Ot having a name also shows that although she was a somewhat significant character in Steinbeck's novel in real life and in that period women in general are not especially this one. All these people were forced into isolation; everyone of them had his or her version of a dream in the hope it would bring upon them a better life at the time mostly referred as ‘The American Dream’. Curley’s Wife is the center of Stienbeck's novel and her importance in the novel is of how she is the downfall of the Dream- it is because of her (or, rather, because Lennie kills her) that the dream dies. Curley's wife, dressed in red, foreshadows the danger her character gives. In her first appearance she stands in the doorway and blocks out the sun- this physical darkening is metaphorical of her darkening of the dream.
Sylvia Plath’s Mad Girl’s Love Song: An Analysis of the Poem Plath’s poem Mad Girl’s Love Song is about a girl who has lost what seems to be the love her life, though it is ambiguous as to why he is not there with her. Was he killed in some war? Did he leave her for another? Or is there some untold circumstance that would call for his absence without return? At any rate, the fact that he is not with her has driven her to insanity and forced her to keep him alive in her mind to escape the pain of unfulfilled desire.
Katie Stephens English 1102 Dr. Strickland 9:30 TR Symbolism, Irony, and Theme in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” tells the story of a husband's attempt to do away with his wife's insanity by keeping her isolated and restrained from expressing herself through writing. Gilman includes an abundance of irony and symbolism to describe the thoughts and actions of the narrator. The author uses these elements to help the reader come to the conclusion that the narrator feels oppressed and controlled along with other women who were felt to be “confined to womanly roles” in society in the 1800s. The theme of the story suggests that women during this time were imprisoned by the male dominated society. There are many uses of irony in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”.
These stories seem to be particular criticisms of two very different social milieus. The Yellow Wallpaper is a story concerning the oppression of women in the 19th century. The main character, who remains nameless throughout the story, struggles with fitting into society’s traditional female role. As we watch her decent into madness much is revealed about her character and perhaps that of others who have endured the same treatment. A Rose for Emily takes a different approach to reveal the impact of social milieu on its main character, as the story is not told from Emily’s point of view.
Roberto Grassi Mr. Sweetman IB English Essay on Morrison’s Song of Solomon Word Count: 1116 7. Symbols and/or motifs are an essential element of many novels, writers often using such devices to deepen meaning, develop characters, integrate and connect events. In what ways, and with what success, has Morrison made use of motifs and/or symbols in her novel Song of Solomon? In the book Song of Solomon written by Toni Morrison that narrates the life of an African-American since his childhood until his adult life. The plot consists of this African-American man, Milkman, pursuing his own identity by discovering the truth about his family’s history.
Sylvia Plath’s first and only novel ‘The Bell Jar’ focuses on the protagonist and narrator Esther Greenwood; The Bell Jar is a story of how Esther descends into a dark and depressive state and how she eventually overcomes the illness, even if it was not permanent. The theme of female oppression is highlighted throughout the rest of the novel. The novel also highlights the idea that the people that surround you can push you to conform, even though you do not want to, for instance Esther’s mother constantly attempts to force Esther into a stereotypically female job such as a short-hander, the idea that women are only suitable for easier, less fulfilling professions. The protagonist, Esther, explains her desire to explore and rebel against the ‘norm’ for woman in the 1950’s society. "The last thing I wanted was infinite security and to be the place an arrow shoots off from.
Through the self realisation and isolation, the protagonist displays new experiences of independence, freedom and expression paralleled by a consequent sense of conflict and despair resulting from the constraints of the nineteenth century society she lives in. The restrictions of Creole society and Edna’s entrapment are symbolically represented by Chopin in the beginning of the book outlining Edna’s position as an outsider.
He himself had dark hair although His eyes were blue as bottleglass, so I believed" (137). Alienated from her culture, she joins a convent and, in addition to working much mischief within the Anishinabe community, she adopts an acetic way of life that becomes increasingly self-mutating. Pauline believes that she is "hollow unless pain filled" her (193). Both Pecola and Pauline experience a self-hatred that is the result of internalized racism. For Pecola, it manifests itself as the loss of her mind; for Pauline, it can be seen in her extreme self-mutilation.
William Miller February 27, 2012 “The Yellow Wallpaper” A Critical Analysis Through a woman's perspective of assumed insanity, Charlotte Perkins Gilman comments on the role of the female in the late nineteenth century society in relation to her male counterpart in her short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." Gilman uses her own experience with mental instability to show the lack of power that women wielded in shaping the course of their psychological treatment. Further she uses vivid and horrific imagery to draw on the imagination of the reader to conceive the terrors within the mind of the psychologically wounded. The un-named woman is to spend a summer away from home with her husband in what seems to be almost a dilapidated room of a "colonial mansion" (Gilman 832). In order to cure her "temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency" (Gilman 833) she is advised to do no work and to never to even think of her condition.
Emily’s decline throughout the story, both physical and societal, parallels the decline of the South after the Civil War (Dilworth 111). Her death represents the death of the “Old South” and its ideologies (Arnsberg 42). The fact that Faulkner chose to characterize the South as a girl could be his way of saying the South is weak and should be pitied (Padget). This is also where feminism comes into play in “A Rose for Emily”. Upon the first reading, it seems as though Faulkner is criticizing the way the South oppresses women.