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Modern American Literature: Rise of Realism  Theodora Dace lives a life caring for her family including her ill mother and doing all the household duties while under the direction of her father. She likes to write and only wishes for her novel to be published some day. Her wish is put on hold while she focuses on family first. In the story, “April Showers” by Edith Wharton, the protagonist or main character, Theodora, goes with her id to write and try to become published while going against her superego. As Theodora longs to write the time period she lives in prevents writing to be something a woman pursues. Men of the time have the power over the women and tell them what to do. Theodora’s mother becomes ill so as the oldest girl in the house she assumes the role of the mother with all the household needs. The motivation Theodora has to write is simply because she likes to In the story, Theodora’s superego tells her not to write as her father would not be happy if he found out. Writing is not something she should do according to the society she lives in. Dr. Dace, or Theodora’s father comes off as the typical father of the time. He has the job and tells his daughter what to do and is the head of the household. When Theodora sends in her novel and it is not printed out correctly she goes to Boston to see what went wrong. She goes with her id in the story to just forget about her duties and what she should be doing and just leaves. She finds out it was all a misunderstanding and is headed back home to face her father, as she is at the train station her father is there. Her father shows an example of dialect by saying, “I suppose you didn’t get home from the ball till morning.” Her father saying this shows how he is a dynamic character by showing his respect for his daughter and how he now knows that she writes. He goes from a powerful figure In the story “April Showers” by Edith Wharton, Theodora follows her id to write. She does not know what her father will think but she does it anyway.
 * explain ** and if one day she becomes published she wants to give the money to her family. Her wanting to continue writing and help out with her family balances out as her ego to do both.
 * good, but why? **  As the story progresses she ignores her superego and fights against it to not listen to what society says. Her writing is done in mostly secret and is kept hidden.
 * Good example! ** It often gets in the way of the chores she should be doing and her father does not seem to happy that she is late to care for her mother.
 * powerful in what way? **  down to her level at the end of the story showing he knows how she feels.
 * What does this say about her? ** In the end it turns out to be that her father shows his affection for his daughter in a way that he can relate to. Theodora is surprised but shows her motivation to write.


 * Emma,**
 * You have some great ideas here. You did a really nice job of explaining id, ego, and superego with examples and how they work. You also move past plot summary and start analyzing how Theodora acts and why she does what she does. You could think a little more about Theodora as a person- what do her actions say about her? Also, what happens with her and her father in the end- what does this say about their relationship?**
 * Molly**

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. Emma Lahodny
 * Chopin’s “Story of and Hour” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”**

In the reading “Yellow Wallpaper” a woman’s freedom is restricted because of a man. This man is also her husband and the time period of the story also plays a role in the fact that the man has more power and ruling over a woman in the household. In the story Jane’s husband, John, keeps her from self fulfillment. The protagonist, Jane, narrates the story but her name isn’t revealed until the ending. Her identity is kept a mystery with many questions. Jane is a round character because the different personalities are all shown throughout the story. In the beginning she is very calm and curious of the new environment she is having to live in. She makes in clear that her husband John has control over her and tells her what to do and she obeys. As the story goes on she becomes scared, crazy and even sad at times.
 * How? What does he do or say that shows this? Examples from the text would be good here because it will help you prove the point you just made. ** As the story progresses it is clear that keeping someone from having freedom just hurts them.
 * How exactly is she “hurt”? Which actions or things she says shows you that she is hurt? Also, what is “freedom” to you in this reading? Using examples in the text, how is her freedom restricted? Be specific. **
 * Do you think she becomes scared and crazy because of John’s/ a man’s power over her and because she has to obey him? Or why do you think she becomes like this? ** She changes from normal to crazy through the story she is a dynamic character.
 * Good representation of dynamic character- you explain that there are many different sides to her personality. But you might want to think of specific things she says or does in the beginning vs. the end (when she has changed) to make this a little clearer. **

The antagonist is John her husband. He starts it all off by bringing her to this sort of jail of a house to overcome her illness. By keeping her isolated it makes her mad in the mental sense. The wallpaper steps in then as the antagonist because it makes her see the things she is seeing and drives her to become at an unstable state of mind.
 * You make an interesting point that even an inanimate object like wallpaper can be a character in a story and play a definite role. I like your interpretation. ** John however makes all of this happen to her just by being in control of her. John is a very flat, static character because he stays the same in the story, he has the power.
 * Why do you think John is flat and static? Do you think it is because he is a man with control? There is no right answer here- just whatever you think. These questions may help you understand Jane and John better as feminine and masculine characters. **


 * Emma, you have a good understanding of the reading. You know what the characters represent and are able to see the relationship of John and Jane as a relationship between man and woman in this time period. If you support your answers with more specific examples, I think you’ll find your answers to be more convincing and strong. When you think of and write a phrase like “As the story progresses it is clear that keeping someone from having freedom just hurts them ** ,” **ask yourself why you think that. What is it that makes you think this? Is it something someone does or says? The points you made showed reason and were interesting, but you just need to //show// your evidence in your writing. By doing this, it might be easier to explain why and how Jane changes, and how she is influenced as a woman by John, a man. Altogether, your essay changes the way I think about “The Yellow Wallpaper” which is really good because it shows that you have strong ideas that you can describe to others. Keep it up.**
 * Molly **


 * Crane’s “Mystery of Heroism”**

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?

