The Yellow Wallpaper

I thought that Greg did a fine job at clarifying the bridge between the wife in the short story, and her husband. She feels guilty for the resistance towards her husband’s helpful guidance, but secretly knows that he is oppressing her, and telling her not to trust herself. I thought that the images that the woman saw were all reflected images of herself being oppressed and breaking free of that oppression coming with the ending of the short story, and tearing away the “cover” that patched over all of the problems that she knew she had. The reader witnesses the grim details of her gradual decent into becoming completely odd. Her husband faints, femininely, from the sight of her “broken chains” or torn wallpaper.

It is not fair that the woman must feel guilty from feeling the way she does, reflected by her husband, and sister-in-law. They offer friendly guidance, which masked by the wallpaper, makes her feel guilty for her strong feelings of attachment towards the wallpaper, and ill feelings. This story generally reflects the author’s viewpoints on the medicine, which must “cure” her ills, and her general dislike for her husband. It was mentioned that she had a divorce, which was not entirely common. As a woman, she has a right to dislike someone for a reason unknown, or at least not obvious. The fact that her husband would not let her into the room of her choice, and repeatedly tells her that she is not ill, but suffers from a nervous depression, which was believed to be found only with women, reflects the underlying hatred, and imprisonment that she shows throughout the novel. It is not obvious at first, but towards the end of the story, I felt that the husband should be held responsible. Maybe she is not entirely psychotic, but either developed a sense of fear and drove herself to insanity, or she in fact was feeling the way she was, and was ill.

It becomes even harder for her to recover when she is told that she is not ill, and no one has ill intentions towards her to lie to her about something like that. It would be a lot easier if the intentions towards her were foul so she would have an excuse. In the end she must rely on her own feelings, and learn to listen to them. She becomes relieved in the end with ripping away the patches over all that is real. Instead of pretending that no human has problems, she breaks free and admits to herself and her husband that she is who she is. She does not belong in a loony bin, but she does have issues.

I thought that the underlying issues were very well hidden, but this might have been necessary due to the time in which the short story was written. It might have been way to controversial to bring up the open self-destruction that the husband was doing to the wife. It was already controversial that the author had a divorce, but she mentions faintly in the story a possible reasoning behind it. The husband did not want to admit that his wife was sick because he was fearful for her. He wanted to hold on to her because she was “all he had”. He wanted to deny the realities that were obviously in front of him and his sister. His sister is obvious of her problems as she confronts her to why she has yellow wallpaper on her clothing. The husband must face the reality in the end when he notices the torn wallpaper, and faints (femininely), from the shock of the reality of her sickness. Denial is a harmful thing. With all the denial the husband was doing, he could have saved her from a fate worse than death. Even though he was underlying enemy in this respect, she was also an enemy to herself displaying her inner psyche outside slinking around, and within the walls. She needed to stop playing the victim, and save herself from her oppression, which she eventually did. This short story has a happy ending in this respect, since the reader sees her success with conquering over her husband, and herself. (706)

"The Cathedral" Analysis

“Cathedral” was a very interesting short story based around people learning one another’s differences, and shortcomings. In the story, the blind man enlightens the husband to “open” his eyes, and view how amazing the grandeur of the cathedral was, and the creation he had just drawn of it. The husband might have had eyes but took them for granted. It seems that the blind man had something to teach the husband about life. They both viewed life in different points of views, and had a lot to learn from one another.

The husband underestimated himself, and underestimated the amount to which he could feel passion towards something spiritual. He was overwhelmed with his own human ability, and had to close his eyes to create this feeling. This is ironic that in order to realize something, he did not need his eyes. At the end of the short story, in the very last sentence, he mentions not wanting to open his eyes. Some people like to escape, and ignore their own capabilities, but it took this blind man to come into his home, at first unwelcome by the husband, to teach him something about feeling. A lot of the time we are fooled by looking at things for what stands in front of us all. The blind man teaches us all that there is more than what meets the eye. The husband brushes off his potential as an artist, and being able to describe, and capture the essence and aesthetic parts of a cathedral. Many people brush off their talents, and do not give themselves a chance. Once he brushed passed the self-consciousness, and accepted being around someone who was blind, he embraced himself. This story gives passageway to a man’s personal revelation, not only with religion, or maybe not even at all, but with himself.

