The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Essay Example

Journal "The Yellow Wallpaper" By Charlotte Perkins Gilman Summary: The story is about a woman who apparently was informed by her husband and another physician that she is sick. But the young married wife did not believe she was sick. She believes the people around her were wrong. Being taken to a rented rest ancestral house which is quite an old one where she could physically recuperate, she developed a special distraction with the fading, torn and old wallpaper on the room given for her. The main character was a writer, or so, she thought. She wrote about her illusions and delusions about the yellow wallpaper secretly, kept from her husband who did not like her writing. They were about to stay in the ancestral house for three months, but as days passed by, the woman's passion for the wallpaper has turned hallucinatory imagination into reality. The moment came when she no longer could separate real and unreal. So that all the things she had attributed to the yellow wallpaper, the shadow of a woman trying to break lose from a cell, and all other creepy things and situations she could muster, finally overtook her sanity, of which she has become the creepy woman trying to break lose. Commentary: I can say that the woman must have been too repressed with herself and her husband. She wrote that although the husband listens to her plea, like the time she requested to visit a cousin, or a relative because the creepy wallpaper has slowly gotten into her, the husband did not care that she cried of desperation. The husband is quite stiff and although pictured a loving one, inconsiderate. But the problem actually lied on the main character young wife. She was already developing schizophrenia at that stage and it did not do her any better to be isolated, therefore, having limited conversation with her sister-in-law and husband. Isolation could be awful to a distressed person, normal, semi-normal, or those bordering on insanity. It makes the mind either go unchecked or imbalanced. Being a student, I myself have experienced depression quite similar to the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper. But I try to seek distraction from friends, music, and available entertainment from the internet. And these activities take me off the unhealthy state of my mind and psyche. I guess, being in an isolated and quite remote place did her in. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson Summary: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce is a story of a patriot who fought for what he believes in his own way against occupant soldiers. He wanted to live, for his wife and children, for, apparently, he had a happy family life, and he had been a good father and provider. But due to circumstances that led to his capture, he was condemned to die through firing squad. The story dwelled on the part of the execution. Peyton Farquhar was a planter and a gentleman who by strange and quite unclear circumstances, fell into the hands of the "enemies" and had to be executed. At the execution time, he had imagined he was able to escape his killers by jumping down the Owl Creek bridge, while loosening the rope that tied his hands and neck. He swam and got himself on a forest quite unfamiliar to him. But as he explored, he soon found his way to his home, his peaceful home with his wife and children. But alas! It was not the actual case. The case was, he got fired and died at the Owl Creek Bridge. "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a queer tradition that is undertaken yearly by a small village of about three hundred people. All families, and all their members, gather annually to a destined portion of the village in June 27th to attend to the ceremony. First, children gather to pile up stones, small and big, at that portion. And then, one by one, other older members of the family that include brothers, sisters, mother, father, and in-laws, would follow. A certain Mr. Summers conducted the lottery. A black box contained small pieces of rolled paper and from that lot, there was a mark on a single paper. All heads of the family were represented by a piece of paper, and each will pick one, then, these will be checked singularly. When Mr. Hutchinson was declared having picked the piece of paper with a black mark, another set of pieces of rolled paper were placed in the black box, of each every single family member of Bill Hutchinson was represented, from small Dave, Bill, Jr., twelve year old Nancy, Tessie Hutchinson the wife and mother, and Bill the father. Each also took a piece of paper from the box and one by one, announced whether they got the blank or the marked one. In the end, it was found out that Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson got the paper with the mark. The people started to clear the space, and each took a stone or two. Then started throwing at Mrs. Hutchinson who was screaming "It isn't fair, it isn't right." Commentary: Both stories for me are quite mind boggling. It was not clear how Mr. Peyton Farquhar was condemned to die when he was such a gentle planter and family man. Likewise, it was also unclear how the tradition of stone-throwing came to be as a lottery in that quaint village. Both stories described events and happenings at those moment in clarity in contrast to the puzzling background of how that main event came to be. An Occurrence at the Owl Creek Bridge used imagined