The Yellow Wallpaper- Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Abstract: In the story the narrator and her husband John live in a colonial mansion for the summer. The narrator is sent there because of her nervous depression. She goes kind of crazy looking at the wallpaper all the time. She writes about it even though her husband does not want her to, and she sees a woman being constrained beneath the top layer. She sees this woman outside of her windows too. She also notes how the room is kind of destroyed by children she assumes who lived in the room which must have been a nursery. The narrator also feels that her husband John and his sister Jennie are effected by the wallpaper. One night, she decides to try to 'free' the woman. She begins to tear the wallpaper off to try to free the woman behind the bars that she is kept. On the last day they are there, the woman locks herself in the empty room. She goes around the room rubbing her shoulder on the 'smooch' that is in the wall which she noted earlier in the story. Her husband John then comes to the door, but she won't let him in and insists that he get the key from downstairs. When he comes in the room, he sees her going around the room and asks her what she is doing. He then fainted, and she continued to go around the room stepping over his body.

Response: The narrator has some mental issues. She says how there is a child, so it may have been hers. She could have postpartum depression which could explain her odd behavior and why her husband has them move away for the summer. She says how the room is a mess and the bed-stand has bites out of it, but then she also bites it. She could have been the one that ruined the room and not even realized it. She sees a woman in the wallpaper and outside which I believe are figments of her imagination, and she has gone crazy. Her husband also seems kind of controlling of her though. He won't let her leave the house and sends her away for the summer. He won't let her visit her friends, and he won't let her work or write which could make her feel better. He may think he knows what is best for her because he is a doctor, but she wants to work and write, so maybe he should let her. The woman she sees behind the wallpaper may also be her. She feels like she is trapped in and is unable to get out. By her wanting to free the woman behind the wallpaper, she wanted to free herself from all of the control that her husband and his sister have over her.I think that when she finally did tear the wall paper off she freed and thus lost her sanity and became more psychotic. By stepping over her unconscious husband, she is finally rising over the control he has had on her all summer. The wall paper may symbolize the image her husband and her portray to society. Others may view them as fine, but in reality they are not. She is crazy and has issues, and he sort of tries to avoid these issues by making her stay inside with hopes that she will get better.

The Story of an Hour- Kate Chopin

Abstract: In the story Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble. Her sister tells her how her husband has died during a railroad accident. Mrs. Mallard then becomes very upset and mourns the loss of her husband. She says then how she is free and able to be independent. She then came down stairs. When she came down the stairs, she saw her husband who had not died and had not even heard of an accident. She then died. The doctors later said that she died of heart disease.

Response: This story is ironic. It's kind of sick how she thought her husband died, but then he really didn't die, and then she died. She seemed upset that he had died, and she wanted to be upset that he had died, but then she didn't She exclaimed how she was free. She seemed excited that she was finally free of him and could be independent which is kind of sick considering she just found out that he had died. She was happy that she would be by herself in the coming years, and she thought about how she had not really loved him that much during their marriage. She would only live for herself and know one else which excited her. I think Mrs. Mallard had some issues since she was so happy after finding out that her husband died, or maybe she did not really love him at all or he had done something to her. Her character is seen as a selfish woman who does not care about her husband who loved her deeply. She could have been seen as an evil person even though she may not have wanted her husband dead,she was happy and relieved when he died which is sick. But maybe her husband was not that good of husband to her and that is why she was relieved when he died. She could have also been happy that he had died because then she would not be stuck worrying about him while he was away working on the railroad. She could have been sick of worrying about him, or she could have been sick of waiting for someone and being married to a man that was never home. Did she die from shock that he was still alive? Was she so upset that her independence she dreamed about for her future would be gone? Or did she die from the joy that he was really alive? The end of the story says how she died of joy that kills, but where did that joy come from? She seemed joyous about her independence, but she could also have been joyous over the return of her husband. Her happiness over being free of her husband could have just been a defense mechanism she used in order to try to cover up the pain she really felt about her husband's death.

