The Others

When I first read The Yellow Wallpaper, I didn’t perceive Gilman’s writing as a piece that was advocating change. Although Mandy’s lead respondent activity certainly made me rethink some of the motives of her writing, I still don’t necessarily believe that Gilman was writing a story about liberating women or advocating change. For instance, one of the examples that was brought up in class was the quote, “I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did?” (Gilman 365) which was suggested to represent the fact that women were hidden behind the duties of the home and controlled by men. When she finally frees herself from the paper, John faints in front of her and she “had to creep over him every time” (365) which is also supposed to represent that by freeing herself from the paper, she in turn has liberated herself from John. While certainly an interesting perspective on the text, I don’t agree with any of that. How is a story about a woman who kills herself and/or is dead and existing throughout the story as a ghost dealing with women’s liberation? If anything, this is a story about defeat. The dominance of her husband and being in solitary confinement with that wallpaper drove her crazy and she killed herself. I believe that this story is more about the dominance of men over women and not about liberation.

I also don’t agree with some of the other pieces we’ve read this semester that have been ‘written to affect change’. For example, The Yares of Black Mountain although certainly written about the North and South, did not, in my opinion, symbolize the baby as ‘our sick nation’. I personally think that is ludicrous! You can pull anything and see what you want to see from the text, that’s one of the great things about literature, however I personally fail to take the side of these pieces being written to change society.

Superbad

One of the things I found particularly interesting about Tom Sawyer is that it’s the first time that we get to see the boy’s point of view of getting a girl’s attention and being ‘in love’. When he first encounters the unknown girl outside her house, he tries “to ‘show off’ in all sorts of absurd boyish ways, in order to win her admiration” (Twain 23). Although the idea of the boy showing off to win the girl’s heart isn’t new, I find it hilarious that a boy, not a teenager or a man, is trying to show off with “some dangerous gymnastic performance” (23). Also when Tom is in Sunday School and the little girl and her whole family shows up, every one in the class begins to try and make themselves look better, but it’s very different for the girls than for the boys. “The little girls ‘showed off’ in various ways, and the little boys ‘showed off’ with such diligence that the air was thick with paper wads and the murmur of scufflings” (38). This highlights that the way that boys and girls think about “being the best” is quite different. For girls it seems to be about the whole picture and being the best overall; being good, smart, and accomplished. While for boys, it’s being the best at one particular skill; being the loudest, the fastest, or the toughest.

Also, another point I found interesting is that the ‘wealth’ of a boy is equal to the amount of junk he can accumulate. When he is painting the fence and tricks the boys of the neighborhood into paining it for him, “Tom was literally rolling in wealth” (18). But his ‘wealth’ is really just a bunch of junk from four pieces of an orange peel, to a kitten with only one eye, to a dilapidated old window-sash (18). Who caries all this around in their pockets? It’s as if boys during this time period were constantly on the hunt to trade their junk with another boys junk to see who could have the most junk. Even at church, Tom trades a “piece of lickrish and a fish-hook” (33) for a yellow ticket.

Cold Mountain

One of the things I found interesting about this story is the fact that the woman knew that there were people in the mountains that could help her baby, yet the text never states where she got this information from. Why would a woman with a sick baby go into the mountains to seek help unless she was previously told that there would be someone there to help her baby? She mentions that "her husband had been in Salisbury at the same time as Albery Richardson, and had escaped [...] These people might have saved him from death" (262). Does that imply that her husband ran away from the army, was helped by this family and told his wife to take their sick child to the mountains to be saved? We know so little of Mrs. Denby's background except that she's from New York, has a sick baby and a dead husband, and yet knows where to seek just the kind of help her baby needs. I found the whole thing rather odd.

I also found it interesting that the Yares family lives a in-the-middle-of-the-road life. They chose not to pick a side during the war because they didn’t feel that they could “argy or jedge whether slavery war wholesomest or not. It was out of our sight” (260) yet because they decided to stay out of the war, it only made them more of a target. With the Union hunting the Yares men “jest as if they war wolves” (261) and the Confederates thinking “the best use to make of the whole lot is to order them out to be shot” (266) it seems like it would have been more peaceful for the Yares if they had simply joined the war effort.

Newsies

I believe that the main difference between little girls and boys depicted in the nineteenth century has to do with their temperament. For example, we pride Ellen on her toast making abilities, willingness to try and form a relationship with God, the love that she displays for her mother and her docile nature. In essence, Ellen is the very picture of ‘good’ and the example of what every young girl at that time should be. Young boys on the other hand, are supposed to be a little rougher around the edges. We pride Dick on his ability to make money, on his witty nature, and adventurous attitude.

For example, one big difference that I noticed was the fact that if a young girl was to lie (such as Gerty) it’s seen as a dishonest and wrongful thing to do, however when a young boy is to lie, it’s seen as merely a funny joke. When Dick is trying to win over a customer and the man asks why Dick charges so much, his reply is, “I have to pay such a big rent for my manshun up on Fifth Avenoo” (Alger 253). We know that Dick does not live in a mansion on Fifth Avenue, yet instead of feeling like he’s dishonest, we only see it as a joke. Dick continues to lie to everyone saying such things as “This coat once belonged to General Washington” (253), his pants were “a gift from Lewis Napoleon” (254) and “I’m a gov’ment officer sent by the mayor to collect your taxes” (287). Not much has changed since the nineteenth century as this sort of gender expectation split is still present, although not to this extreme. We allow and expect boys to be loud, dirty and energetic while little girls to be quiet, clean and thoughtful.

