Monthly Archives: February 2013

Fatuity

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Fatuity: Noun: something foolish or stupid : a foolish or stupid quality

From the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. “Looked at one way each breadth stands alone, the bloated curves and flourishes — a kind of  “Debased Romanesque” and delirium tremens — go waddling up and down in isolated columns of fatuity.”

I now understand that she was saying that the lines in the wallpaper were moving up and down and basically all over the wall in a stupid or foolish way. Sort of like they had a violent delirium and shook allover with tremors thereby it looked like it was all over the place.

Visage

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visage:noun: the face, countenance, or appearance of a person

From “Young Goodman Brown”:They turned; and flashing forth, as it were, in a sheet of flame, the fiend-worshippers were seen; the smile of welcome gleamed darkly on every visage. (Paragraph 62)

I came to understand that there was a light smile on every face.

 

Procession

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Procession: noun: a group of individuals moving along in an orderly often ceremonial way.

From “The Cottagette”: “The grass swept up to the door-step, to the walls–only it wasn’t just grass of course, but such a procession of flowers as I had never
imagined could grow in one place.” (paragraph 11)

Now I understand that the grass and flowers swept in a orderly fashion or perhaps they were put there.

Unwittingly

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Unwittingly: adverb: without knowledge or intention; not knowing

From the story “The Story of An Hour”, “…and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory

Mrs.Mallard finally got over with her husband’s death and she is ready for her new life so she got up and open the door for her sister Josephine.

Importunity

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Importunity: noun: insistent solicitation and entreating; request or demand

In the story of “Story of an Hour”, she arose at length and opened the door to her sister’s importunities.

I understand that Mrs.Mallard locked herself in her room because of her husband’s death news, so her sister Josephine demand her to open the door before Mrs.Mallard will do anything to harm herself.

“Young Goodman Brown” – Allegory

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Allegory is a noun which means a symbolic representation or the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence. In the story “Young Goodman Brown”, there are certain items in the story that have symbolization. For example, the pink ribbon, which belongs to Faith, symbolizes the faith of Goodman Brown. According to the story at paragraph 1, “…letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap…,” the ribbon represents his faith is fragile because when the wind blows it, it is easily swayed. Pink also represents innocence and delicacy.

Another symbolization is the traveler’s staff. His staff has the appearance of a twisted living serpent. Serpents are usually shown as dark and evil reptiles. Since the staff is owned by the traveler, it shows that the traveler is the devil. In the story, the traveler is also called the devil, Goody Cloyse exclaimed, “The devil!” when she sees the traveler.

The forest and town also represents evil vs. good. In the story, the ceremony of converting Faith, Goody Cloyse, the minister, and Deacon Gookin to evil took place in the forest. The forest symbolizes dark and fear. As for the town, it represents the good because in the town, Brown sees Deacon Gookin at his domestic worship, the minister taking a walk along the graveyard, Good Cloyse catechising a little girl, and Faith waiting for him in excitement. These are the actions of pureness.

The symbolism allows me to have a deeper understanding of the story. Faith’s pink ribbon helps me understand that at the end, Brown will be stuck between good and evil since the ribbon is weak just like him. Brown wouldn’t be able to decide whether he should still believe the people that he once saw as good, including his dear wife.

In the story, I think Goodman Brown should be responsible for his actions. He didn’t listen to his wife when she asked him not to go on his journey because she is worry that something will happen. If he didn’t go, he would not have experience the whole ceremony which caused him to doubt his wife and everyone else, believing they had turned evil.

Humane

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Martha Hale, an antagonist in “A jury of her peers”, is more humane to protagonist Minnie Foster.  Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter could understand and feel the whole situation that Mrs. Wright was going through. They even tried to hide the evidence that might lead to full conviction of Mr. Wright’s murder.  They found out that the bird was killed and wrapped in a silk inside a box, but they did not notify it to county attorney Mr. Henderson. They both were nervous when Mr. Henderson and Mr. Peter walked in from outside. ““Well that’s very interesting, I’m sure,” he said tolerantly. He caught sight of the bird-cage. “Has the bird flown?” “We think the cat got it,” said Mrs. Hale in a voice curiously even.”

