Relationships in The Storm, The Yellow Wallpaper and Young Goodman Brown

John has placed his wife in a prison. The disturbing stained and yellowed wallpaper is used, faded and repulsive. The color is one that is unwelcoming, uncomfortable, and uneasy; its color mirrors the narrator's relationship with her husband, and ultimately, with herself. The narrator is uncomfortable and anxious in the barred sulfur colored room where she is fussed over by her husband. John preens his wife, his possession, making the narrator draw further and further away from him. She realizes that her husband lacks the understanding that she craves. This is emphasized as John refuses to accept his wife's condition; "John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him" (248). As the narrator begins to recognize herself as her husband's caged belonging, she becomes more attached to the symbol of the wallpaper. Instead of attempting to understand, John reduces his wife to the status of a child. He repeatedly refers to her as his "blessed little goose"

Many of the passages concerning the husband can be interpreted as containing sarcasm, a great many contain irony, and several border on parody (Johnson 528). It is true that the husband’s language is exaggerated at times, but dismissing the husband’s character as caricature seems extreme. He is instead the natural complement to the narrator’s madness and uncontrolled fancy: the character of John is control and “sanity” as defined by Victorian culture and is therefore the narrator’s opposite. Greg Johnson notes that John exhibits a near-obsession with “reason,” even as his wife grows mad. He is the narrator’s necessary counterpart, without whose stifling influence her eventual freedom would not be gained. And he is also transformed at the end of the tale—in a reversal of traditional gothic roles—because it is he, not a female, who faints when confronted with madness (529).

She has been trained to trust in her husband blindly and sees no other way. He calls her “little girl” (352) and “little goose” (349) and states “She will be as sick as she pleases!” (352) whenever she tries to express her issues. Instead of fighting for what she thinks will make her better she accepts it and keeps pushing her feelings aside, while he treats her like a child. We get an instant feel for her problem in the first page when she says, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that” (pg 346). A woman shouldn’t expect her husband to laugh at her concerns. Even after briefly writing about her condition she remembers her husband telling her the very worst thing she can do is think about it and follows his instructions. This is when she begins to focus on the house instead of her problems and the obsession with the wallpaper starts. She has nothing else to think about alone in the home; they don’t even allow her to write, which she has to do in secret.

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the author Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the fragility of humans when it comes to their morality. Goodman Brown goes on a journey through the forest with the devil to watch the witches’ ritual and observes the evil in the Puritan society. He loses his faith as he sees the people he respects the most participating in the sinful ritual. Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes setting, and symbolism in his short story “Young Goodman Brown,” to show how a person’s perspective can change by showing the hypocritical nature of the Puritan society

Analysis: The above quotations clearly display the similarity between John and the Narrator’s relationship to that of a father and a daughter. John controls the majority of the Narrator’s behavior to the point she feels an overwhelming sense of guilt for her incapacity as John’s wife. The Narrator is restricted in her actions and is therefore unable to fulfil her wifely duties, forcing her to consider herself as a burden. When is reality, John treats the Narrator as his daughter and does not permit her to complete her duty. For instance, the Narrator dislikes the yellow wallpaper and wishes to have it removed; however, John does not allow her to do so and acts as if it would feed into a child’s stubbornness. His continued belief in his superiority disregards the Narrator as is wife and instead infantilizes her. He believes her identity exists only through him, which merely encourages his paternalistic

Due to their behavior, both men lead their wives to rebel. John’s controlling behavior causes the narrator to abandon him by going completely mad. First, she questions John’s pronouncements. The narrator believes that congenial work, with excitement and change would do her good (p.297). Next, she focuses on the wallpaper. She describes its negative features noting that patches are gone as if school boys wore it out (p.298). Upset by her husband’s actions, the narrator decides to begin writing in secret. . It reaches the point where the narrator has to hide her writings from him, because he gets upset if she even writes a word (p.298). -After time passes, we see her obsession grow. John seems to be oblivious to the narrator’s conditions, telling her “you know the place is doing you good” (p.299). She notices that the pattern is torturing (p.303). Finally, she begins to see a woman hiding behind the pattern (p.304). Looking for the woman in the pattern gives her something to look forward to (p.305). Ultimately she comes to believe that she is the woman in the wallpaper and wants to free herself. She begins peeling off the paper through the night, and by morning removes all the paper she could while standing (p.307). The narrator even begins to contemplate jumping out of the window, but does not

