&& That's a Wrap!

I truly enjoyed this class. If I could take it again I would definitely. I had been trying to read other text before coming into this class but didn't really know "how" to just "pick up a book" (smile). This class forced me read something besides African American Literature and I was very pleased.

Of all the text we read, I would have to say that, although Chopin's text Desiree's Baby was shocking, Gilman's text "The Yellow Wall-paper" was my favorite, including the ending. I enjoyed this text the most, simply because I could see so many "horror movie rules" that could have been gathered from this text, and, as you know, I love movies.

This was probably not intended by Gilman herself, but if I were a horror movie writer, I would look to this text for inspiration. And I truly do hope that the movie depiction of this story did the original text justice. Outside of the movie aspect of the text, I enjoyed reading this from a first person perspective. Even thought considered "insane", the narrator of Gilman's story is intriguing. She rights to engage the reader, even though she is only reading to herself. My favorite line of the text is, that in which she is describing the wall-paper:

"One of these sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin. It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions."

If you believe that the narrator kills herself at the end this can be a bit of foreshadowing. This story gets a complete "2 Thumbs Up" from me. All the way around.

Gillman/Wharton ::WHAT WOMEN LIKE::

I deeply enjoyed both text because they were both comical to me; Gillman more so than Whaton's. I especially love the women wrote both of these stories because I feel that if a man had wrote them, it would not present the same feeling.

Both text examine the ideals of women as they interact in society. In Gillman's text, the thing that stood out the most was how the narrator simply listened. She was a "nervous patient" simply because John told her. And because he told her, she began to fill that "these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing". This story reminds me of women in horror films. Often times, the women know first and they try to their loved ones, but he never listens. Usually, by the end of the movie, the man has gotten what he deserved (smile), as I feel the same as happened here. And because she final stood up spoke up for herself, the lady freed herself, saying "I've got out at last, in spite of you and Jane!"

Wharton's text, however, examines women in a different light. Here, we have two upper class women whose lives are no longer full-filling due to the passing of their husbands. For Mrs. Slade, "being the Slade widow was a dullish business after that", referring to the passing of her husband. And even though, both of these ladies still had daughters, their lives weren't as interesting as the life of a son would be. This is an idea that is still practiced and believed today. The idea that, the husband is her life and beyond him, there is nothing more because she has nothing of her own. This is what Wharton leads her readers to believe.

Freeman ::A True Heroine::

It was nice to read these stories together because one is shown form the prospective of a woman and the other from a man. Each story has their differences, but share a commonality of "marriage".

I preferred Freeman's text over Chesnutt's because I could read Freeman's text with more objectivity and Freeman's text was more "relateable" to me. Louisa Ellis, in my opinion, is like how women should be today and I love how Freeman characterizes her with such simplicity. She is not a "sexual vixen". Just a pretty woman who did things in a "delicate...way".

It is my opinion, that women will sacrifice everything to be with a man, even their own personal happiness. Not in the story. Once Louisa overheard Jon Dagget and Lily Dyer's conversation, her mind was made up that they were not to be married; not out of pity. She was happy with her life just the way it was and she realized that it was not worth the sacrifice if he didn't even truly love her. Today, a woman will "accidental" get pregnant just to keep a guy around.

Louisa is inspirational. She is a reminder that women do not have to worry so much about a man because, no matter how long you procrastinate it off, there is always something to be done. And if you occupy yourself with these, it doesn't matter who is or isn't loving you, as long as you are making you happy, loving yourself in return.

Chopin ::True Irony::

Wow. That was really all that I could say at the end of the text. I must talk about Desiree's Baby. I am truly speechless. I wish that I could watch this short story in a film because I would want to see the expression of Armand's face after he reads the letter.

I have read Chopin's work before. The Awakening was the only text we read where a woman made use of her "womanly power". Chopin has a way of making the female sex look and seem so powerful doing simple, every day things. As for the text I am speaking on, Desiree's Baby, I have to make this biblical.

In God's eyes, a woman's duty is to be silent which is the sin of getting Adam to eat the fruit was so punishable. Here, in Chopin's text, once Desiree realized what was disturbing her and her house, she simply did not force conversation upon Armand. She asked "what does it mean", wrote to her mother, and left. There was no arguing. No conversation. Desiree acted as a woman should. And in doing this, God took care of everything else.

Chopin plays a lot towards sexuality. Through her work, I feel that she was a woman who was not afraid to say "I am woman". Women didn't cheat, women were these "holy" creatures. But Chopin changes that image, and gives women power; their own womanly right.

Twain && Harte ::A Small World Afterall::

I enjoyed both the works by Twain and Harte. I especially liked how both text simply just told a story. Though we did not read this text, I believe it was ironic that on the first page of Huckleberry Finn, Twain places a disclaimer about the picking apart of his text.

I have to admit, I did not catch what the writers were trying to express about the larger nation. I believe this is due to the fact that I simply read the stories and I did not give things a deeper meaning. However, I do believe that it is more than interesting to note that in Harte's text, there were no women in Roaring Camp. One would think that a group of men living and functioning together in a town would not work. But here, Harte shows us a group of men who are able to function just fine. Harte even says in the beginning that "it could not have been a fight for, in 1850 that was not novel enough to have called together the entire settlement" suggesting that these men were very well behaved. Everything in the town was a majority vote and people just dealt with the disagreement, but often times, all agreed.

In a town where women resided, the focus would be on finding out who the father was, but here, amongst the group of men, that didn't matter. Finding good care and making sure the boy was well nourished was the most important thing. I believe that says a lot on how Harte may view the rest of the world.

Twain's piece is a lot harder to analyze. I truly feel like it was just a story. There may be something in the fact that while Smiley was in his own town, no one ever tried to "get over" on him, but once he left, the first man he meets, cheats him. But I could not say for sure. I also believe that Smiley was the reverend that our narrator was looking for because having someone cheat you out of a fair gamble, may lead you to want to teach those around you.