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Racism in literature
Racism in literature articles
The theme of oppression in many African American literary works
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Internal conflict is a struggle that most people go through at least once in their lifetime. The characters in A White Heron, The Wife of His Youth, and The Yellow Wall-paper have faced many conflicts that brings them to a choice that makes them question themselves and others around them. In A White Heron, the little girl, Sylvia comes meets conflict when her heart tells her to protect the location of the bird while her mind craves the attention and money from the hunter. Mr. Ryder in The Wife of His Youth is conflicted when his “previous” wife shows up at his doorstep after 25 years of searching. So, he is forced to either accept or deny his blackness for his “wife” while possibly jeopardizing his social status. In The Yellow Wall-paper, …show more content…
the conflict is between her and her husband. She knows there is nothing wrong with her, but her husband keeps her isolated slowly driving her insane. In A White Heron, Sylvia is the character who struggles with conflict because as much as she craves attention from the hunter and money, she knows that the heron is a rare bird, so her heart tells her that it is wrong to reveal the location of the said heron. In the story, Sylvia did not always live out in the country, she used to live in the city with her parents until her grandmother, Mrs. Tilley, took her in and back to the farm. Sylvia loved it out in the country and never wished to go home (414). One day, Sylvia was out late one evening. Reminiscing about the city when suddenly, she was frightened by a stranger who was whistling at her (414). The stranger turned out to be a hunter, who kindly asks for their hospitality. The hunter is looking for a rare bird known as the white heron. He is determined to find the nest and is willing to give anyone ten dollars if they give him the location of the nest (416). One night, Sylvia snuck out to seek out the heron. Sylvia climbed trees; all the way to the top. Sylvia saw the heron and where the nest was located. She rushed home knowing that once she told the hunter where the nest was, not only would she receive ten dollars for her and her grandmother, but most importantly, gain more attention from the hunter. However, Sylvia jeopardized the attention of the hunter. Although Sylvia had developed a little crush, she could not give up the bird to the hunter. Being that she wants to please the stranger, she does all she can for his attention even if that mean unveiling the heron’s nest. Since she is much younger than him, he does not feel the same making the relationship unbalanced. On the other hand, she loves nature. Her name comes from the word sylvan meaning “of the woods”. So, naturally she has a connection with the forest. When she goes to reveal the location, the story say, “But Sylvia does not speak after all, though the old grandmother fretfully rebukes her, and the young man’s kind eyes, appealing eyes are looking straight in her own. He can make them rich with money; he promised it, and they are poor now. He is so well worth making happy” (419). By Sylvia not sharing the location of the bird means that she may have saved the species being that they are rear. As a reader, I enjoyed this story because I can relate to Sylvia being that she is close with nature. Sylvia obviously went with her heart and did the right thing. Since Sylvia feels so close to nature, I think she feels as though she will betray nature by giving away the location of the heron. With this dilemma, I can relate because I have had to make the decision of whether or not to go with my head or my heart. Many times I have made the mistake of going with my head rather than my heart, but I have learned from the past. Sylvia has made the right decision because just as the story says. she stayed loyal although there was a bit of disappointment (419). “Whatever treasures were lost to her, woodlands and summer-time, remember!” (419). Just as A White Heron, in the story The Wife of His Youth, we see an internal conflict. In The Wife of His Youth, there was a character by the name of Mr. Ryder, an african american man who was once known as Sam Taylor. When he went by Sam Taylor, he was born and was married to another african american named ‘Liza Jane, however; she was not born free. ‘Liza informs Sam that he was going to be sold, so he ran away and became Mr. Ryder. As Mr. Ryder, he is self educated, part of the upper class, and the head of the Blue Veins Society. The Blue Veins Society was a society of african americans who were in the upper class. Basically, the more blue vein you could see the higher class you were considered. Later in the story, Mr. Ryder is forced to face his wife ‘Liza Jane who has never stopped searching for him after he had run away as she shows up at his doorstep asking if he knows where she could find Sam Taylor. Mr. Ryder has a decision to make. Should he accept or deny his blackness. If he accepts it then he will be jeopardizing his social status, but on the other hand, if he denies his blackness then he will not be jeopardizing anything. For mr. Ryder, accepting his blackness would be him accepting his long-lost wife while denying his blackness would be denying his wife. Mr.
