Monthly Archives: February 2014

Women and Economics.

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In the selection from Women and Economics, Gilman makes an argument about housework. What is it? Does the short story “The Cottagette” present a solution to the issues raised in Gilman’s non-fiction Women and Economics? Explain your stance.

“Women and Economics,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman states that housework and the whole foundation of marriage keeps people from being in their natural state. It insists marriage isn’t necessary and it shouldn’t dictate the way we live our lives. Housework isn’t needed to make a solid foundation between individuals whether it be two or more. Yes, the Cottagette does present a solution to the issues in Woman and Economics because it proves housework isn’t necessary and in the story Ford is willing to accept Malda whether she cooks or not. He wants her to be herself without sacrificing her talents in order to meet his basic needs. 

Utopia or Dystopia?

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uto¡pia

noun \yu̇-ˈtō-pē-ə\

: an imaginary place in which the government, laws, and social conditions are perfect

: a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions

dys¡to¡pia

Noun \(ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə\

: an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly

: an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives

“All about up here were the lovely small things I needed; and not only
these, but the lovely big things that make one feel so strong and able
to do beautiful work.” “The Cottagette,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is definitely a utopian story. The narrator, Malda, describes her new home as a “fairy land of sun and shadow.” At first she is very content with her living conditions but soon her utopia starts to disintegrate when she tries to impress a man that has caught her attention. She begins taking her friend’s advice to pursue this man by cooking for him which takes up most of her time. Although she is good at it, she has no interest in it. In the end of the story, Ford encourages her to give up her cooking and to instead continue embroidering which makes her very happy. He asks her to marry him and I assume this was the final touch she needed for her new home.

“The Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is my favorite reading so far. The narrator is a distressed woman who is obviously unsatisfied with her surroundings and her domestic life. Her husband is not very supportive of her and tries to convince her otherwise every time she voices an opinion of her own about matters pertaining to their new home or anything that has to do with her inner feelings . In order to escape her reality she buries herself in her secret diary in which she writes about her fixation with the yellow wallpaper in the home which she describes as “menacing.” “There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day.It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!” I believe she sees herself in the wallpaper and so she is basically figuring herself out through it. As the story goes on she seems more and more miserable with her life and soon drives herself into insanity with the help of her oblivious husband. In the end of the story, she tries to set the trapped woman in the wallpaper free by biting and scratching it off and her husband finds her in this state and I believe by then it is far too late for her. This story is definitely dystopian because the main character is completely dehumanized by the end.

 

The deeper meaning of gay

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“Helen Furr had quite a pleasant home. Mrs. Furr was quite a pleasant woman. Mr. Furr was quite a pleasant man. Helen Furr had quite a pleasant voice a voice quite worth cultivating. She did not mind working. She worked to cultivate her voice. She did not find it gay living in the same place where she had always been living. She went to a place where some were cultivating something, voices and other things needing cultivating. She met Georgine Skeene there who was cultivating her voice which some thought was quite a pleasant one. Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene lived together then.” (Miss Furr and Miss Skeene, first paragraph)

In this text, the overuse of the word gay is done purposely and repeatedly. In this simple paragraph, i can understand that Mrs. Furr was married to Mr. Furr, but decided to instead “cultivate” her voice and live with Georgine Skeene instead. This shows that she decided that although her husband was a pleasant man, she instead wanted to find herself more and be with this woman instead. The poem goes on to use the word gay very many times, and i feel like is this done so the message of the poem is blatant: they were gay and they were happy together, together both women were able to find their voices more and be happy together. However in the end, they did not end up together. I believe Steins’ point here was to show that the whole experience of them finding each other and finding their voice and living together shows that it changed them as people and made them better and braver, as after Helen Furr was able to tell people about being gay. The meaning of the word gay seems to change in the text. In the beginning, gay seemed to be used for “happy” but later on in the story, it is clear that gay now means the relationship between two of the same gender. Stein uses simple language with a much deeper rooted meaning in order to convey the story of Miss Furr and Miss Skeene.

Queer

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Queer- adj

Definition- beyond or deviating from the usual or expected

reference the dictionary app

“A very  queer , composite being thus emerges ”

A Room of Ones Own, chapter 3 first sentence

I am understanding that the being which was emerging was a unique individual. This person was not average nor ordinary, and was developing from something to be known as lesser.

 

What was imagined

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This passage is from A Room of Ones Own Chapter 3 In the 5th paragraph. The paragraph began with ” A very queer, composite being thus emerges” .  Virginia Woolf then goes on to say “Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history. She dominates the lives of kings and conquerors in fiction; in fact she was the slave of any boy whose parents forced a ring upon her finger” . My understanding of A Room of ones own so far is that the author is speaking to the injustices which were being done to women in those times. 

“imaginatively she is of the highest importance”

this statement helps helps me to understand that In those times In order for a woman to be of importance she could only have imagined it. I however do respect the fact that although women were not treated with the respect that they were deserving of , there was still an idea in their minds that they should be accepted and respected. “Practically she is completely insignificant “. In fact that statement confirms the thought that women were said to be of little or no relevance in those times. Though this passage is in reference to writing it signifies the notion that women were not recognized for their literary work, or looked at as intellectual beings. In the rest of the passage it mentions  her being present In history, dominating and conquering through her poetry. Women in those times could have absolutely been more intelligent than they were given credit for. Women were actually very significant , but treated in a way which made them unaware of their worth. This passage for me ties itself into the entire reading because it helps me to visualize the ongoing battle in which women fight with society.