Martha Hale regrets that she was not able to visit Mrs. Wright during the year and she felt that she could be of some help in preventing such incident. She was very busy and even worried about her own things at home.  She was very active lady never want to leave anything unfinished.  She knew that Mrs. Wright could not cope with the life as a housewife.  Mrs. Wright was gregarious and ostentatious when she was young.

Mrs. Hale asked Mrs. Peter to take a cherry bottled and let her know that everything is perfectly alright at home. Mrs. Peter even agreed to take the quilt with her in order that Mrs. Wright might keep her mind busy on this quilt while in jail.

On the other hand,  in “The story of an hour”, Mrs. Mallard died due to the surprise she got on her poor heart that was weak from the beginning. She was committing an invisible crime that no one could see. She was feeling all the freedom after she heard the news of her husband’s death.

In both the stories, “The story of an hour” and “A jury of her peers”, women endure dare situations with men under different circumstances.  Both the stories share a woman’s feeling and their adaptation to different situations and they are more vulnerable.

Bloggers for Monday’s class

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If you were asked to blog by end-of-day on Friday so that everyone can comment on your posts by 10:00am Monday, what do you plan to blog about? Here are some ideas, and I hope that others will reply here with additional ideas.

  • What effect does the style of narration have on your experience of the plot or characters? Use two different styles to reflect on this, at least one from one of the stories we’ve read or are reading for Monday.
  • In class we talked briefly about how “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory. What does that mean, how does it play out in the story, and how does it strike you as a reader?
  • We’re going to look at three very different pieces by Charlotte Perkins Gilman for Monday’s class: two short stories, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and “The Cottagette,” and a chapter (XIV) from a non-fiction work called Women and Economics. How do the different narrative styles compare? Or how does the information conveyed in the non-fiction chapter come through in either of the short stories?
  • What connections do you see among the stories assigned from the start of the semester through Monday? Are there trends you can identify? Or contrasting situations/characters/styles that are worth noting in their difference? Be specific!

These are just a few ideas that you might consider. For your post, choose one of these, or venture off on your own topic, using any of these as a guide to make sure your topic is as focused. Use the texts to guide you, consider that your audience will have read the same materials but might not have thought about them as much as you have or in the same way that you did, and enjoy sharing your ideas. On the nitty-gritty end of things, remember to include a title that reflects what you’re writing (it shouldn’t be able to apply to everyone’s post!), choose appropriate categories and tags (or add if you want a tag that isn’t there already), write at least 300 words, proofread, and publish! If there are links or media you want to include, please do.

Commenters–get ready! Everyone who isn’t writing a blog post will need to comment by 10:00am Monday, so make sure you’re ready with 100-150 words of insights and reactions to share with the class.

This semester’s blogging assignment

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Throughout the semester, we will use the blog to develop and share our ideas about and analyses of the materials for this course. For each class, you will need to share something, whether it be a blog post , a comment or a summary. You are always welcome to do more than the schedule requires, and I hope we will develop a lively online community that becomes integral to our course.

For each class session, I may suggest a blog topic, or bloggers can choose their own topics. Blog posts should be focused, using direct quotations from the text to drive the responses or reflections in the post. A post should be about something we are about to read or something we have just read, but it might also bring in materials we have read earlier in the semester or materials that interest you from outside of class. Authors of these posts should think critically about the reading material, and should consider how a particular element of fiction or term relating to narrative functions in the material—it might amplify the text, or it could be complicated or problematic, but any of these would be interesting opportunities to explore. Blog posts should be approximately 300 words, and should be proofread before posting. Please include links, images, etc, as appropriate.

