blog 4

option 1

            In their short stories, "The Chrysanthemums" and "Cathedral," Raymond Carver and John Steinbeck generate implications about human relationships and self awareness through their use of symbolism. Although Carver utilizes universal symbols (blindness) and Steinbeck's work wields meaning through contextual symbols (chrysanthemums & clothing), the implications that are made are similar: individual needs must be realized and met before one can have healthy relationships.

            In Carver's story, Elisa's gardening costume is used for more than protection from the elements. While in her costume, "Her figure was blocked and heavy" (416), suggesting that she was ambiguous, and had lost her femininity. A "Man's hat [was] pulled low down over her eyes" (416), implying that she was blinded by a patriarchal figure, most likely her husband, Henry. Also, "She wore black leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked" (416), which implicated that, although she loved tending to the flowers (as she similarly tended to her husband), there was a barrier between that which she loved and her gifted planting hands (which symbolizes her strengths and abilities). The barrier between Elise and her husband manifests itself through the use of the heavy gloves. Her marriage seemed cordial, but lacked passion. There is evidence in the story to support the fact that Henry is kind to her, even telling her she "had a gift with things" and inviting her out to a nice dinner to celebrate a promising business deal. However, they were not intimately involved in each others' affairs, Henry did not understand how Elisa's "planting hands" seemed to always do the job so knowledgeably, while Elisa did not take any part in the business deal that Henry was so excited to celebrate. This lack of involvement made them seem isolated from each other. Also, Elise was described as having "eyes were clear as water" (416), water, in this case, symbolizes sexuality (383) suggesting that she is a sexual being with sexual desires that were unmet. Her encounter with the traveling man exhibited sexual innuendoes, she "crouched low like a fawning dog," and her, "Breast swelled passionately" while talking about her gifted hands. This exemplifies the idea that her needs were unmet, and that she was forced her to at least attempt to release her frustrations with the traveling man.

            In Steinbeck's story, there is a similar dynamic in the relationship of the narrator and his wife, who remain nameless. By all indications, the narrator is a man who is direct, and passionless. For example, he does not think much of poetry, "Maybe I just don't understand poetry. I admit it's not the first thing I reach for when I pick up something to read" (175), a lack of appreciation for poetry can symbolize an absence of sentiment. Also an indicator of his insensitivity is the fact that that he views people who possess items with sentimental value as pitiable, "Robert was left with a small insurance policy and a half twenty-peso Mexican coin. The other half of the coin went into the box [coffin] with her. Pathetic" (176). The narrator does not have any friends and seems to annoy his wife, who finds comfort in her friend Robert because her needs aren't being met. The fact that Robert is blind but "sees" the narrator's wife more positively than her husband is ironic. By symbolically taking Robert's eyesight away, Carver tells us that there is more to life than what we see. When the narrator closes his eyes in the end of the story, it suggests that he has had an epiphany. He is finally able to close his eyes, and focus on his other senses, which he uses to describe a cathedral, which symbolizes faith, attraction and security, all of which are needed to have a fulfilling relationship.

            In effect, we are able to delve deeper into the characters in the stories by appreciating the symbols the authors used to describe them. Whether it is innate sexual desires, or ignorance to the beauty that surrounds us, everyone has inner struggles that can be represented through various symbols, as Carver and Steinbeck have shown.

Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th ed.          Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 174-83. Print.

Steinbeck, John. "Chrysanthemums." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th       ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 416-22. Print.

BLOG 3

Jacqueline Carlos

Option 3, Irony in "The Story of an Hour" and "The Cask of Amontillado"

            The use of irony is apparent in many great works, and is employed as an instrument through which tone is set in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" and Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour." Poe's continuous use of irony in his work establishes a sinister tone, while the irony in Chopin's work produces a feeling of despondency.

