"The Yellow Wallpaper" Response

            The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells the tale of a woman going through a deep depression, but more than that, oppression.  The narrator is feeling confined and trapped, and is left helpless in the hands of others, although she is quite capable.  She is supposed to be resting at all times, but the rest seems to cause her to have a mental break by the end of the story.  Her husband, a well-known physician is treating her, and because of this there is no escaping it.  He does what he thinks is best even though she knows that it is not working.  There is no arguing or reasoning with him, and what he says goes.  He treats her as though she’s a child, keeping her in the old nursery on the second floor of the house.  The windows are barred, and the bed is even nailed to the floor.  She is even forbidden to socialize with others.  She can’t read, write, or think because her husband doesn’t believe that this will help her “heal.”  Her husband says he loves her, but he doesn’t take the time to listen to her.  She says that his remedy isn’t working, and it seems as though he completely ignores her and tells her that she is still unwell and doesn’t know any better.  He doesn’t seem to care very much about her thoughts and feelings, and the marriage feels very unbalanced. 

            The narrator is also obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in the room.  She finds it incredibly ugly yet intriguing, and sees a woman creeping behind and trying to get out from behind what looks to be bars or restraints.  This could represent the narrator trying to escape from her husband’s hold over her.  She doesn't want to be where she is, but is forced there against her will much to her prodding and questioning.  By locking herself in the room and peeling off the wallpaper, she makes a statement not only to herself but to her husband that she will no longer tolerate this treatment.  She wants some say, and especially wants say over her health and well-being.  

Essay Summary - "Calvinist Tortures in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome"

                In the essay “Calvinist Tortures in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome” by Carol J. Singley, Wharton’s connection to Calvinism is examined along with its effect on the novella.  Wharton’s connection to modernism is also closely scrutinized.  Singley believed that even though Wharton wasn’t associated with Calvinism or modernism, her experiences with these two ideas showed through prominently in the novella.  In Wharton’s childhood, she was obsessed with morality and truthfulness.  She was very spiritual from a young age, and was drawn to the doctrines of Calvinism.  As she grew up, she still adhered to being truthful, but her love of Calvinism diminished due to its rigidity and strictness.  Wharton saw her mother much like the oppressive God found in the Calvinist doctrines, and tried to push them away.  Her mother’s characteristics are seen in the character of Zeena in the novella, acting as an oppressive force to Ethan’s true desires.  While trying to live up to her mother’s standards, Wharton married a man that got her approval, but the marriage was loveless.  Later on in her life, she met another man who she fell in love with.  She had an affair with this man until the morality of it got to her.  The standards that she lived by her whole life caught up to her, and she couldn’t live with the guilt.  She began to believe that there was no hope for her spiritually.  To overcome these issues, she wrote Ethan Frome with little to no option for any of the characters to gain spiritual redemption in order for her to make up for her wrongdoings.  Her situation and struggles with her Calvinist moral codes showed through in the character of Ethan and what he had to endure.  She believed there was no spiritual redemption for her, and made Ethan the same way.  This novel is similar to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in that respect.  Wharton’s modernist message in the novella is that once a good thing is lost, it can never be regained even after death, which coincides with Ethan’s manner and situation after the accident. 

           

            Singley presents her argument thoroughly in this essay.  All information presented gives insight into the mind of Wharton and the novella itself.  A deeper meaning to Ethan Frome can be seen after the essay is read.  I agree that Wharton both showed her Calvinist and modernist views through writing this novella, and it showed the thought behind it as a whole.  Through reading this essay, I could gain a better understanding of Ethan’s mentality and the torture that he was going through.  Viewing the novella in this way makes it an even bleaker story, as when put into this light, there was no hope for Ethan, or any of the characters for that matter, to ever be happy again.  

Sonnet 129

            Sonnet 129 is the third sonnet in the Dark Lady series of sonnets, and is the first one in this portion that I have read.  This sonnet is very different from all of the other sonnets I’ve read so far in that it is an angry portrayal of the speaker’s feelings toward this person.  Before this, all of the sonnets were of praise and affection.  This one is more of a rant, trying to voice their opinion on a matter that deeply disturbs them.  From line one all the way to line twelve, it is one complete sentence, which gives a lot of insight into the speaker’s attitude.  It gives off the notion that the speaker was writing in a fury to get something off his chest.  It wasn’t planned out, but a way to express himself.  In the sonnet, the speaker voices his views on lust.  He knows it is wrong, but accepts it for what it is.  By the end, the reader gets a sense that the speaker accepts the idea over all, but does not feel any better about his conflict.  

Sonnet 116

The main idea of Sonnet 116 is that true love overcomes time.  It stays constant throughout a person’s life.  This could be a subtle hint from the speaker to the boy that he needs to do what his parents obliged him to do, but even if he does get married and start a family with his wife, their love will always be there.  Marriage, in this case, could be used as more of a legal term in order to fulfill everything that needs to be done in his position.  Their love will always take precedence over this “contract.”  The speaker even goes as far to say that true love is an “ever-fixed point.”  In Shakespeare’s time, an ever-fixed point is another way to say a lighthouse.  Lighthouses are stationary objects that are established as guides to help bring a ship to safety.  Therefore, the speaker is stating that true love is forever there, and is used as a guide in their lives until the end.  In the last lines of the sonnet, the speaker even goes as far to say that if their words aren’t true, then no one in the world ever loved.  It just shows how serious the speaker is about this idea. 

