Stories

The story I liked the most is " The Yellow Wallpaper." I liked it because it kept me on the edge of my seat wandering what is going to happen with the narrator and the wallpaper. I also liked the underlying message about marriages and how some women feel trapped. I think Charlotte Perkins Gilman used symbolism and irony to explain the underlying message to her audience, and I think she did a very good job of it. She vividly painted a picture of the narrator and her actions so well, that I thought I was there observing the narrator as she was.

The story I disliked the most would have to be "Girl." To me the way Jamaica Kincaid wrote this story was insignificant in relaying the underlying message. I think there are a hundred more ways to get the message across to the audience that is more indepth, and more descriptive. I think it needed more actions and more of a story line, but of course that is my opinion and that is what I like to read.

"The Conscience of the Court"

I think Laura Lee's loyalty toward Celestine is greatly appreciated. I think Celestine treats her well and I know this because Laura Lee talks about how much she feels a part of the family. If Celestine was treating her bad, I think Laura Lee would have taken one of those chances and left when she had the chance. I think as long as she feels like a part of the family and is not being treated badly, I think she should stay, if that is where she wants to be. I don't think she was pressured to stay at all, it seemed like it was all free will.

I think Laura Lee's testimony impacted the story in a big way. I don't think the story told by someone else would have been as effective. Her testimony definitely created sympathy for her character and in a sense, drew the audience/jury in. I don't think it slowed the story down at all, I think it gave much needed background on Laura and her family.

"A Worn Path"

I think in this story that Phoenix can be a little crazy at times. I think that a lot of the things she goes through and sees are just in her head and are not actually taking place. Several times throughout her journey through the woods, she talks to the animals who aren't there, thinks a scarecrow is a man, and sees a little boy (who isn't real) offering her cake. I think once she gets in to town, she starts to realize within herself that the town is reality and it confuses her. While in the office building she take a long time to realize why she is there and answer back to the nurse. I think this shows her confusion in dealing with actual reality. I believe that her grandson died a couple of years ago, and she still believes that he is alive. I think she doesn't want to accept the fact that he is dead, so she still goes through the routine of picking up his medicine and taking care of him. I think that the townspeople are just going along with it because they know she is an old lady, and they don't want to break the news to her.

"A Spinster's Tale"

Elizabeth has definitely changed from the beginning of the story to the end. At the beginning she is but a child who is afraid of everything and is trying to cope with life without a motherly influence. She is full of questions, and is at a time where she is trying to figure out herself, and life in general. She goes through several tough times, included the passing of her mother, her brothers tendency to drink alcohol, her fathers shaky emotions, and her encounters with her fears ( Mr. Speed).

Her continual watch for Mr. Speed in a way shows her slowly stepping up to her fears and growing up. The story mentions how when she was younger and her mother was alive, she would bury her head in her mother so she wouldn't have to look at the old man. As the story goes on, she slowly moves towards the window and watches a little bit at a time to where she finally has an encounter with him. After calling the police, she actually feels sorry for this man that she used to be so afraid of. At this point I seen how much she grew in her maturity. She didn't just feel sorry for him because he was going to jail, but she actually said " I saw myself as a little beast adding to the injury that what was bestial in man had already done him." She pitied him and felt sorry for him because of everything he had probably went through to make him the way he was.

"The Lady With Her Dog"

Anna's emotions change drastically from the beginning of the story to the end about the affair. At the beginning she is reluctant and afraid someone is watching them, and she is also insecure in this new relationship. I think her attitude becomes more relaxed at the end because they are now both in a situation where they are discussing how they are going to see each other more. I think the long absence between the two had a lot to do with it. I think Anna realized when she went back home how unhappy she was and how much happier she is with Dmitry. It made her long for him even more, to the extent of wanting to see him more and not caring that they are having an affair.

I think the fence surrounding Anna's house could symbolize a barrier between the two and maybe how their desired end to be together may never happen. It also may have something to do with Anna's marriage to her husband and she is trapped in her marriage and can't escape. There really isn't enough in the story about her marriage to say this, but it very well could be a possibility. Something from within her marriage could be holding her back from Dmitry.

