Authors and writers alike must always consider the ethical implications of how they represent people, and topics. They must consider how their representations can be perceived by the persons represented, and by the general audience reading the text. What, however, is ethical, as there are many different ethical theories that try to explain and give a definitive answer on what is right and wrong? For the purpose of this essay, what is an ethical representation will be defined by the level of respect given to the subjects, the truthfulness of the information portrayed and the motives behind the representation. Helen Garners short story The Spare room, is a text that can be analysed to assess how taboo topics such as death has been represented …show more content…
and the ethics surrounding such representation, how Garners relationship with the subject of the story is represented, and how the genre of auto-fiction can influence the reception by the audience. Ultimately The Spare Room makes an attempt at representing its subjects and subject matter in a respectful manner, however falls short in some ethical consideration in relation to the exploitation of a deadly illness or how often the genre can misrepresent the truth.
The genre of writing is an aspect that has to be taken into consideration when analysing Garner’s story. Auto-fiction is a genre that blurs the lines between fiction and non fiction. In examples such as Seinfeld (1989-98), the overall premise is based on non-fiction, however the story itself is a fictionalised version of real life events, often dramatised or comically edited (Worthington, 2017, p. 471). Helen Garner’s The Spare Room is auto-fiction, meaning that the events are based on real events that happened in Garner’s life, however has been edited to suit the page. There in itself lies an ethical issue: how much and what has been edited out? The Genre of auto-fiction does not portray the truth, only partial truth, and it is up to the author as to what stays. However the question begs, is it ethical to be able to decide when to tell the truth and when to lie, and does that amount to a truthful therefore ethical representation of character? Said by Worthington (2017) auto-fiction “inevitably and deliberately lead readers to
wonder how much of what they depict is biographically factual.” (p. 476) This concept can be applied to Garner’s story, leading the readers to question what in the short story is factual, and which parts have been made up. The importance of representing the truth in writing relates to the level of respect owed to the subject of the story. Unfortunately in the case of The Spare Room, Nicola- Helen’s friend who had cancer- did not survive the ordeal. Human beings tend to favour themselves when writing, and in the case of auto-fiction where it is possible to fictionalise parts about yourself and others, it would be right to argue that Garner could write herself as a more compassionate person, whose only concern is to make her sick friend feel as comfortable as possible. In the story Garner represents Helen (the version of herself) as worrying and caring, fussing about in her spare bedroom to make it as comfortable for Nicola as possible, while she portrays the fictionalised version of Nicola as a shell of a person, almost non-human (Garner, 2008). Garner (2008) writes that “She was stripped of flesh, shuddering from head to foot like someone who has been out beyond the break too long in winter surf” (p. 12). Garner has represented Nicola in a grotesque manner, portraying her in a way that makes her seem almost frightening. Coupled with the genre, it could be inferred that this portrayal of Nicola’s character is a fictionalised, emphasised version of what she was truly like, thus aiding towards the misguided ethics of the story. The representation of topics within the story is another aspect to be taken into consideration when assessing the ethics of the text. Topics such as the death of a friend are often seen as taboo or sensitive to many people, because they contain many unpleasant often traumatic memories associated with said topics; family members who have died, friends that fell to cancer. Writing however can sometimes consolidate the emotions someone has about their experiences, and can almost be therapeutic. Gregory Shafer (2017, p. 36) said, “Writing about the loss of a loved one-through poems, stories, essays and songs-helped us to make sense of the world.” Writing about the death of a loved one can help to make sense of everything, and can help you grieve, however this is not the case in The Spare Room. Helen was not close to Nicola, as she had not seen her for several months and had only kept contact through emails, and what she did write about Nicola was less reminiscent of fond memories as you would expect writing about someone who has died, and more reminiscent of a subtle excuse to write about or rather exploit someone’s death. Relating back to the defined terms of ethics, exploiting someone’s death is not a respectful-and by extension ethical-way of talking about the topic, especially someone you knew, albeit not all that well. It almost seems as if Garner had seen Nicolas death as an opportunity to create something, not in her honour, but as a way to exploit her death for entertainment value, which once again as defined by the terms of my own ethical code, is an entirely unethical situation. Writing about someone who has died in such a personal manner is another consideration that must be made when discussing the ethics of representation. Writing about someone who is alive is very different to writing about someone who is dead. When writing about someone who is still alive you are dealing with someone who’s life is still changing, and can still take a turn at any moment rendering your work redundant, while also writing about someone who might read your work and react to it in a certain way (Strangio, 2001, p.32). Writing about the deceased however, means that you can write whatever you want, and they will never and can never find out what you have written. When writing about someone who is dead, it should still be taken into account the loved ones of those people, and even though they are dead, they still deserve the same respect as a living subject. An ethical consideration would be to ask the loved ones of the deceased about guidelines or any limitations or topics that should not be written about. Garner in The Spare Room has written Nicola in such a way that it is unlikely the family of Nicola would have agreed to it, however Garner (2008) writes that there was no one looking after Nicola, and that she had no husband or children (p. 15), and that her parents were presumably already dead (inferred by Helen’s Grandmother status), meaning that there was no one for Garner to ask about what to write about, giving her a limitless horizon. However she should have still thought about how-had Nicola had a family-they would have felt about it, once again raising concerns about the ethics of Garners Representation of Nicola and her death. In Conclusion, the ethics of representing not only people, alive or dead, but topics and relationships, are a slippery slope and have many different considerations and situations that must be taken into account when writing. Helen Garner’s story The Spare Room has evidently made a feeble attempt at representing the topic of death, and her friend Nicola’s death, but has ultimately been misguided. Analysing aspects of the story such as the genre and the assumptions and conventions of auto-fiction, representing taboo subjects that are sensitive to many people, and the implications of writing about the dead versus the living, it is able to be gathered that while at a first glance The Spare Room may seem like a loving tribute to a lost friend, underneath it is a subtle exploitation of a deadly illness, and a dehumanising lie about the character of the author and the subject.
