1.mental health: Consider the way mental disposition is portrayed in the short stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner  and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. How do the mental breaks or perks of the protagonists contribute to the development of the story. In what way are both women similar in their realities. Consider this in relation to the sort of dementia that plagues the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” as well as Emily’s mental state due to her fathers interference.

also consider: Mrs. Wright in “A Jury of Her Peers”; Mrs. Samsa in “The Metamorphosis”; Goodman Brown in “Young Goodman Brown”

also: consider how one character influences another’s mental instability

also: consider how one character influences another’s health, both mental and physical

2. In short stories setting is important because it is hard to portray certain feelings in such little space of time. Consider the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell. How does language help to portray the setting and help to show the mood and tone of the story. For example cold in “A jury of her peers” and dark in “Young Goodman Brown” as they pertain to each story. Show examples where words help to set the feeling or tone in that portion of the story.

compare with “The Yellow Wall-Paper”

“The Story of an Hour”–daytime, spring

something about symbolism in our understanding of setting: forest, springtime, etc

setting and its significance, symbolic significance

3. Consider the portrayal of the strength of women and the influences they have on each other in the following stories “The Cottagette”  By Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell. Consider the lies told by the woman to either get something in “The Cottagette” when Malda changes to get Fords attention lying to him in showing that she is a domestic woman when she is definitely not. As well as the woman lie about the bird in the box. How do these actions help to influence the outcome of the story.

truth/lies

4-time

irony: short story, short life in “The Story of an Hour”

5-SUPERNATURAL/inexplicable: “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Metamorphosis,” “The Yellow Wall-Paper”

6-inside/outside and transformations, border-crossings

7-freedom vs. death: “the story of an hour”; “a rose for emily”; “a jury of her peers”; “The Metamorphosis”

8-marriage (vs. death? vs. freedom?) restrictive vs. enabling

9-reliable narrators?