Letters Home
The vid screen is dark and ominous, as if it holds secrets that is not for the likes of men to know. John Poldeck, a middle aged, balding man of forty-eight steps forward toward screen and console to activate the beast, this oracle of silicon, plastic, and glass. Today John is hoping for word of his son Kirk, of whom nothing had been heard of since he left for UNDF Marine Corps training at Camp Lejune, South Carolina, a beacon for the phony tough and crazy brave looking for ill conceived adventure and glory.
At least that was John’s opinion on the matter. As a mid level market analyst for the transnational ABSCOM John was used to battles fought with market shares, balance sheets, and stock options. For the forty years since the birth of the revamped United Nations war and the conductors of war, the military, had been a dying business. John could still remember the eager look on Kirk’s face when his son had uttered words like, duty, honor, patriotism, words which seemed as alien to John as the worlds the UN exploratory fleet claimed to have found.
“For Christ’s sake John will you turn on the damn console? What the hell is wrong
with you today?”
John glanced at June, his wife of twenty years and counting. Her dark skinned face was a sharp contrast to his pale complexion, and anger, tinged with concern for her son, clouded and darkened her visage even more. He looked at his wife without comprehension.
“What?”
June sighed, and then in a kinder tone, “The console John. I know you’ve been angry ever since Kirk left for the Marines, hell you’ve been mad ever since he first brought up enlisting. A fool’s errand you called it. Perhaps you’re right. All I know is that he might have sent us a letter today.”
A fool’s errand. I remember when I said that John thought. That had been a nasty episode, one of many that had occurred during one of the endless fights he had had with Kirk over this business of enlisting. Try how he might he could never convince his son that business was where the opportunities were. Kirk had then coldly informed his father of his contempt for the Transnationals that now ran everything on Earth, including the UN, and his contempt for anybody connected to them.
John Garcia’s sense of the absurdity of the war is particularly keen. It is first evident to him in a request to board a battleship with fires near the ammunition. He refuses, but escapes punishment because of his role in rescuing people from the water. This same value for human life and knowledge of the futility with which it was often lost in the war pervades his story. He recounts a man being killed by friendly fire after lighting a cigarette, the death of his girlfriend from American artillery shells fired at planes, and the Japanese woman and child he shot in the pacific. John is eager to fight in the war at first, taking a cut in wages and even petitioning the president to be allowed to serve. This patriotism is replaced by a sense of guilt and fear once he must actually kill people. He thinks he committed murder when he shot the Japanese woman and child, and is haunted by the grief of the families of the soldiers he kills. He says he drank because it was the only way he could overcome the guilt and kill someone. Once the war was over he no longer needed alcohol and stopped drinking, but a permanent change in his view of himself and warfare is evident. He is still continually troubled in his dreams by the woman and child he shot, and while he was initially eager to join the war, he refused to use violence as a policeman afterwards and thinks that if countries are going to war they ought to send the politicians to fight.
As a Wall Street Journal Pentagon correspondent, Thomas E. Ricks is one of America’s elite military journalists. He has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and awarded a Society of Professional Journalists Award for his writings based on the Marines. Thomas E. Ricks lectures to military officers and was a member of Harvard University’s Senior Advisory Council on the project on U.S. Civil-Military Relations. As a Pentagon correspondent, he can access information where no other civilian can step foot—traveling with soldiers abroad, his eyes tell the tale of the life of a Marine.
As the story begins, the narrator's compliance with her role as a submissive woman is easily seen. She states, "John laughs at me, but one expects that in marriage" (Gilman 577). These words clearly illustrate the male's position of power in a marriage t...
John has always succeeded in every mission no matter what the cost. He has only lost a fellow Spartan in battle under his command when it is the last resort to further increase his team's chance of success, but every time a fellow Spartan has been lost it was because the Spartan volunteered to risk or give his life for the mission at hand. This shows that his teammates have the same view on a mission as he does.
The main character tells us that she has a nice family that consists of her husband John and a little baby, but John does unusual things that someone would not expect in a normal marriage. She says, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” (Gilman 647). Men back then did not treat or think highly of women due to men being more superior than them. John also seems to complain
...asonably angry with John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive” says the wife. “He is very careful and loving and hardly lets me stir without special direction” ( ). She is always aware of the wonderful things her husband does for her yet she continues to complain due to her nervous condition. Just like a child she has someone to help her when help is needed and regardless of the common sense she should have she continues to do ignorant things and have ignorant thoughts.
The many ways that John tried to help his wife actually ended up drawing her further in to her declining mental state. He used his power over her in ways that he perceived to be helpful because of his authority as a man. Because he never asked his wife what would help her, he was the determining factor in leading his wife to madness. He was blind to anything a woman would want or think, and in the end they both paid the price for it.