Ryder reveals his inner conflict when he says, “And then suppose that accident should bring to his knowledge the fact that the wife of his youth, the wife that he left behind him, -- not one who had walked by his side and kept pace with him in his upward struggle, but one upon whom advancing years and a laborious life had set their mark, -- was alive and seeking him, but that he was absolutely safe from recognition or discovery, unless he chose to reveal himself. My friends, what would the man do?” (472). Personally, I have not had to deal with this dilemma being that I am only nineteen, white, and have never been married. I thought it was sweet of him to be true to himself and the wife of his youth by accepting his blackness and introducing his wife to his his friends. It takes a true gentleman to do as he does. Just as the past stories, The Yellow-Wall-paper holds an internal conflict as well. The internal conflict here is the narrator verses herself; a woman and she is said to be sick, but in reality she is not. Her husband who is also her doctor keeps her in a room all the time, due to her being “sick”. Eventually, she is suffering because she is gradually driving herself insane. For example, in the story she
says, “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus--but John says the worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house” (486). This quote exposes the narrator’s dilemma and herself. The more she thinks about her condition the crazier she gets. She has a difficult time believing that there is not anything wrong with her. But at the end of the story, we see that she “breaks free” by saying, “I’ve got out at last--in spite of you and Jane! And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” (497). This story is kind of twisted in my opinion, but it is still interesting to see how she gradually drives herself insane, while she is not even really sick. Her husband tends to think that rest is the answer and that she is not getting enough. I find it odd that they are not picking up on the situation with the wife and that there is obviously a problem with her. It opens my eyes up and shows me that just because everything looks okay on the outside it does not always mean that everything is truly okay. In this self analysis, I have learned that there is an internal conflict in jst about everything. Generally, when there is one you have a choice. Your choices are usually between what your heart believes and what your head believes. It has changed me and made me look at the bigger picture when reading; the smallest details matter just as much if not more as the bigger details. Getting a closer look into these stories, I felt as though I could picture myself in their shoes and it made me realize that their decisions were not easy and that it took a lot to come to the make the right decision, which for most was going with their hearts.
In the novel Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff, there are many examples of conflict. The self-conflict in this story is especially striking.
The short story, “The White Heron” and the poem, “A Caged Bird” are both alike and different in many ways. In the next couple of paragraphs I will explain these similarities and differences and what makes them unique to the stories.
Often times, a seemingly simple story can convey complex themes. In her short story “A White Heron,” Sarah Orne Jewett is able to dive into the sexuality of her main character Sylvia. Though seemingly innocent on the surface, the reader might interpret the hunt for the elusive white heron as Sylvia’s discovery of herself and her sexuality. Though sexuality may seem like a mature topic for such a young character, it is irresponsible to completely ignore it. Especially in a story with innuendos that rival a romance novel. Jewett uses sexual undertones in the search for a white heron to bring light to Sylvia’s questioning of her sexuality.
Another internal conflict is how Lilly feels responsible for her mother?s death. When she was four, she accidentally shot her mom, and wasn?t able to forgive herself. The reason she runs away in the first place is because her dad tells her that her mom left her, which is both an internal, and man versus man conflict. She?s mad at her dad for saying it, but can?t fully convince herself that it isn?t true. There?s a man versus society conflict when men beat up Rossaleen because of her color, and another internal conflict when May is so overcome with grief that she cant stop crying.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story about an anonymous female narrator and her husband John who is a physician who has rented a colonial manner in the summer. Living in that house, the narrator felt odd living there. Her husband, john who is a physician and also a doctor to his wife felt that the narrator is under nervous depression. He further mentions that when a person is under depression, every feeling is an odd feeling. Therefore, the narrator was not given permission by John to work but just to take medication and get well fast. This made the narrator to become so fixated with the yellow wallpaper in the former nursery in which she located. She was depressed for a long time and became even more depressed. This ha...
"The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts a woman in isolation, struggling to cope with mental illness, which has been diagnosed by her husband, a physician. Going beyond this surface level, the reader sees the narrator as a developing feminist, struggling with the societal values of the time. As a woman writer in the late nineteenth century, Gilman herself felt the adverse effects of the male-centric society, and consequently, placed many allusions to her own personal struggles as a feminist in her writing. Throughout the story, the narrator undergoes a psychological journey that correlates with the advancement of her mental condition. The restrictions which society places on her as a woman have a worsening effect on her until illness progresses into hysteria. The narrator makes comments and observations that demonstrate her will to overcome the oppression of the male dominant society. The conflict between her views and those of the society can be seen in the way she interacts physically, mentally, and emotionally with the three most prominent aspects of her life: her husband, John, the yellow wallpaper in her room, and her illness, "temporary nervous depression." In the end, her illness becomes a method of coping with the injustices forced upon her as a woman. As the reader delves into the narrative, a progression can be seen from the normality the narrator displays early in the passage, to the insanity she demonstrates near the conclusion.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, through expressive word choice and descriptions, allows the reader to grasp the concepts she portrays and understand the way her unnamed narrator feels as the character draws herself nearer and nearer to insanity. “The Yellow Wallpaper” begins with the narrator writing in a journal about the summer home she and her husband have rented while their home is being remodeled. In the second entry, she mentions their bedroom which contains the horrendous yellow wallpaper. After this, not one day goes by when she doesn’t write about the wallpaper. She talks about the twisting, never-ending pattern; the heads she can see hanging upside-down as if strangled by it; and most importantly the
In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator weaves a tale of a woman with deep seeded feelings of depression. Her husband, a physician, takes her to a house for a span of three months where he puts her in a room to recuperate. That “recuperation” becomes her nemesis. She is so fixated on the “yellow wallpaper” that it seems to serve as the definition of her bondage. She gradually over time begins to realize what the wallpaper seems to represents and goes about plotting ways to overcome it. In a discussion concerning the wallpaper she states, “If only that top pattern could be gotten off from the under one! I mean to try it, little by little.” “There are only two more days to get this paper off, and I believe John is beginning to notice. I don’t like the look in his eyes.”