The Necklace- Guy de Maupassant

Abstract: In the story, there is a girl Mathilde who is a poor girl but feels inside her that she should have been born into a family of wealth. She married a clerk though. She was very unhappy with her life because she did not have all the luxurious things that she wished for. One day her husband returns home, and he has an invitation for her. It is to a party held by George Ramponneau who was very well known and rich. Mathilda then says how she does not want to go to the party because she has no good clothes to wear and the people at the party were rich. Her husband then says that he will buy her a new gown to wear to the ball. He gives her four hundred francs to buy a dress. Mathilda then went out and bought a nice dress to wear. She then wanted jewelry to wear. Her husband then tells her to ask Mme. Forestier if she can borrow some jewels. Mathilda then went and chose a diamond necklace to wear. When she went to the party, all eyes were on her. She was extremely happy during this party. When she left though, she did not put her coat on because she did not have good furs like all of the other women. She and her husband then took a carriage home. When they got home, Mathilda realized that she was not wearing the diamond necklace anymore. She looked everywhere for it, but she and her husband could not find it. They then had to buy a new one to replace the one she had lost. They paid 36,000 francs for it and had to take out numerous loans in order to buy it. She and her husband had to move, and she had to get a job. It took them 10 years to pay off the loan, but they were able to. One day she came upon her friend and she finally told her friend that she had lost the necklace. Her friend then revealed to her that the necklace was paste and was worth 500 francs.

Response: I found this story to be depressing because Mathilda worked so hard to pay off the loans for the diamond necklace she lost and it wasn't even real. Mathilda was obviously obsessed with material things and her image. The story showed that greed can ruin a person. Mathilda wanted everything to make her outfit perfect for the ball in order to impress others, so she borrowed her friends necklace which turned into a horrible fiasco. Her greed and desire to be envied by others ultimately lead to her destruction. She was no longer the person she once was. She lost all of her looks and looked very old and overworked. Its kind of twisted how the one time she was truly happy lead to her life being ruined. The story shows how being greedy and getting what you want can hurt you. Mathilda's husband was also kind of push-over. Even though he didn't really have the money to buy her the dress, he gave her the money anyway. He might have just wanted to make his wife happy though. The story also shows that images can be deceiving. Mathilda looked like she had it all at the ball, but she really did not. Some other woman could have looked at Mathilda and thought how she wanted to be like her. In reality, Mathilda didn't have it all and by her trying to fool the world that she did, her life turned into a complete mess. The story could also be seen as a a stereotype for women and how women are obsessed with image. The story depicts women not being happy with what they have and always wanting more. It infers that women are materialistic and not happy with their lives. It shows how women are concerned with outward appearance and the image that they portray to society. The story shows how you truly can't judge a book by its cover because at the ball you would have thought that Mathilda and her husband were very rich, but in reality they weren't and they got into more trouble by Mathilda wanting to portray that image.

The Cask of Amotillado

Abstract: In The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator Montresor wants to get revenge on Fortunato by murdering him. He never reveals the reason why he want to murder him though. One day he meets Fortuanto during the carnival when he is drunk. He tells Fortunato that he has received a cask of Amontillado but he isn't sure if it is or not. He says how he is going to another guy to see if it is real or not. Fortuanto says that that guy , Luchesi, knows nothing and insists on seeing it. They then go to Montresor's vaults or catacombs to get it. When they get to the catacombs, there is this little niche which would fit a person. Fortuanto goes into it and then realizes there is a wall at the other end, and he can't get out. Montresor then chains him up and proceeds to build a wall to close the niche. Forunato then realizes what is happening. At first, he begins screaming and shaking the chains. Then Montresor yells louder than him and mocks him. Later, Fortuanto thinks it is a joke and his wife will be waiting for him. Montresor then finishes the wall and leaves Forunato there to die. At the end, he says how no one has discovered Forunato's body for 50 years, and he hasn't been caught.

Response: This story was interesting. Forunato's name looks a lot like Fortune which is contradictory because he is obviously not very fortunate since he was murdered. Montresor's name looks a lot like monster to me which goes well with his character/personality considering he murdered someone. Montresor is obviously mad/crazy because he killed someone. He enjoyed it too because he would stop and listen to Forunanto scream and call out for help. He would also mock him. At the end he says, "My heart grew sick" (19). His heart only grew sick though he reveals because of how cold it is in the catacombs. Why did Mostresor want to get revenge on Fortunato? Montresor says how Forunanto is a rich, respected man who would be missed if he was dead. Montresor then says how it would not be the case for himself. Is Montreour jealous of Foruanto or did Forunato do something to Montresor? It was probably something big that Forunato did to Montresor in order for Montresor to want to murder him, or maybe Montresor was just crazy and Fortunato didn't really do anything that bad to him because you have to have something wrong with you in order to murder someone else and find extreme enjoyment in it. Why does Poe write stories that are so scary? Did Poe write them because he was depressed or maybe a little deranged? Poe was abandoned as a child by his father and then his mother died, so that could have influenced him later in his life and left him some issues. He also had a drinking problem. What was Poe's inspiration for this story? Did he want to maybe subconsciously murder someone or get revenge on someone else for what they had done? Or maybe Poe just had heard about something similar to this story during his life and it inspired him, so he embellished it.