In the reading “Mystery Of Heroism,” a soldier, Fred Collins, is in a battle during the Civil War and he is teased in sort of a way to go into the middle of the battle field to get some water. Collins’ fellow soldiers do not believe he would risk such a thing to get water so he makes up that he is just so thirsty. His Commander in Chief even thinks that it is a stupid idea. Collins wants to show everyone that he can do it though and he does, he gets the water and makes it back alive. When he is running back however, a man dying is in need of water so he gives some to him. Although, when he returns, there is no water. The text of the reading has clear signs of imagery all throughout. The words from the story appeal to four of the five senses, there is sight, sound, smell and feel. The sight Fred Collins describes he sees is “a horse in a great convulsive leap of death wound”. The sound he says is a “stupendous scuffle”. According to what Collins describes there is a lot going on around him during this battle. As he is walking to the well to get water he feels “deep wheel-ruts and hoof prints in the sod beneath his feet”. The smell in the air is the “odour as from a conflagration”. Collins’ superego does not want to go get the water because he has the possibility of losing his life. However his id is telling him to do it to show everyone that he is brave enough to do it. His ego clearly just tells him to just do it and he does. There isn’t quite a balance in the decision making because the chance of him surviving is very small especially in his case.
 * What, if any, is the significance of this scene with the dying man? Does this do anything for the mood of the story? How are Collins’ id, ego, and superego acting here?** The mood in the story is mainly violence due to the setting and the pressure of war surrounding.
 * Good examples of how the imagery creates the violent mood.** People are being killed all around him, things are being blown up as he is walking and everything is just horrid.
 * You say that his decision making is not in balance because he has little chance of surviving- that is fine to say that. But //how//? To you, //how// does this little chance of survival influence him and his actions? You explain this a bit with superego but you could go more in depth with id and ego.**
 * Emma,**
 * With the quotations you used from the text, you did a good job of showing how imagery creates the mood. You saw the mood as “violent,” and your examples support your idea well. This makes me think that you read the essay pretty closely. The question given to you was pretty packed and I think you did a good job dealing with the different parts (imagery, mood, motivations, etc.) I think you could have spent more time talking about how the id, ego, and superego of Collins affected his motivations and actions. This would help you to see how his motivations relate to the mood of the setting, which is what the question asks for. How do Collins’ decisions relate to the mood? This id-ego-superego section could use a little more of the evidence that you used when you talked about mood and imagery.**
 * Molly**

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 reading, “The Invalid’s Story” a man is on a train to Wisconsin with his best friend, Beckett, body to return to his parents. Well along the way the coffin gets switched with a case of guns. Some cheese is the in case and it starts smelling but the narrator and the expressman, Thompson, do not know this and they think it is the body. Thompson has a very peculiar dialect, “Twould’a ‘ben a dum sight better all around, if they’d started him along last summer.” By the way he talks it characterizes him as a man with not a lot of education background and just went on to be an expressman.
 * Your characterization about Thompson was interesting and I would have liked to hear more about him. Also, what about the narrator? How did his dialect characterize him?**
 * The first few sentences are a summary of the plot, which you don’t need. We want to hear what YOU have to say about the characters, what YOU interpreted from the essay.**

In the story “April Showers” a young woman, Theodora, want to be a writer but is prohibited due to the time period that makes her just a house worker because she is a woman. She has to care for her three siblings and take care of all the housework as well, because her mom is ill. She turns in her novel to the Home Circle and is accepted but when the issue comes out it is not her piece of work. So she goes to Boston and they say it is but a mere mistake.
 * Again, this is a summary of the plot which you don’t need. ** Therodora’s id in the story wants her to write and be a writer. Her superego tells her to not think of such a thing and do what she is supposed to do and take care of her family. Her ego balances it out and tells her to write, but yet give the money she may earn to her family.
 * These sentences are better because you start to answer the question. ** In the story her dad says, “I suppose you didn’t get home from the ball till morning.” Coming from her dad it shows that he is a well educated, proper man who isn’t the sterotype of a man from that time period. In that time period the men have control over the woman and tell them what to do, they are the head of the household and the women do as they are told. Her dad shows at the end that he changes and shows his respect for his daughter even though what she is doing is not something the women do.


 * Are there other things her dad says that show this? Details, details, details… **
 * What about Theodora’s dialect? What does that say about her character? **


 * In both of your essays you retold the plot, which is really easy to do. Sometimes when I don’t know exactly what I want to say or how I want to say it, I do this too. It helps to reread what you’ve written, looking at certain sentences, and say, “Do I need this?” This helps you see if you are just retelling the plot and not coming to specific ideas or conclusions you’ve made (which is what we want to hear). **
 * At the end of both of your essays though, you started to answer the questions and analyze the characters. If you took out the plot retelling, you would have more room and time to talk about the characters, their dialect, and the id, ego, and superego. **