"The Girls In the Summer Dresses"

I think the relationship problem between Michael and Frances is man vs self. I think Michael has issues with being tied down in a relationship. I think he likes women too much to be tied down by one. It has nothing to do with not loving Frances, he just has a problem within himself that is overtaking his marriage. It is obvious that his problem has been an argument ever since the couple has been married. It seems like they cover up this problem with their friends, and this is even more evident at the end of the story when they conclude their argument by agreeing to call their friends. I definitely sympathize more with Frances just because of the way Michael is treating her. He makes her feel so insecure and basically like she isn't there whenever he continually stares at these girls. She seems to be a good wife, but her low self esteem, and insecurities causes her to question her relationship with Michael, and I don't blame her.

"Desiree's Baby"

I really liked this story because of the twists in it. The ending was by far the best part and it makes one think of how they treat people. It definitely showed that one better be careful at judging, because more than likely, they do, act, or possess that same trait that they are judging. I liked Armand's character at the beginning of the story simply because he was loving and seemed to be a nice guy to Desiree. Throughout the rest of the story I did not like him because of his judgmental attitude towards Desiree, just because of her ethnicity. I feel like if he had a problem with marrying someone of a different race, then he should have found out about her origin before he married her.

I think the effect of the irony at the end of the story was simply to set up this whole idea of thinking before you judge. It turns out what he disowned his wife for was a real situation in his own family. Throughout the story he acted as if he was above the black people, when all along he was in a sense apart of them. At the end, I felt no sympathy for him, I felt like he had it coming to him for treating his wife and son the way he did.

"Everything That Rises Must Converge"

"Everything that rises" I think is just the prejudice that continually we see rising in the mother. The story starts out with really no inclination as to her being prejudice, but as the story develops and she gets among the white people, her prejudice is evident. I think it rises in her and we see it build up frustrations inside her, especially whenever her son Julian takes the seat next to a colored man. Also, she is almost disgusted at the colored lady who is wearing the exact same hat as her. The 'must converge" part is the idea that in order to get along in society, one must realize that the times aren't as they used to, and racisim is no longer an issue. I think Julian was the one who was intended to help his mother adapt and realize that to live in this "new" society, everyone has to get along treat each other as equal. Julian was totally embarrassed throughout the entire story due to the fact that his mother was still stuck in her old ways, or her old life.

I think Julian is the most sympathetic to me because I can relate more to him about knowing how the times are now and dealing with people who are still living back when they were younger. At times it can be embarrassing simply because they don't know how much the times have changed and certain things shouldn't be said or done anymore. I also sympathize with the way he is still hanging on to his mother and trying to sway her in a new direction. Most people would have gotten frustrated with the situation, but because she has taken care of him, he is trying to take care of her, but in a different sense.

"Good Country People"

The phrase "good country people" is repeated over and over in the story to get it across to the audience who the characters in the story think are good people. It helped the audience get a feel on what the characters meant by saying 'good country people," and its repetition made it seem like there's not many people who are considered "good." Mrs. Hopewell even says to the boy, which ends up being ironic because of who he turns out to be, how "there aren't enough good country people in the world."Mrs. Hopewell at first describes the Bible sales boy as a good person, but then he ends up being a heartless thief. I think the story's irony is meant to show how people can often time judge people the wrong way. Both Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga judged the sales boy wrong, and their wrong judgement ended with Hulga in a bad situation.

"A Worn Path"

My group chose this story because compared to "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," it followed a more chronological path. Also, some in the group didn't like the other story mentioned above, so we decided to go with " A Worn Path." We also seen a variety of ways that we could use this story to do the social networking page. It seemed it fit a lot better into the assignment than the other story.

"The Conversion of the Jews"

I don't think the adults handled Ozzie's questions about the religion well at all. All they did was make his problem worse and confuse him. Slapping him, or scolding him obviously wasn't working because he was still asking questions, so they should have realized this. In my opinion they shouldn't have even scolded him for asking questions, he is just a curious little boy. I think they were confused, or didn't know the answer themselves, and they didn't want to face the fact that maybe the little boy was right. I don't think he was out of line at all, anyone has a right to ask a question.

I think Manischevitz questions were alright to ask just as Ozzie's were. I thought it appropriate whenever he was asking questions of the angel and why he was there. I don't think he was doubting that there couldn't be angels, I just think he was concerned why this man he didn't know was in his house. It was just hard for him to believe that an angel was there in his presence.

Author's Note

My film adaptation is probably a couple of drafts into the development process. I changed parts of it from the originial outline to make it a little more interesting, and longer. I feel that it is a couple of drafts into because I could probably sit down and explain a lot more than I did, but then it would be way longer than seven pages. I think where I stopped gave enough information about all 6 elements, without paying more attention to one than another.