Judging a book by its cover is like judging a person by the words that describe him or her. Some of them are accurate, but the physical being of a person can tell you a story untold. In Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes, the reader witnesses what the description of a single character can do to the voice of a piece. Frank’s use of pathos and characterization when it came to Angela, his mother, spoke volumes in his memoir, but when applied to the big screen, her character was amplified. It was then the reader realized that Angela’s true effect and purpose in Frank’s life was to be his main influence.
Such appeal can be presented by either figurative language or pathos. Furthermore, Mike Rose presented various appeals in his article by including personal narratives of his hard working relatives. He begins his argument by introducing his mother and proceeds by describing his childhood (272). This valuable information intrigues the audience and conveys some form of connection to the author and the article. In addition, Rose speaks on behalf of his uncle by providing details about his uncle’s experience while working in a paint factory. Mike Rose recalls a tour of the factory “The floor was loud---in some cases deafening---and when I turned a corner or opened a door, the smell of chemicals knocked my head back” This vivid imagery not only describes a setting, it also persuades readers to feel sorrow but most of all respect towards hard workers such as those who work in
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
Throughout your life, you’ll face tough decisions where you'll have to decide possibly against your ethical beliefs. Ethics don’t necessarily always have to involve law abiding. It’s rather about trusting your moral path and doing the right thing. Dori Meinert is the author of “Creating an Ethical Workplace” she explains the thought behind the never black or white decision making when it comes to businesses. Can businesses truly trust those individuals hired to steer their companies? It was mentioned that last year 41 percent of U.S. workers said they observed unethical or illegal misconduct on the job, according to the Ethics Resource Center's 2013 National Business Ethics Survey. Meinert’s article was not only eye-opening but very truthful since we’ve all been faced or witnessed unethical decision making. Once employees see individuals breaking the rules and regulations others will then think it's okay, which could result in employees leaving or major hoops for companies to jump through. When we tolerate misconduct we lower productivity and diminish the reputation of a company. Meinert mentioned that if
Barbara Huttman’s “A Crime of Compassion” has many warrants yet the thesis is not qualified. This is a story that explains the struggles of being a nurse and having to make split-second decisions, whether they are right or wrong. Barbara was a nurse who was taking care of a cancer patient named Mac. Mac had wasted away to a 60-pound skeleton (95). When he walked into the hospital, he was a macho police officer who believed he could single-handedly protect the whole city (95). His condition worsened every day until it got so bad that he had to be resuscitated two or three times a day. Barbara eventually gave into his wishes to be let go. Do you believe we should have the right to die?
In this paper we will be look at the book called “Lying on the Couch”. I will be going over what I saw as the biggest ethical issues that I read about in this book, I will also go over my thoughts on this book and the ethical problems that I saw for Dr. Lash, Carol and Marshal Streider. I will explain my personal opinion regarding self-care and my reasoning as to why it is so important to maintaining clear boundaries.
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” are both centralized on the feministic views of women coming out to the world. Aside from the many differences within the two short stories, there is also similarities contained in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” such as the same concept of the “rest treatment” was prescribed as medicine to help deal with their sickness, society’s views on the main character’s illness, and both stories parallel in the main character finding freedom in the locked rooms that they contain themselves in.
