The Yellow Wallpaper

I enjoyed “The Yellow Wallpaper” because for me it was sort of a mystery as to what was reality and what was fantasy. While I was reading I wasn’t sure just how crazy our narrator was. I had questions about if the house they where living in was really just a house or if she was in a mental institution. Even towards the end I wasn’t sure I thought maybe the woman that she saw “creeping” outside may have been other patients. The lines “ I often wonder if I could see her out of all the windows at once. But, turn as fast as I can, I can only see out of one at a time.” (Gilman, 205-206) really made me think it just other patients in a mental institution. I now know that it was just a house but for me that was a cool part of the story. During our discussion I thought it was interesting to find out when she “became” the woman in the wall, I didn’t think it happened that early. Someone had mentioned when they are just sitting around bored they notice weird patterns on things around them. That’s exactly what I thought was happening with “Jane.” Right know I’m sitting in my living room with wood panel walls and I can clearly see a bird in the pattern of the wood grain but nobody else says that they can see it. It first appeared to me one day when I was staring at the wall thinking about a problem. So if a person in a room all day I can see a person going a little stir crazy or just fixating on an object in that room.

The Chrysanthemums

This story was strange and confusing the first time I read it. It was not until I stopped to think about the story that I understood it for its face value. When I was thinking about it I came to the conclusion that there is more than one theme. I believe there are two themes. First, Elisa had a deep sense of duty and commitment to her husband, even though she was very distant to him. Another theme would be that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

The first time I read it I noticed the theme was that there is a sense of duty. When Elisa takes care of her Chrysanthemums she takes great pride in caring for them. She is so involved in them that it seems her life is revolved around them. She kind of treats them like her children with the intense year round care for them.

The other theme that I came across was that the grass is not always greener on the other side. With Elisa’s intense care for her flowers, her sense of duty, she seems to want to get away. It seems that she wants to live the life of the wonderer, and get away from her boring life. She wants to experience a different life that is very different from her own. When the wonderer explains that his life is very difficult and very straining, Elisa realizes that she cannot leave her husband and her life. That is why she gave the wonderer a Chrysanthemum. She gave it to him to take her place. With these two themes the story is very confusing, but once you realize them it became clearer. John Steinbeck wrote a great short story that was thought provoking and interesting

The Chrysanthemums

By the middle of this story I was beginning to feel as though Elisa's chrysanthemums were somehow connected with her and her husbands relationship. When the author described how she replaced the past years flowers he wrote "Her face was mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy" (Steinbeck 632). I interpreted this as Elisa wanting change in her life, like she was ready to move on and start fresh. When her husband commented on the strength of the new flowers, she responded "Yes. They'll be strong this coming year" (633). I think she wanted to mend their relationship or perhaps maybe even actually try to put some effort into it. When the "man" came she was not at all interested in what he was "selling" her. until he pretended to be interested in her chrysanthemums. She was so excited to finally have someone to share them with, I think for her it was almost like she had an emotional affair. She was so impressed with him that she too gave a fake face and paid him for a job that she could do herselfjust to keep him around a little longer. "You might be surprised to have a rival sometime. I can sharpen scissors, too.And I can beat the dents out of little pots. I could show you what a woman might do" (637). (After it was mentioned in class I too changed my mind about the black speck on the road being the flowers, I too think it was the "man") When she started crying I think she not only felt as if she was losing the one person that understood her, even if it was just for a brief amount of time, but also out of guilt. She gave a complete stranger more of herself than she ever did her husband. She may have also realized, beacause of the closeness that she felt with the man, that the distance between her and her husband was her fault. What really made me think that she was going to try and make their relationdship work was when she started inquiring about the fights, this time it was her that was going compromise and meet him in the middle.

