55-1-6

Modern American Literature: Rise of Realism

Choose one of the stories to apply feminist criticism to the reading. Identify the protagonist and antagonist and describe their relationship as it relates to the theme. How does the relationship to the foil, if there is one, reflect the theme? Identify whether the protagonist is round or flat, dynamic or static. Support your response with examples from the text.
 * Chopin’s “Story of and Hour” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”**

In Chopin’s “Story of an Hour”, the character Louise Mallard is the protagonist. She is a woman who feels she has no freedom with her husband. Her husband and society would be the antagonist in this story. Her husband for restricting her freedom and society for making him believe that it is right to do this because every other man does it to their wife. This story shows how a patriarchy can restrict the freedom on a woman’s life. Louise Mallard is a round character. Throughout the story her different emotions and sides of her come out. She is always sad until she knows about her husbands death, then she becomes happy and excited thinking about all the things she will be able to do. Suddenly, her husband comes through the door and its as if all her hopes of freedom are shattered because she dies right there. Louis Mallard is a dynamic character. She changes from the beginning of the story. Even though it only lasts for awhile, she does change. She has the revelation about her life and that makes her think about how her life will be now that the obstacle, her husband, is not standing in the way of her doing what she wants. But then she goes back to being sad and then dies because she sees her husband. In conclusion, this story clearly reflects how a woman’s life can be restricted by a patriarchy.

Response to your writing: Great analysis of the characters in the story! It’s clear that you understand the definitions of protagonists and antagonists. It’s great that you realized that it was the death of Louise’s husband that allowed her to think more about her freedom. You have made a good inference that the reason Louise dies is because she realizes she will not be able to be free like she was beginning to realize. The story did not explicitly state this, so it is good that you picked up on it (a sign of a good reader!). You mention that Louise changes in the story, but I think it’s important to think about this a little more. Did she really change when she thought her husband died, or are her true emotions only finally coming through for the first time because she feels able to express her true desires for life (something she was not able to do with her husband around)?

I know that you have been discussing Feminist Criticism in your class, so how does this story fit into feminist literature? Why do you think Louise did not confront her husband about the problem of her not feeling free at an earlier point in their marriage? After having read //The Yellow Paper//, what connections can you make between the two protagonists? They both seem to feel trapped by their husbands, so does this suggest anything about female independence or feminism in general? I look forward to reading your future writing! -- Jamie

Select an example of imagery that creates the mood of the story? How does the mood of the setting reflect the character’s motivations driven by their id, ego, and superego?
 * Crane’s “Mystery of Heroism”**

In Stephen Crane’s “Mystery of Heroism,” we learn about Fred Collins. Fred is a man that is in the army in a war. He vibrantly describes his surroundings and we clearly picture what is going on. Then he says how he is thirsty and wants a drink of water. The only well that they have is in the middle of the battlefield, any man who even tried to go would be considered a dead man. Fred is dared to go fill the canteens with water and of course Fred decides to go. The mood created in this story would be frightening and terrifying. The imagery that creates this mood is described by sound, sight, feel, and smell. The sound is described, as Crane writes “a tremendous roar of guns.” The sight, “There was an instant’s picture of a horse in a great convulsive leap of a death wound and a rider leaning back with a crooked arm and spread fingers before his face. On the ground was the crimson terror of an exploding shell, with fibres of flame that seemed like lances.” The feeling is, “He could feel his dulled mid groping after the form and colour of this incident.” The smell as Crane writes, “An odour of confiagration.” These examples of imagery help create the frightening mood of this story by helping the reader visualize what Fred is going through and what is going through his mind as he experiences this. Fred Collins is completely driven by his Id, which in psychoanalytic criticism, is the “pleasure principle.” All he wants is to get the water and prove that he can actually do it. When he is in the moment at the well he starts to realize what he is doing and what can happen. This is his superego that is beginning to kick in. The superego is the moral part of us and Fred is realizing that he is a dead man in that instance.