Sociologists often employ intersectionality theory to describe and explain facets of human interactions. This particular methodology operates on the notion that sociologically defining characteristics, such as that of race, gender, and class, are not independent of one another but function simultaneously to determine our individual social experiences. This is evident in poetry as well. The combination of one poet’s work that expresses issues on class with another poet’s work that voices issues on race, and so forth, can be analyzed through a literary lens, and collectively embody the sociological intersectionality theory.
Lena Lingard is the best example of a non-domestic central character which appears amidst the domesticity of My Ántonia. Often the sections which feature Lena instead of Ántonia are seen as confusing divergences from the plot line of a novel that purports to be about the woman named in the title. However, since Lena appears in the novel almost as often as Ántonia, and more often than any other character except Jim, she is a central character. Lena is a working woman who refuses to accept the constraints society places upon her. Even when society predicts that by becoming a dressmaker instead of marrying she will fail and become a "loose" woman, she disrupts their expectations and succeeds.
Boyle and Hemingway use the same three elements of fiction to tell the story; both stories are written about pregnancy, abortion, and manipulation; on the other hand, they have their difference because their main characters differ in maturity. One wonder about up to what degree is abortion considered to be a crime. Both couple considered the same crime, although China and Jeremy’s actions are unthinkable to the eyes of the reader.
The Yellow Wallpaper, Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is comprised as an assortment of journal entries written in first person, by a woman who has been confined to a room by her physician husband who he believes suffers a temporary nervous depression, when she is actually suffering from postpartum depression. He prescribes her a “rest cure”. The woman remains anonymous throughout the story. She becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in the room, and engages in some outrageous imaginations towards the wallpaper. Gilman’s story depicts women’s struggle of independence and individuality at the rise of feminism, as well as a reflection of her own life and experiences.
Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men. In The Story of an Hour, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman with a heart condition who learns of her husband’s untimely death in a railroad disaster. Instinctively weeping, as any woman is expected to do upon learning of her husband’s death, she retires to her room to be left alone so she may collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is conflicted with the feelings and emotions that are “approaching to possess her.”
A narrative is constructed to elicit a particular response from its audience. In the form of a written story, authors use specific narrative strategies to position the ‘ideal reader’ to attain the intended understanding of the meanings in the text. Oliver Sacks’ short story The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is an unusual short story because it does not display conventional plot development; the story does not contain conflict or resolution of conflict. The genre of the story is also difficult to define because it reads as an autobiographical account of an experience Sacks had with a patient while working as a neurologist. Although it is arguable that the narrative is a work of non-fiction, it is nevertheless a representation, distinct from a reflection of the real events. It is a construction, Sacks chose the elements that were included and omitted in the narrative and used narrative strategies to position readers to process the signs in the text and produce reach the dominant understanding. This blurring of truth and fiction is similar to that in the genre of ‘new journalism’. Although, rather than being a journalist writing a fictional piece of journalism, Sacks is a doctor writing a fictional medical analysis. To influence readers’ comprehension of the narrative, Sacks utilised the point of view strategy of subjective narration, atypical in this short story in that a characterisation or representation of Oliver Sacks is the narrator and Oliver Sacks the person is the real author. The story is character-driven rather than plot-driven and regardless of how accurate a depiction of the real people the characters are, they are constructions. Sacks gave the characters of Doctor P. and his namesake admirable and sympathetic trait...
In "Haunted House/Haunted Heroine: Female Gothic Closets in The Yellow Wallpaper”, Carol Davison argues that the narrator represents the Female Gothic mode that uses the supernatural to advance political ends. The political ends are autonomy and the ownership of the road to one’s identity, which is difficult for women in the nineteenth century. Davison asserts that the Female Gothic is different from the Male Gothic because the former has uniquely repressed fears and doubts due to their gender roles and expectations (50). The Female Gothic is concerned of her lost self and wants authority. Davison asserts that Jane emphasizes authority through writing “The Yellow Wallpaper”: “Authority” is crucial as her concerted act of secretly chronicling her side of the story, her unofficial version of events, is outlawed by her paternalist husband who…”refuses to believe that she is seriously ill” (Davison 56). The diary, or the story, shows the stark difference between a man’s world and a woman’s world, with the former using rational, cold science, while the latter relies on personal experiences and social interactions (Davison 57). Male physicians recommended phosphates or phosphides—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to work, while she personally disagrees with their ideas because she thinks that “congenial work, with excitement and change, would do her good” (Gilman). These differences in treatments underscore the political nature of the story, as it challenges the rational medical structure as a component of a patriarchal society that does not actually help women with psychological
“All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.”This quotation can have various interpretations. One main idea which Gabriel García Márquez is portraying in this quote is that privacy is vital for a person and gives the individual autonomy and individuality. Without privacy a person would not be able to live normally. However privacy can and is violated in various scenarios, for instance, in marriage.