Essay about The Demise of a Family in Gail Godwin's A Sorrowful Woman

As Lord Acton, a renowned libertarian of the 19th century, once said ”Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In this quote, Sir Acton highlights the dangers of complete power. Moreover, he notes that the acquisition of power tends to stain a person’s morality. This observation is true, as power numbs a person’s ability to feel empathy. Therefore, the destructive nature of power is that it represses those without it. This idea is explored thoroughly in the short story, ”The Last of her Sons,” by Alden Nowlan. In the story, Ethel and Judd are a working class couple with five sons, the youngest being Skipper, a creative and imaginative child. Ethel is upset with Judd, her abusive and tyrannical husband, because of his

In "A Sorrowful Woman" the wife is depressed with her life, so much so, "The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again"(p.1). This wife and mother has come to detest her life, the sight of her family,

In a world usually depicted as a “man’s world,” a woman’s role is not considered as significant and thus can be repressed. It is why a feminist perspective or criticism comes into place, especially in literature. By definition, a feminist criticism consist of scrutinizing “the ways in which literature reinforces the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women.” (Tyson) In Gail Godwins’s A Sorrowful Woman, the leading female character is concentrated in her efforts in distancing from her structured lifestyle. A feminist would critic Godwins story by as the female character is in pursuit of peace and happiness and wants to escape from the role she has been implanted. The critic would concentrate on the experience woman

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.

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.

Children, Marriage and Love are the three main factors of the two short stories, “A Sorrowful Woman” by Gail Godwin, and “A Secret Sorrow” by Karen van der Zee. Two relationships at risk because of children. Neither of them know what to do but try to find solutions to solve their problems. They end up having different outcomes.

Her marriage also causes her to lose control. Even within the one thing that is supposed to hold strong, she is alone. Her husband, leaving her on a daily basis to work, insists that she cannot write nor visit friends and family. Thus, he leaves her alone during the day to sit

Many people describe the role as a mother and a wife as something that is to be welcomed, a natural stage for women. However for the narrator, it changed from something seemingly beautiful to “old foul, bad...” Motherhood to her is then what creative women were to other people during the 19th century. Creativity was natural for the narrator, unlike motherhood; it was part of her being. Motherhood however, was a prison of domestic

In Godwin’s story “A Sorrowful Woman”, the mother has a series of very complex feelings and emotions. From the story, it can be inferred that this is a woman with a sudden onset of mental illness, a woman who has lost her identity and sense of belonging; and a woman who is consciously aware of all this, knowing she is a burden to her loved ones.

Novelist, Gail Godwin, in her short story, “A Sorrowful Woman,”tells the story of a wife and mother who experiences pressure of societal norms which eventually leads to her demise. The main character is overwhelmed with her life taking care of her husband and child. The husband, who is stereotypically portrayed as perfect and supporting , an important decision of Godwin, copes with his wife’s condition. The mother continues to shut out her family members and withdraw from completing her work as a homemaker. The couple chooses to hire a nanny, who benefits the family by providing care and help. The main is eventually fired and the mother’s condition gets worse. She locks herself in a room and slowly distances herself more from her family. She

"The Story of an Hour" involves one married couple and when the wife, Mrs. Mallard, hears her husband has died in a railroad disaster she breaks down into tears. Moments after sitting in her chair weeping she begins to feel free to do as she wants now that he has passed on. As she approaches the stairs in her home the door opens and her husband stands alive and well. When the doctors arrive they say Mrs. Mallard ."..had died of a heart disease-of joy that kills." In both of these short stories the wives seem to share the foul qualities of selfishness, unfaithfulness and confusion.

The trails and tribulations of life can cause a person to go down a road they could have never imagined. Some people are able to rise above the issues that come their way and while others become consumed by their problems. In a male dominated society, the issues of women are often pushed to the side and they are left to deal with them alone. Therefore, some women become abused by their thoughts and problems due to the fact that they do not have the ability to tackle them alone. It becomes an internal and external battle for the scorned woman to please herself, husband (or father) and the society at the same time. In the short stories, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by

These authors use descriptive perspectives to add tension to the problem that these women are going thru every day and portray the reality to live

The story that is A Sorrowful Woman seems to be a story told from the point of view of a narrator who focuses only slightly on the inner conflict of one of the main charters in the story. The character of which I am speaking is never referred to by name, instead is called she, the woman, mommy, and wife throughout the entire story which lends credence to the conclusion of the viewpoint as being told from the outside. The first indication that the focus of the story will be not of a warm and loving nature is the line “The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them again”(1). This is where a hypothesis can begin to be formed as to who the antagonist of the story is, bearing the statement above in

The two stories, A Secret Sorrow by Karen van der Zee and “A Sorrowful Woman” by Gail Godwin, discuss women who struggle to fit in their lives/personalities. They both demonstrate the unhappiness in their lives and how it negatively affects them. Both stories have “sorrow” in the title to show the main theme throughout the story, in which they both depict “sorrow” in their own unique ways. In “A Sorrowful Woman” by Godwin, the unidentified woman experiences sorrowful emotions to her family, where she ends up not speaking or seeing them. Contrary from this, A Secret Sorrow by van der Zee, the woman is sorrowful due to the fact that she is unable to give her husband the children he wants. Although both stories illustrate their own unique ways of sorrow in the characters, in my opinion, “A Sorrowful Woman”, is the better piece of literature. Both stories illustrate many differences, but also demonstrate similarities in three main categories, in which make Godwin’s a better piece of literature; predictability, plotline, and endings.