The Yellow Wallpaper by American Writer Charlotte Gilman - Essay Example

? The Yellow Wallpaper is one of the most prominent stories written by American Charlotte Gilman, which depicts the true conditions and struggle in that particular era. This short story is a vital piece towards the movement of feminist literature, which discusses the struggle to break away from the “cult of domesticity.” The story is cynical as it elaborates on the condition of the narrator’s mental health and her inclination towards psychosis. The narrator’s condition is due to the fact that the woman is restricted to live within the boundaries of her home. She is unable to work, be literate or obtain any sort of education. Furthermore, she is locked in her room by her husband, who continues to control her every aspect of the life. Due to this paranoia, the women become obsessed with the color yellow. In the end, she becomes so insane that she imagines that a woman is stalking her even though it was a mere shadow of the wall patterns. Thus, she continues to lock herself in the room to protect herself. At the end of the story, she acknowledges that she has to liberate this woman and begins to scrape of the war. She is finally liberated as her husband faints to see her compulsive obsession with the walls. Clearly, this was one of the most vital pieces towards establishing and propagating women. Not only does it point out the major flaw in society’s ideologies at that time era, it also describes the brutal compassion given to individuals that had a mental condition. Female critics often use this to suggest that individuals who are mentally challenged should be able to interact with society instead of being isolated. Without a doubt, I think that extremely vital. The feministic viewpoint completely rejects the notion that the women should be limited to certain roles in this man-centric society. At the end of the plot, when the narrator scraps the wall off, it shows her struggle to not only liberate the women but herself also. The main character in "The Tell-Tale Heart" written by Edgar Allen Poe possesses many qualities and characteristics that make his personality unique and dynamic. The character seems to be almost confused and befuddled about everything. The narrator remains to be mysterious as he is unnamed by clarifying the fact that he is nervous but not mad. For some reason, the narrator attempts to clarify his audience that he is not insane when he clearly is. The narrator is no doubt psychologically challenged as he will secretly notices the old man sleeping and then act if everything was normal in the morning. Without a doubt, Poe does an excellent job of portraying the narrator’s behavior. The narrator is unable to explain his behavior clearly because his action of frightening the old man and then killing him was too spontaneous. As mentioned above, he is so befuddled and is driven mad by the guilty that he just could not beg to confess. One cannot diminish the fact that Poe provides a comprehensive understand of paranoia and mental corrosion of the narrator. In order to enhance the suspense, Poe deliberately adds key details of memories that the murderer confesses to such as the old man’s eyes and his heartbeat. In this particular instance, the “Tell-Tale Heart” depicts the psychological contradictions that one man faces as he tries to justify his brutal murder of an innocent old man. The justifications almost seemed that the man killed his victim due to self-defense when clearly that was not the case. Poe tries to depict the act of a criminal’s mind and his absurd obsession with the old man. Poe excels to depict this story in such a way that makes the narrator seem normal but insane at the same. Clearly, the narrator is confused with mixed emotions as he both loves and hates the old man. The true sense of love is shown as observes the man but then kills him due to hate. His psychological breakdown is further elaborated upon when he confesses without any hesitation. One must continue to question the will of the narrator as he never murdered the man due to his love for his wealth or hatred due to his personality. In essence, the narrator is going through psychological changes and being bipolar that influences the narrator to take decisive action.   An Alcoholic Case by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts a sad tale of a young nurse that is obligated to care of a young nurse. She resides in Forest Park Inn where the patient is assisted by a cartoonish to overcome his obsession with alcohol. The nurse fears the alcoholic as he often gets angry from his withdrawal symptoms and imposes rage. The nurse in fear goes to her boss to seek help and switch but she is met with failure. She realizes that she must help him regardless because it’s the right thing to do ethically. She acknowledges that the patient seems to act normally before the topic of alcohol comes. In the end however, the patient commits suicide as the nurse helplessly strives to stop him. Clearly, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays a very moral dilemma issue in the short story. The internal clash of the narrator seems to be the focal point as she struggles to understand the personality of her patient. The nurse at first wants to detach herself from the patient but then realizes that he needs his help. Ultimately, Fitzgerald associates alcoholism as fatal since he was an alcoholic himself as he states, “She knew death—she had heard it. Smelt its unmistakable odor, but she has never seen it before it entered into anyone, and she knew it before it entered into anyone, and she knew this man saw it in the corner of his bathroom: that was standing there looking at him while he spat from a feeble cough and rubbed the result into the braid of his trousers. It shone there crackling for a moment as evidence of the last gesture he ever made.” Clearly, the women realizes that he saw death as his only escape from agony, pain and fear. He also tries to portray the fact that some things in life are almost impossible to overcome. The author also tried to portray his struggle to keep his sanity during his withdrawal phase. Although in this story, the author commits suicide, Fitzgerald sheds his light on his survival. “That Evening Sun” is a short story by the American author William Faulker, who exclusively writes about the brutal compassion of a white southern family plantation owner. The story is narrated by a different character known as Quentim Compson, who discusses the fear of the main character, Nancy. Nancy is a state of chaos as she fears that her common law husband will murder as she is carrying a white man’s child. Interestingly enough, the title of this story is taken from a blues song although the author never mentions it. Nancy works as a cook for a white family and her husband, Jesus feels that Nancy is pregnant with an illegitimate child and leaves her. Nancy’s paranoia reaches new levels as she seeks the help of a master. Quentin, the master tries to assist her in any way possible. He takes into his house and tries to calm her down. Fearing the connection with another woman, Quentin’s wife gets jealous. Nancy’s conflicts continue to get out of hand as she convinces Quentin’s kids to come home with her. Her constant fear of Jesus coming to attack her from a ditch continues to disillusion her. The story ends with Quentin taking his kids back, without much regard to Nancy’s fears. One cannot diminish the lack of understanding the Quentin has for Nancy’s fear. In my opinion, this story has a very platonic theme of brutal compassion as no one quite seems to understand Nancy’s fear. In addition, the author depicts race relations that plagued the southern society in that era of the “Jim Crow” laws. Nancy is completely helps s in my opinion in this society where blacks were denied of basic human rights. In addition, Nancy was a black woman, which meant that situations were worse for her. Since Jesus was a white man, he was free to come into her house without any objections. Furthermore, we can imply that her fears are true as Jesus is in fact nearby. Since the narration is done by Quentin when he was age 9, it also represents the innocence of the children, who are completely unaware of this situation and are subdued by the fear of dark. Lastly, the concept of death is heavily emphasized and the fear of death that is portrayed through Nancy. Fear of death often leads to paranoia and engrosses an individual in a very strange state of mind in which illusions become reality. Works Cited "Literature.org - The Online Literature Library."Literature.org - The Online Literature Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 July 2011. . paper., moonlight--the moon shines in all night when there is a moon--I wouldn't know it was the same. "Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper." College of Staten Island Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2011. . That Evening Sun – William Faulkner | In The Gold Room." In The Gold Room | Art and Literature Digital Magazine, Blog and pdf Library | Where the artist and the critic lives in Harmony. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2011. . Works Cited Read More