The Chrysanthemums

In class today or group talked about the theme of the story. I think that the theme was about relationships.I thought that Elisa was a strong women who didnt know how to let people get close to her. The only thing that made her happy was her chrysanthemums. I think that they were like her kids. She was very protective and took very good care of them."Back at the chrysanthemum bed she pulled out the little crisp shoots, trimmed off the leaves of each one with her scissors and laid it on a small orderly pile."(633)

She seems to have communication problems with her husband. He tries to talk and complement her work."You"ve got a gift with things"(633) For some reason she doesnt show interest in what he is saying.When the man showed up at the farm she was not talkative. He wanted to do some work for her, to earn some money. Until he showed interest in the flowers, she wanted to send him on his way. She was happy that he liked her flowers and wanted to help him out. Somehow he got her to open up. She seemed to change at this point. It was almost like she had finally found someone she could talk to and trust. After he left, it was almost like she wanted to try to make her relationship work with her husband. When heading into town with her husband and she saw the flowers she had given the man on the side of the road, she was pissed. I dont know how she could open up to a perfect stranger but couldnt with her husband. Maybe seeing the flowers on the road opened her eyes to try harder with her husband.

The Chrysanthemums

            The feeling I had about the woman’s personality in this story is she was hard-headed. She liked to be smug, was boastful and wasn’t quite friendly. I felt like she was constantly trying to prove something to herself by being snippy to her husband and the wagon man. Maybe it wasn’t about her trying to prove anything; maybe it was just her liking to be in control.
            I think the reason why she was so angry and upset in the end is because out of everyone in her life, a stranger got under her skin. Someone she didn’t even know got her to be a person of softness and excitement as derived from this quote, “The irritation and resistance melted from Elisa’s face. ‘Oh, those are chrysanthemums, giant whites and yellows…,'” (Steinbeck, 635-51). Once the wagon man saw that she found pride in taking care of the chrysanthemums and how she loved them so, he dug into that weakness by getting her to talk more about them and she did so. When she asked him if he knew what planter’s hands were, “her breast swelled passionately,” (Steinbeck, 636-72) and she seemed almost breathless and vulnerable after talking about the chrysanthemums. It was then when the wagon man pressed on her vulnerability by stating he would have no dinner tonight. She then felt guilty and decided to give him saucepans to work on for fifty cents.
            When he left, that was probably when she realized that she wasn’t as strong as she always believed herself to be. This angered her because she then went to bathe, “Then she scrubbed herself … until her skin was scratched and red,” (Steinbeck, 638-93). It seemed like she was trying to wash the shame (or truth?) from her body. She knew that the wagon man manipulated her and seeing the pile of the dirt that was originally from her flower pot that the wagon man dumped on the side of the road confirmed her suspicions. That is probably why she was so snippy to her husband when he complimented her, she felt justified to try to feel “strong” again and this was the only way she knew how to feel strong – by being bossy-like to her husband, and being back in control. But I think in reality she was only fooling herself because she knew the truth: she was weak. Now I wonder how she actually feels about her precious chrysanthemums. Does she hate them now because they represent her definite weakness? Would she be so passionate about them now, knowing how the wagon man manipulated her with the chrysanthemums?

The Chrysanthemums

After taking a closer look at the theme of the story I have a much wider understanding of it. Due to this new understanding I am able to see more possibilities as to what the message could be. Before discussion I had some skepticism about the symbolic connection between Elisa and her chrysanthemums. At first I believed the only connection was Elisa sending her flowers with the traveling tinker because she would not go with. Although looking deeper into the story I see that they also represent her as a woman, and the chrysanthemums also seem to symbolize children. Observing other classmates make these connections really helped me understand how many possible themes there could be in a story, even if the story seems like it lacks elements. What came across to me as very interesting was the fact that I failed to see a very significant element in the story. That element was the traveling tinker using Elisa's interests to manipulate her. Even now that I am aware of this element, I am still having difficulty finding the reason behind the tinkers manipulation.

