Daily Archives: February 24, 2013

Caring or Hurting ?

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In the short story of ” A Rose for Emily”, The main character that is being read about goes through her life being told how to live it. I can compare this stories with the other short stories that we have read. Emily could not marry any man she pleased with out the approval of her father. Of course that is a natural process for one’s parents to give an opinion. But in this situation, her father disapproved all of the male suiters as a candidate. “ We remembered all the young men her father had driven away….” (Section 2)  As any parent would do, he was probably keeping her safe.

In my opinion he probably thought that no one was best for his daughter. In the story of ” The Yellow Wallpaper”, we also see about a women that is claimed to be sick by her husband who is a doctor. Her husband controls what his wife does in order to get “better” from her “sick conditions”. “John is a physician…If a physician of high standing and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression.“ (Page1)

          I can say that both these men probably had a good intention of keeping their women safe, but in reality they were both hurting them. Emily’s father hurt her psychologically, in a way that she probably didn’t notice at first. She kept her fathers body after he died and lied that he had died until she was being questioned about it. She also poisoned the last man she fancied and kept his body at her bed in the room. She felt the need to be accompanied because she probably  felt lonely. And in the Yellow Wallpaper, her husband took away her sanity, he did not let her do absolutely anything that would harm her. He took away the liberty of having friends and even from writing. The women felt that if she wrote with freedom she would feel better , but she was prohibited from it. In the end of the story, we find that she had gone crazy and probably developed into a serious psychological problem, which made her obsess over a yellow wallpaper in the room where she slept.

In conclusion, both of these short stories we see women being cared and hurt for by men, with “good intentions” but in reality end up having bad results in the end.

Impervious

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Impervious; adjective; incapable of being influenced, persuaded, or affected.

From ” A Rose for Emily” pg 5, “Now and then we would see her in one of the downstairs windows– she had evidently shut up the top floor of the house– like the carven torso of an idol in a niche, looking or not looking at us, we could never tell which. Thus she passed from generation to generation– dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.

After searching the word, I now understand that as the years passed, Miss Emily grew unaffected from any news or events that occurred in her life. She was in a sense, unsensible to any feelings or thoughts.

absurd

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absurd; adjective –  1) ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous; 2) having no rational or orderly relationship to human life : meaningless

From the story “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka. “Then there was a ring at the door of the apartment. “That’s someone from the office,” he told himself, and he almost froze, while his small limbs only danced around all the faster. For one moment everything remained still. “They aren’t opening,” Gregor said to himself, caught up in some absurd hope. But of course then, as usual, the servant girl with her firm tread went to the door and opened it.” (Section I – paragraph 15)

Now I understand that Gregor wish the servant not going to open the door for this guest, but he knows this is a radicious hope because it’s not going to happen, and as the result the servent did open the door.

Unhappy Marriage-Fiction of Authority

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Majority unhappy marriage appear in women because of an unfair society in the past, but even in today’s society there’s still unhappy marriage exist. However, women in today’s society appear to have more dignity than in the past, at least they have right to say “NO!” and made their own decision because of the word “Respect.”

In the story “Female Ingenuity” from Fictions of Authority by Susan Sniader Lanser, she argued that  the wife need to show the letter to the husband before she allow to send it out to her best friend. Because of that she forces to write in 2 versions, one is positive to show her husband and one is negative and that’s the actual letter and the letter she want to tell her friend. In the 1st letter, she said “I tell you my dear husband is one of the most amiable of men, I have been married seven weeks, and have never found the least reason to repent the day that joined us, my husband is in person and manners far from resembling ugly, crass, old, disgreeable, and jealous monsters, who think by confining to secure; a wife, it is his maxim to treat as a bosom-friend and confidatn, and not as a play thing or menial slave, the woman chosen to be his companion. Neither party he says ought to obey implicitly;–but each yield to the other by turns–” (page 9 middle paragraph). The sentence “far from resembling ugly, crass, old, disgreeable, and jealous monsters” the wife is actually saying her husband is instead of not and the meaning is hiding undearneath it.

 However, in 2nd version of the letter which is the actual one. The wife wrote “I tell you my dear I have been married seven weeks, and repent the day that joined us, my husband is ugly, crass, old, disagreeable, and jealous[;]a wife, it is his maxim to treat as a play thing or menial slave, the woman he says ought to obey implicitly;–” (page 10 1st paragraph). The wife is telling her true feeling on her husband and her marriage.

If you compared the 2 versions, you will find that on the 1st letter the wife meant to write in truth but the words that she choose totally change the whole meaning. But at the end, which letter did she sent out?

Glower

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Glower: verb: to look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger

From: “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka: “Gregor!” shouted his sister, glowering at him and shaking her fist. That was the first word she had spoken to him directly since his transformation.”

Now I understand that Gregor’s sister was enraged and gave him a stare out of anger.