Sonnet Ninety-nine

Sonnet ninety-nine is similar to sonnet eighteen in that they are both taking frequently used comparisons and putting a unique spin on them.  In this case, the speaker is taking a flower, which is often times an object that a person’s object of affection is compared to, and turning it around.  The speaker is taking the boy and saying that he is more beautiful than all the flowers.  The speaker calls the flowers thieves and that the boy is the creator of this beauty, with all others just poor imitations.  To further show this idea, Shakespeare portrays the flowers as being full of shame at their thievery.  They stole different characteristics of the boy to use for themselves, such as his hair, hands, and breath.  The flowers show “blushing shame” or “white despair” due to the same they feel for having to borrow all of this from the boy.   This sonnet is just another way that the speaker is showing his love for the boy.  

Sonnet Ninety-four

Sonnet ninety-four is unique in that it has a very prominent shift between lines eight and nine.  Before the shift, the speaker is speaking about the strength and restraint of a person, and how not giving into temptation can raise a person to a higher level above many others, making them respectable and sophisticated.  After the shift, there is little to no emphasis on people directly, but on plants and vegetation.  The plants and flowers are used to emphasize the idea previously made before the shift of not being easily tempted.  In the last line, the speaker states that “Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.”  This can be a metaphor for the idea that doing something really awful or giving in to temptation can make a person even more undesirable than the already undesired.  What is said after the shift is used to support what was said prior to the shift in a different form in order to emphasize the idea that giving into temptation will bring misfortune.  

Sonnet Eighty-seven

Sonnet eighty-seven seems to be a last, desperate attempt on the part of the speaker to win over the boy, all the while trying to say a last good-bye to him.  The speaker puts themselves down in order to talk up the boy and to try to appeal to him.  They put the boy on a pedestal while simultaneously tearing themselves apart.  This technique is applied often in real life, with results being relatively unsuccessful in most cases.  A person tries to tear apart their own worth to try to get the other to notice them in their sorry state.  This idea of worth is also portrayed in Shakespeare’s use of financial terms throughout the sonnet.  Amongst these words are charter, bond, granting, and patent, all of which have ties to financial dealings.  This can further the idea of worth in the reader’s head, making them think of not only the figurative worth of this person, but the tangible worth and wealth of them as well.  The reader may not only need the boy emotionally, but to continue supporting him financially as well.  

Sonnet Fifty-five

As the sonnets go on in order, the overall tone and meaning of the sonnets shift, which can be seen when comparing sonnet fifty-five to previous ones in the series.  In the beginning, the sonnets sounded more mechanical and functional to me, with the sole reason for them written being to convey the message to the boy that he needed to have children and grow up.  Now, the tone has switched from this to being more affectionate.  The speaker is praising the boy, and speaking of him as a person would speak of their beloved.  Sonnet number fifty-five is a perfect example of this.  In line fourteen, the speaker says to the boy “You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.”  This means that the boy will live throughout history in this poem and that all other lovers will embody him throughout time.  The poem will go on to last forever as will his memory.  It shows just how passionate the reader is about the boy, and how much they really care for him.  

Sonnet Eighteen

Sonnet eighteen is unique in that instead of comparing the boy that the poem was written about as being as beautiful as a summer’s day, the speaker says that he is even better than one.  Usually in poems, the object of the speaker’s affection is just being compared to how wonderful, beautiful, and fair a summer’s day is and how much they resemble it.  In this sonnet, however, the speaker is toying with the idea of using summer as an accurate comparison to the boy, and then realizes that he is even better than summer.  It’s a unique take on the comparison which has become through time a cliché.  It sets the mood of the poem from the very beginning as one of praise and affection for the boy on the speaker’s end.  This attitude carries on throughout the whole sonnet, especially in the end where the speaker states that, although he may age like summer comes to an end, he will live on through this poem.  As long as people read about him in this poem, this idea of him will forever be portrayed.  

Sonnet Twelve

This sonnet can be classified as a “Carpe Diem” poem, meaning “seize the day” in Latin.  In this case, the speaker is trying to once again convey to the boy the idea that he must have children.  The speaker is trying to make the idea more appealing to him that he must take this opportunity while he is still young.  He states that, after a while, he will start to lose his good looks with age.  He will become wrinkled and grey, with his good looks a thing of the past.  One way to combat this, however, is to have a child so that he could say that he gave all of his beauty to his child.  In his old age, he’d be able to justify his looks because of his children.  The way the sonnet was written makes it seem as though if the boy did not have children now, then he will lose all opportunity.  Therefore, he must seize this opportunity now before it is too late.  

Sonnet Two

This sonnet can be classified as a “Carpe Diem” poem, meaning “seize the day” in Latin.  In this case, the speaker is trying to once again convey to the boy the idea that he must have children.  The speaker is trying to make the idea more appealing to him that he must take this opportunity while he is still young.  He states that, after a while, he will start to lose his good looks with age.  He will become wrinkled and grey, with his good looks a thing of the past.  One way to combat this, however, is to have a child so that he could say that he gave all of his beauty to his child.  In his old age, he’d be able to justify his looks because of his children.  The way the sonnet was written makes it seem as though if the boy did not have children now, then he will lose all opportunity.  Therefore, he must seize this opportunity now before it is too late.  

Sonnet Number One

Sonnet Number One's meaning is most accurate when viewed in a historical sense and by asking questions pertaining to why it was written.  Shakespeare may have written it to the boy in order to encourage him to have children.  The boy was getting older, and his parents most likely wanted an outsider to reinforce the ideas that they had for their son or even put them into his head.  The sonnet states that people want more of what is beautiful.  They do not want to become old and lose their nice, youthful looks.  It states that even though this is inevitable, one way to escape from some of it is to have children so that your nice and youthful looks may be passed on from generation to generation. In the sonnet, Shakespeare also uses many words to convey that it is a waste for the boy not to have kids.  He uses words such as glutton in line thirteen, having a meaning of selfish hoarding or extravagant waste.  Essentially, the use of words such as this give an overall impression to the reader that the poem was written to convey to the boy that he was being selfish by not having children.