Bartleby, the Scrivener

Abstract:In Bartleby, the Scrivener,the narrator is a lawyer. He employs scriveners who copy documents by hand. One day he hired Bartleby to be a scrivener for him. Bartleby does a good job for him until he asks Bartelby to do something other than copying. Bartelby refuses and says he would 'prefer not to'. Bartelby continues to do this for numerous different tasks that the narrator asks him to do. Bartelby also eventually stops copying documents all together. The narrator also finds out that Bartelby stays at his office all day too. The narrator tries to fire Bartelby, but he won't leave. He just stands in the middle of the room all day. The narrator eventually moves offices in order to try to be rid of Bartelby because he does not have it in him to move Bartelby out. Bartelby stays in the offices though. The new tenants ask the narrator to come and move Bartelby.The narrator tries to get Bartelby to leave, but he won't. The narrator then finds out that Bartelby has been arrested and moved to the tombs. The narrator visits Bartelby at the tombs and has someone give him a nice meal there. When the narrator returns a couple days later, he finds out that Bartelby has died of starvation. He later finds out that Bartelby was previously employed at a dead letter office, but he lost his job there. The narrator thinks that Bartelby's previous job at the dead letter office was the reason for his odd temperament.

Response: I did not like this story at all. It was kind of boring, and I thought there would be a different more interesting reason to why Bartelby would 'prefer not' to do anything. Bartelby has some issues. He seems really depressed or has some other kind of mental illness because he won't do anything. He just stands there it seems like and wallows in his own misery. It is probably not good either that the narrator gave him a desk that faced a window that looked at a wall with nothing on it. It is kind of like Bartelby who seems to have no personality. The wall/view would also be depressing to look at all the time. It seems like Bartelby was depressed because he had worked in the dead letter office. The dead letters could have been a symbol of men and all they want to say, but never have the chance or courage to say which could have depressed Bartelby even more. The narrator seems kind of scared to do anything. He felt bad for Bartelby, but I don't know why. Bartelby never really did anything for him except copy paper, and then he even stopped doing that. Why was the narrator so compelled to help Bartelby? Did the narrator just feel bad for Bartelby because he seemed so depressed? It gets kind of annoying because the narrator wants Bartelby to leave so badly, but he won't confront Bartelby and be aggressive in order to make him leave. Bartelby could also reflect how Herman Melville felt during the time in his life when he wrote the story. Some of his novels were well accepted,but Moby-Dick and Pierre were not. Bartelby could be a reflection of Herman Melville and his desire to maybe give up on writing since some his works weren't received or accepted the way that he wished. He also had a nervous break down during his life, so maybe some of the emotions he felt during that time were reflected in the story.

Young Goodman Brown

Response: Young Goodman Brown portrays the thoughts of Puritan New England. The Puritans thought that the devil and evil were found in the forest. In the story, Young Goodman Brown meets the devil in the forest and proceeds onto an evil ritual in the forest with others from the town. The people do not show their true selves or sins in the daylight or in town. They do all their evil-doings in the night and forest. The story also focuses on evil versus good. Young Goodman Brown goes to the forest to participate in a wicked ritual. He doesn't want to though. He remembers his faith and doesn't want to participate in it. He keeps on changing his mind on whether he wants to go to the ceremony or not. When he sees all of the devote Christians and then his wife Faith also going to the ceremony, he loses his faith and comes to the conclusion that no one is who he thinks they are. They are all evil and sinners. He can never look at them the same anymore. He had faith that all people were good especially the people who were his religious advisers and when he discovers that they aren't he becomes distraught. He becomes a cynical man who is never able to trust others again. I think that his wife Faith also portrays all that Young Goodman Brown views as good. His wife Faith I believe was portrayed as an innocent good girl who was naive because of the pink ribbons she wore and how she said that she was afraid to be home alone. Once he sees her at the ceremony, he believes that know one is truly good and there is no good in the world because even his wife who was such a good person couldn't resist the evil side and was turned to it. The world is ruled by the devil and he has control even over people who others believe are very religious.
Abstract: Young Goodman Brown is about the evil in all people, and the side that they portray to the world and the side that they keep hidden. It is about how many people are not who you think they are.


