Demon and Meredith

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two stories that reveal the consequences of individual suffering. These consequences include estranging relationships, bitter behavior, and even illness, addiction, or death. Throughout each of these stories, Sonny and John’s wife, known as the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, continue to suffer due to John’s and Sonny’s brother’s, known as the narrator of “Sonny’s Blues”, failure to meet obligations and familial compassion. Neither the narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” nor the husband, John, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” serve as the villains of the stories, however, I believe we are able to see how both their inabilities to effectively

“The Demon Lover, a short story by Elizabeth Bowen, incorporates both suspense inducing elements as well as a various spectrum that prompts the reader to question whether it is a ghost story or the narrative account of a protagonist’s hallucination.” (“An analysis of The Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen “ scribd.com). The Demon Lover is a short story that builds up suspense to seem like a simple ghost story but it really has an alternative meaning. The Demon Lover is not a ghost story per say but instead a personal experience. Throughout the story, Bowen is conveying the effects of PTSD in the main

Nancy suddenly became quiet and sighed. As tears streaming down from Nancy’s face, she look out the window and tried to avoid the author eye contact. The author hold Nancy’s hand and sat quiet beside her until she calmed down and continue her story. Nancy said that her early adulthood was the most painful period of her life. When she was 21 years old, her husband died. He was diagnosed with malaria and died when he was in the military of Viet Nam war. Nancy did not have a chance to stay beside her husband before he died. She was overwhelm and lost the will to live. Also at that time, she found out that she was pregnant; it was her first child. She had to face a lot of difficult situations that she could not tell anyone. She did not want her

Heartbreak and vengeance make the perfect cocktail for any juicy or scandalous story, but so does the concept of a twisted illusion of reality. Stories of passion such as, Evona Darling written by Silas House and My Ex-Husband written by Gabriel Spera, are both examples of stories that furnish the reader’s equation of love and hate entwined together with the tainted sense of reality. House descriptively writes a story about the passion of a mother’s love whose heart has been taken away by her child’s father, who through suspicious friends got Evona’s custody stripped away from her. On the other hand, Spera creates her poem in her perspective of being married to a man that betrayed her and played his cards of deceit that dissolved their marriage. Both stories were passionately written after love had partaken, but the fairy tale ends had come upon them. The concept of reality ties in with the illusion

In this section, Jeannette Walls starts off, in the present time by telling the readers about her seeing her mom on the street, that she hasn’t seen in a long time. Jeannette uses emotional words like blustering and fretted to show that seeing her mom was an emotional time. Later in the section, she goes way back into her life to when she was three years old and when her family and her was living in the desert. She started off telling a story of when she was on fire. This story was intense, it was really dramatic on her parents part, her dad was screaming at her and the doctor a lot. Then she talked about when they moved to Las Vegas, her family lived in a motel room, which didn’t last long, they had to leave Vegas in a rush, because her dad was cheating in blackjack and the dealer found out. The last story in the section is where her family drove to San Francisco and stayed in another motel. One night her dad was at the bar, across the street. He left Jeannette and her three other siblings in the room. Jeannette got bored so she decided to play with fire and that let to a big disaster resulting in the whole hotel burning down.

Mallard both lead distinctive lives due to their beliefs, environment and health. At an early age Janie married Logan Killicks because of her grandmother’s dying wish (Hurston, 15). Janie soon left Killicks and married Joes Starks a prosperous man who’s desire was to become rich and well known (Hurston, 29). Starks passed away and Janie married a younger man than her named Tea Cake (Hurston 116). Janie left her home town with Teacake and had the privilege to travel to new places and experience freedom, love and happiness (Hurston, 131). A hurricane arrived to the muck and Teacake was bitten by a dog with rabbis, Teacake tried to kill Janie, and in self-defense Janie killed Teacake. After Teacake’s death Janie was able to “pull her horizon like a great net” (Hurston, 173). Janie accomplished her dreams through perseverance and was satisfied. On the other hand Mrs. Mallard was a house wife that constantly obliged her husband’s orders and felt trapped. She was also “afflicted with a heart trouble” (Chopin, 1). A railroad accident occurred and Mr. Mallard was pronounced dead. Mrs. Mallard began to seek for freedom and said “free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin, 15). Mrs. Mallard was going to exert herself to a life filled with freedom and happiness however, Mr. Brently returned and Mrs. Mallard then died “of a heart disease”(Chopin, 21). Mrs. Mallard was going to fulfil her ambition to lead life with privilege but, unfortunately she died before she could begin.