"A Rose for Emily"

" A Rose for Emily" is a story with many twist and turns that really are very disturbing. When I think of poor Emily, I see a girl who has no self confidence, has never been able to make her own decisions, and is so mentally undeveloped. The story was overall pretty interesting, however not suprising since we read this in high school.
In the story emily never really grips the death of her family and once her true love Homer Baron wants to leave her she is unwilling to let him leave. She goes to the local pharmacy buys arsenic and kills Homer with the poison. Emily goes on with her regular life like nothing has happened even so much as to pretend their still "happy". The towns people start to smell awful odors coming from the house and try to confront her about the smell, she wont say a word and tells them to go away.
the story is a sad story, and i can still see some simularities today. People with always have a hard time coming to grips with loss, however they do deal with it in better ways than her. I think emily's problems are a direct correlation from the way she was brought up and I feel sorry for her.

The Chrysanthemums

The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck is a story filled with gender specific ideas, as well as the main character, Elisa Allen, desire to break down these gender related roles. Right away she is described as “handsome” and “over-powerful” (632). These are two words I would not generally associate with women. Later on while the traveling potsmith was talking about sleeping in his wagon as he worked up and down the pacific coast Elisha said “It must be nice, it must be very nice. I wish women could do such things” (637). I believe that Elisha is expressing her contempt for the socially acceptable role for a woman should be. She has been stuck in a rut for a long time and is beginning to wonder if maybe she has missed out on all that life has to offer. To me the most glaring of the gender issues was before Elisa and her husband Henry went into town for dinner he said that she looked “strong” (638) when he first saw her all cleaned up and wearing her dress. Strong is an interesting choice of word. I would not usually think of a female in her best dress as strong.
Gender specific ideas were a constant theme throughout this story and show a lot about the characters.

A rose for emily

A rose for Emily was a pretty interesting story. It was kind of confusing since not everything goes in chronological order. I thought the characters in the story were also really interesting. Over all the story was okay, but it really was kind of disgusting.
Obviously the main character Emily is suffering from some sort of mental illness. She doesn't want to believe her father died, and then kills Homer Baron because she does not want anybody else to have him. To me she seems lonely and will do almost anything to have a companion. What really grossed me out was in the end of the story the last lines that said, "We noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, the faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair"(212). This proves that she did not only kill him so he would stay with her forever, but she also laid by his dead body which to me is really sick.
Besides some of the bizarre things going on in the story, A Rose for Emily did give me a good idea of how times were in the deep south in a small town. Everybody seemed gossipy, and everybody wanted to know each others business. On Emily's behalf i can understand why she probably felt crazy, everyone wanted to know what was going on with her,and in her business. Not only was this town gossipy but it seemed to be very racist and full of bigots.
Overall the story was a good read and having the discussion in class really helps me look deeper into the story and really understand in depth what is going on. It makes the story a lot more enjoyable.

A Rose for Emily

"A Rose for Emily", may be one of the most intersting stories I have read in a long time. When I read it at home for the first time, I really didn't even know what to think about it. I was confused and had no idea what I just read. Although after doing some in class projects I really enjoyed it and have since reread it to get a better understanding. Emily is a soft hearted women who you think is just a mean person, but she isn't. She is almost lost in time she is a very traditional woman. When she finally passes away and they find the hair around her neck. I was very disturbed, until I finally realized that it was from her lover. Who had passed away before her. Although the story is one of my favorites so far you may not like it, but give it a more in depth look and they you may understand more. Definately worth reading "A Rose for Emily" and get your won feelings bout the short story.

"The yellow wallpaper"

I found this story to be quite interesting, The tale of a young woman's journey into seclusion and partial insanity. It seems that the woman is suffering form post partum depression hence the anxiety and nervousness. But i assume in those days(Victorian) people didn't have a real grasp on mental health. They tended to belive like John, the woman's husband, that anything none physical could be cured with rest and a healthy diet. But instead the solitude and constant restrainment to the room pushed her closer and closer to the edge. She had no one to relate to or no way of expressing her thoughts and feelings. John just wanted her to sleep and eat secluding her to room she didn't like and not taking her feelings legitimately. I feel John disregard with emotins and lack of encouragement added to her insanity. Thats how she got to the point she did her only escape was her own mind turning her own emotions and feelings into a head game, a head game that involved the wallpaper and the room and the only two other people. Thats why she started to get antsy with jennie and John she didn't have anything to focus on but the wallpaper the wallpaer was hers and they couldn't have it. I didn't really see this as ghost story but i do believe that because of the bars and the lingering energy left over by the children had a great deal to do with the ending of her journey. the room had negative energy reflecting on the woman negatively in return. Good story shows how woman were treated in victorina days, like trophies like something to have not to be equal to.

