Confusion in Landscape for a Good Woman
I found Landscape for a Good Woman to be a confusing landscape, one whose contours are difficult to follow. I don't mean to imply that I did not find the book fascinating, but it was so rich and the stories and scholarly discussions were so intertwined that it was difficult to keep track of what Steedman was trying to convey. Why did she choose to write in this way? Instead of giving us a straight narrative about her childhood and allowing us to make our own inferences, I feel as if she's told a story and, at the same time, she's told us how to interpret that story and has given us a critique of her own and others' interpretations of her story.
Steedman does begin the section titled
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Steedman also provides the perspective of a historian, a cultural critic, and a psychoanalyst. She then goes further to critique the methods of historians, cultural observers, and psychoanalysts. Meanwhile, she intertwines bits of information about her personal life, some of which she has already explained, some of which is new information. Reading Landscape for a Good Woman reminded me of reading the fictional stream-of-conciousness narrative of To the Lighthouse in that it feels, for example, like reading about Mrs. Ramsay's jumbled thoughts about Mr. Carmichael, her husband and her life in general while she's in the middle of reading The Fisherman's Wife to her son.
Another possible way to look at Steedman's method of interpreting her childhood and her mother's childhood, is that while many authors and historians take on the task of interpreting a character's or historical figures's life, they aren't telling their own stories and perhaps because of that they can't have as rich a perspective as an autobiographer would have. Steedman not only writes about her life using all her experiences as a guide, she is at the same time explaining her interpretations and how they fit into the broader historical picture. Unlike some historians, Steedman readily acknowledges her biases that create her interpretations, and then she cross-examines those biases. In such a short book, this is a lot of information to absorb and process effectively.
I’m not the Indian you had in mind; a video that was written and directed by Thomas King challenges the stereotypical image that America has towards Native Americans. King is also the author of a short novel “A seat in the Garden”. This short story also challenges the established perspective that American society has towards the Native Americans. There are various stereotypes and perspectives that a majority of the public has toward a particular group. For example some of the common stereo types that are seen throughout the media are that all Asians are good at math, women are primarily sex objects, All Africans like fried chicken, and all Mexicans are gangsters. These stereo types are not completely true for an entire group, yet they
The forceful tone throughout the passage I chose, and story, shows that Gilman was forcefully trying to get her point across through the narrator of the story, that resting, and confinement were not the answers to curing mental health issues, such as postpartum depression, in the late nineteenth century, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do? I did write for a while in spite of them, but it does exhaust me a good deal- having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (Gilman, P. 462). She is forceful. She does not agree with the ideas of rest and confinement as a cure. The narrator wants to be able to be free and live with the normal excitements of life. In addition, she states forcefully, that she writes in spite of her husband and brother. The narrator knows that writing helps her and wants the reader to know that she continues to do it anyways, because she knows that it is in the best interest of her health, to be able to clear her head, by writing down her
Gilman's use of narrative structure is important in depicting the fragmentation of the woman's mind. Through the course of the story sentences become increasingly choppy and paragraphs decrease in length. This concrete element of fiction illustrates the deterioration of that narrator's psychological well-being and mental surmise to the yellow wallpaper.
Like all characters throughout literature, Gilman’s narrator undergoes a journey of sorts, or a quest. However, her journey
Like all characters throughout literature, Gilman’s narrator undergoes a journey of sorts, or a quest. However, her journey is all in her head, for she is battling a mental illness. Her husband, a
Yet Edna and Gilman’s protagonist are women who receive their imperfections through their surroundings; the carnality and madness are the results of their oppression. Until the happenings of The Awakening, Edna has been married to Mr. Pontellier for a long time. She goes through her awakening after a vacation in the Grand Isle, but before, she has been a subordinate wife without any doubts in accordance to her role. Just as Mrs. Pontellier begins the story as an average, sensible woman, the main character of “The Yellow Wall-paper” begins as a mentally secure person. Gilman’s heroine depicts the “garden-- large and shady, full of box-bordered paths” (4), the “pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings” (5), and even “those sprawling flamboyant patterns” (5) of the wallpaper in an ultimately sensible manner, what serves as an indicator of her capability of thinking and speaking from a rational standpoint. What is more, she is sent away to the mansion not in a view of the fact that she has mental issues but because her husband believes that she has depression. She admits that she is of the opinion that if she “had less opposition and more society and stimulus,” she would get well sooner (4).