Although tender and caring, John played a significant role in causing the narrator’s descent into ‘madness’. By taking on the role of a physician and a husband, John symbolises the stronghold power men had over women in the past. Instead of respecting his wife’s request for some form of mental stimulation, John insists that she takes on the ‘rest’ treatment. The treatment only focuses on the physical condition of the patient, and not the emotional or mental

John, the narrator’s controlling, but loving, husband represents the atypical man of the time. He wants his wife to get better and to be able to fill the role of the perfect wife that society expected from her. John, being a doctor, did not quite believe that her mental illness was out of her control and insisted on

In fact the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper" made it seem that she wishes to drive her husband away. She explains, "John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious. I am glad my case is not serious!" (Gilman 9). This quote shows that she is glad to see her husband away so that she may be left alone to do as she pleases without interference from her husband. She has made many quotes as to be making it seem as she rebelling against her husband's orders, such as she writes in her journal and tries to move her bed when there is no one around to see her. Meanwhile, she always has an eye out for someone coming.

In the story of Young Goodman Brown, as a reader we see many circumstances where Hawthorne uses irony in straightforward situations. I have learned from reading several of the author’s works that it is up to the reader to decide the meaning behind his stories. In this paper, I will be discussing the significance of the title, Young Goodman Brown and how I believe there is more to the story than what Hawthorne writes. Young Goodman Browns journey within the forest revealed truths not only within him, but within human nature and society. On page, 1103 Goodman Brown states “there may be a devilish Indian behind every tree.”

seems that John is very controlling and doesn't pay true attention to his wife. The illnesses of both the

"The Storm" by Kate Chopin melds the theme of romantic love with those of rebellion and conformity. In the story, Chopin gives readers an account of a meteorological disturbance that sweeps through a town leaving a family to seek shelter until the storms passing. The wife of the story Calixta is at the family's home while her husband Bobint and child Bibi are seeking refuge at Friedheimer's store. Bibi is deeply concerned for his mother's safety and begins to question and seek reassurance for Calixta from his father. Bibi implores by saying, "Mama'll be 'fraid, yes, he suggested with blinking eyes"(1). His father attempts to reassure him by saying "She'll shut the house. Maybe she got Sylvie helpin' her this evenin' " (1). Bibi knew differently but eventually settles and is comforted by his father and his unwavering confidence for Calixta's safety. While readers are preoccupied with the storm and the uncertainty it holds, Kate Chopin begins to scribe an unending metaphor that carries the entire plot of the story. Calixta goes out to gather Bobint's Sunday clothes before the rain starts and to her surprise Alce Laballire comes riding up. Calixta is nervous with Alce in the house, she stands at the window gazing out while making small talk with him. Lightning strikes and Calixta grabs her eyes and stumbles backwards where Alce's arms are waiting. The tension between the two has been building, when Calixta staggers back from

Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “Young Goodman Brown” has many symbols that tie to the theme. The symbols take many forms from the settings to the characters. Symbolism is used as a means to discover the truth about some characters. Hawthorne “placed them (his characters) amid settings and objects that gave symbolic expression to their inward states” (Conn 111). The symbols can be seen as just part of the storyline but when you take a further look and analyze the story they can be seen to represent many different things. “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about people facing everyday temptation. Hawthorne used setting, internal conflict, and symbols to describe how evil tested Browns faith. Images of darkness, symbolic representations of names and people and the journey through the woods all contribute to Hawthorne 's theme of good people sometimes doing bad things.

Various opinions about the Devil and hell have been in the air for some time now, yet it is still a very touchy and diverse subject. In the two short stories “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King, two opposing depictions of the Devil are explored to see the effect of evil on innocence. In the two short stories a Devil is encountered with the same goal of persuading the protagonist to evil. Although two different approaches are used to reach this goal by the Devils.

The Storm is short story written by Kate Chopin. It is a story featuring a family living in Louisiana. The family consists of a husband, Bobinot, wife Calixta, and their son Bibi. The story starts with an approaching storm when Bibi and his father are at a local store and Calixta is all alone home. As the storm starts, Alcee, Calixta’s old boyfriend gets stuck at her house because of the raging storm. In the middle of the storm, Alcee and Calixta make out and have a sexual intercourse and as the storm stops, Alcee leaves while Bobinot and Bibi arrive home. The story is about betrayal, affair, and the role of women in the society.