I believe that it understood from this short story, that most all people need to close their eyes from the masses of the world, and listen to their true self. The cathedral sparked something in the husband to let go of his cultural withholdings about the blind man. In the beginning of the short story he makes fun of the blind man who has a wife he has never seen, and was left with nothing from her death. He even criticizes his wife and the life she once led. He has never much thought into anything on a deeper level until the blind man guides him. They show compassion for one another on a deeper level, which was overwhelming for the husband. He forgot about his inhibitions and searched deep within himself for depth and meaning, which he had previously lacked. People all have a different outlook on life, and instead of the husband giving his, he simply gave his wife’s and the blind man’s from a third person perspective. He seemed not to care about anyone, or respect their pathways. He is not even interested in his own life. He appears dull to the reader and a shallow character until he breaks down into feeling. He starts with having a critical tone towards describing the person he loves, and her friend. At the end he does not answer his wife when she asks him a question; neither does he acknowledge her feelings, but he is an immature character who has not come into his own depth until the end of the story. His experience was so overwhelming, that he needed to look within himself before he could commit to anything more at that moment. It ends with his eyes closed to the world around him, which he is not use to, and that is where the reader is last aware of his mental development towards maturation.(622)

"Teenage Wasteland"

“Teenage Wasteland” is a distressing novel that expresses the concept that nothing ever stays the same. Change is prevalent, and not always widely accepted. People can fear change as well. The reader can hear Daisy’s thoughts as she worries and fears the cause, and the outcome of her son Donny. She goes through ups and downs as a naïve and vulnerable parent. Her son changes from a white, angelic- haired little boy, to a dark, troubled young man. The author, Anne Taylor, gives the reader the opportunity to look through this family’s crises and decide who takes the fault towards Donny’s outcome.

Daisy is still a likeable character despite her shortcomings as a parent. She may not be the best parent, but she is certainly not the worst. She spends a lot of time plaguing her mind with excuses as to how her son ended up the way he is. She can also be very self-conscious, as shown in the dialogue with the principle Mr. Lanham (¶ 8). She considers being judged solely based on her appearance as a parent, not her actual capabilities. This scene also demonstrates if Daisy had more confidence as a parent, she would not be as preoccupied with her appearance to others as much. Daisy is also pitied in some ways for having to raise Donny and Amanda practically by herself. For this reason she must gradually learn to take the blame for any faults she might have made under these circumstances. Daisy goes back and forth with ideas for Donny’s outcome. She considers not giving him enough attention with the birth of his younger sister Amanda (¶ 13, 14), and giving him too much attention. Amanda, ironically, is neglected as a result of Daisy’s obsession with Donny’s faults. The author suggests that Donny has been given too much attention as a child, and now cannot become someone he never was. When Daisy and Donny’s school crack down on him, he snaps back with calling his mother controlling, and his school resembling a prison. For other children who never receive freedom, they do not know any other way than to be without it. For Donny, he is spoiled, and breaks down without the ability to do whatever he wants.

In Daisy’s state of fragility, Cal decides to manipulate her into taking control of the responsibilities of her son. Daisy, without knowing any other way, decides to hand Donny over. The dialogue between Daisy, Donny’s teacher, and Cal expresses the manipulation, and confusion that Daisy endures as she wavers between blaming either of the two for Donny's mistakes (¶ 44). Daisy desperately wants someone to take the responsibility of fixing her son; therefore, finding someone to blame at his failures in life. Even Cal, who Donny respects, is surprisingly fine with Donny’s withdrawal of his services. This represents the climax of Donny’s naivety, as well as Daisy’s maturing. Donny had settled with Cal, who is just as unsure of himself as he is, and even suffers from being controlled by his own wife, which might explain Cal defending his pupils against this being controlled(¶59).

Daisy is not confident enough to do what she thinks is right as a parent. She goes from honoring Cal’s opinion, to letting him take over, then finally realizing the lack of help he is doing. The reader gradually witnesses her confidence grow as she listens to her parental instincts. She gains more confidence as she takes charge, and finally realizes that Donny is her sole responsibility. Daisy may be at fault in some sense, but even so, she is pitied by the reader for her own naivety. As a reader, Daisy is viewed as defenseless, and lost. Even her name suggests youth. The short story ends with the hope of Donny’s future, but Daisy will solely be forever overwhelmed by the idea of ruining her son’s life. Cal served for a short time as the outlet for Donny’s failures, and for Daisy’s as well. Daisy can be just as naïve as Donny in this sense, both beginning a new frontier. One being high school and the other being parenting. Neglect and faults are made, but this is not uncommon to most families. This story identifies the change between thinking one's parents are superhero's and realizing that they make mistakes too. The theme is change. Anne Tyler gives us a window into the problems that this family faces, and to the imperfections that Daisy is so self-conscious as to letting people know about. This short story gives proof of life’s imperfections, and the outcomes that are maybe or maybe not wholly deserved.(759).