Katherine Brush's The Birthday Party

Bartels explains that wives often let out their stress induced, pent up anger on their husbands. He uses his own life and instances he has experienced with his wife to support himself. He describes his wife as tired, angry, and wanting to take that out on him (Bartels 58). Bartels has experienced this spousal anger firsthand, giving him credibility to write about it. He understands how the cycle of spousal anger works. However, his lack of other means of support makes his article fall short in some areas. Whereas telling a personal story may appeal to one reader, it may not appeal to the next. Bartels lacks a balance of logical and emotional appeal. The emotional appeal that Bartels uses is successful, though. He says that at times his wife is so negative that is “threatens to grind [his] spirit to dust” (Bartels 59). This use of emotional language is well executed because any reader will either be able to relate to him or feel sorry for the situation he is in. However, some women may sympathize with him less as they take the side of the wife in his story. His stance is flawed because he comes at this argument at an obviously subjective position. Bartels overlooks the idea that many women will not feel sorry for him if they disagree with what he has to say.

In the short story, The Birthday Party, by Katherine Brush, she uses a variety of literary devices to convey her series of atmospheres. Katherine Brush incorporates two different atmospheres. In the beginning of the story, the couple seemed to be content and "unmistakably married". Throughout this part of the story, the narrator seems to be noting how happy the couple seem to be with one another. In the other half of the story the atmosphere shifts and becomes depressing.

In Mark Cox’s “Joyland”, Cox uses juxtaposition and symbolism to underline how infidelity exposes the complex relationship between the fantasy and reality of what it means to maintain a healthy marriage. The narrator of the poem is observing the behaviors and setting of a man and his wife while on a mini-golf course, shortly after the man cheated on his wife. In the first stanza of “Joyland,” the narrator introduces the mini-golf course that the man and his wife are playing at: “Here, between teen lovers spooning each other ice cream, / and the press of a five-putting family of four”(1-2). Cox uses imagery and juxtaposition to highlight the contrast between the fantasy and reality of loving another person. The narrator describes “teen lovers”

A life as a wife and/or a mother, is usually appreciated and is a happy life as well. A relationship between two people should consist of joy, commitment, responsibility, and most importantly love. For the two main characters in both stories ( “The Story of An Hour”, and “A Sorrowful Woman” ) this was not the case. The stories go against societies view with marriage roles and happiness.

"The Faithful Wife" by Barbara L. Greenberg is a fascinating, satirical account of what the speaker would do if she were unfaithful to her husband. Upon the first reading of this poem, I thought the woman in this poem was saying that her husband was irreplaceable and because of that she would never be unfaithful. Also I thought that if she did betray him, she would choose someone totally different from him, which somehow wouldn't dishonor this great man. However, with repeated reading, my opinion changed. Greenberg did an incredible job of revealing the truth of the situation. She used verbal irony to explain how the wife in the poem is actually revealing the relationship

Paul Newman once said, “People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked” (74). There is no such thing as the perfect relationship, however, being involved in a healthy relationship is essential for a person to feel valued, safe, and happy. Unfortunately, in the situation of Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” and Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of An Hour,” include extreme examples of unhealthy relationships. The essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” shares painful experiences of Sundberg’s physical and emotional abusive relationship with her husband Caleb, while “The Story of an Hour,” shares a rare reaction of a married woman, Louise Mallard, who explores her emotions cautiously when hearing about the death of her husband. Each woman faces their own prison created by their husbands. The two marriages represent the figurative meaning of doors being locked in a marriage. Both pieces of literature convey the theme of confinement by using the literary devices of foreshadowing, imagery, and conflict.

When two people are tied together by their vows, it is each of their responsibility to fulfill the happiness of one another, and if one cannot then they should not expect the same in return. Sinclair Ross’s short story, “The Painted Door”, reveals the growing unhappiness of a farmer’s wife, Ann, who feels alone as her husband John leaves home to help his father in the harsh conditions of the storm. Ann seeks comfort and companionship with another man after 7 years of feeling neglected and unhappy with her husband. The responsibility for Ann’s infidelity, lays not only on Anne but John himself.