Those who are not responsible for contributing a blog post on a given day will be responsible for commenting. Commenting shouldn’t just be “I agree” or “Good point.” These might be the start of a comment. Use the space to offer a counterpoint, to bring together different ideas, or to direct us to a particular point the blogger didn’t include. Comments should be approximately 100-150 words. If you want to add additional comments that are shorter, feel free to.

blogging assignment

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“The story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (1984)
Freedom is relative and I strongly believe everyone understands that. From the readings one can say she was free at last. Her understanding of freedom is living and having total control of her life. This evident when she said “there is no one to live for those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women they believe they have a right to impose a private will on a fellow-creature”.
Even though she was somehow sick death was not something she wished for herself. She wanted to live and enjoy the absence of the only person who had some control over her.
But one might argue that her death will give her a perfect resting place where she will not have to be bothered by the response of people at every action she takes. As the saying goes “there is more sleep after death”. Literally, she is free to sleep all she wants and bother about nothing. This argument is meant for those who believe we live, die and life ends.  On a religious line, I will argue based on what the scripture says about life and death. It is in the scripture that, “whatever man sow he shall reap”. It is unto every man to answer to God when his soul departs. Looking at things from this line, her death will pose other challenges for her as she has the obligation of reaping the fruits of her actions in this life. If she lived a righteous life she has freedom but if not it is left for you to judge for yourselves.
Personally, I will say she was free at last and will forever be but, the freedom she was looking for is not the kind she got.

How do the men and women read details differently in ” A Jury of Her Peers?”

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How do the men and women read details differently in “A Jury Of Her Peers”?

Sex, gender, and gender roles play a major part in A Jury of Her Peers in the aspect of how the details in the Wright house are observed by the men and women.  The men have more an aggressive stand point and the women have an understanding view.  From reading the story it shows that during the time it was written men saw women as just housekeepers and not women who should think much. The women seemed as though it did not matter what they felt or had to say they wouldn’t go against the word of a man.  In society the gender role of a man is to be tough and less empathetic towards situations and a women’s role was just the opposite, they have to be soft, timid and sympathetic. These gender roles are the exact ones used in “A Jury of Her Peers”.

In Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of her Peers” the men are more focused on how things should be at home in the perspective that a woman is supposed to keep the house clean and ready for her husband.  When they first entered the house all they could pay attention to was how dirty and unorthodox the house was. “Here’s a nice mess” as said by county attorney, and “Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?” as said by the sheriff, shows that they focused on the wrong details and based their judgments of Mrs. Wright on her housekeeping skills.  The men were blinded by their views of woman which causes them to not understand or want to understand why the house may look in such despair.  Instead of saying to themselves or each other that maybe something was wrong with the marriage as a whole they just figured she was bad at cleaning. The men acted as if the women couldn’t possible understand what was going on and that their only job was to get the belongings Mrs. Wright asked for. For example, when Mrs. Hale says “Do you suppose she was going to quilt it or just knot it?” (referring to the quilt) and the sheriff made a mockery of her by throwing his hands up and saying “They wonder whether she was going to quilt it or just knot it!” in a sarcastic manner. Because the men went to the house with tunnel vision of only looking at where Mr. Wright was killed they didn’t see the most important pieces as the women did.

The women looked around the house trying to find clues to say what lead up to the murder.  They found all the important pieces because they understand what it is to be a wife and a woman.  Therefore they took the time to see what would make her snap if she is the one who killed Mr. Wright. Mrs. Hale knew the type of person Mrs. Wright was which made her want to look deeper. The women found all the relevant details such as the cage, dead bird, messy quilts and shabby clothing. Gender roles is what made the men and women look at the details differently, the men looked at what wasn’t right and the women looked at why these things in the Wright house weren’t right.

melancholy

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Melancholy: noun: depression of spirits; pensive mood; a feeling of thoughtful sadness

From “Young Goodman Brown”: …he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him, with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons (line 6)

I understand that the melancholy air describes the feeling of Faith when her husband leaves the village and she is unhappy that he is leaving.

Freedom (Blogging Assignment)

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Freedom is defined as “The absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.” In the short story entitled “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin Mrs. Mallard the protagonist is experiencing her idea of freedom. This story begins with us finding out perhaps the most important piece of imagery that is “Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble” (Chopin). This sets up the entire plot line and helps it to come full circle. We start off by leaning that Mrs. Mallard’s husband has been killed in a terrible railroad accident. In knowing that she is afflicted with a heart condition her sister Josephine and a friend of her husband named Richard move to break the news of Mr. Mallard’s death to her as easily as possible.