For this paper, I read the graphic novel, One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry. Barry’s novel is similar to Kochalka’s series, American Elf since her life is the main plot and focus. Like the title, Barry divulges into instances from her life that could be considered a demon, or something negative. For example, the first demon she discussed was about her first love and how much he differed from one of her boyfriends. This was considered a demon to her because of how he treated her and how she felt better off without him. In a way, this novel is Barry’s method of expressing her negative moments and sharing them to the public. Not only does this graphic novel encourage others to speak about their demons, Barry is healing herself from her negative

       As the tale begins we immediately can sympathize with the repressive plight of the protagonist.  Her romantic imagination is obvious as she describes the "hereditary estate" (Gilman, Wallpaper 170) or the "haunted house" (170) as she would like it to be.  She tells us of her husband, John, who "scoffs" (170) at her romantic sentiments and is "practical to the extreme" (170).  However, in a time

Each of us have done a thing or two that churn our stomachs to even slightly remember them. The time you split your pants. The time you fell down while walking at graduation. While each of these instances are absolutely horrid, they shape who one becomes over time. The short story, “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, follows an eleven year old girl named Rachel who has to cope with one of life’s sucker punches on what would have be a wonderful day; her birthday. The terrifying incident involving a disgusting red sweater that Rachel describes as “raggedy”, “old”, and smelling of “cottage cheese”. The emotions that these events evoke in Rachel, coupled with various literary techniques and choices such as stream of consciousness style writing, decisions

Death, was all Gwen could think about on the cool, crisp morning of July 1st. It had been a week since her mother’s disappearance and the police had no idea where she could be. Her dad had died in a car crash two weeks before Gwen was born, and her grandparents had died mysteriously in a fire one night when Gwen was one. Her grandparents had left Gwen’s mother the rambling, old house that she had grown up in. Gwen’s mother hated that house. She would often tell Gwen that as a child she thought there was an evil ghost, watching her and Gwen’s grandparents day and night. After 18 years Gwen’s mother was forced to re-visit the house, to collect some furniture and albums before it was sold.

It was at that moment when she sat down looking out the window, she had realized that what she had started to feel was not grief, nor sadness. It was the feeling of relief and the feeling of freedom that she had not felt in so long. All of a sudden it seems like the mood in that room switches from that of grief to that of a subtle happiness. She starts realizing the birds are still chirping, the sky is still blue, and it is finally her time to live her life the way she has been wanting to live it for many years, without the influence of her husband looking over her shoulder telling her what to do. She gets worked up so much that at one point she started saying, "free, free, free!" (537).

Anguish suffocated her. Her mouth felt like cotton as she gasped for air. Groans of deep longing escaped as one who mourns the loss of a loved one taken from this earth too soon. Gut-wrenching emotional pain percolated deep within her. She stared at her disfigured body. Screaming to the reflection in her bathroom mirror, she reached out and smashed the ghastly reflection with her fist, shards of glass flying in every direction, “WHY ME?! What have I done to deserve this?! IT’S NOT FAIR!!!” She lay prostrate on the floor sobbing uncontrollably, blood dripping from her cut hand. “Dear God, HELP ME! I CANNOT DO THIS ANYMORE! I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!” Her body shook violently, then, like ripples of water slowly dissipating into a calm body of water, stillness washed over her. Peace fell on her like none she had ever known. Hanna sat up. Her tear-stained face and swollen eyes held a glimmer of

After Mrs. Westby’s interrogation, I was only writing about an apartment. White walls. Two bedrooms. Two bathrooms. There are millions more just like it everywhere you look. For some reason, this one held so much power over me. The memories are etched clearer in my mind than what happened yesterday. I went on to describe an encounter with my sister, Jessica, when she was addicted to Crystal Meth. It was a ten year olds story of brokenness, written by a 15 year old. This little girl was forced to grow up way to fast. I remember tears streaming down my cheeks while releasing my heart on

The narrator’s “physician of high standing” has her confined in a house filled with odd wall-paper and a list of limitations (792). The strange wall-paper symbolizes the narrator’s intricate nature and the uncertainty she has in her life. Moreover, in “The Story of an Hour,” the protagonist, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is also seen with a conflict before she learns about her husband’s death. At first she is rather skeptical about her husband’s death, but later realizes that she is free. What ties the two heroine protagonists together is the idea of marriage.

As she is thinking of all the years to come “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin 101). She is looking back and realizes that she hasn't been living since the marriage, claiming that her husband has been living for her. People argue she is happy solemnly bases on her husband dying. This is not the case. She is simply happy because of the life she has left to live. Soon after Mrs. Millard is given the news she enters her room and closes the door. She enters an almost surreal state as she is looking out the window in an attempt to bring clarity to the situation she finds herself. As she is sitting and thinking she still feels sorrow toward the death of her husband, “A sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams” (Choping 100). Here she is sad. She is still emotionally wounded. She feels helpless because she is on her own at this point in time. Mrs wallace was sad before the accident. She hasn't felt happiness or excitement in some time. The narrator describes it “there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it?” (Chopin 100).