In Katherine Brush’s short story, “The Birthday Party,” a wife plans a small surprise for her husband, but this seemingly joyful scene takes a sour turn. Brush utilizes connotation, tone, and point of view shift in order to illustrate the harsh oppression women in the 1940s suffered within their household. Brush exposes this devastating reality through the use of connotation. For example, she writes, “...it suddenly became obvious that this was an Occasion--in fact, the husband’s birthday, and the wife had planned a little surprise for him.” In the quote, the word “occasion” means a once-in-a-lifetime event in which the wife can do something for her husband to be content with her.

Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Sinclair Ross’s “The Painted Door” are both stories about women protagonists who feel emotionally isolated from their husbands, who both go by the name John. Ann in “The Painted the Door” and the wife whose name may or may not be Jane in “The Yellow Wallpaper” are women who deal with emotional isolation. Emotional isolation is a state of isolation where one may be in a relationship but still feel emotional separation. In these two stories, both women feel emotionally isolated from their husbands due to lack of communication. In both stories, lack of communication results from one individual failing to disclose their true feelings and instead he or she are beating around the bush, hoping the other party will know what they want. If both parties directly disclose their desires and feelings to one another, there would be a better understanding of each other which as a result would help save marriages. This paper will look at how both women lack communication, how they both their approach their emotional isolation differently, and how their failure to communicate to their husbands and their approach, results in the failure to save their marriage. “The Painted Door” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” are stories that show how both women protagonists are emotionally isolated due to their failure to communicate their feelings and desires to their husbands. Instead of direct communication to their husbands, the women find other

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

At first, she feels guilty about this affair but she eventually surrenders herself to her lover, her romance causes suffering to the wife. Her lover’s spouse becomes the “vigour of living destroys” (42). Her obsession causes only pain to her and to the wife, the narrator is aware of that: “if I am suffering, think what she suffered – a hundred times more and without hope” (85). Yet, she cannot make herself

The Story of an Hour is short, yet, contains important examples of gender roles in marriage. They are important because they represent how women felt married in the 19th century due to male dominance that manifested throughout marriages all over the world. In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard is a wife that is, at first, seen as distraught, because of her husband’s death. She starts to cry and run to her room, to soon be lifted with the joy that she is now free. It is clear that she felt trapped in the marriage and is now happy that there is no one controlling her any longer. Mrs. Mallard is a prime example of women in marriages in the 19th century, and even some today. Unfortunately, they have to experience sexism from their husbands. Women are dominated by men in marriage and are expected to acquire the stereotypical gender roles.

people take a moment to commiserate or feel remorseful for someone, yet they rarely give it another thought. As a class, we read a short story by James Joyce called Eveline. The first time reading this story, it was a bit confusing and quite irritating. As a woman of the 21st century, one whom is “fierce” and independent, I found it tough to sympathize with Eveline. “Stop your pity party and create a happier life.” This is what I found myself saying, after my initial reading. However, I took a step back and actually looked at the story. I remembered the context, it takes place in. The year, country, and how different things were back then. Placing myself in Eveline’s shoes, a woman from the early 1900’s, assisted me in sympathizing with her.

The night the girls' grandfather died was the event that brought this couple closer together; creating a bond that would last forever. In that instant of her speech, my heart painfully grieved for my dad. I, along with my mother, brother, the grandkids and all the family and friends who knew "The Lizard," missed him so greatly in that moment. Unexpected grief returns in another form, nevertheless, it is grief revisited. Before I realized, my tears of grief hit the table on one of the happiest days of my life. In spite of this, as the maid of honor toasted the newlyweds, the crowd once again turned to celebration and so did I. We all knew in our hearts that absent fun-loving grandfather would have been the life of the party! He would have also been so proud of the love being celebrated, especially in his absence. The joy of the occasion once again replaced the sorrow because we chose and allowed it