The Yellow Wallpaper

I have mixed feelings about this story. In one aspect, I really like it because of the language and the intense journey this woman goes through. And on the other hand, it seems a little stagnant. The most interesting part of this story, to me, is the fact that this mother has post-partum depression. Of course, at the time when this story was written pot-partum was not a known thing. And, it is even speculated that Gilman had post-partum, and so she could have written this story in some semi-autobiographical light. 

I think the transition of this woman is interesting. She starts off the story being pretty normal, and thinking a lot about getting her rest after having a baby. But after a while her "condition" worsens and she begins to think thoughts that may not be real, and she has strange dreams. I just find it interesting that she creates this whole parallel life of this woman who ultimately is her demise and is kind of her. She becomes obsessed with the wallpaper and will not keep her eyes from the pattern and constantly thinks about it. 

There is a little bit of rhythm because of the shaking of the paper. Also, the word "creeping" is used a lot. The woman creeps around, the wallpaper creeps into her mind. She creeps over John at the end of the story, after she convinces herself that she is the woman who was recently relieved of her imprisonment. I think this story would be a great short film. I can just see it in my mind, and I think I might connect with it better. 

A Rose For Emily

I remember that this story was not one of my favorite. I just wasn't moved the way that I was with Hills or Where Are We Going. However, this story does have interesting components. I think the setting, of an out of date house in a Confederate town is interesting because it tells us that Emily is of a generation past and is not understood by the people around her. The new generation did not know how to deal with the formality that Emily held close to her. They also didn't seem to respect her age and I don't really understand why they were so adament to collect her tax, was it really that important? She expects to be treated the way the past generation treated her, and in her old age she was stubborn and a little rude. I think there was a culture of strong women from the Civil War era; they demanded respect and for the most part got it. I feel like I have always associated strong, powerful, matriarchical women with the Confederate South, and I'm not really sure why. She wouldn't tell the pharmacist what the poison was for, and stared him down so he would stop asking questions. She was very pushy.

Emily was obviously a very stubborn woman, and did things no matter what people said. I think she must have had some mental problem as well, because she kept her father's corpse in the house. Mental illness could have been in her family because her great-aunt went crazy. Perhaps she was just terrified of the thought of being alone; her father had driven away lots of men and I wonder if that made her idealize her father to the point where she was sort of in love with him. He was perfect in her eyes, glorified by his actions. 

I think she killed Homer because she was so terrified of him leaving or not being in love with her that she wanted to preserve him so that she could have him forever. Her memory of him, or the memory she created of him was much more powerful to her if he was dead, because then she was in control. It is almost romantic that she slept with him in the bed, but it is definately proof that she had mental challenges, because normal people do not do that. I think the language in this story is very pretty, but it can be tedious at times. I wish the story was a bit more concise, but I guess that was the effect Faulkner was going for. There is a lot to be said about this story, and it is interesting, but just not one of my absolute favoites.