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Charlotte Perkins Gilman first published “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892 in the New England Magazine. During the time that Gilman lived woman’s suffrage and equal rights was a popular topic. During this time Perkins was a follower of Woman’s rights activists such as Susan B. Anthony, and Harriet Beecher Stowe who was Gilman’s great-aunt.
Gilman was an advocate for equality and woman’s rights; leaving and confining woman to the confines a home and house work deprived women of their creativity and intelligence and the potential for a positive public, professional career and education.
In 1886 during her first marriage Perkins was stricken with post-partum Depression after the birth of her daughter. She was stricken with “unbearable inner misery” and “ceaseless tears” that were only made worse by her husband and child. She was then referred to the Dr. s. Mitchell, who at the time was the counties leading specialist in nervous disorders. Mitchell believed that in the case of a female who needed treatment for a nervous disorder it was because of over stimulation and not enough attention to domestic work (Very sexist). So his treatment was “rest care” where the patient would be forced to do nothing and be void of any stimulation. It proved to be a disaster for Gilman; she soon had a nervous break down. She went completely mental and was crawling into closets and under beds and clutching a rag doll.
The Yellow wallpaper is almost a direct account of her experience of a rest home. The woman in the essay is not being helped by the “rest treatment” it is only making matters worse for her and she is slowing losing the mental game. The woman in the story is controlled directly by her husband who is also her doctor; instead of getting better she becomes obsessed with the room’s yellow wallpaper.
Exactly what happened to Gilman who was not helped by the treatment only when she left the home and her husband was able to recover and write. She eventually would send Dr. Mitchell a copy of the yellow wallpaper.
Citation
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Yellow Wallpaper.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2006. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.
Flannery O’Connor was an American writer that wrote two novels and about 34 short stories. She was raised in the American south “the Bible belt” as a devout Catholic; religion is often present theme in her writings. Along with religion playing an important role in her writing she often brings up questions about morals and ethics.
When O’Connor was fifteen her father died of lupus, leaving her extremely devastated. The loss of a strong parental father figure can influence anybody at such a young age. Often in her writings she questions religions, or at least her writing might suggest that she does. Losing her father might have attributed to this because she could think that it was all in Gods divine plan.
O’Connor was also very fond of birds which she incorporated into her writings. She also wrote an entire essay devoted to the peacock called “The King of Birds”
Many of her books and essay were written while she battling Lupus. She was dying while she was writing which is evident in her morally flawed characters. Growing up in the early nineteen hundreds, in the American south meant that she was surrounded by racial tension. The Jim Crow laws were in full swing and she would have seen how unfairly the black communities were treated.
In her essay “a Good man is hard to find” the stories setting is in the Deep South where there are very large black communities. Through the main character of the grandmother she conveys the ignorance a stereotypical view of the old south that she grew up in. Where a lady was a lady and black person was second-class citizen and they knew their place. O’Connor parallels the grandmother with the old south and the grandmother eventually dies at the end of the story, in a sense the way that O’Connor wanted racism to die.
Ernest Hemingway’s the hills like white elephants this is an example of fiction retelling a real world situations because many people face the consideration of abortion when dealing with untimely pregnancy. However if one were to look past the basic notion of the abortion problem, one would notice the problem between the two main characters. They have a communication problem they talk to each other but their point of view never gets across to one another. Also the drinking they do, from the moment they arrive at the station they start drinking to occupy their time with anything but conversation. This is a very real world situation trying to avoid talking to somebody or talking about a certain subject.
In our society teen pregnancy is a very hot topic, either keep the child and try to finish school or drop out and find a job. On the other hand the young lady faces the dilemma of abortion, for some that question is easy, no. For some thought it becomes a very real and difficult answer to find.
The couple has a very real communication problem; the man tells her that he “loves her and everything will be back to normal after the operation” all she states that she said yes she will have the operation just to shut him up. The two characters dance around each other in a frenzy of talking but not communicating. Many people face this problem where they talk but may not feel as if anybody is listening. Like teachers sometimes talking to a room full of people and it seems, sometimes’ that nobody is listening but they are taking notes and they are there physically but not mentally.
The situation where the couple starts drinking immediately show that they are not read to talk yet or they were trying to avoid it. This “Elephant in the room” could be about anything in real life that people don’t want to talk about. Such as the death of a loved one, a bad test grade that you don’t want to tell your parents about, or that you are thinking about an abortion because you are actually pregnant but not ready.
After learning about how in depth literature really is, one can look back and realize that many literary devices can be applied to all works of literature. Going through works, especially ones that I have read before you realize stuff that you might have missed the first time, like parts of a plot or the realization that flashback or forwards are integral parts of the story line rather than more words on a page.
Knowing literature terminology gives one a different perspective on the interpretation of literature, because instead of just going and trying to interpret the deep meaning of the work, you can work from the outside in, towards the deep meaning. For example in a story that uses medias res, the author must use flashback and flash forwards to explain how the characters develop towards the overall plot. When an author uses foreshadowing, you could not even know it was in use until the foreshadowed event happens in the story, then one could realize that the author used foreshadowing in the story.
Literary terms could help one realize the intentional uses of the point of view of the narrator by the author. By choosing a certain point of view the author limits or expands what the reader knows about the story. If the narrator is limited then the reader is limited leaving the reader to speculate about the other characters. However if the narrator is omniscient then the reader has more variables in the characters thoughts and feeling, the reader could form a completely different opinion about the story.
I fell that many authors use these literary devices on purpose because it leads to better story telling. However if the author uses literary devices to try and manipulate a certain interpretation from the reader it might not always work because my interpretation of foreshadowing may lead me to a very different conclusion than it would someone else.
Knowing literary devices are good in all but it does not make the story any more entertaining. Authors may use literary devices but sometimes they might just write a story to have fun. I think people overanalyze, looking for meaning in literature, trying to find what the hidden meaning is behind the author’s words, but sometimes I think they might mean exactly what they say. Besides what is more fun, reading a story to analyze and categorize it or simply to read and be entertained?
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