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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. In Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” I would have to say the Theme of the story would have to be “Patriarchies Are hurtful to Woman,” Our protagonist in the story is Jane the narrator. Our antagonist is The Wallpaper which resembles patriarchy. Jane is round character because she goes from sad to happy and scared, then all the way to crazy. Jane is a dynamic character because she changes from happy into an evil woman. Some ideas to back up how she was scared would have to be in the beginning of the story before she got in the house because before she got in there she talked about how she can feel a presence in the area. The foil of this story would have to be between Jane and John because she is very scared and evil when she enters the house but John is a very relaxed laid back man that shows a lot of Patriarchy towards Jane. How Jane and The wallpaper relate to patriarchy would have to be when Jane feels like, when she tears down the wallpaper its setting her free from the patriarchy that John has over her, and at the end when John faints it shows that when she continues to rub her shoulder against the wall and she just passes him by shows that she was relieved that John wasn’t antagonizing her and treating her as if she was a young girl. I think that Jane is this way because back in the days of being a woman and in that specific time period, John had complete control over her because in those days patriarchy was the way to go. Like if you were a woman you had the basic feminist criteria. The reason why it is hurting Jane is because John thinks she has temporary nervous depression. But she thinks she has post-pardom depression. So during the whole story he is treating her as if she was a little 5 year old girl.
 * Chopin’s “Story of and Hour” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”**

Response to your writing: Where in the story does it make you think that Jane is crazy? You mentioned that the wallpaper resembles patriarchy, so I’m wondering if you think that this idea has any connection to her “craziness?” Describe more about the “presence” that she feels in the house. How can you tell that she is scared? What makes you think that she is evil when she enters the house? When writing, it is important to back up your statements/claims with evidence from the story. I know we mentioned post-partum depression in class when the Drake students visited, but is this really the only issue that she faces? Could the pressure of patriarchy in her life also be a cause for depression, and therefore explain that Jane sees herself as the woman in the wallpaper, trapped by her husband?

My general understanding of what you have written is that Jane is basically oppressed in her own family due to the realities of patriarchy during that time period. It’s really great that you wrote about the wallpaper being the antagonist. It’s important to realize when reading that the antagonist and protagonist are not necessarily humans, and I do believe that the wallpaper, or rather what it symbolizes (patriarchy, like you suggested) is the enemy in this short story. You have come to a good conclusion that patriarchy is hurtful for women. After reading your writing, I’m wondering what you think about patriarchy today… Does it still exist in the sense that women are excluded from society or the government? It will be important to keep these ideas in mind when writing other responses for your English class, because they are part of American history. -- 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? Mystery of Heroism Steven Crane
 * Crane’s “Mystery of Heroism”**

As bullets fly past his ears, Collins runs as fast as he can to get that water back to the camp so his fellow colleagues will see how much of a hero he is. A long the way he sees a man laying there yelling at Collins to give him some water. Collins has two decisions to follow, his “id” or his “super-ego” The imagery that I can portray from the story in the characters eyes that I can picture would be the soldiers in the battlefield as he passes them while walking to and from the well. The Sound that he would hear would be the gunshots that go by his head as he runs from the soldiers in the woods. He smelled the rotting horses as they lay there dead and decade. The feels the water splashing on his leg as he runs with the bucket in between his legs. The “id” of the character wanted to go and get the water by any means. But the “super-ego” wanted to stop for the man to give him the water he craved as he laid there dying. The “ego” that balanced out his “id” and his “super-ego” would be that he gets the water to drink it, but at the same time he stops for the dying man and gives him the water that he craves. Now I personally think Collins made the right decision by going with his “ego” instead of the other two choices, “id” ”super-ego”. The ending of this story would be that Collins didn’t make it back to the camp with all of the water, but as his colleagues were drinking the water they were playing around and spilled all of the water, and personally that would make me kind of mad if it took all of that effort to just go and get some water just so they can play around.

My Response: I like how you began your writing stating that Collins had two choices to either follow his Id or Superego. This sets up your writing so that it is focused on this issue, which is good. You do a good job describing the senses that Collins probably feels throughout the story. This would have been a good point in your writing to quote some examples from the story, though. It’s always a good idea when discussing specific aspects of literature to use support from the story. It is clear from your observations of the Id and Superego that you know what these terms mean and that you can apply them to the short story. You do a good job with this, but I think you should dig a little deeper. How does the setting affect Collins’ Id and Superego? Do you think setting has an impact on how the characters respond to situations? You mention at the end of your writing that you think it was good that Collins went with his ego instead of the Id or Superego, but you didn’t explain why. Why is it better that he went with his ego? Do you think you would do the same thing in his situation? How might the influences of Collins’ ego be reflected in the title of this story, //A Mystery of Heroism//? Do you think Collins is a hero? You do a good job including information about all three psychoanalytic terms. Keep these terms in mind as you continue to read more stories. I look forward to read more of your 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 these two stories, “The Invalid’s Story” and “April Showers”, the two come from different regions, so the dialect is different from the dialect that we use. They both use different “id’s ego’s and super-ego’s” to solve they’re probems. In April Showers, Theodora’s father, states “don’t walk so fast, child, you look tired.” Theodora, the main character, has an id, that wants her to be a writer, but her superego, tells her to take care of her family. The ego of her helps her by balancing it out by telling her to when she becoms a writer she will take the monet from the published books and help her family with the money. In the Invalid story, the dialog states “Do you recon we started the Gen’rul any?” The Narrator has an id that tells him to get rid of the smell. The superego of the narrator tells him to stay loyal to his job, but the ego that balances out it all tells him to use different smells to get rid of the smell, while staying loyal to the job and staying there. Now that you have read this you can tell that the different dialect from each of the stories, and kind of make and inference on how both of the main characters were raised, and where they both grew up.

Instead of waiting until the end of your writing to answer the question about what the dialect tells us about the character, it would have been better if you commented about this after you included quotes from both stories that show dialect. For example, you write, “In the Invalid story, the dialog states ‘Do you recon we started the Gen’rul any?’” but you didn’t write anything else about this. What does this sentence from the story tell us about the characters? How is it different from the way that we talk in the Midwest? I’m not sure how the quote that you included from April Showers shows dialect, so I would like you to expand on that. First, it might be helpful to think about what the term dialect means and how it affects you personally. Then, once you know how it affects you, you might be more able to relate it to the characters in the story. Good job including information about the id, ego, and superego for each of these stories. It is impressive that you recognized all of these traits in the protagonists. You did a good job explaining where you saw all three traits in the story. How do you think the fact that Theodora’s story “April Showers” didn’t get published affected her id, ego, or superego?
 * My Response to your Writing: **

Now that I’ve responded three times to your writing, please let me know if my comments have been helpful (if you get a chance). Let me know if the questions I’ve been asking are helping you to think more about the stories that you’ve read and about the way that you have been responding through writing. If there is something specific that you want me to comment more about, please let me know. --Jamie