"The Storm"

When I first read “The Storm” I came away with a feeling of sadness. After having our class discussion, I now have some new insights. Despite these new insights, I still find the short story to be a sad one.
On the surface this story just seemed like a tale of suppressed passions coming to fruition. It’s hard not to despise Calixta and Alcee for what they do. They are both married and whether or not they harbored these feelings from long ago, they still have no excuse for committing adultery.
After having the class discussion, I really see how well Chopin was able to use the storm as a symbol of the sin that is committed. In the beginning I love how the clouds “were rolling with sinister intention” (Chopin 255). What great use of foreshadowing for what’s about to happen.
Later we see how the rain came “down in sheets obscuring the view of far-off cabins” (Chopin 257) really illustrating how there was a feeling of isolation in that cabin. They felt that they could get away with what they were about to do. Then, as the atrocious act is about to happen, “they did not heed the crashing torrents” (Chopin 257) showing their lack of moral fiber to resist their own lusts.
With all of this in mind, I really still feel sad. These are two people who knew full well what they were doing; yet they still do it. Even worse, after all is said and done “everyone was happy” (Chopin 259). How could Calixta and Alcee just go on and pretend as if nothing had happened when they had committed the ultimate betrayal against their spouses? Sad.

"The Yellow Wallpaper"

My initial reaction after reading this story was one of dissatisfaction. I did not particularly enjoy reading it even after class discussion. However, I did get a better understanding of the story after class discussion. It this story we basically watch, through her own hand, a woman go insane. What is driving her to be this way is the yellow wallpaper that lines the walls of the room she's in. She goes from hatting the paper, "I'm really getting quite fond of the big room, all but the horrid paper" (Gilman 369), to growing to be a part of the paper, "I'm getting really fond of the room spite of the wallpaper. Perhaps because of the wallpaper" (Gilman 371). The main character despite the wallpaper in the beginning of the story becomes quite fond and protective of the wallpaper. There is even a passage that reads: " I caught Jennie with her hand on it once....she turned around as if she had been caught stealing, and looked quite angry --- asked me why I should frighten her so!!" (Gilman 374). She, in her mind, had become a part of the wallpaper and the wallpaper a part of her. She didn't want anyone else to know if it or to be a part of it. She also claims of a person who is trying to come out of the paper and is trapped behind it, or is it her who she is referring to?? "I always lock the door when I creep by daylight I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once" (Gilman 376). I believe that she is in fact the person behind that wallpaper and she, being herself, is out during the day, and her other personality comes out at night....

Jason Brown

A Rose for Emily

The story “A Rose for Emily” was at first confusing to me because of the fact that the events don’t happen in chronological order. It also doesn’t tell the reader when things actually happen in an effective way. This story to me is a classic lover scorned story. Emily is in love with Homer Barron, but he does not love her. He enjoys her company and probably the appearance of being a straight man. I think Homer Barron was a homosexual because of the line “because Homer himself had remarked - he liked men,” this is why he doesn’t love her. She buys arsenic and people think she is going to kill herself, but they don’t try to stop her. Ultimately she did not use the arsenic to kill herself, but to kill Homer instead. Her murdering of Homer is her way of saying if I can’t have you nobody will. Although in the end she did have him, well at least his rotting corpse.

A Rose for Emily

Initially my reaction to A Rose for Emily lacked depth. My opinion was the story was simply a tale of an of an elderly woman who spent her most of her years in her home, secluded from her neighbors, and potential loved ones. Aside from the effective imagery, A Rose for Emily just didn't accomplish to catch my interest. Although, once I began to look at the story more closely, through the help of the worksheet and classmates, I started to notice a wide variety of symbolism in the story. In particular the words "dust" and "rose" became very much connected to Emily herself, and the house as well. Along with noticing the symbolism, I realized the order of events, and the point of view served to not only make the story engaging throughout, but also provided different perspectives. I also gained an appreciation for the values of the characters and how they affected themselves, the towns folk, and the events in the story itself. All together the class discussion really helped be open my eyes to the depth of the story, and without the worksheet I would still be blind to most of the symbolism.