I like this piece because of the creativity and the fact that there was no limits to what I could include. I liked how I tied it into real situations that are going on today and how I mixed the 6 elements up to correspond with the elements they relate to. I basically just took the larger message of the short story and used it to create a real life situation. It seem to all come together, which element should go where, when I was writing. I am not really worried about the content of the paper, just the grammar part of it. I usually have a hard time because I have always been known to word things a little differently. So if you could, just give me general feedback on my wording. Thanks

"Paul's Case"

I think New York City is so much more different to Paul than where he lives because in New York he is free. I think he feels more like an individual and free from his school, his father, and his responsibilities. He went to New York after he discovered that he could no longer go to the theatres and the shows. I feel like at that point he felt his freedoms being taken away from him, in a sense those freedoms were all he lived for. Going to the theatre and watching everything around him was his individual time he had for himself, and without it, he would be a nobody that went about their daily routine with no dreams or ambitions. Being in those places made him feel like he was apart of something great, something that he dreamed about becoming. I don't think he could be himself at home or at school, and in these places he felt right at home.

While reading this story, I picked up on the homosexual tendencies of Paul. I first thought that is was just me seeing it, but after reading the quote from Paul Russell, assured me that those were hints toward it. The way Cather uses some words to describe how Paul feels was a big hint for me. She elaborately goes on about how he loves clothes, flowers, and more of the feminist objects that women usually love. Her descriptions of these and the fact that she focuses a little more than usual, hints at his homosexuality. So this revelation deepens the meaning of his freedom and explains why he didn't feel at home on Cordelia St. In a sense he felt the pressures society has against growing up, getting a job, getting married and having kids, and he knew he didn't think like that. So once in New York, he could feel more of those homosexual feelings without feeling the pressures from his home/school life.

"Intervention"

In "Intervention", generational conflict is between the children and their parents. It makes the plot/conflict different because the mother knows more than her children do and that's the reason she doesn't want to tell her husband he has a problem. She is still tore up about her mistake she made, that she is afraid to even accuse someone else of their mistake, especially the one who she did wrong. I don't think her kids understand her situation because they were too young to remember and experience it for themselves. So their is a greater conflict going on aside from Sids problem and it deals with the children vs their mother. They don't understand why their mother knows Sid has a problem and won't deal with it or talk to him about it. She admits to them all what Sid does, which in the end is one of the reasons why they know he has a problem, but when it comes down to all of them taking him to intervention, she says " we can fix it on our own." Their is a struggle within herself and with her children over the mistake she made years ago.

6 Elements

Title:
Entangled, because it means to be deeply involved especially in a something complicated. It also means to be twisted together in a tangled mass. This to me describes the narrator in the story "The Yellow Wallpaper." Entangled describes what she sees in the wall paper which is also how she feels in her marriage. It will catch audiences attention because the word alone is mysterious and makes viewers wander why, who, or what is entangled? It has a mysterious tone to it, which will also be in the movie.

Character:
The narrator (from the short story) will be named Rose and will be played by Charlize Theron. She is a well rounded actress that can play just about any part handed to her. She has been in some romantic movies that deal with love and relationships, but has also been in movies that show she can play the tough woman role. For example, she played in Sweet November and Monster which are two totally opposite roles. Her character Rose is going to be a well-likeable person who has many friends, but deep down she is going crazy. She is in a sense faking her attitude and personality in front of her friends and acquaintances.

John is going to be played by Ben Affleck. He is also a well rounded actor who has also dealt with love and relationships. He has been in Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, and in each he is in a particular role where he has either a girlfriend or a wife. His character John is a physician and extremely intelligent, but doesn't have a clue what he is doing to his wife. He is driving her to insanity by the pressure he puts on her to be a good wife and mother, constantly directing her. He is also a workaholic and is rarely home to spend time with the family, but when he is home, spending time with her is minimal. I think Ben Affleck is a plays strong males roles in relationships, and I believe he is the perfect actor to pick because he can be both loving and assertive, and the roles he has played before prove it, especially a recent one "He's Just Not That Into You."

Friends: Rose has two main friends of whom are played by Jennifer Aniston, and Katherine Heigl. All other friends are minor characters with little to no lines. Jennifer Aniston was chosen because of her role in the sitcom Friends. Obviously she is good at playing the friend role and would work perfect in the situation, even though it will be less humorous than Friends. Katherine Heigl stars on Grey's Anatomy and also plays a friend role to the other interns. In both TV shows, their characters are both very good at hiding how they feel, which is one thing that is neccessary in this movie.