Iago's reputation played a key role in the play. Everyone thought of Iago as an honest man. "O, that's an honest fellow", "You advise me well... goodnight honest Iago." Iago convinces everyone that he is noble and honest man and he uses this to his advantage. "When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows." Without this cover he would never have been able to get Othello to believe that Desdemona would cheat on him. Just for suggesting that Desdemona would cheat on him (Othello), he probably would have killed Iago were it not for his reputation. Nobody suspects that Iago is a deceitful man and would plot to destroy Othello, Desdemona, and Cassio in such a cunning way. Iago uses his reputation to manipulate Othello and set his plan in motion and complete it. Without Iago's honest reputation would never had allowed him smear Cassio and cause the death of Desdemona and ultimately Othello as well.
While addressing a powerful statement for our nation’s survival, MacArthur illustrates our need to use the moral code in order to overcome the difficulties and obstacles in winning wars and allowing the nation to persevere. His message reveals a long list of tasks to conquer by his use of parallelism: “We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds and tides work for us… of mining ocean floors…of space ships to the moon”. The various tasks needed to fulfill expose a need for a nation with citizens of respectful and courteous intentions towards the nation, in which MacArthur believes is required for his moral code. Major improvements and advancements, which a nation r...
The relationship of the narrator and her husband, John, is one that of the time period. The narrator has no other choice but to be obedient to her husband and the things he asked of her, though that isn’t much at the time, due to the recent birth of a child and the “mental state” of the narrator. Though the house seems to intrigue her to an extent, John has her in a room she doesn’t really like and has her isolated for most everything and everyone. He treats the narrator as though she is a child and dismisses her thoughts and ideas, even of her own health and what may help her get better. He “hardly lets me stir without special direction” (Gilman).
Shakespeare develops the character Iago into an instigator and evil man. Iago attempts and succeeds to convince Othello that his wife has had an affair with his friend Cassio. We see Iago beginning his plans at the very start of the play. “But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at, I am not what I am.”(Oth 1:1:64-65) He immediately tries to start trouble with Brabantio and Othello over the marriage to Desdemona. Iago want to get in Othello’s way because he was passed over for general and Cassio was chosen instead. We see from the start how he plots against Othello and he involves several characters in his plans. “And what’s he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free. I give and honest, probal to thinking, and indeed the course to win the Moor again? For tis easy Th’ inclining Desdemona to subdue in any honest suit; she’s framed as fruitful…”(2:3:295-300).
The coldness felt in the house as the sheriff and court attorney entered the house symbolized the same coldness brought about by Mr. Wright. For the house to be cold and gloomy and everything else outside the total opposite, was much more than just coincidence. It was as if when you entered the house a cadaver, cold and clammy, had embraced you in its arms. “ I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it”, Mrs. Hale told the court attorney (11). Mrs. Hale knew perfectly well what kind of personality Mr. Wright had, which is why she specified that she wished that she had gone to visit Mrs. Wright when only she was there. “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm”, says Mrs. Hale, yet they are seen as mere trifles because it is the women who take on these tasks.
The narrator’s name is unknown through out the story, yet at the beginning the reader is given her husbands’ name (John), and the narrator’s identity through the novella is as John’s wife, who is dominated by John in their relationship. This effect created by Gillman masterfully establishes the lack of a female determined identity. He diagnoses her, and with the exception of her being tired and wanting to write, John continues to establish that her health is unwell. John is the dominant personality in the marriage he does not see her as an equal in their relationship. This is a wonderful tone and mood used to reflect the cultural norm at the time of Gillman's writing. She is not viewed as an equal, she is treated like and often referred to as being a child. When she decides that she likes a downstairs bedroom next to the nursery, John insists on her having the bedroom upstairs with the yellow wallpaper. The narrator/wife hates the color of the room and describes the color as “repellent, almost revolting” (432) When she asks for her husband to change the color, he decides to not give in to her wants, and the reader is informed that John, who knows best, does this for her benefit. It is reflective of a parent not wanting to give into their child's whims for fear the child will become spoiled and will expect to get everything they ask for. Though her husband belittles her, she still praises everything he does and sees everything he is doing for...
John would have to travel to an army base for his basic training, and then he would be assigned directly to Pakistan to fight in the war. As upsetting as it would be to leave his home and college life, he knew it was his responsibility to go. If he had only studied a little harder, or gone to a professor for extra help, he would probably be returning to school. But these were the consequences he would have to face, and he would face them like a man.
She imagines she is a woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper; she locks the door and tears the wallpaper and creeps around the room. When John gets to her, she says, “I’ve got out at last . . . in spite of you . . . and I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gilman 656). In a symbol of the undermining of the patriarchy, John faints, which is the sort of thing he would have previously mocked. In this moment, he must see that his patriarchal control of his wife has ultimately backfired and tragically taken his companion and the mother of his child. This important moment undermines the patriarchy by giving the patriarchal figure a traditionally female experience. His wife then steps over him, which is also symbolic of his treatment of her. These important symbols illustrate the need for men and women to treat each other as equals, rather than superiors and inferiors. Had John simply listened to his wife, trusted her intuition, and trusted her as his equal instead of treating her as a foolish child, the story of “The Yellow Wallpaper” may have had a happy ending instead of such a tragic