The author talks about Shirley Temple and how much the main character Lovey looked forward to watching her on Sunday mornings. Every time she watched her it made her cry even though she rarely saw the endings because her and her best friends Jerry had to leave for Sunday school. As Lovey says, "I used to wish I was just like her, with perfect blond ringlets and pink cheeks and pout lips.”(25). Calhoon, Lovey’s sister teased her and called her an Oompah Loompah after she gets a perm which turns out looking like what they called a Toni perm that resembles an afro and definitely not the ringlet curls Shirley Temple had. This is the contrast of Shirley Temple and Oompah Loompahs that the author is referencing to in this story. Shirley Temple represents who Lovey wants to be, she sees Shirley as never being teased for how she talks and looks the way that Lovey and she considers herself ugly, struggling with standard English, so she was placed in the “dumb” class; as she puts it, and her family often calls her stupid.
Oompah Loompahs are completely the opposite and not what Lovey wants to be, they are the one’s teasing her for the way she talks and calling her names. Shirley Temple is Lovey’s idol, who she feels she needs to be to be accepted. My meaning of the contrast is the detailed description of Lovey’s rapture of infatuation with Shirley Temple’s perfect ringlets, cherubic smile, bright eyes, happy endings and her love for Grandpa. Lovey looks up to Shirley Temple and wants to be just like her not the girl she is who is awkward and struggles to fit in while struggling to be herself. Lovey has taken images such as Shirley Temple and Oompah Loompahs and compares herself to them and finds she ends up with a low self esteem and lacking in many areas. She is negatively shaping her identity between the contrast of Shirley Temple who she wants to be and Oompah Loompahs that she doesn't want to be.
I think it was pretty obvious that Lovey wanted a different life. I liked your response, she always wanted to be just like Shirley. She was also jealous of the other girls who I guess were prettier or smarter so when she would go to Sunday school with Jerry they would make up their own happy endings and I think maybe that's what Lovey wanted for her life was her own happy ending that she didn't believe she would ever get.
ReplyDeleteHello, I know lovey was struggle to find happiness. She wanted the world of Shirley Temple. She wanted to compare their lives, she felt hurt when she didn't have happiness or love. I think Shirley Temple gave Lovey strength to keep searching or hoping, not to give up so easily.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that lovey wasn't alone, Jerry was by her side, he understood her. Lovey was a girl that just needed time to get what she longed for. The whole hair thing made her get teased, but those people who teased her were her family. They loves her regardless of her hair disaster.
Your response was, great, I understand what your point was about Shirley Temple and Lovey
Thanks, Lesley
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI think Lovey lived in an environment that conflicted with her cultural heritage, and was causing her to be emotionally upset that she couldn't live this perfect life that was portrayed on t.v. Other kids made fun of her, and wouldn't see the good things she was capable of. She looked for acceptance through Shirley Temple, and went so far as to try to emulate her through the perm. I wonder if Shirley Temple really had such a charmed life? I wonder if she was a child star who ended up addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Thanks, Carrie