Gay?!

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***Miss Furr and Miss Skeene****

Page 500, second paragraph

“They were regular in being gay , thy learned many little things that are things in being gat , they were gay everyday , they were regular ,there were gay,they were the same lentgh of time everyday , they were gay , they were quite regularly gay ”

The first piece I read was “Miss Furr and Miss Skeene” , after reading the few lines I was very interested. In just the first paragraph the word gay was use countless times. Considering that this was written in 1925, I thought it was normal. As I began to read i noticed  that the word “fay ” was very significant in this couples relationships. In the story the word Gay didn’t just mean happy, there where times that the word “gay”. in the story the word “gay” was used not only as happiness , i believe that it was used as satfiactfied or content. i was believe that the tone of the story change throughout the story.

In the quote above the author uses gay many times , but they way the word Gay was used was in a different tone then it was throughout the story . the word gay meant many different things throughout the story other than happy .

Hitherto

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Hitherto – Adverb

Definition: Until now, before this time.

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hitherto

Found in: “Professions For Women” by Virginia Woolf

Quote: “You have won rooms of your own in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men”.

Considering winning rooms being used as a metaphor of accomplishing something as a woman where until that point the entire house belonged completely to men, which seemed like a metaphor for male dominant society.

Ms. Furr and Ms. Skeene – Gay or Just Happy?

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Gertrude Stein’s “Miss Furr and Miss Skeene.”

The first two paragraphs on page numbered 499.

“Georgine Skeene and Helen Furr were living where they were both cultivating their voices and they were gay there. They visited where Helen Furr had come from and then they went to where they were living where they were then regularly living.

There were some dark and heavy men there then. There were some who were not so heavy and some who were not so dark. Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene sat regularly with them. They sat regularly with the ones who were dark and heavy. They sat regularly with the ones who were not so dark. They sat regularly with the ones that were not so heavy. They sat with them regularly, sat with some of them. They went with them regularly went with them…”

When I first read the story, I noticed a lot of reputation of words, especially the word “gay”. Knowing that this was written in 1900’s, I automatically thought to replace the word “gay” with “happy”. Towards the end of the story, I realized there was more to the story besides them just being “happy”. The second time I read it I used the word gay as it is. I felt like it did have something to do with homosexuality and Getrude Stein purposely repeat the word to catch the reader’s attention and the meaning of the word “gay” really to strike out.

From my understanding, in the first paragraph George Skeene and Helen Furr moved to where Helen Furr was from. There, they were able to “cultivate their voices” might mean searching for their sexuality. In the second paragraph I felt like both women were having some kind of relationships with “dark and heavy” and “not so dark” men while they were exploring their sexuality with these men and with each other.

Miss Furr and Miss Skeene

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“Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene were regularly living where very many were living and cultivating in themselves something. Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene were living very regularly then, being very regular then in being gay then. They did then learn many ways to be gay and they were then being gay being quite regular in being gay, being gay and they were learning little things, little things in ways of being gay, they were very regular then, they were learning very many little things in ways of being gay, they were being gay and using these little things they were learning to have to be gay with regularly gay with then and they were gay the same amount they had been gay. They were quite gay, they were quite regular, they were learning little things, gay little things, they were gay inside them the same amount they had been gay, they were gay the same length of time they had been gay every day.” Found on page 499 of Gertrude Steins “Miss Furr and Miss Skeene”.

I believe that the main idea of Steins passage was happiness. I believe this because as I was reading the passage Stein spoke about the things and ways that Hellen Furr and Georgine Skeene were happy. I’m not really sure what their relationship was, but they lived together for a while and were happy. In this passage Stein says, “Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene were living very regularly then, being very regular then in being gay then.” Stein says that at this point they were living regular lives. They were nuetral, not happy. After that Stein says that they would look for things that made them happy. The author says that at one point they were happy both inside and out. The author also says that they were learning new ways of being happy. Its pretty interesting that Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene were always happy. They were never feeling anything but happy in this story. They were also both singers and that made them pretty happy also. At the end, Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene lived separately. The author tells the reader that Mrs. Furr goes on living in the same place and being happy as always, but we hear nothing about Georgine Skeene.

Level without prejudice

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” And if you honestly desire to find your level without prejudice be brave and deny at the outset that pathetic clap trap war cry women is equal of man for she is not.”

The term manifesto means a public declaration of policy and aims. In the article by Mina Loy she focuses on many publications surrounding the female population. One of her focus is when she states ” And if you honestly desire to find your level without prejudice be brave and deny at the outset that pathetic clap trap war cry women is the equal of man for she is not.” This statement can be interrupted as women are superior to men. Women have always been looked upon as inferior man, this statement is advocation that women are similar to man but they are placing themselves at the top. This statement can also be interrupted as women cannot be compared to men in a similar way that would be able to set the two sexes as equal or better than each other. In other for women to experience fairness without prejudice that must expect the fact that they are not equal to man.