"A Rose for Emily"

When I read "A Rose for Emily" my first impression was Emily appeared lonely and depressed.Why would anyone allow their house to be dark and dusty. "Blinds opened from one window"by the Negro. "dust on the thighs of the alderman" after sitting on the cracked leather furniture.
Emily showed total disregard to her surrondings. It was her butler who took care of her.
"The Negro man went in and out wiht the market basket, but the front dooor remained closed.
After classroom group discussion I came to the realization that Emily was lonely. "After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away,people hardly saw her at all.
Questions that arised during discussion, where is Emily's family? With her father being dead
who else could there be. "Emily had some kin in Alabama:but years ago her father had a fallen out with them over the estate and there was no communication between the two families."
Emily had a beau once, but he left Emily. It came to be around the same time as her father's death. Poor Emily no one in her life. So when Homer Barron fixed the streets by Emily's house.
Emily swarmed in on Homer, like a vulture to a dead carcus. Emilys' lonely no more.
At story's end, town people pried into the only room not on display during viewing the house. "In the bed lay a man. Next to the man a pillow with a indentation to which a long strand of grey hair was found."

"The Storm"
I find the storm a interesting story. The really interesting part about the story was the can on Shrimp, In the beginning i didn't know what the can of Shrimp really meant but to read later on in the story I found out that he was for the family that he was suppose to return to right after he got the can of Shrimp so that they can eat. During the storm these two people became closer then they have before the storm or maybe they had something before but broke it off and now want to be together. The reason why they want to together because the thought of death scares them and they don't want to leave this beautiful place alone. In the story in says "Do you remember---in Assumption, Calixta?" that tells you that they were into each other and something happened. At the end of the story his family or mom seems to get mad at him because he is all dirty, shortly after he shows them the can of Shrimp and everything is alright... I really didn't get the ending, all around I liked this story!

"The Story of an Hour"

I thought "The Story of an Hour" was a decent short story. It wasn't the most exciting story i have ever read but it showed a real life scenario of this women loosing her husband in this accident. The only part i didn't understand was at the end when it said "But Richards was too late... she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills." The way it seemed to me was that she was just depressed after her husband died but also a little relieved. If Richards would of had the information right, that her husband wasn't even near the accident, none of this would of ever happened.

a rose for emily

I really liked the morbidity of this story. It paints this eloborate story of n old lonely slightly crazed woman who never leaves her home. fFrom the beginning you get this werid feeling about her, from the first initial conversation were she is denying to pay her taxes to the officers to to the conversation with the "druggist", you can tell that the story is leading you to a strange place involving her. I like how the town people broke into her house to spill that stuff so her house would'nt smell. I didn't get that part until we had the group discussin in class. I made sense after that beacuse you find out she has a rotting corpse preserved slighty in her bedroom. I know it sounds gross but i can completey could relate to that, to emily keeping and husband, her rose, in her house for so long. After she lost her father and was left alone for so long, not having anyone to relate to. no one to understand her just having yourself and no one else you get sad and isolated. I think thats how she felt until she met Homer. Homer gave her life and companionship. After he died she probably snapped and some how in her head justified keeping there even thou he was dead. Its actually really a sad story, plus the fact that it takes place in the south while it was devolping gives it a real dirty dark feeling. Anything to do with the south usually involves some type of darkness just beacuse the south wasn't a very good place throughtout history and even up untill the present.

