13-61-9-2

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. Beja Christmas Early Bird Class
 * Chopin’s “Story of and Hour” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”**

In __Story of the Hour__, there are lots of connections we make between the main character and this text. In this story the main character Mrs. Mallard is a fine example of a protagonist as well as a round character. She embodies a woman of many traits. Such as, brains and self independence. Unlike her sister Josephine, who is more of a flat character that really has no desire to go out and live, but just to be what society wants her to be. In this story we also make the comparison of a Dynamic Character to a Static Character. Mrs. Mallard, being the dynamic character, because we see she goes through a few changes in this story. First we see that she is sad from the loss of her husband Mr. Mallard, than we see her undergoing changes in emotions wants she realizes she’s being let free from her antagonist which is society which expects her to be down traughtened and sadden at the loss of her husband, and in search of a new spouse instead of celebrating of her new found independence. Now we have Josephine who is more a static character more along the lines of what society wants a woman to be. She’s more of a “home body”, more eager to please a man and fulfill what society classifies as womanly duties. Such as; cooking, cleaning, taking care of the house, and kids. In the Story of the Hour we see two different women with the same antagonist on let’s in defeat- Josephine. The other still get’s defeated but only by death- Mrs. Mallard.

Nice job with your description of Mrs Mallard being a dynamic character! Well done finding supporting details in your reading! :) I can tell you have a good idea about what the definitions of these terms are, but I'm not sure you have found a way to apply these to the text. Not sure about your description of Josephine -- do you have text to support you idea that she is a flat character or static? I'm not sure what this means " the same antagonist on let’s in defeat" -- if you could express this in a way that doesn't leave me with questions, you might have a genius "so what" ending here :)

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”**

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”**