we explored the Literary Devices in “The Birthmark”. The most prominent device to me from the lesson is the human flaw as a theme. Humans do not realize that the quest for perfection will be an incessant one. Instead of accepting imperfections, they try to criticize or change them. Alymer in “The Birthmark” puts all of his focus on on the 1 imperfection his wife possesses, her birthmark. Instead of admiring all of Georgiana’s other beautiful attributes. His feelings of obsession and disgust for the birthmark end up destroying Georgiana’s self confidence and she views herself as being unattractive. She herself becomes obsessed with the birthmark and wants to do anything to remove it. In the end Alymer gets his wish and he removes the birthmark but he also kills his wife in the process. Human just like Alymer focus so much on the one negative attribute about someone that it blinds them from all the beautiful positive traits they possess. They also do not realize the affect it has on other people. What if Georgiana spoke up against her husband and opposed removing the birthmark? She still might be alive today. This reminds of me of all the bullying going on in schools today. So many kids are mocked and belittled because they do not fit into what is considered “cool”. Those kids end up being depressed and feel like outcasts and sometimes do drastic things to retaliate. The recent suicides and shootings really make me feel like more needs to be done to make kids feel accepted. Or another alternative is come down much harsher on the kids who do the bullying. The hardest thing in school should be getting good grades, not worrying about if today is the day you will be bullied because of what others feel are your imperfections.
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