Young Goodman Brown leaves Salem one night and goes into the forest with an old man. He walks with the man in the forest for awhile, but then he says how he wants to go back. Along their way through the forest, Young Goodman Brown and his companion come upon people on the road whom Young Goodman Brown thought were devote Christians. All these people are going to an evil ritual. Goodman's companion, the Devil, then disappears. Goodman sits down for awhile but then he hears voices. He hears his wife, Faith's voice. Brown then becomes mad. He loses both his wife Faith and his faith in Christianity. He decides then to go to the meeting and follow through with his original intentions. He then goes to the evil ritual. All the new converts are called forth. He and Faith then come up. They are about to go the evil side when Young Goodman Brown told her to resist the evil. All of sudden he is in the forest by himself. The next morning he comes back to the town. He was unsure if what he experienced was real or if it was a dream. Even though he does not know if it was a dream or not, he can still not look at the people whom he thought were devoted Christians the same because he thinks they are sinners and have gone to the dark side. He continues living his life being bitter and gloomy trusting no one not even his wife.

Writing About Literature

Literature reflects the mind of the author and the world and the ways in which people interact with that world and one another. Helps shape the world.Writing causes us to forge new connections. Writing about literature can teach us about ourselves and reading it can teach us much about the world.
Give plenty of time and minimize distractions while reading to get the most out of it.The best readers reread pieces. Critical reading is important when reading imaginative literature. Meanings in literary texts are not hidden and you need to look for the meanings.
You should take notes while reading. Underline, circle or highlight passages that strike you as important. Briefer and more specific the better. Make notes that say why certain points strike you. Ask questions of the text. Talk back to text- to something that offends you but remain open-minded. Look for unusual features of language like patterns of images, repeated words, or phrases and any other unusual stylistic features. Develop your own system of shorthand- write short notes that won't slow reading. Also go help to keep a reading journal to remember long complex notes. Use the dictionary.
It is important to ask more complex questions about literature. Questions about literature are in four categories- about the text, author, reader, and the cultural contexts. Text ?s focus on genre, structure, language, and style. Don't always assume that what the author wrote was based on his/her life. Knowing about an author's life can help us understand how to read a work of literature. Events in the wider social and cultural context influence author's writings. Also how does our culture today influence us? Consider work's intended audience.
When writing, write about something that you care about. Think about how the topic will relate to you and call upon your background and knowledge to approach the topic in fresh and interesting ways. When writing a paper you work to convince your reader that what you're
saying is true. Principle point is the thesis. Thesis is about topic and topic is issue or area you will focus attention. Want to explain defend and prove your thesis. Thesis should be clear and specific. Should be relevant. Be debatable. Be original. Should state it as a complete sentence. Be appropriate to assignment.
Support for thesis- sources: text, other people's ideas (textbook, online, conversations), and your own thoughts. Use pertinent evidence to support thesis. Reread primary text with thesis in mind. Each paragraph should contain one main idea and explanation to support it. Keep open mind to structure and organization. Sometimes you should work from an outline.
Try to write first draft fairly quickly knowing that you will revise it. Revision stage is when the real work gets done. Large-scale (don't worry too much about details) , then small-scale, and then proofreading and editing. If possible put first draft away for a day. Annotate your text just the way you would do to literature.
Globally revising- Refine or develop your focus and thesis. Reorganize paper. Expand paper with new paragraphs or new evidence within existing paragraphs. Eliminate unnecessary, contradictory, or distracting passages. Clarify any difficult passages with more specific explanations or evidence. Change overall tone of paper.
Local-level focuses on style and clarity. Words, phrases, and sentences.
Peer editing- can help you on future works. Help you grow. Guidelines- Be respectful of another's work. Be honest. Look for good and bad. Keep eye on time. Take notes on draft or on separate piece of paper. Ask questions. Don't assume that explaining yourself to your workshop partner can replace revision. Be specific in comments. Try to focus on the big picture. Push your partners to help you more.
Tips for writing about Literature- Don't assume readers will remember(or consider important_ the same ideas of incident in literature that you do. Don't retell the plot or text at length. Don't assume that quotations or summaries are self-sufficient and prove your point automatically. customary to use present tense when writing about literature. First time you mention an author, use his or her full name. Titles of poem, stories, and essays should be put in quotation marks. Titles of books, plays, and periodical should be underlined or italicized. Give your paper a title. Use commons sense and be consistent.
