‘The Yellow Wall-Paper’ Argues without Argument ‘The Yellow Wall-Paper’ is a complex short story told though the point of view of a sarcastic and insane protagonist, who has rapidly changing ideas about her surroundings, other characters and even her own psychological state. Because of this, readers may come to a variety of conclusions about major plot points and themes. Puzzled, readers will identify the piece as a horror story—a vivid portrayal of insanity with unsettling realism. This is indeed the conscious conclusion that Charlotte Perkins Gilman intends for her readers to form. However, the piece is so much more than a simple horror story; it is a deceptively hidden but powerful essay on female equality and marriage, two topics about which Gilman wrote frequently.
Even more painful is the fact that she remembers very little about her previous life: “I [can] remember my name, my age, that I [am] a woman, but death swallowed the rest” (4). She attaches herself to different humans or “hosts”, her first being a lonely poet. Helen and this character have an unspoken bond. While the poet cannot see her ghost, they are learning from each other. This host’s life is similar to that of writer Emily Dickinson, in that they both are isolated poets who express darkness and death in a lot of their work.
Throughout it we can relate to this group of narrators in their description of the girls. We see their slightly biased selection of quotes and feel that they are just as normal as we are. The writer telling the story has a much easier time of thinking about the facts of the reality he has created when he is fictionally an active member of it. Although his narrators are not his normal voice, they are still a part of his writing self. They still must go through the filter of his conscious thought to be allowed to write the story.
As I stated before since the view is from Jane as we slip deeper into the story and deeper into Jane’s illness I believe that her reliability factor dwindles as the story is told and at the end taken away all together when she finally cracks at the end of the story. I believe that this is an appropriate point of view because the whole purpose that the author wrote this is to show the slow changes that Jane goes through with the oppression of her husband and we would not get the same effect if it were told by someone
Jay Asher effectively uses bildungsroman in his young adults’ novel Thirteen Reasons Why. Bildungsroman is the underappreciated literary device in which a character noticeably develops throughout the course of the novel. In Thirteen Reasons Why, a young woman, Hannah Baker, tells her story in a rather unconventional way: through tapes she recorded prior to her suicide, which were then passed along to the people mentioned in the tapes. These fall into the hands of Clay Jensen, who is both mortified and curious as to why he was mentioned in the tapes. This use of bildungsroman is subtle, and quite intriguingly played out.
“Nostalgia was their crack cocaine…” How is nostalgia shown to be dangerous to the characters in the novel. Erica is a character who demonstrates the extent of nostalgia’s damaging effects, her sanity of mind slowly depleting throughout the text. From the very beginning Changez notes that while she did has a certain “magnetism” about her one still ascertains the feeling that she “existed internally” and that some part of her “was out of reach, lost in thoughts unsaid”, this detachment provides a foreshadowment of the inner turmoil causing instability within Erica’s mind. As Changez and Erica become close he notices a picture drawn in her apartment which he discovers was drawn by Chris and he observes within the picture that there is a volcano containing “an island within an island – wonderfully sheltered and calm”, this symbolises Erica’s current state and when the 9/11 attacks occur it symbolises the volcano erupting resulting in the island within being thrust in to turbulent seas and violence, as Erica finds herself post the attacks, resulting in a deep state of nostalgia regarding Chris, who at one point was also her -ironically- protective volcano. After the 9/11 attacks occur Erica became highly “introspective” and she states that she hasn’t been like this “since the first time, since Chris died”, her nostalgic thoughts becoming evident and with worrying consequences, Changez becomes desperate to “extricate her from the maze of her psychosis” to which she was slowly becoming more lost in as her thoughts turned to Chris.
“Not a Ghost Story” by Pamela Painter, Vestalreview.net 2. The story is about the author, as she describes how she has been haunted by a ghost. She keeps repeating “If this were a ghost story” like she is trying to convince herself that it isn’t happening. As she is describing her past hauntings, she wishes it would all just end, as if she herself is in a story with an ending. The end of the story is her dreaming she is only reading a book of ghost stories that end.
Formal writing is almost always targeted at an audience that has existing knowledge on a topic. Whether it is an academic paper or a business report, the key is to know how much existing knowledge those who are to read the publication possess. In formal writing, it is important that you steer clear of slang and colorful words that you’d normally find in a creative writing publication. These types of words, however, are fine in an informal setting. Another guideline when writing in a formal style is to not use contractions (e.g.
Even after countless edits, tiny issues can be missed by almost everyone. I think it’s the effort that shows through in the writing. If a writer sends out a first draft, thinking it’s good enough for publication, clearly they don’t care enough for the story to make it the best it can be. There is no such thing as a perfect first draft. Truly hard work (mostly editing) and our willingness to do it, is what defines a good writer.
Analytical paper # 2 Due: October 24, 2012 “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the story of a young woman whose creative appeal and self-expression are suppressed by her society and her marriage. The short story is told by the narrator through her diary, which she describes as an exemption of her thoughts. The narrator is apparently artistic and creative as can be seen through her animated descriptions of the house her husband John has rented. The narrator includes representations of the yellow wallpaper in the upstairs nursery where she and her husband sleep at night. The wallpaper is used characterically to reflect the marriage the narrator finds herself ambushed inside.