"The Story of a Hour"

After reading “The Story of a Hour” I started to think about relationships and marriage. I realized that even though this story was written one hundred years ago, the same kind of problems exist today. Divorce rates are as high as they have ever been, not to mention physical and emotional abuse. The wife in this story is stricken with guilt, sadness, and even joy when she learns of her husband’s death. Looking back at the use of foreshadowing that the author used, it’s hard not to see some of the emotions coming. In the very first line Chopin states “Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble” (Chopin 193). I took this as Mrs. Mallard having physical heart trouble, but looking back at the text it may have meant emotional heart trouble. The farther you read on you began to see all the twisted thoughts that Mrs. Mallard was going through. I enjoyed the story because it really makes you think about relationships still today and how nobody should have to be married to a person they want to live without.

A Rose for Emily


To understand A Rose for Emily, one must understand the environment and the setting of the story. One must realize during this time in the Deep South, as well as much of it today, the people had an immense sense of tradition and sense of duty. Knowing this sense of tradition and duty is a crucial role to understanding the story. I personally have not experienced the south and all there traditions, but I have experienced the similar traditions of small town and there environments. Everybody has to know everyone’s business and what’s going on in their lives.

Now the town had many different characters and one never really gets a sense of who is really narrating the story. So you truly get a sense of who Miss Emily is because you get the description of the whole town. The characteristics of Miss Emily seem to be an intense sense of tradition and duty. With having these senses she also seems very unwilling to change. This was shown when she was unwillingly to leave the corpse of her dead lover Homer Barron. Not only did she seclude herself from the town, but the town secluded her also, because of the harsh smell coming from her house.

The Story of an Hour

            When I finished reading the story, I was completely flabbergasted; I had no idea what the heck just happened. I had to re-read it a few more times and in-depth this time, I literally pored over every word searching for any hints that might explain what happened.
            What confused me the most was, “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully” (Chopin, 193-9.) I figured that was because she was experiencing sorrow and heartbreak for the first time following her husband’s death. But then the story twists into a plot of, “She did not stop to ask if it were not a monstrous joy that held her” (Chopin, 194-12). Joy? Someone who were happily married and someone who loved would never feel that way with death of someone very close to her.
            I honestly don’t think I have enough evidence in the story or details that could tell me whether Mrs. Mallard was abused (emotionally or physically). My theory that she was set up to be married to Bentley Mallard by her parents and I assume people who married without love would most likely be unhappy inside? This theory of mine is derived from the book where it said, “There will be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature” (Chopin, 194-14) and “yet she had loved him – sometimes” (Chopin, 194-15.) It is possible to love someone when you have been with him for many years even when you don’t intentionally mean to love him hence the “sometimes” statement.
            So with the theory of mine, I actually think it makes sense why Mrs. Mallard is relieved to be let go of the “burden,” (for the lack of a better word) of her marriage. I think it is very interesting in the end when Mrs. Mallard died – as a reader myself, I know the thoughts in her mind, the emotions she felt before she died so it gives me another perspective of why she really died. Did she die from the joy that her husband was indeed alive? Or did she die from the sheer horror that he was alive, from actual heartbreak knowing she would now never be free? I believe it is the latter, because I think when the author said “joy that kills” (Chopin, 194-23) she is actually talking about the “monstrous joy that held her”.
            That joy is what made her want to live, didn’t it?

" The Story of an Hour"

When i first read this story i really did not understand it at all. I thought it was really confusing, but i was also reading it right before class started which probably didn't help. After i read through the story a couple of times and discussed it with my group I thought it was a good short story.
After re-reading i found out what "The Story of an Hour" was really about. When i first read the story i thought that the wife was really rude and mean. How could she have been happy to hear her husband had died? My first thoughts made me really dislike this story, and all i really had got from it was that a husband had died and the wife was happy! I also didn't really realise he was still alive until our group discussions inside of class. I liked the discussion in our groups because it made me look at the story in a total different way, this helped make the story more interesting for me. I also obviously had a better understanding and began to like this story more because you could look at it from many points of view. Was Mrs. Mallard happy her husband died because he was abusing her or just because she felt trapped in her marriage? Since divorce was not really accepted in these times maybe she felt some release to be out of a bad marriage? This was pointed out in my group discussion which made me re-think my view of the wife, and not really hate Mrs. Mallard so much. You never know what she was living through and why she felt the way she did about her husband. Another cool thing i thought we did in class was answer the questions on the board. About being in a long term relationship, being married, or the passing of someone close to you. Answering these questions made me see why people had different views of the story. Your life experiences can really effect how you view this short story.
I think the author Kate Chopin did a good job of writing this story it was full of small details that really make the story come together. Another thing that i thought was cool was the last line of the story when Mrs. Mallard dies. She wrote, " When she came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills"(194) . You can look at this line in a couple different rays. One being that she had heart problems and died, or you could look at in another way. Maybe she was so hurt to find out that her husband had actually survived that she passed away, like dieing from a broken heart. Over all i do like the authors style and think she did a good job of writing this short story.

