A Sorrowful Woman - Assignment Example

Assignment In the story ‘A Sorrowful Woman’ we are told about a un d wife who deals with a psychological problem, which starts out mildly ‘The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them again” (1) but rapidly progresses into a complicated and difficult situation. The character on which the narrative focuses on highlighting an inner conflict plays the role of not only a woman, a wife but also a mother; “a wife and mother one too many times”. Her initial feeling of being overwhelmed with her spouse and child leads to her withdrawing from them and then slowly shutting them out of her life.

She suffers from manic depression and has a breakdown for a reason that is unspecified however it is seen that the source of her mental and physical deterioration she blames on her husband and healthy child. In isolation building on the sentiment of being unsatisfied with the part she had to play as a mother and wife she undergoes an identity crises and tries on a number of different roles. However her lack of satisfaction and being unaccustomed to a different role lead to her further mental deterioration as she could not even cope with the availability of the vast choices she was presented with.

In the conclusion of the story we see she ultimately commits suicide due to her unsuccessfully struggle in trying to escape the limitations of her time and situation; Being denied that freedom and her complete inability to cope with it when given in excess leads to her mental destruction and hence untimely death. Assignment 2 My response to the essay by Halesky starts from an aspect in ‘To room nineteen’ that provides a very interesting psyche of the protagonist; “…she isn't deprived in any sense we can see;…” (pg.2). Therefore we can see that both the texts have several analysis as far as psychological approaches are concerned.

A recurring theme that we notice on both these stories as Halesky has pointed out in his essay seems to be the sense of imprisonment that both these characters face. These feelings of being trapped are frequently connected to the pressure that they experience due to the role in the family they occupy. As Susan confesses to feeling “hopelessly bound to her role as a wife and mother”, and “there’s a sense of [her] being trapped . . . by the affections of her family” (Halisky 47). Similarly we see the ‘Sorrowful woman’ admitting that “The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them again”(1).

Both these incidents highlighted in the essay depict clearly and boldly the undeniable undercurrents of personality shifts, anxiety and depression by these female characters. As it is apparent from the narratives that the families might reasonably contribute as a nudge towards their psychological breakdowns but also there was the highlighted anxiety that was rooting from the characters inability to be free from the demands of time, from having to go about their household chores and duties and fulfilling their challenging multiple roles led them to the conclusion that leads them to perceive themselves as “a human cage of loving limbs” and “never being able to forget herself.

” (Halisky 58). These fragments depict a mental perception of these characters as always racing towards deadlines the fulfillment of which seemed to be the reason for their mere existence. These are the critical factors which enforced the existential crises these women underwent. Withdrawl is also a key psychological aspect of the deterioration that these characters went through. With Susan realizing and being indifferent to the role of an outsider she with the deterioration of her mental turmoil begins to encompass.

Just like ‘The sorrowful woman” she would watch her children and husband through the kitchen window like a silent but uninterested observer as she went about her own chores which she was determined to busy herself with. On some level you see these women were consciously aware of what they were doing but were helpless to stop it or control their irrational behavior and relish the comfort they felt in seclusion. ‘A Sorrowful Woman’ is fully aware of the illogical and random behavior but is firm on the point that her sudden need to escape really had no rational reason or origin.

The protagonist in ‘The room nineteen” displays a similar reaction to the imbalance in her mental health and daily routine. References Halisky, Linda H., "Redeeming the Irrational: The Inexplicable Heroines of "A Sorrowful Woman" and "To Room Nineteen" ", Studies in Short Fiction, 27.1 (Winter 1990): 45-54. Godwin,G. A Sorrowful Woman. Readings.