settings and events at some point while The Lottery in contrast was a straight narration of what was happening. Both ended in morbid scenes. "The Lady with the Dog" by Anton Chekhov and "The Lady with the Pet Dog" by Joyce Carol Oates. Summary: "The Lady with the Dog" by Anton Chekhov is the story of a married man, Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov who had been regularly a man with affairs with many kinds of women. He was not dedicated to his wife whom he found quite pretentious and boring. And although he had resolved that his affairs are just plain affairs and nothing more, a woman named Anna Sergeyevna who was vacationing alone in Yalta changed the course of his life. Anna Seregeyevna was also married, but it seemed it was a marriage of convenience, and she soon found boredom out of it, thus, she sought to take a vacation alone with her little white Pomeranian dog, in a foreign town of Yalta. They soon developed an affair that lasted while Anna was in that town. Until one day when she received a letter from her husband beckoning her to return home. Goruv soon discovered an emptiness like no other and a longing to see her again so that he went St Petersburg one day and tried to find Anna. Their affair continued, but from that time on, she was the one who went to Moscow to see him. And the seemingly sweet torment for both went on. "The Lady with the Pet Dog" by Joyce Carol Oates also themed of deception, only this time, at the point of view of another married woman named Nora. Commentary: While Anna intended to part with her husband, Nora did not, so that she had to confront her husband. Both stories tell of the torment of having illicit affairs, deceptive and although un-intentional, were committed against unsuspecting spouses. Both also told of the instances and repercussions of deceiving one's legal partner although the point of view were in contrast, while Chekhov's had the man's, Oates had the point of view of the married woman. All in all, I can say deception is still evil, both to the deceiver and the victim. "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka Summary: The story is about a young salesman Gregor Samsa who had been employed to pay back what his parents owe to a company owner. He made it quite well in selling and had been a very studious and industrious one so that when once, he encountered a problem and had only been late for about an hour at work, his manager had to come in his house to check on him. But it was such a fateful day because without any explanation, he had turned into a huge insect. His family came to understand he was that insect, and had difficulty adjusting to the situation since he had been the family provider, and the son, brother of his only sister Grete. Grete took it upon herself to look after the needs of her brother Gregor as an insect. And the family adjusted to rumor mongering, family economy, among other things as days and months went by. Gregor, for unknown reasons, had to suffer his fate as an insect, and although he remained sensible as a human, he cannot, by nature fight his nature, to eat rotten foods, crawl, and seek the protective roof given by a couch, or a bed sheet, so as not to scare, or cause any ill to his family, especially Grete and his mother. The family transformed from a dependent immobile one to an active, productive, healthy and functioning members of society as the prospect of returning to the normal past faded. All throughout, Gregor slowly was cast out as an insect, and no longer a part of the family but a liability they had to live with. And one day, the insect died. The family felt relieved but at least, they already started being independent from the once reliable and dedicated brother Gregor. Commentary: The story is such a sad but also enlightening one. It was sad because Gregor only wanted good for his family although the family in return had been such a drag not to be cooperative and left all the responsibility to Gregor. That Gregor had to suffer as an insect seem also quite unfair on his part because he had not done any terrible deed to merit such a change, to become a mutant, an X-man, only, a helpless one. And although he had seen the good change brought about by his metamorphosis, in his own corner, he felt the neglect and inconvenience of being another species, of being an insect that had to crawl and die slowly as one. I may have imagined myself becoming a mutant, but like those superheroes on movies and television, and not a helpless insect like Gregor. It was totally decapitating and unfair. It was like resurrection of which one had done a grave thing in Tibet, or India, and it's just not becoming to normal people. It seems it was only fit for politicians, or scrupulous businessmen. But then, maybe, Gregor did commit a scrupulous deed which was not cited, or just overseen. Reference: Chekhov, Anton. "The Lady with the Dog." Read Print. 2004. From http://www.readprint.com/work-386/Anton-Chekhov Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Twenty Great American Short Stories. Aaron Rene Ezis. 1996. From http://eserver.org/fiction/occurrence-at-owl-creek.html Kafka, Franz. "the Metamorphosis." 1916. As translated by Ian Johnston. From http://www.mala.bc.ca/Johnstoi/stories/kafka-E.htm Perkins Gilman, Charlotte. "the Yellow Wallpaper." Page by Page Books. 2004. From http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman/The_Yellow_Wallpaper/The_Yellow_Wallpaper_p1.html Read More