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Free Indirect Discourse In The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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I. Genre, Form, and History Free indirect discourse is a literary technique used to blend the narrator's voice with the character's thoughts, creating a subjective perspective that immerses the reader into the character's experience. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, free indirect discourse is used to convey the protagonist's deteriorating mental state. The story is told from the first-person perspective of the unnamed narrator, who is confined to a room by her husband and forbidden from engaging in any intellectual activity. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish whose voice is being used between the narrator and her husband. For example, the line, ‘those stimulating people’ when talking …show more content…

In “Bartelby the Scrivenour” by Herman Mellville, the wage system is a central theme that is explored through the character of Bartleby. Bartleby is a scrivener, a type of legal copyist, who is employed by a lawyer in New York City. At first, Bartleby is a diligent worker, but he gradually becomes less productive and eventually refuses to perform any tasks at all, stating simply "I would prefer not to." This behavior puts him at odds with the wage system, which is based on the assumption that workers will perform their assigned tasks in exchange for their wages. Through Bartleby's actions, Melville raises questions about the nature of work, the relationship between employers and employees, and the limitations of the wage system as a means of compensating labor. Regionalism is a literary movement that emphasizes the unique culture, language, and landscape of a particular region. In Thomas Bangs Thorpe "The Big Bear of Arkansas," the author employs Regionalism to depict the life and culture of the Ozarks region, using rich descriptions of the natural landscape, the local dialect, and the unique customs and beliefs of the people living there. Regionalism helps to create a sense of place and adds authenticity to the stories, allowing readers to better understand and appreciate the characters' struggles …show more content…

This first passage is from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat”. This passage occurs in the story right after the main character, in a drunken rage, gauges out the eye of his beloved black cat with a pen. This significance of this passage is that this the the turning point of the story; the moment in which the narrator gives in to his animalistic urges of rage and lets these feelings–which he calls the spirit of PERVERSENESS– completely overtake him. This passage is crucial in the story because it marks the beginning of the character’s decent into madness, turning cruel against, what he considered earlier, a beacon of love and loyalty, and it also foreshadows the ending in which he brutally murders his wife. 2. This passage is from “The Arabian Nights” by Richard Burton and it is right after Shahrazad has finished the first part of the story she is telling the king, in order for the king to spare her life. The story she tells is about a man telling a story to a demon in order for the demon to spare his life; a frame narrative within a frame narrative. At this point, the purpose of this passage is to inform the audience that we are no longer hearing the story within Shahrazad’s story, and are now back to the original narrative we started with. This passage’s main purpose is to provide clarity within the frame

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Being a scrivener is not the most ideal job; sitting long hours, copying down seemingly information, and there is little time for breaks. When Bartelby chooses to take the job, he voluntarily gives up his freedom in exchange for money. In the beginning of the story, Bartelby seems to enjoy his work, often staying late to complete it, but as the story progresses, he appears to grow tired of it. He becomes more secluded and eventually just stops working, replying that he would “prefer not to.” Bartelby had begun to miss his freedom.

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In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, author Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses many literary techniques to allow the reader to understand the universal truth that a woman’s class is seen as lower than that of a man’s, due to their sex. We see this truth throughout the literary work, when the main character who is a woman, is put in confinement and later becomesdistraught and mentally unstablebecause her husband and brother who are both Physicians diagnoses her as “nervously depressed”. Two techniques author Gilman uses is tone and diction to illustrate how the narrator, among most women in that time period is treated as below men in class, with little say in their own mental or physical issues. Gilman utilizes tone to illustrate the universal truth of gender being in hand with class status, effectively. In the literary work,the narrator’s tone shifts from hopeless in the beginning, to determine in the end.

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Bartleby supposedly worked from early morning to late at night, with no pause. All seemed to be going well for both employee and employer, until one day when asked to examine a paper, Bartleby replied that he, “would prefer not to” (page 155). The Lawyer was astonished; most likely because of the sudden change in behavior that his once diligent worker was exhibiting. Much time passed, and each attempt to get Bartleby to do his job was met with the same statement that he would prefer not to. The character of Bartleby is unlike any other in the story.

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The narrative begins when the narrator and her husband, John, rent a colonial estate for the summer after the wife gives birth to her daughter. John is a doctor; he diagnoses the narrator, who is his wife, with "nervous depression" and prescribes a "rest cure. " This prescription includes a strict rest and seclusion routine in a room with yellow wallpaper, which the narrator dislikes from the beginning of the isolation. The rising action in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" follows the narrator's growing passion for the yellow wallpaper in the room where she is trapped. She becomes obsessed with the pattern that made her imagine a lady trapped behind it and wants to free her.

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The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a portrayal of a woman’s descent into madness and how the society around her contributes to her illness. As a matter of fact, the story was inspired and written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s own personal experience. Gilman’s use of a first person point of view and tone allows the reader to experience and understand the narrator's actions and situation. The narrator’s tone also plays a role in establishing her character and the theme through the paragraph structure, her thoughts and expressions and finally her ironic expressions. To begin with, the narrator's tone helps establish character through her paragraph structure within the story.