Setting:
I will keep the setting from the short story, simply because the feelings that Rose feels about her marriage is more realistic in the 19th century than it is today. The setting is going to be in Connecticut.

Plot/Conflict:
Techniques- There will be a background of Rose's character just to give the audience a perspective that she is a normal, sane woman. The background will start a couple of years before she marries John, and then the plot will slowly walk through the years they are married to show the slow decay of Rose. Throughout the story she will be flashback to when she was younger and how free she was to do anything she liked, and she will continually compare that to where she is now. There will also be a brief background on John in order to develop his character.
Conflict- There will obviously be man vs man- Rose against her husband, but also man vs society which is Rose vs society and its norms. The movie will go more into depth on how Rose feels towards the role of a woman in a marriage and how all her friends around her seem to be normal and loving their "wife" position. She can't understand them and feels sorry for them for being happy under the circumstances that woman are in when they marry. In the movie, she will not be locked down in one room, but will seem to act as a normal woman, but the audience will see her on the inside and how she deeply feels.

Irony:
The main irony is that she appears to be normal to everyone around her, but deep inside she is going insane from being trapped in her marriage role. There is also dramatic iron incorporated in because she views her friends as happy in their marriage and loving their roles as wifes, but the truth is they feel the same as her, she just doesn't know it. So on the side, the audience will be able to see quick scenes, or conversations between each other, that let the audience in on this irony. Rose figures it out at the end, and whenever she figures out how to escape, she goes and helps her friends, in which some confess while others remain silent.

Symbolism:
Instead of having a yellow wallpaper in the movie, I replaced the symbolism of the wallpaper with her friends. Just as she is watching the wallpaper and trying to figure it out, in the movie she is trying to figure out how her friends can be happy in their marriages and she can't (not knowing that they aren't happy, just as she is not happy but putting up a front). Her friends symbolize the idea of marriage to a young girl and how happy it seems looking on from the outside, but once in, it is like nothing but being in a cage. There will be several symbols pointing to her caged in spirit, and it will be a lot easier to see in a movie than in the short story. For example, the expressions on her face and her actions toward her husband when he is directing her around, and through the conversations she has to herself. Also, her appearance will continually get worse and the audience will almost begin to see the life drain out of her with the way she looks.

"Gorilla, My Love", "Everyday Use", & "Girl"

In each story, I probably take the younger generation's side because I seem to relate to them more. In "Gorilla, My Love", it seems that a lot of what Hazel does revolves around what she has been taught. I can relate to that, and I am sure everyone can to an extent. I would have to say I am who I am today partly because of my family and the way I was raised. Hazel is loud and outspoken and anyone can clearly see that her family's that exact same way. Just as her mother stands up for what she believes to the teachers at the school, so also does Hazel try and stand up to the movie theatre manager. In "Everyday Use", I tend to side with Maggie, simply because she is quiet and really close with her mother. She seems to respect her mother way more than Dee ever has and it seems she is influenced more by her mother than Dee is. Dee has her own ideals and style, and Maggie seems to stick to what she knows which is how she was raised. In "Girl" I also would side with the younger generation because that is the stage where I am at now. To me, this story was a to do list made by a mother to her young adult daughter describing the roles and responsibilities held by a woman. So once again, the younger generation is being taught by the older generation, and I relate more to the younger generation in all three stories.

Film Adaptation Essay ( Story Choice)

For my film adaptation essay I am going to do "The Yellow Wallpaper". I will stretch the beginning by going into more detail about each character, and an even more detail on the background of the main characters. I want to also go into more detail about how the marriage affects the narrator (the women). I am also going to explain and put more in the film about the setting and the time period, that way viewers will understand the difference in marriages then and now. This is just a few changes I have briefly thought about.

I haven't seen Minority Report, but I can imagine what the film is like. It has to be set in the future because of the Precrime, and how the government works. I am thinking the film has more twists in it than the short story. So far what I have read in the story, it seems like the audience knows to much, so I think in the film there are more questions being asked by the audience. I also think, they go into more detail about the characters of John and Ed. In the story, we really don't know much about them, and I feel that we should know more. I think the beginning will be lengthened with these details of the characters, and how they get to where they are. Also, the Precrime system is probably explained and easier to follow in the movie. I think being able to see what's going on whenever John is explaining the system to Ed will be more helpful, because in the story it is kind of confusing to me.

