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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”**

In Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Jane who is the main character is having problems sharing her feelings while living in a patriarchy. **[This is a very good point to make and establish in your writing, well done.]**At first Jane and her husband John move to an estate because their current house is being fixed. Also Jane has a baby who stays with a nanny because she has problems being with the baby or thinking about it. So when they move to the estate Jane thinks the place is haunted and has weird feeling towards the house, and when she goes to look at the bedroom she find weird things around the room where it looks like a child has been tearing at the wallpaper near the bottom of the wall, there are bars over the windows, a smudge around the wall where it looks like someone who has been dragging their shoulder on the wall, and a gate at the bottom of the stairs. During all of this moving to a new house Jane is sick and nobody knows what is wrong but her husband who is an arrogant physician thinks she isn’t seriously sick just tells her to get rest, have a good appetite, don’t go outside, and he treats her like a kid as if she doesn’t know anything. When they are in the house for about two weeks, Jane is in the house and she starts to see this yellow wallpaper that has been torn in the past, and behind it she sees women who try to get out but there are bars keeping them from getting out. So when the women try to escape they get strangled by the bars, **[Interesting analysis of what the particular significance of the bars could be. Do you think this presence suggests anything about Jane’s position in a patriarchy? This is just something to consider.]** but Jane sees one woman in particular who shakes the wallpaper everyday trying to get out. One day she sees the woman creeping outside and when she see the woman creeping around she says “when I creep I always lock the door”, then she see the woman inside the house going around the wall dragging her shoulder on the wall, which turns out to be herself. So when she saw the woman inside the wallpaper shaking it and the woman creeping around the wall it was herself all along **[How did you determine that it was Jane all along? Is there a point in the text that this becomes clear? Consider using the text to support your claims to make an even stronger argument]** and while she was creeping John walked in then seen the wallpaper that had been torn down and the smudge where she had been dragging her shoulder along the wall. When John seen her creeping around the room he fainted then Jane said “


 * //In answering the reading assessment questions, it seems to me as though you have a solid grasp of who the protagonist is, that is Jane, the main character, and have described particular attributes that make Jane a round and dynamic focus in the story. Your summary and analysis of the story applies feminist criticism and expresses, with specific examples from the text, particular constraints placed on the female living, as you pointed out, in a patriarchy. Of all that you discussed in this piece of writing, I particularly appreciated your point of the women in the paper trying to get out, but the existence and presence of the bars was keeping them from doing so. It might be interesting for you to elaborate on this point in terms of what the greater significance of this might be. How does the existence of these limitations (such as the bars on the windows and the gate at the stairs) relate to the patriarchy that is in place and what is the significance of this to the protagonist’s illness? Do you think that these constraints play a role in the protagonist’s illness, why or why not? How are men and women portrayed in this story and what do you think these portrayals say about the society in which this was taking place? I hope these questions can help you to reexamine the story and to take your developed interpretation even further.//**

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”**

The example of imagery I chose is at the end of the story when Fred Collins is getting the water from the well and when he is running back with it. **[You’re off to a good start with identifying the imagery you aim to focus on and then continuing to describe how this scene “creates the mood.” Nicely done.]** So Fred Collins is a soldier in the story who wants to go get a drink of water, in the middle of a battle that he knows he shouldn’t try and go get, but his fellow soldiers keep daring him to go get the water. Then he finally ask his commander if he can go get the water and his commander tells him to get water for everybody and he goes. When Collins gets to the well he is running on adrenaline, trying to hurry the water into the canteens and when some shells go off around him he snaps back to reality and realizes that he has made a dumb mistake. **[I’m glad you mentioned this realization of the protagonist, this aspect seems to play into what shapes the mood of this story and here you have brought in your own analysis of the character and their actions. Also, just a tip, it is normal, obviously, in conversation to begin with words such as “So” or to have some type of pause, but you are able to take these unnecessary words out in writing and simply begin with “Fred Collins…” or “When he sees...” and editing in this way is a minor detail that can make your sentences stronger and your expression of ideas more confident.]** So When he sees a wooden bucket next to the well he grabs it and sent it swiftly down the well. When the bucket filled with water he quickly pulled it up hand over hand. On the way up the bucket was hitting the walls of the well spilling some of the content. Finally when he got the bucket out of the well he picked it up and ran across the field back to his regiment “with the manner of a farmer chased out of a dairy by a bull.” **[Very nice incorporation of the text. As done here and in the next few sentences, you have really strengthened your piece of writing and I applaud you on the quotes you have selected as they do help illustrate the mood of the story as you are trying to explain.]** As he is running he can see his regiment standing up “looking at him from the edge of an impossible star, but he saw an artillery officer that he had earlier seen lying half dead in the middle of the field, raise himself and say “Say, young man, give me a drink of water, will you?” Collins was too mad from the threats of destruction and said “I can’t!” and Collins kept on running, as the man’s head sank down as if his neck were a willow, and one elbow bent like a twig. His foot in its brass stirrup still stretched over the body of his horse and the other leg was under the horse. Then Collins came dashing back to the man whose face had now turned grey, and his eyes all terror, and Collins screamed “here it is, here it is!” Collins grabbed him by the shoulder and he turned over. So Collins tried to give him a drink but couldn’t keep the bucket steady, splashing water all over the face of a dying man. Then he jerked it away and ran on. As he approached his regiment they gave him a “welcoming roar.” **[Once again, the quotes you have pulled, even as brief as this one, help your argument and are working to depict the mood of the story.]**Then the captain told him to give it to the men, one tried to drink another hit his elbow, when he said “Billie! You’ll make me spill it.” Suddenly there was an oath, the thud of wood on the ground, and a swift murmur of astonishment among the regiment. The two soldiers glared at each other as the bucket lay on the ground empty.