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Poe’s influential poem manifests its imbue of overwhelming grief, anger and the dwelling of abiding, permanence distress through emotional paralysis that occur within the themes of dark romance and the supernatural. The Raven begins with a jaded ambience in a “midnight dreary” (Stanza 1, line 1) while a being is deep in thought “weak and weary” (Stanza 1, line 2) deceptively establishing elements of gothic fiction to explicate the uncanny. As the poem progresses, the reader shortly cognizes a man sinking into depression over the loss of his beloved maiden, metaphorically scrutinizing the dark side of the human mind. The narrator arduously escaping his lament for “the lost [of] Lenore” reading books to “Surcease [his] Sorrow” (Stanza 2, lines 4-6) barely endeavouring a distraction for his inner anguishes. As the poem matures, The Raven further unveils into a gothic turn of dark romance, encountering a talking raven; briefly amusing him, however, the narrators disposition swiftly turns incandescent as the conversation converts into Lenore, discovering a fatuous “perched” ebony bird “upon a bust of [Athena] just above [his} chamber door” (stanza 12, lines 55-56) the raven answering with “little relevance” distracting his “sad fancy” with a smile (Stanza 13-14, lines 57-63) the narrator madly asks if his grief

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Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story that depicts the changing circumstances of the narrator and the resulting transformation of her character. Gilman uses a variety of textual details to reveal the complexity of this development, including the narrator's deteriorating mental state, the symbolism of the yellow wallpaper, and the use of language techniques such as tone, diction, and syntax. At the beginning of the story, the narrator is a submissive and obedient wife, forced to live in isolation and rest for her "nervous depression" at her husband's command. The narrator's initial tone is subdued and passive, with little indication of her own thoughts or feelings. However, as the story progresses, the tone becomes increasingly frantic and obsessive, reflecting the narrator's growing fixation on the yellow wallpaper in her room.

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“Bartleby, the Scrivener,” a short story by Herman Melville, tells the story of a scrivener's interactions in his daily life. Bartleby, a scrivener, portrays an outcast figure to society. He wants to rebel against the norm society has implanted as stereotypically correct. Throughout Bartleby’s stay at a law firm, the amount of effort put into his job diminishes. He can be characterized to represent capitalism, and the effects it has on society.

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Also introduced in the initial paragraphs is one concept that is repeated extensively throughout the story, the narrator’s belief that he is not in fact mad, which ironically only highlights his madness even more. Also within the first two paragraphs, Poe inducts another important idea that shall be repeated time and time again; obsession. More precisely, the narrator’s obsession with the old man’s eye, and his hatred for it, which is so powerful it will drive him to kill the old man just to be rid of it. Poe introduces a strong base in the first few paragraphs, then reiterates and expands upon what he has already said to remind the reader of themes of the past, at the same time as they are affecting the

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The short story of Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville is a reflection on capitalism in America during the 19th century, especially in the office, a job far different than most at the time. In Bartleby, The Scrivener, an unnamed narrator has four workers who work for his law office as scriveners. Bartleby, a new hire, works well at first, but slowly begins to resist doing his work, and begins living at the office. The narrator at first feels pity, but soon gets him arrested, where Bartleby starves himself to death in prison. The themes Melville explores in this short story can be connected to his own life and hardships, and also the life of office workers in America and Wall Street.

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Have you ever gone to work and question yourself, “Why Am I Here?”? “Bartleby the Scrivener” is a short story written by Herman Melville. Melville lived during the Industrial Revolution, which was a time where employees were not get treated equally. Even till now, some workers are not getting treated fairly with their bosses and getting paid minimum wage. It is still complex for some people to survive with the money they are earning.

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However, in stories such as “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator’s point of view is what truly helps define the setting and symbolism. Without the narrator’s distinct point of view on how she

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To be trapped in one's own mind may be the worst prison imaginable. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", the narrator of the story is constantly at battle with many different forces, such as John, her husband, the yellow wallpaper that covers the walls of her room, and ultimately herself. Throughout the story the narrator further detaches herself from her life and becomes fixated on the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in her temporary home, slowly driving her mad. The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a major and dynamic character as she is the main character of the story, and throughout the story her personality and ways of thinking change drastically.

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Edgar Allan Poe addresses the dark and gruesome side of human nature in his writing “The Black Cat”, which during that time and even now are perceived as radical ideas. This dark human nature is displayed in Poe’s writing as the narrator recalls the happenings of a most erratic event. The narrator, a pet lover with a sweet disposition, in this story succumbs to the most challenging aspects of human nature including that of addiction, anger, and perverseness. To the Christian believer, human’s sinful flesh leads people to do wrong because that is their natural tendency.

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