discussion 2
41011Realism & Gender
Directions:
Below you will see several categories of questions based on our readings in Unit 3. There are several questions in each category. You need to answer ONLY ONE question in one category for your initial post. Don’t forget to also respond to another student’s post on a different question, preferably in another category.
Category One: Freeman’s “The Revolt of Mother”
1. “The Revolt of Mother” is a realistic story but actually has a happy ending. What happens in the story’s end? as the ending a surprise? Were you surprised that Father agrees to do all Mother asks after crying over the shock of what Mother has done? Is the ending Realistic? Are all problems solved? The story’s ending is perhaps atypical of Realistic fiction, but are there other reasons to describe this story as Realistic?
2. Discuss Mother’s lack of voice in the story; what does Cutter say about Mother’s voice or about how gender is illustrated in the story? Consider the characteristics of the Cult of True Womanhood – do they apply here? Explain. What were the roles of women in this time and does this story illustrate these roles realistically?
Category Two: Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby”
1. The story begins like a fairy tale, but this romantic notion is quickly undercut. Why would Chopin do this? Erikson discusses the story as an anti-fairy tale – why is this description important to the story’s meaning?
2. Which characteristics of Realism do you find in the story?
3. There are many important symbols and allusions in the story; identify some of these and explain how each one helps us understand the story’s meaning. For example, the name of the plantation ironically means “shelter” and Armand’s name means protector. And of course, there is Desiree’s name.
4. There are many references to the color white: La Blanche is a slave but her name means white, and Desiree is wearing a white thin dress when she leaves to kill herself and her baby. What do you make of the color references – how do they help us understand the story’s meaning?
5. Explain how Desiree’s character has been shaped by the concept of the cult of true womanhood. How has the ideology helped “doom” her?
6. Toth explores the “parallel roles between women and blacks” in the story – explain her point of view.
Category Three: Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
1. Explain why Gilman wrote this story – what does she tell us in “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper'”? Were there other reasons that she may not have stated in her essay?
2. Why does Gilman object to the Rest Cure – how are her objections illustrated in the story?
3. What is the rest cure and how is it gender-biased? How and why did late 19th Century ideas about women shape Mitchell’s Rest Cure?
4. Explain what makes “The Yellow Wallpaper” a Gothic story. Why did Gilman use Gothic characteristics in her story? remember that one of the characteristics of the Gothic is female entrapment – and female entrapment is part of the story’s plot as well as part of the story’s theme or meaning.
5. Jane’s character in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is shaped by the ideals of the cult of true womanhood – how so and why? Remember, she doesn’t believe she should question her husband’s judgment – is this because of the ideals of true womanhood?
6. What is the significance of the narrator being placed in a nursery? How does her husband treat her?
7. Why does the narrator fixate on the wallpaper – what does it represent? Why does she imagine a woman trapped behind the wallpaper that she must free?
8. Is the narrator triumphant or defeated by story’s end? Why does John faint? Has he changed “gendered” identities with her, becoming the hysterical woman?
9. What do the critics say about the story’s meaning?
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