The Yellow Wallpaper

In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the relationship between man and wife was extremely strange. First, I thought it was completely irrational to put the person he “loves” basically in solitary confinement. Sure, it was one of the cures for something like this at the time, but it obviously did a lot more harm than good. I think everyone knows the feeling that when you are in a room for so long, things start becoming intriguing, and they may not be as they seem. You’ll see something deeper than what it really is, or start imagining wacky things. Also, I can only imagine how claustrophobic she feels. It’s completely insane that she didn’t stand up for herself! She was in a room that she basically hated, with horrible wallpaper, she couldn’t see anyone (not even her child), and she had some kind of emotional problem. I feel very sympathetic towards her with the fact that this is her only option. Just because her husband is a doctor, he thinks that this is the best thing for her. But I believe that now in society, this would be looked down upon in many ways. Also, the relationship they had with each other was awfully strange. It was almost like he was her father and she was the innocent, helpless child. He is also extremely controlling towards her. Because she had this “illness”, she is too screwed up to be thinking for herself. Today, the class discussion was about feminism, and I think this plays a role in it some ways. Since the narrator is a woman, the man thinks that he is doing what is best for her and making her decisions for her. She has no say in the matter, and what he thinks is right is automatically what is going to happen. This shows the dominance of the male in the relationship and whatever they say, is what it is put into play.

Ethan Frome-Article Analysis

"Under the Granite Outcroppings of Ethan Frome"
by: Helen Killoran

In the article I chose, the thesis talked about how immoral Ethan Frome was for society. She discussed each character and if you look through each character, which one was more immoral than the other. Her findings shocked me. Of course most believe falling in love with your wife’s cousin is bad, but I thought Zeena would have been the most immoral. I was extremely wrong. In fact, in this article she is actually praised for having the most moralistic character. She discusses how Zeena did the right thing by trying to get rid of Mattie, and how horrible it was for Ethan to try and get her to stay. She also talks about reasons why Zeena couldn’t be without Ethan for several reasons. She was extremely “sick”, and she needed constant care, and also there is the theory that she had a miscarriage. When Wharton writes about the “dead cucumber vines dangling from the porch like the crape streamer ties to the door for a death” (Wharton 51), most believe she is referring to the fetus tied to the umbilical cord of Zeena. This shows one of the major reasons for Zeena trying to make this marriage work between the two of them. She and Ethan have been through so much, and I think she believed that there was no other way. Ethan was the most immoral character of the entire novella. He falls in love with someone while he is married, he can’t provide children for his wife (so he gave up and doesn’t want to care for her illnesses), and he tries to commit suicide. This shows how little his morals are as a person. I think that this argues its thesis extremely well. Helen Killoran knows exactly what points to make and really turns this whole book around. I found myself almost hating Zeena, but now I understand why she did what she did. I was unaware of all of this background information. Killoran does an amazing job showing the readers what is going on through Zeena’s perspective. I agree with what she writes, but I can also disagree. If Zeena really loved Ethan then she would be looking out for what is best for him, not her “wellness”. I think that you love who you love, and maybe Ethan just wasn’t feeling it anymore. In Ethan’s defense, she didn’t act to loving either. Most thought that she didn’t care about him at all. But overall, this was a great read and I’m glad I got to see it in another perspective. I think it changes my overall outlook on this great novella.