Explain quotations. Try to fit quotes into your sentences. If change quotation signal to readers that you have added or changed it. If omit it use ellipses by using three periods between square brackets. Checklist for Quotations- double-check the wording, spelling, and punctuation of every quotation you use. Use the shortest quotation you can while still making your point. Never assume a quotation is self-explanatory. If you are quoting a character in a story, play or poem be sure to distinguish that character from the author. Take acre not to distort the meaning of a quotation.
MLA Format. Use plain white paper, black ink, and a standard, easy-to- read font No separate cover page is needed. Include vital information in upper left corner of first page. Center your paper's title. Page numbers should appear in the upper right corner of each page.
Summary- brief recap of most important points- plot, characters.Explications- takes what is implicit or subtle in a work and makes it explicit and clear (technique is close reading). Point is to point out elements and explain them. Analyze- to take something apart and examine how the individual parts relate ton one another and function as a whole. Comparison and Contrast- proceed item-by-item or point-by-point. Literary Criticism and Literary Theory- criticism: evaluative (seeks to determine how accomplished a work it place it should hold in the evolving story of literary history) book reviews and interpretive ( all writing that seeks to explain, analyze, clarify, or question the meaning and significance of literature) it will be mostly this for this class. No has the key.People start at different theoretical bases.
Formalism- things like structure, tone, characters, settings, symbols, and linguistic features (explication and close reading) and New Criticism- focus on text not extratextual features. Formalists interested in how parts relate on one another and to whole.
Feminist and Gender Criticism- 1970s- tied to raising consciousness about the patriarchy in which many women felt trapped. Sought to reveal how literary texts demonstrated the repression and powerlessness of women. Others showed how women could overcome the sexist power structures that surround them. Other's sought to promote women's work. Realized that over the years men have usually been expected to be good providers, to be strong physically and emotionally, and to keep their problems and feelings to themselves.
Marxist Criticism- originally sought to use literature and criticism to forward a socialist political program. Social Classes. Another venue for the ongoing quest for individual material gain. Sole purpose is to expose inequalities and underlie all societies and to thus raise the consciousness of readers and move the society closer to a socialist state.
Cultural Studies- general name given to a wide variety of critical practices some which might seem on the surface to have little in common with one another. Certain texts are privileged while others are not. cannon- texts read and taught again and again. Some focus on outsiders. Some believe that all texts are to some extent artistic expressions of a culture and it can give us vital insights into the human experience. Might study tv shows, movies, and comic strips.
Historical Criticism and New Historicism- to gain insights into the composition and significance of a given work.To gain insights into periods studied.
Psychological Theories- Segmund Freud- popularized idea that the mind can be divided into conscious and unconscious components and we are often motivated most strongly by the unconscious. Examines the internal mental states, the desires, and the motivations of literary characters. Might examine why a writer wrote what he did. Examine psychology of humans. What draws and repels us from certain literary themes. Attention paid to symbols as the manifest representation of a deeper, hidden meaning.
Reader-Response Theories- text is an interaction between an author and a reader and it can never be complete unless readers bring to it their own unique insights. Insights come from beliefs, background, and other reading experiences. gaps- what text doesn't tell you. process- them meaning of the text is not fixed and complete but rather evolving as the text unfolds in the time it takes to read.
Structuralism- concerned with the structures that help us to understand and interpret literary texts. Every piece of our knowledge is a network of associations. Two types of context- cultural and literary.
Poststructuralism and Deconstruction- Post- begins with the insights of structuralism but carries them one step further. Ideas leading to other ideas leading to other ideas. Meaning is forever shifting. De- tries to undermine the idea that reality has a stable existence. Allows for several interpretations. No text and meaning is absolute.
Timed Essays- Be prepared and know what's expected. Prep: knowing material and anticipating the questions. Read through exam first. Clarity and conciseness.

Writing about literature begins from one point: the primary source. It should be a critical argument. Find and evaluate sources for your paper, read them and take notes, and then write a paper integrating material from those sources. Print books and journals are best sources in most cases. don't do large quotes.

Practice

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