Voice From The Wall Essay Research Paper — страница 2

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instead of 1914. - despite living in America and the efforts of her husband Betty does not speak English Teresa Sarci - Lena s next door neighbor in San Francisco - about twelve years old - moody - is the voice from the wall Mrs. Sarci - Teresa s mother - Italian with a slight accent you stupida girl - strict parental figure - is the other voice from the wall Setting / Mood - Oakland and san Francisco California, hospital, school yard, and Lena s apartment (bedroom) - stories are told that take place in China - the story is set in the late thirties or forties Theme: Bildungsroman - a story about a child developing their mind and character as they go into adulthood - At the beginning of the story the child Lena lives in the thoughts and the stories of her parents. As the story

progresess he begins to see her life in her eyes ands sees that her parents are not what she thought - she begins to see the poor mental state of her mother when she becomes pregnant You can t understand these things, she said, why not/ Because I haven t put them into your mind yet. - her vivid imagination turns her mothers stories into a reality for her I used to play out the beggar s last moments over and over again in my head. In my mind, I saw the executioner strip off the man s shirt and lead him into the open yard. This traitor, read the executioner, is sentenced to die the death of a thousand cuts. Then the girl pulled out a sharp sword and told her mother, then you must die the death of a thousand swords. Plot The story, The voice From the Wall, by Amy Tan, is about a

little ten year old girl Lena St. Clair and her family. The story starts out with Lena explaining an old family legend, about her great-grandfather and how he sentenced a beggar to die. Lena has a powerful imagination. This is shown at the beginning of the story, where she imagines how the beggar died. When Lena asks her mother about the death she said that he died because he was sick. Lena s mother is incapable of accepting the truths about life and always tells Lena lies. This is shown on page 307 I could sense unspoken terrors that surrounded our house, the ones that chased my mother until she hid in a secret corner of her mind. As the story continues we her more about Lena, and that her father is English / Irish and her mother is Chinese. Her mother cannot speak much English

and her father always puts words in her mouth. So my father would put words in her mouth. (Pg. 309) Lena is a curious child who likes to ask questions. Her mother, thinking she was protecting her, avoided telling her the truth. I knew my mother made up anything to warm me, to help me avoid some unknown danger. (Pg. 309) One day Mr. St. Clair the father comes home and announces to the family that they are moving to San Francisco because he got a promotion. The family moves into a three-story house. This was an Italian neighborhood and one day when Mrs. St. Clair and Lena were going shopping a man called Mrs. St. Clair Lena s maid. Lena resembled her father and this comment made Mrs. St. Clair very upset. Because she did not speak of her problem this shows that the mother is

introverted and she withheld her feelings and emotions. The father also avoided the situation by always saying that everything was okay when it really was not. One day Lena came home and found a crib in her room and found out that her mother was pregnant. One night Lena kept hearing voices and noises coming from the wall. Th e noises were as if someone was getting physically abused. Lena thought that it was the next door neighbor s. Lena s mother loses the baby and tells disgusting stories about how he died and mentions something about killing her other son. This suggests that the mother might have had another baby and kept it a secret. After losing the baby Mrs. St. Clair is even worse. She is always in deep thought or staring into outer space, or perhaps even a deep sleep. The

father does not worry about it and suggests that she is just resting. Near the end of the story Lena is seeing things in her mind. She sees a girl in pain and her sick mother. The girl takes a sword and cuts up her mother. The mother does not bleed and says that she has experienced the worst thing ever. The daughter takes the worse thing ever. The daughter, takes her hand, says to come on the other side of the wall and she will be proven wrong. Style The words of the story come from a first person narrator perspective of a ten year old, but they are very powerful. There is much violence in the story with the killing of the beggar at the beginning, the beating of the girl next door in Lena s mind, to the killing of the mother by the girl by the end. Words like, unspoken terrors,