A Beautiful Mind

Whatever the medium may be, as soon as insanity is placed on the table anything we’ve previously been shown or told is brought into question. How do we know that the side of the story we’ve been is the truth and not just the creativity of someone quite out of their mind? In the context of our story, Sybil, the narrator has been known to be very spirited and speak her mind on such matters as freedom and liberty. This is quite revolutionary for a woman of this time period, and for being so outspoken, Sybil makes herself out to be a target. Therefore when someone as spirited as her is locked away, it makes us want to fight for her more than if she was more docile and submissive. It also leads us to question what is going on and if what we’re told is going on is the truth.

There was only one point in the story where I questioned Sybil’s credibility as our narrator. When she looks upon the body of her mother and thinks that she’s seeing herself for the likeliness is stunning, she questions her own sanity and whether she is merely a spirit and that is her body or is she is still in fact alive, “I had plotted death, and with the waywardness of a shattered mind, I recalled legends of spirits returning to behold the bodies they had left” (Alcott 243). This sends the reader into his or her own tunnel of confusion. What exactly is going on? Is she really dead and that’s her spirit? At what point did she finally give in to insanity?

Every domestic novel we’re read thus far seems to glorify the mother/daughter relationship, however not one single main character has a stable relationship with their mother. Capitola is taken away from her mother at birth, Gerty’s mother died shortly after she was born, and even Ellen is left alone after her mother is sent away for her health and never returns. The idea has been reinforced in many didactic lessons that a young girl needs a powerful female role model (her mother) in order to lead a ‘good’ life. In the case of Sybil and her mother, the mother is thought to be insane and taken to an insane asylum. If Sybil was left to grow up around her mother, it probably wouldn’t have been very healthy environment for a young child, however without the strong female example, Sybil relies on her powers of manipulation to get what she wants and desires and gets sent to the asylum herself. In this case, it seems to me that the emphasis of the mother/daughter relationship is somewhat lessened. Yes, Sybil needs a mother figure and is at a loss without one, however if she was to have her own mother, wouldn't she still be at a loss?

Flowers in the Attic

In every domestic novel we’ve read, we get a glace at a different type of relationship between parents and children, mother and child. One thing that I found particularly odd about the Hidden Hand was the relationship between Traverse and his mother, Marah. Although no one can deny the fact that Traverse loves his mother, one must question just exactly in what way does he love his mother. For instance, when he first walks into the room and greets his mother and she asks if he’s outgrown his childhood, he replies, “Yes, dear little mother; in everything but the privilege of fondling you” (Southworth 196). This struck me as odd, so I wrote creepy in the margin of my book and continued reading. The two continue their conversation and it appears normal. I didn’t think more about it, until the last chapter of the selection.

Before Marah and Traverse receive the letter containing the bad news, the two are once again talking and the subject of Traverse’s father comes up. This “greatly bewildered the mind of Traverse and agitated him with the wildest conjectures” (212). Surely, I thought, he’s merely agitated with not knowing who is father was and not by the fact that his mother did have a lover at one time. I continued reading, once again writing the word ‘creepy’ in the margin. By the next page I failed to come up with and adequate excuse for the language represented in relationship between Traverse and his mother; I believe that he is in love with her.

Marah is crushed with the news that there is no fortune coming to save them and trying to comfort her, Traverse says “I love you more than son ever loved his mother, or suitor his sweetheart, or husband his wife! Oh! Is my love nothing, mother?” (214). Woa now, those are two very different types of love, how can he feel both for the same woman or even compare them to each other? The awkwardness continues when he paints a picture of how they will prosper in the end and tells Marah that, “you are not much older than you son; and we two will journey up and down the hills of life together-all in all to each other […] and we will pass out and go to heaven together” (215). This is the sort of dream that a husband wishes for him and his wife, not that of a young man and his mother…

A Little Princess

Although there are some definite similarities between girls of yesterday and today, one main difference stood out more to me.  In the show, Anna mentioned that girls shouldn’t try and act a certain way for people to like them, they should act like themselves.  This is the exact opposite of how young girls were raised in the nineteenth century.  For instance, Gerty is an awful little girl with a mean streak and a temper that often gets her in trouble, but when she runs into Emily Graham, she’s told “you can be good and then everybody will love you” (Cummins 63).  This implies that if Gerty was to act like herself, no one would like her and we can’t have that!  The same applies to young Ellen, who unlike Gerty, is quite well mannered, but is told by her mother that, “If you are a good child, and make it your daily care to do your duty, she cannot help liking you” (Warner 13).  Being human beings, it would be impossible for one to be ‘good’ all the time, yet we still find people who like us for ourselves.   But it makes me wonder if this ideology was around in the nineteenth century and it was simply ignored or is this merely a new way of thinking that has come across in the past couple centuries?

 

If young Gerty had appeared on Amy Pholer’s show, she probably would have said that her favorite thing to do would be to light candles or look at the stars, perhaps clean the house and make toast for Uncle True.  It’s probable that she might has told Amy that she loved her because she was so nice to her and might have yelled or had a tantrum if they asked her dance.  I could also see her saying that she didn’t know what either a rainbow or a butterfly was seeing that she had never been to school and where she lived seemed quite gloomy.  In answer to the question how she would “even herself out”, I can see Gerty saying something along the lines of trying to pray to God (because she is trying to learn) or talking with Emily, Mrs. Sullivan, or Uncle True.