Sorry I did not get the question posted for last week. Reminder: this Tuesday (9/29) the college
is on a Monday schedule so the next time that our class will meet is Thursday 10/01. For the blog this time, discuss the meaning of a passage (a few words or a few lines or more) that you choose from one of the stories that we discussed this week or last week. Explain why the passage appears important to you for understanding the story as a whole.
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"I used to feel that if any of the other things looked too fierce I could always hop into that chair and be safe." line 68, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. One can analyze the narrator uses the sentence to compare directly the wife's feelings. She could completely rely on his husband before her mental illness. The effects of the treatment and the husband's positioning are not the safest manner for her mental and physical state anymore. She is the only one to face her fears, and deal with what others believe is the best for her recovery.
ReplyDelete"Bill and Arlene were a happy couple. But now and then they felt they were alone among their circle had been passed by somehow, leaving Bill to attend to his bookkeeping duties and Arlene occupied with secretarial chores." from the first three lines of "The Neighbors". Without these lines most readers would not be able to comprehend the type of relationship that Bill and Arlene had. Mostly when one reads "The Neighbors" he or she assumes that Bill and Arlene are just an ordinary couple with no emotional attachment. I think that these lines are very essential in understanding the type of relationship that Arlene and Bill could have.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Yellow Paper", the author quotes, " If a physician of high standings, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with but temporary nervous depression- a sight hysterical tendency - what is one to do?
ReplyDeleteIf this quote was deleted from the passage no one would know that the speakers husband never really thought there was something wrong with his wife. It also mentions that her husband is a well known doctor, therefore he should know what's wrong with her.
This quote expresses what the speaker and her husband actually feel about her "depression". While her husband believes that this is a temporary depression, the speaker believes that the way she is feeling is not normal. However, if she mentioned it and put her husbannd in that position, everyone would look down on her more than they have now.
Trojanowski
In Yellow Wallpapers by Perkins Gilman line 10 seems to be important. It says: “My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing”. This phrase goes right after the one where the author gives us her husband’s opinion about her condition. What this line means to me is that the conflict in this story is not simply between a husband and a wife. It is much deeper. The story reflects conflict between men and women, who didn’t have many rights at that time.
ReplyDeleteLine 65 of "The Yellow Wallpaper" states: I wish I could get well faster. An interesting thing I once read from a book called "The Secret", is whenever you want something, you have to think that you already have it, or have already achived it. Basically live your life, as if it is true. What you dont want to do is say things like "I wish I could get well faster", because in essence you are saying "I AM sick". The speaker in a sense is not helping herself mentally in any way by continually justifying the fact that she is sick. She is simply bringing more sickness to herself the more she thinks about it.
ReplyDeleteJust something to ponder...
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ReplyDelete"John is a physician...and he says the same thing."
ReplyDeleteThese few lines in "The Yellow Wallpaper" are very essential to the plot of the story. They explain the position of the narrators husband and brother. It shows the difference in social status' between men and women during that time period. In the first sentence of that section, the narrator also mentions how her feelings and emotions are in confinement. She fears there is no way out of what she has just been diagnosed with.
Without this section, the reader would not understand the political views during those times. The distinctive classes between men and women would not have been recognized therefore the ending of the story would have been completely befuddled. The story would conclude that John, the narrators husband, was correct and the narrator ended up going crazy through no fault but her own.
Yevgeniya Ignatova
"He was not hungry. She did not eat much, either. They looked at each other shyly and smiled. She got up from the table and checked that the key was on the shelf and then she quickly cleared the dishes".
ReplyDeleteThis paragraph from the "Neighbors" clearly shows that the change has begun in both characters. Bill and Arlene are becoming a loving couple again. They understand each other without words and share feelings towards one another. The structural layout of the sentences works to prove this point. First sentence begins with "he", second one - with "she", followed by a transformation from separate "he" and "she" to a united "they". This is important for the storyline because it highlights the way their lives shift eventually. First he explores their neighbors' apartment and thus broadens his mind and opens up his heart. Then it is her turn. As a result, two of them reunite as a whole.
"Neighboors" Line 62.."I guess I should tell you. I found some pictures"
ReplyDeleteThis line helped us as readers realize that she was doing the same thing Bill was doing. By admitting that she found pictures in a drawer, the reader now knows that she has been snooping around the apartment as well. Withough her mentioning it, it would not have been as easy to realize since was never described in the apartment as Bill was. Arlene obviously has an interest in the Stones' life as well. By looking at their pictures, she probably places herself in their "amazing" life and she tells her husband so he can do the same.The pictures she found can be anywhere from vacations, holidays or personal lives.
(Bourekas, Kalliope )
“Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.”
ReplyDeleteI would say that without this intro paragraph the end of “The Story of an Hour” would not make much sense to many. After the news of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard realized the power and freedom she is going to have in her life. After all the joyous thoughts of finally being free from her husband’s control, the shock to see him still living was too much for her fragile heart, and she died.
Saba Mufti
jj
ReplyDeleteThe story of an hour is a difficult story to understand and must be read several times in order to get the full message. We learn of Mrs. Mallard's reaction to her husband's death and she is overly happy. This is ironic because we are to believe that in this situation most people would be grieving and in mourning. This story is special because we see a roller coaster type of events through such a short perioid of time which is what makes this story so great.
ReplyDeleteFrom Neighbors "It seemed to the Millers that the Stones lived a fuller and brighter life. The Stones were always going out for dinner, or entertaining at home, or traveling about the country somewhere in connection with Jim's work" The reason for this passage being so important for the understanding of this story as a whole is because this one passage explains that the Millers are less of a couple in comparison to the Stones. They're boring, and routine while the Stones are spontaneous and very energetic together. The reason why the Millers react to the Stone's apartment the way they do is because this energy from the Stone's resonates from their apartment, their cat, their room, even their refrigerator. That energy is what drives Bill to all of a sudden be very flirty with his wife Arlene, which as a result brought their relationship back to maybe what it was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteIn the story "Orientation" by Daniel Orozco, Orozco satires in a dark yet numerous way the life in the corporate world. He gives numerous vivid examples portraying this vision. All are valid in there own way,however, the key passage that is the most moving and intriguing is the passage at the very end of the short story. The speaker/guide finishes the reader's orientation and says goodbye without even introducing himself at all even at the very end. Better yet, what should be taken noted is that he doesn't do so at all throughout the story. The fact that the speaker doesn't so at the very end further establishes how peculiar that is and even gives the reader a feeling that he's pretty much on his own in the corporate world at the end.
ReplyDelete-Joshua Aziz