Category Archives: Assignments

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.

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.

The Story of an Hour

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Gender roldes have changed drastically throughout the decades.  Females have gained a lot more freedom: voting and the right to get paid as equal as a male.  Freedom is something that cannot or should not be bought, but not many have.  There are other wats to escape from what our world’s reality is.  Every individual has their own point of view on whether something, in fact, is a type of freedom or liberty.

In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of and Hour,” Mrs. Mallard, who suffers from a heart condition, finds out that her husband was killed in an accident.  “It was [her husband’s friend Richards] who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of ‘killed,'” (Chopin para…2).  When Mrs. Malllard first received the news of her  husband’s passing, she was in shock, but after it had all sunk in, it was hinted, at the reader, that she was actually happy because she had had a miserable marriage.

Death was an escape for her through out the story once she was informed about her husband.  “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window,” (Chopin para…6).  The feeling of having the advantage to start a new life was starting to settle in, creating a positive mind set that allowed her to see the good on such a gloomy day.  The thought of being able to depart from her marriage, allowed her to calm down.  “‘Free!  Body and soul free!'” (Chopin para…14).

Mr. Mallard comes home towards the end of the story, and Mrs. Mallard new beginning was ended within a matter of seconds.  The shift in her emotions were so drastic, that she passed away.  “When the doctors came the said she had died of heart disease–of the joy that kills” (Chopin para…20).  Death is known as the stage in the circle of life, that you can finally rest.  Mrs. Mallard had escaped marriage for a few minutes, and was stripped from the happiness.  She had mentally prepared herself to start over; seeing her husband enslaved her quickly, which allowed herself to free herself from the world.

Whether it was her or her husband’s time to go, one or the other had to depart in order for freedom take place.

Blogging Assignment

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To get us started on our blogging assignment for the semester, we have six volunteers who will post by 6:00pm on Tuesday–everyone else will comment by 10:00am on Wednesday. They will consider one of the following three questions–but if you want to suggest another, please do so quickly!

How does setting work in “Young Goodman Brown”?

Does Mrs. Mallard have freedom at the end of “The Story of an Hour”?

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

 

Glossary Assignment

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Glossary Assignment: Assigned 1/28; Due: weekly throughout the semester

Throughout the semester, we will place a great deal of importance on defining words, both terminology that will help us describe, analyze, and discuss our readings and vocabulary that will help us better understand the material we encounter. Each week, you will choose a word and write a blog post (need help?) in which you do the following:

  • include the word as the title of the post
  • provide the word’s part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc)
  • define it–make sure you’re using the most appropriate definition, which might not be the first one
  • cite the source of your definition–I recommend Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, although you might need to consult a different kind of dictionary
  • identify where you encountered the word (specify the specific page of a particular reading, date of the class discussion, title of the handout, etc)
  • explain what you understand about the passage now that you understand the word
  • if you are defining a term, provide an example based on our readings.
  • (optional) include links and images that help your classmates understand the word or the context
  • choose the category Glossary in the right sidebar when you write a new post
  • add tags to your post that reflect the topic you wrote about
  • add the word to the alphabetized list in the Glossary Index document
These posts will contribute to a shared glossary for our course, available from the blog menu. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, or to ask me in class.