deceitful, self-serving, and forgetful. The grandmother manipulates people to get what she wants. On the day of the trip, she hides Pitty Sing in a basket in the car. I can just look at you and tell ". Misfit agrees with the grandmother’s assessment of him but still sees no reason to spare her life.

She reaches out to Misfit and tells him “you’re one of my own children” (Leigh, p. Misfit springs back and shoots her thrice through the chest. Flannery O’Connor reveals to us that the grandmother is a self-serving person who does things that help only her. Shocked by her forgetfulness, the grandmother kicks her feet frightening the cat, which springs onto Bailey’s shoulders making him veer off the road which results in the vehicle overturning. The grandmother would stretch the truth to any extent for things to go her way. “The grandmother was curled up under the dashboard, hoping she was injured so that Bailey’s wrath would not come down on her all at once. ” On top of that, in Miss Brill Katherine Mansfield Miss Brill is a self-contained, observant, optimistic, and sensitive character.

She enjoys her simple world of living by herself in a very small space without a pet. She attempts to make herself worthy even though she ends up in the jokes of some people. Miss Brill takes pleasure in watching other people’s life as an escape to her reality. “They were all on the stage. They weren’t only the audience, not only looking on; they were acting. Even she had a part and came every Sunday” (Mandel, p. Miss Brill shows how contented she is with the little she has. She holds on to her old fur which she has enjoyed many days together with it. In the story “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield, complexity and the fact that the main character doesn’t understand herself make it difficult to understand her.

In A Worn Path, Eudora Welty introduces an African American woman, Phoenix, travelling from the rural village to the ton to source medication for her grandson. Phoenix represents the enduring spirit of the oppressed portrayed by her old age. 'Are you deaf?' cried the attendant. ” In addition, Phoenix seems to be hallucinating and day dreaming as she seems to see imaginary objects. For instance, when there was a quivering in the thicket Phoenix says,” Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!. Keep out from under these feet; little bob-whites. Keep the big wild hogs out of my path. The criticism has been instrumental in analyzing the three short stories and demonstrated that each of the characters struggle with memory loss and being treated different because of age.