“The Yellow Wallpaper” tells the story of a woman who is trapped in a room covered in yellow wallpaper. The story is one that is perplexing in that the narrator is arguably both the protagonist as well as the antagonist. In the story, the woman, who is the main character, struggles with herself indirectly which results in her descent into madness. The main conflicts transpires between the narrator and her husband John who uses his power as a highly recognize male physician to control his wife by placing limitations on her, forcing her to behave as a sick woman. Hence he forced himself as the superior in their marriage and relationship being the sole decision make. Therefore it can be said what occurred externally resulted in the central conflict of” “The Yellow Wallpaper being internal. The narrator uses the wallpaper as a symbol of authenticy. Hence she internalizes her frustrations rather then openly discussing them.
The Yellow Wallpaper was written as a realism story. It showed how woman felt they had the same opportunities as men in their personal choices. In this story, the woman expressed her worries to her husband who through good intentions, required that his wife stay in bed 24/7, and not do any of the things she would normally do. In effect his wife became worse until she reached the limit. The behavior of the husband at this time was completely normal. Men were the higher power over women and women, like the one in this story, felt that they couldn?t stand count for themselves.
Although both protagonists in the stories go through a psychological disorder that turns their lives upside down, they find ways to feel content once again. In Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a nervous wife, an overprotective husband, and a large, damp room covered in musty wallpaper all play important roles in driving the wife insane. Gilman's masterful use of not only the setting, both time and place, but also of first person point of view, allows the reader to process the woman's growing insanity. The narrator develops a very intimate relationship with the yellow wallpaper throughout the story, as it is her constant companion. Her initial reaction to it is a feeling of hatred; she dislikes the color and despises the pattern, but does not attribute anything peculiar to it. Two weeks into their stay she begins to project a sort of personality onto the paper, so she studies the pattern more closely, noticing for the first time “a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design” (Gilman). At this point, her madness is vague, but becoming more defined, because although the figure that she sees behind the pattern has no solid shape, she dwells on it and
“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts a woman (herself) that is somewhat trapped within a room covered with yellow wall paper or trapped within the times? Is she trapped by the wall paper that symbolizes her illness or by her husband? Gilman was the protagonist of this story. She tells the story as she relates it to her own life dealing with depression and a marriage that proved to be prison within itself. Is the yellow wall paper contributing to her illness or is this something her husband uses to control her? “John is a physician and perhaps that is one of the reasons that I do not get well faster. But John, her husband who is a physician doesn’t feel that she is sick “ if a physician of high standings and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency- what is one to do?” (pg. 648) You see he does not think I am sick.” John uses the fact that he is a physician to convince his wife that she
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator becomes more depressed throughout the story because of the recommendation of isolation that was made to her. In this short story the narrator is detained in a lonesome, drab room in an attempt to free herself of a nervous disorder. The narrator’s husband, a physician, adheres to this belief and forces his wife into a treatment of solitude. Rather than heal the narrator of her psychological disorder, the treatment only contributes to its effects, driving her into a severe depression. Under the orders of her husband, the narrator is moved to a house far from society in the country, where in she is locked into an upstairs room.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is the story of a woman descending into psychosis in a creepy tale which depicts the harm of an old therapy called “rest cure.” This therapy was used to treat women who had “slight hysterical tendencies” and depression, and basically it consisted of the inhibition of the mental processes. The label “slight hysterical tendency” indicates that it is not seen as a very important issue, and it is taken rather lightly. It is also ironic because her illness is obviously not “slight” by any means, especially towards the end when the images painted of her are reminiscent of a psychotic, maniacal person, while she aggressively tears off wallpaper and confuses the real world with her alternative world she has fabricated that includes a woman trapped in the wallpaper. The narrator of this story grows obsessed with the wallpaper in her room because her husband minimizes her exposure to the outside world and maximizes her rest.
The Yellow Wallpaper is a popular book when discussing psychology in the late nineteenth century. The author, Charlotte Gilman, wrote her experience of mental illness through her narrator. Gilman suffered with depression after giving birth and she never fully recovered from it. (Gilman 95). The narrator is depicted as a woman who has been diagnosed with what was called a nervous disorder. Her husband, a psychologist, gave her several different tonics and other substances that are supposed to make her better. She was also put on bed rest meaning that she was not able to work or do anything that would tire her out. She is told to go and rest several times during the story and it is evident that her ‘psychosis’ gets worse when she is forced to stay in her room and rest for the majority of her days and all night. She begins to see women in the pattern of her wallpaper and she becomes obsessed with it. The narrator becomes very protective of her wallpaper and gets almost jealous when she sees her sister-in-law looking at it and touching it. She even says “no person touches this pa...