My Response: I like that you gave a short summary of the story at the beginning of your writing, even though it wasn’t required. I think this helped you understand what was going on in the story in order to answer the question for the assignment. I’m glad that you are including direct examples from the short story to support your statements/claims when you mention the senses that describe the imagery. It would be good to dig a little deeper into this. What does an “odor of configuration” mean? Why are the images that you describe frightening? It may seem obvious that a “tremendous roar of guns” is frightening, but how does it affect the way that the characters act, specifically in terms of psychoanalytic criticism? You do a good job pointing out the Id and Superego in the story, and it is clear that you understand these terms and can apply them to the story. But what about the ego? The question listed above for this assignment asks you to include all three: id, ego, and superego. Since I wasn’t in class, I’m not sure if your teacher allowed you to just choose one or two of them to write about, but where do you see the “ego” in the story? You mention that Fred is “//completely// drive by his Id” but later you also mention how his superego affects him. Be careful of the language you use if you don’t really mean that he was //completely// driven only by the id. You mention how psychoanalytic criticism affects Fred, but the assignment question also asks how the mood of the setting reflects this. Since you already mentioned that the mood is frightening, how does that affect Fred’s id, superego, and ego? Do you think that our surroundings have an effect on id, superego, and ego? Good job on your writing. Continue to think about the psychoanalytic criticism when you read other stories. I look forward to reading your next writing. --Jamie

How does the author indirectly characterize the protagonist through the use of dialect? What does this tell us about the character? How are they influenced by their id, ego, or superego?
 * Wharton’s “April Showers” and Twain’s “The Invalid’s Story”**

In Wharton’s “April Showers,” the protagonist Theodora is the eldest of all her siblings. She takes care of them to make sure they get to school looking tidy and clean. She cooks for them and watches over them as well because her mother is ill. Theodora is an aspiring writer; she wants to have her story published in the //Home Circle. // Her id wants her to become a writer and that’s all she thinks about and dreams about. // **But if she did become a writer, who would take care of her younger siblings?** // ** [This is a good questioning of the text. It shows the psychoanalytic theory very well. Is there any part of the text itself that lends itself to your question or further explains your question?] ** That is what her superego is telling her to do. Her ego makes her think that she could become a writer and give her earnings to her family. She also says she could write in her spare time ** [What is her ego, superego, and id doing to those around her? Are there parts of her personality traits (the id, superego and ego) affecting her family at all?]. ** In Twain’s “The Invalid’s Story,” the narrator is a man that is carrying the body of his friend from Ohio to Wisconsin. Somehow his box and a box of guns get mixed up and he ends up with the wrong box. The box that the narrator has in filled with guns and Limburger cheese. Eventually the cheese starts smelling very foully. The express man, Thomson, notices and at this point no one knows that it’s the cheese, they still think the body is in that box so they blame the bad smell on the dead friend. The narrator is influenced on his id because it makes him want to get rid of the body ** [Does he want to get rid of the body or mask the smell? What do they do to get rid of the smell?] **. His superego stops him, and makes him realize he shouldn’t because it is friend. Finally, his ego tells him to look for a solution to the smell so he doesn’t have to get rid of it and also the smell will go away. They never find a way to get rid of the smell so they get very sick because of the smell. At the end he realizes that he had the wrong box and so now he is going to die because of a piece of cheese. In conclusion, psychoanalytic criticism plays an important part in all aspects of our daily lives.
 * I like that you summarize the stories. That helps someone who might not have read the stories a background, so that they will know what’s going on. You also did a great job with tying parts of the stories to the id, ego, and superego. Did you consider the dialect in either of these stories? If you do have a chance to go back to the stories, where do you think the characters originate or live from the way that they talk? Is there a difference in social classes? Location? Place in time? Does it change how the character manages his or her id, ego and superego in the story? Great writing and sorry it took awhile to get back to you. **