The mood of the setting reflected Collins motivations by his id wanting him to get the water, his superego wanted him to prove to the soldiers that he would go and get the water, and his ego by wanting him to get the water but also get back to his regiment safe. **[Wow, I’m very impressed with your analysis here and how you have, through this scene, depicted the imagery, expressed how this creates the mood and then gave a brief, but thorough, response to “** ** How does the mood of the setting reflect the character’s motivations driven by their id, ego, and superego?” which is, quite frankly, a difficult question to answer. This is a strong assessment and your response to the questions has improved in comparison to your previous assessment. Once again, you were relying heavily on summary in this assessment, which is fine, but I might encourage you to focus more on your analysis of what happened in the story rather than retelling what happened. Overall though I think this is a very well-rounded assessment and I’m pleased to see you referring more directly to the text here as you have done by using quotes.] **

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 “The Invalid’s Story” by Mark Twain there is a character named Thompson who is a expressman in the traincar with the narrator and the box of guns and Linburger cheese which they thought was the narrator friend’s corpse. **[Is there a way you could phrase this better or re-work the sentence? To someone who has never read the story this summary/description could be slightly confusing. I’m pleased to see that you are being brief in your summary here, but you may want to explain who Thompson is and/or what he is doing in such a way that someone unfamiliar with the story might be able to grasp a bit of what is occurring. Just something to consider.]** The author of the story characterizes Thompson through the use of dialect by making him sound like he is from the south, and uneducated, by having him say stuff like “Ffew! I reckon it ain’t no cinnamon’t I’ve loaded up this-yer stove with.” **[Yes, Twain is definitely using dialect in this way. Very nice example of how Twain is using the dialect of the individual to portray them in a certain way.]**

The Protagonist in “The Invalid’s Story” who is the narrator is influenced by his id, ego, or superego by his id wanting him to stand outside the traincar on the platform to get some fresh air but, his superego by needing him to make sure his friend body made it to Ohio safe. Finally his ego made him keep going in and out of the car, checking on the body, and getting fresh air. **[Very efficient and full answer. You touched on all the main points that needed to be addressed as asked of the assessment.]**

In the story “April Showers by Edith Wharton, Theodora’s Father is a character who is characerized using dialect in this story when he came to pick her up from the train station. The way he is used with dialect in this story is to make him seem like he is old-fashioned, and proper by having him say “Don’t walk so fast, child. You look tired.” **[Yes, once again dialect is functioning in a way that has motivations outside of simple conversation. These dialects help to shape the character and how we view the character. This may be a place for you to expand and explain further how you see dialect being used, though this isn’t asked of you by the assignment.]**

The protagonist in this story who is Theodora is driven by he id, ego, and superego by her id wanting her to become a famous author, her superego by needing her to take care of her younger siblings, and her ego making her write stories to get money to help her family. **[Very nice. I think it might be interesting for you to dig into this more as you have touched on many things rather briefly, but you have certainly answered every question in full, which is essentially your assignment and goal. Well done, once again.]**