At first she reacts as you would expect anyone learning that a loved one has passed on with disbelief and then that turns to great sorrow for the diseased. She then locks herself in her room to morn. Then however she comes to the realization that with her husband dead that she can peruse all the things she couldn’t do while he was alive. Slowly she comes to terms with his death and starts to relish in it.  At first in the story we see dreary and sad images or words that puts forth certain emotions from the reader for example “the delicious breath of rain was in the air” (Chopin) and “In the street below the peddler was crying his wares” these could be viewed as sad and mournful lines portraying her feelings. Then however this starts to change she hears music and the clouds start clearing showing the blue sky and she realizes that in marriage she became repressed and dull. However with the death of her husband she feels a change coming and realizes that she is no longer trapped in that world but is “free, free, free.” (Choplin)

In realizing that she is free she becomes happy and filled with joy. Her eyes became “keen and bright” (Chopin) and “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed with every inch of her body.” (Chopin) This shows that she accepts her husband’s death and had come to terms with in herself and in doing so she has gained her freedom. She then goes back downstairs, leaving the room where she had locked herself in to bask in her freedom. There however it comes to a horrible end where her husband walks in and the shock of seeing him alive along with her weak heart kills her.

The idea of freedom here however is one that can be debated. Yes she experienced some semblance of freedom with the supposed death of her husband but that was short lived. I think that she was never really free because even after the death of a loved their memory will linger on and impact all that she does. Yes she could have gone out and done anything on a whim now, but really was that truly what she wanted. To her she was now a free woman, free from the chains that bound her in matrimony.

There is also the idea of her attaining freedom through her death at the end of the story. I don’t personally think that death is freedom yes she was free from the relationship with her husband but then that calls into question the idea of life after death, where she can experience that freedom. I can see no plausible basis in fact that she was truly free because what really happens after death. Freedom is something that we as humans like to think we have. Its an idea that has been cultivated and drilled into our heads for all our lives. The idea that all our choices are ours and that we are free to make them. However everything we see and do influences our decisions thereby canceling out our supposed freedom. We can then question whether our decisions really are “our” choice. You are influenced into doing things even if it is subconsciously entering your mind. Thereby I conclude that Mrs. Mallard was never really free because true freedom doesn’t exist.

Freedom & “The Story of An Hour”

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Death complicates the meanings of usually positive outcomes like healing, or freedom, and they become what they are through an extreme method. Those who are sick or bound wish for healing and freedom, but they may not get it the way they had hoped for. This, I believe is the case of Louise Mallard. She was married to a man whom she “sometimes” loved. It was not explicitly said in this story that she was unhappy in this marriage; she did mourn the death of her husband. Love was present, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I believe she goes through a process in this hour and processes usually aren’t sudden, however, processes don’t need to take forever. She had her time to reflect and grieve, and as the story progresses we see that there is a gradual change.

Paragraph 9 says: “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it,  creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.”

I believe that is the moment where the emotional shift takes place; the moment where she is finding strength to move on from this momentary grief. If we notice the language of the author, these are not sudden movements taking place. There is creeping, and reaching, and waiting.

Paragraph 10 says: “She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to posses her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will..”

“When she abandoned herself a little word escaped her slightly parted lips.”

Here we can see the process continuing, and the “thing” that was approaching had now arrived and we know what it is when she starts saying “free, free, free! Body and soul free!” These seem like shouts of joy but again if we pay attention to the author’s language we see that they were more like whispers. She said these words under her breath. From this I get that this freedom was somehow what she wanted but maybe she got it in a way that she didn’t, which is why she struggled with the feeling at first: “she was striving to beat it back with her will–as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.” As the process progresses she embraces this bittersweet freedom. Her mindset has shifted. She’s sad but she is ready to move on. The feeling of freedom is now setting in, and she is becoming comfortable with it. The process is winding down towards the end of the story and we see that she feels optimistic about her life now.

In a moment her freedom is stripped when she sees that her husband has not died. In a moment directly after it, this complex freedom returns with her death. She does not die with her freedom, but she dies and gains it.