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Free Indirect Discourse In The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

2495 Words10 Pages

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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