In Mammita’s Garden Cove by Cyril Dabydeen, the author uses the literary techniques questions, tone, and flashbacks to convey the main characters view on place. Max believes that he will have better opportunities in Canada rather than in his home country. This short story details his views on his life at this point, and how he is doing in Canada.
The story takes the form of a journal of the main character. Therefore, the reader’s view is limited to the impressions of a single character, Jane. Considering some background information on Gilman, one can easily draw the conclusion that the story is
The story is scattered with metaphors and allegories pertaining to the issue of female oppression and can be seen in the actions of the narrator and her husband in the story. During the story, the narrator is pressured by her husband and the doctors about her nervous condition, and agreed to the treatment, because that is what her husband would want. Gilman uses many typical characteristics of a woman in her story; innocent, loyal and obedient to her husband. Like many historical disputes of women writing, her husband bans her from writing, and even diagnoses her as ill to stop the writing. Phrases in the story also link
Kessler emphasizes the point that this one short story seemed parallel and mirror the views of Gilman in regards to the oppression of women in her society. Comparing the two, Kessler writes, “This once she was able to join her public and private expressions in a work of devastating impact” (Kessler 1991 p.159). Gilman, who was a leader and crusader in the women’s rights movement, tried to expel away the gender bias that plague women, just as the narrator in her story tries to pull off the wallpaper in her room to free the trapped women behind it. The patriarchal society at that time period was Gilman’s wallpaper. She had to work hard at trying to force through societal changes. Just like the resistant old wallpaper in her story, ridged and yellow with age, Gilman and her counterparts had much difficulty in pushing through the wallpaper of tradition.
In “A Feminist Reading of Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Gilman herself also suffered from nervous breakdown and was treated by S. Weir Mitchell, a famous nerve specialist. Her physician kept her in a big room and “he has forbidden her to touch pen to paper until she is well again” (Gilbert and Gubar 502). This story was quite actually based on her life and it still emits the pain of isolation she once felt. Similar to Gilman’s character is Elisa Allen from “The Chrysanthemums”, who is also not satisfied with her relationship with her husband. Quite comparable to the Salinas Valley, Elisa’s lifestyle is just as barren and limited to the responsibilities of her husband and her job. While she does take pride in growing the largest chrysanthemums in Salinas, her husband does not share the same respect, as proven by him continually making sarcastic jokes regarding her gardening success. Gregory j. Palmerino explains in his critique that the problems revolving around their relationship are as follows: “For everywhere is there a conflict in ‘The Chrysanthemums,’ but nowhere is there a fight. This absence of friction prevents Henry and Elisa's relationship from
The Confederate invasion of the North in September of 1862 was an attempt by Robert E. Lee to swing the war in favor of the South. The main reason for the Confederate invasion was that the British were on the verge of recognizing the Confederacy if they could show it could hold its own, and Lee was anxious to provide a cornerstone for the Confederacy to build upon. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history and was a major blow to the Army of Northern Virginia and the morale of the south. This is the tableau against which our story unfolds.
The diction Gilman employs relates directly to the lasting role of women in the home to expose the historical adversities endured within the domestic sphere. The intricacy with which Gilman composes the text highlights the inherent
The women in Faulkner's and Gilman's stories are victims of male over-protectiveness. The men that rule their lives trap Emily in "A Rose For Emily" and the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper". Each character must retreat into their own world as an escape from reality.
The short story “Greenleaf” by Flannery O’Connor tells of Mrs. May, an old, bitter, and selfish woman. She thinks badly of everyone around her, including her own two sons. It also compares her family to that of the Greenleaf family, who Mrs. May sees as inferior to her. O’Connor unveils the story of Mrs. May and her demise through the use of point of view, character, and symbolism. She uses the third person omniscient view to give the reader a sense of Mrs. May’s character, and the symbols of the bull, and the conflict between the bull and Mrs. May to show Mrs. May’s destruction as well as give the story a deeper meaning of God’s grace.