            There are several applications of verbal irony in Poe's story that contribute to the menacing mood depicted throughout the piece.  For example, the very name of the defeated antagonist in Poe's story is Fortunato, which suggests good fortune, but he nonetheless experiences a ghastly demise. Also, Fortunato is a wine connoisseur, and seems to be esteemed for his ability to give competent insight on all things wine related, "He prided himself on his being a connoisseurship in wine...In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack--but in the matter of old wines he was sincere" (525). However, it is his love for wine, and arrogance about his knowledge of wine that lead him stumbling into his crypt, inebriated. The sinister tone is also illustrated using irony in the story's setting. The story took place during a carnival, a time when people are likely to be celebratory and lively. Poe chooses instead to have a horrific murder take place in the midst of it all. Poe also employs double entendre verbal irony when his protagonist, Montresor, and the antagonist, Fortunato, engage in dialogue. Fortuato signals a secret code from an organization he belongs to referred to as "the masons" (527), of which Montresor does not understand, he nevertheless states that he is a mason. Although he is not a "mason" in the sense that Fortuato may have understood, we later realize that Montresor is a skilled masonry worker, and can erect a stone wall quite efficiently.           

            Likewise, Chopin achieved a feeling of despondency in her story through the use of irony. After she is told of her husband's death and the initial, "Storm of grief" (337) past, Josephine's senses became overwhelmed, "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of the trees that were all aquiver with new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air...The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves" (337-38). However, these descriptions are ironic because of the fact that her sister, Louise, and her husband's friend, Richards, assume that she is in her bedroom sulking, when in fact, she feels as though she has been set free and is just beginning to live. Also, her death at the end of the story, brought about by a supposed, "Joy that kills" (339) is ironic because we know that she died out of shock and sadness that her dreams would never be realized, which is why the overall tone of the story is of hopelessness. There was no way out of her male domineering relationship; much like it seems there is no way out of the patriarchal society we live in.

            In effect, the use of irony in these stories added to their tone and the overall feeling and message the authors wanted to convey to their audience. I believe that irony is not only effective in exemplifying their points about human relationships, but that it is entertaining and makes reading much more enjoyable.                                                                                                                                               

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th    ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 337-39. Print.

            Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Cask of Amontillado." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 525-29.   Print.

Blog 2

Jacqueline Carlos
Option 2, "The Yellow Wallpaper:"

Charlotte Gilman skillfully employs a first person point of view in her short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper." The narrator (who is also the protagonist) luridly walks us through her visit to "A colonial mansion, a hereditary, estate" (565). Her undertakings during her three month visit to the colonial home are difficult to express, and could only be exemplified from a first person point of view. Through Gilman's use of first person point of view, we see the protagonist's truth in the rawest form possible-a personal journal that, in her words, provides, "A great relief to my mind"(565).  The narrator's circumstances, and the outcome of those circumstances, can neither be described accurately as entirely good or entirely bad. This is because, through her journal, the narrator portrays the events that occur in the home as somewhat of an epiphany, while also revealing her eccentricity, thus hinting at her unreliability as a narrator. Therefore, in the end, we as the reader are left to distinguish whether she is freed from her prison or whether domestic conformity is her downfall.

            There is evidence in the text that suggests that the narrator is unreliable. Ironically, the narrator attempts to establish herself as sane and reliable in the opening paragraph, "It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John myself secure ancestral halls for the summer" (565). She purposely called herself "ordinary" in an attempt to sway our judgment. She goes on to say that she is superstitious, and imaginative, while her husband, John, is, "Practical in the extreme" (565). She also informs us that she is ill, and takes medication. John, a physician, calls what she suffers from, "Temporary nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency" (565).  Also, the narrator makes several statements in which it sounds as though she is attempting to convince herself that John is right in his diagnosis and treatment plan. It is evident that she is attempting to convince herself due to the contradicting statements about the treatment plan, the room John chose to stay in in the house, and his refusal to let her have visitors that are, "stimulating" (567).  She feels as though she has to convince herself because she knows that John is practical, and convincing herself that he is correct would mean that she is practical as well, and not the loon that people make her out to be. This seems to be the narrator's hidden agenda.

            The reliability of the narrator fluctuates during the course of the story. As I stated, early in the story, her endeavor was to attest to her sanity, but later, she has a revelation in which she realizes that she is the woman that she was incessantly studying, and that she is oppressed by her husband and the stereotypical female role that she is forced to play out. However, this insight is short lived; as she soon ties herself up with a rope, so as to not "creep" (573) out of the window. She tells herself that she is safer behind the wallpaper, and becomes complacent, although at the price of insanity.

            In the end, I feel as though Gilman's protagonist was conveyed as a seemingly intellectual individual ensnared by society's oppressive nature toward women. This insight could only be given by the woman herself, by utilizing a first person narrative, as Gilman so expertly did.

Gilman, Charlotte. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing.    10th ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 564-74. Print.