"The Yellow Wallpaper"

I believe that this short story's meaning deals with the imprisonment and role of women in marriage. All throughout the story we see symbols that point to this conclusion. First off is the setting in which the narrator is surrounded by, which is simply a room. The fact that the room is secluded upstairs has barred windows, a bed that is nailed to the floor, exercise hooks on the wall, a ghostly image that appears through the wallpaper, and a gate separating her from downstairs represents a gloomy atmoshphere. These could all be symbols of an imprisoned cage or type of jail cell that the narrator is living in. This can be related to a woman's role in a marriage and the imprisonment that is felt by some when they get married, perhaps how the narrator felt in her marriage. She alludes to the fact that John is a physician and very smart and he takes care of everything and also directs her in certain matters. For example, she says " he is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction." So we can see how she feels intimidated by his stature and his way of ordering her even though it is done with love.

She wants out of the hold that he has on her and I can see this whenever she talks about outside and how lovely it is. She views outside as freedom and wants to be apart of that, not of the terrible jail cell she is currently in. She looks out into the "world" and sees how beautiful everything is just as a woman may look out from her marriage and see how desirable everything around her is, but she can't do anything but sit and watch, just as the narrator sits and watches through the window.

The yellow wallpaper symbolizes the idea of marriage and how it traps women into confusion whenever they try and figure it out. This pattern dominates the wallpaper, just as some marriages dominate the women, and we see this everytime the narrator expresses her confusion when trying to figure it out. Also, the narrator towards the end of the story notices a woman trapped behind the wallpaper. This is the point whenever the narrator feels she has to get out. She writes about the girl, " she is trying to climb through, but nobody could climb through [the] pattern--- it strangles so." Finally at the end she breaks through and comes to the conclusion that if she destroys it, it can be defeated. She remarks to her husband, " I've got out at last, in spite you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" This last exclamation simply is the narrating realizing that to end this imprisonment, she is going to have to end the marriage.

"Hills Like White Elephants"

The operation Jig is thinking about doing is obviously an abortion. The first instance where we are told anything about the "secret" operation, the man says to Jig "it's really an awfully simple operation," in fact he even goes as far as saying "it's not really an operation at all." At this time I knew they were discussing an operation, but what kind I wasn't sure, until I noticed the girl's reaction to what the man was saying. She was quiet, and when she did talk, her words were of concern, not about the surgery, but about what happens afterwards. For example, she asks, "what will we do afterwards,"and "if I do it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me?" This is an obvious clue because she is worried about their relationship and where it will be after the abortion. Besides her concern for the aftermath of the operation, the man's overall casual attitude ensures that the operation is an abortion. He is in a way pushing this operation onto her and comforting her by saying it will bring happiness and be like old times. He forces her to think more about their relationship and the aftermath of it than how she really feels and how it will affect her emotionally. She says, "Then I'll do it. Because I don't care about me."

Jig and the man aren't realizing the physical and emotional toll it has on a woman. I think in the back of Jig's mind she is worried about it, but the man is talking her out of her own thoughts. She is in love, and is worried more about keeping the man around than trusting her own thoughts.

Introduction

Hi I'm Tuesdi Crist and I am a Senior here at TCU. I will be graduating May 2010 with my BBA in Accounting, and then continue on to grad school at TCU the very next year. I will have my Masters of Accounting degree by May of 2011. I just recently was accepted as an intern for an accounting firm here in Fort Worth, and I am extremely excited about the opportunity.

I am taking this course to fulfill the requirement, and also because fiction is my favorite to read. I don't read a whole lot, but when I do, it is fiction. In the past, I haven't had time to read, so by taking this course, I am looking forward to actually having time to read. I am also looking forward to being exposed to the many different authors and stories that this class has lined up for us to read. I have taken one other literature class here at TCU, Major American Writers, and it was very interesting. There was a lot or reading to do in that class, but when it came down to it, it held my interest; so I guess you could say I enjoy reading.

I believe that the discussions during class about what we read the night before will really help me get a better grasp on the reading. I learn the best whenever we discuss it as a group because I can compare what I got out of it to what my fellow classmates thought. I hope to accomplish everything in this course that it takes to make an A. One thing that is interesting about me is I am a first degree Black belt in American Karate. I was in karate for 8 years, started when I was 10, and I had to postpone it for a while to get my degree and career started. After I get my life started, I will more than likely start up again.

I have read, understand and agree to the terms of the course syllabus.