The Story of an Hour

Wow, this story was strange the first time I read it. I wasn't sure if Mrs. Mallard was sad about hearing her husband died or if she was relieved. I also was not sure if she killed herself or she died of her bad heart. When we talked in groups I opened my eyes a little more and read the story again. I took a lot more out of the story the second time. I think that she was not a happily married women. The time the story was written, women just stayed home and took care of the kids. Marriages are not like they are now, they married to help support the family. I think when she found out that her husband died, she thought she would have her own freedom. She would not have to answer to a man. Nothing would be the same. I don't know if there was abuse in the relationship, some things are still unclear. I do know from "and yet she had loved him_sometimes" that the relationship was not the best. I think that the ending was the best. Now that the husband is still alive, he will have to figure out how to live without out him wife.

Posting again.....

Well in college writing one I didn't have much luck with this but, it'll be different this time I hope. I'll be talking about "story of an hour", I hadn't read it until I came to class, because i was reading the wrong thing the teacher printed out *cough*. From what I read, seem very confusing at first, I had to reread it at least three times before I understood some of it. Mainly it was a story of sadness, or so we thought. There was a lady name Mrs. Mallard, who got news of her husband died in a crash, as soon as she receives the news she starts to cry. She runs into her room, locks the door and cries some more. Then here it takes a twist she says "Free! Body and soul free!" (Chopin 194). All of a sudden she was happy that he was died. This part of the story is the most confusing, because you don't know whats she is happy about. Either she was abused by her husband when he was alive, so she was happy that she doesn't have to suffer again. Thing that kind of cancels that out is when she says "kind, tender hands and the face that had never looked save with love upon her” (Chopin 194). So then you start to think maybe she wasn't abused after all, maybe she just wanted to be free of the marriage. As someone said in class maybe she was forced into the marriage, as if it was prearranged. You can never really know what it really is, since we the readers aren't the author, we can only brainstorm and come up wit ideas of what the author really means.

the story of an hour

I sort of liked reading The Story of an Hour. The first time I read it, it seemed like there was too much going on and I couldn’t really focus on what the story was actually about. After discussing it in class a little bit I have a much better understanding of what the story was about. Mrs. Mallard shifts, much like a bi-polar person, from extremely sad and remorseful to unbelievably happy. I sometimes find myself thinking about how I could benefit by someone else’s misfortune. I’m not talking about someone dying. Like if a fellow co-worker would happen to get fired and I get promoted to his position. It’s a bad deal that he had to get fired but at the same time I would be really happy to be getting a promotion. The text says that she is looking forward to all the years to come that she will be able to have all to herself (Chopin 194). This could be implying that perhaps she didn’t enjoy her marriage at all and was hoping that something like this would happen. It’s almost like she can’t decide whether or not she actually cared about this guy. I want to know it Mrs. Mallard had died because she was happy to see her husband alive or if she died because she really wanted him dead. I sort of understand where she’s coming from. I understand how unbelievably annoying it is to always have to be around someone that you don’t really enjoy being around. I’ve never wished for anyone to die just because of that though.

