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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”**

Suppression of a person’s feelings, opinions and the ability to express one’s self is a very dangerous decision, even when it’s widely accepted as the natural order. The Yellow Paper, by Gilman, is about a multi –personality woman named Jane. She lives in the 1800s with her husband and child. She seems to be suffering from depression, well at least according to her husband and brother, who are both doctors, but she thinks it’s something more. Her husband says a vacation will do her good but she doesn’t like where they’re staying but obediently obeys because she knows her husband expects it of her. The protagonist is Jane who is slowly but surely losing her mind. She is in the beginning a simply depressed woman who doesn’t like the house but won’t make her husband leave because at that time period women were supposed to do everything the man told them to. This obedience slowly will unhinge her. She keeps comment on the dreary condition of the room and then becomes entrance in the wall paper; she even believes there is a woman behind it. Then you begin to realize that when she thinks she’s sleeping, she is actually the one destroying the room. She goes from depression to insane pleasure, she is a round and dynamic character. The antagonist is multiple things but the biggest one is society. It is expected of women just to stay at home and do anything unquestioningly, this lack of the ability to express her feelings is the main cause of Jane’s mental deterioration. Society said that she shouldn’t have a say, so Jane and her husband did what society said, this lead to her mental breakdown. It was not her fault and maybe partially her husband’s fault. The antagonist is everyone.

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 the Mystery of Heroism, by Stephen Crane, is about a soldier fighting in the Civil War. He tries to prove his point by doing something extreme, walking into the middle of the battlefield, where cannon shells and exploded everywhere. Fred Collins, a union soldier, is thirsty during a battle and complains loudly and the others begin to taunt him about it. They think he won’t try to get to the well which would require walking through a hail of deadly projectiles. Finally he’s goaded enough that his ID, the part of a person’s subconscious that wants immediate pleasure, finally decides that it’s worth the risk to try and make it to the well to show everyone he’s not scared. He reaches it unscathed, but is almost paralyzed with fear. He skips the canteens and grabs a bucket, fills it, and runs. On his way back to the line he passes a mortally wounded officer who asks for a drink of water. Fred declines because his ID wants him to live, but inside his super-ego, the part of your conscience that says do what’s right, says help the man. His ego, the balance between super-ego and ID, compromises by giving the officer water in an undignified way, he splashes water on the dying man’s face and continues his run back to safety. The cannon’s flash, the churned earth, the smell of fire describes the chaos and fear that plagued Fred during his flight away from the well. It is a good example of imagery because the words create a picture in your mind’s eye.

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”**