Yellow Wallpaper

I thought the yellow wallpaper was a very interesting story. After I read it one time, I read the little portion of information about the author and it said that the author herself happened to be sort of crazy, so you know I had to read it again. (Kirszner & Mandell 366) That alone is probably what made the story interesting for me. I think stories tend to be a lot more fascinating when it is based on true events especially when it involves a lady going crazy and seeing people walking around in wallpaper. Did they have any type of hallucinogenic drug back then? That would sure explain a lot. While I did somewhat enjoy this story, I, at the same time, disliked how it just kept dragging on. I think the author could’ve have shortened it up a little bit and still had the same effect. The author states at one point that she feels lucky that her husband, John, made her stay at that house because she can stand it so much easier than a baby. (Gilman 372) Was that to mean that she would rather be at the house that she said she hates more than be with her own child? What an idiot.

"The story of an Hour"

I enjoyed reading this short story, however it was a bit confusing at times. The story was full of irony and took for quite a ride being how short it was. My initial response to the story was typical. I liked it, but wasn't quite sure why. After diving deeper into it and having class discussion I realized there was much more behind the words than I had originally taken in. Mrs. Millard opens with sadness, " She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment" (Chopin 193). After first reading it I believed that she felt sad and remorse at this point, but now I feel that it was a sense of relief and not tears in sadness. After the story progresses Mrs. Millard goes on to say, "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself" (Chopin 194). "Free! Body and soul free!" (Chopin 194). After these two quotes it made me see that it was more of a relief than a sadness that Mrs. Millard was feeling at this time. After discussion I think that she was happy to get out of her marriage. She would keep mumbling freedom and how she was now free. Taking in the timeline of when this story was written it wasn't a pleasant time. They weren't given many choices, they were told what do and how to live their life. I think that this is what Mrs. Millard was feeling and why she was crying. Not because of her loss, but her gain of freedom. She could now feel and act as she desired. She could now live for herself. Some people may think she died sad or alone, however, I think she died happy.

Jason Brown

"The Story of an Hour"

I enjoyed reading “The Story of an Hour.” This statement may be misleading. I enjoyed reading it, but I did not enjoy the short story itself. Let me explain further.
The beginning of this story makes me feel pity. I feel like giving poor Mrs. Mallard a hug and consoling her. She is in such a tough spot, or so it seems.
Then I, as the reader, see a different side to her; an ugly side. She starts to have this feeling creep up to her. She says “she was striving to beat it back with her will” (Chopin 194). Yet, having read the entire story, I really don’t believe that she did. Regardless, in the end she submits to this emotion- a feeling of release.
How disgusting is this? I am angered further as she describes her husband’s “kind, tender hands” and “the face that had never looked save with love upon her” (Chopin 194). Yet, she cannot seem to wait to move on.
She’s the victim really; a victim of the notion of marriage, commitment to another. She speaks of this commitment in saying, “a kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination” (Chopin 194). She sits there and tries to convince herself of all of these things, just so she can live her life for her.
After having first read this story I felt that Mrs. Mallard was a terribly vile, selfish person. It has been suggested that she may have been beaten and that’s why she felt this way. I really cannot convince myself that this is true; I still think she is just selfish. I find solace in the ending. In that great act of poetic justice, the person who really does die is the one deserving it the most: poor Mrs. Mallard!

I liked the way this story was written. In the beginning Kate Chopin made me think that she was describing a thunder storm, but I then soon realized that she was also tying in the love affair that was obvoulsy going to happen on the inside. By the way the author describes Caltixa’s features from the past; i assumed they were old lovers. The storm represented the tension brewing between the two As Alcee stood behind Calixta at the window, “the rain was coming down in sheets…The playing of the lightening was incessant” (Chopin 257), and how "the growl of the thunder was distant and passing away” (Chopin 257) when the pressure was no longer there, and their rendezvous ended. I did however find it quite sad that while Calixta was busy reassuring his son that his mother would be okay and purchasing some shrimp that his beloved wife loved, she was re-kindling an old love affair. In the end I think that Caltixa handled the love affair with less regrets than Alcee. While she was preparing dinner and laughing loudly with her family, he was writing his wife a letter (possibly out of regret and remorse).

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