Historical Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” - Literature Essay Samples

Although the feminist movement began to make a solid appearance in the United States in the mid 19th century, successful results did not show until the early 20th century. In the 1800s, women held little importance in society and had little to no voice. They had almost no power since they were not allowed to vote and were expected to be subordinate in marriage by always obliging to their husbands orders without any objection. The oppression of women in both marriage and society throughout the late 19th century is reflected in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper.† In this story, the narrator was diagnosed with temporary nervous depression with a slight hysterical tendency by her physician husband and as a result they lived in a secluded colonial mansion for the summer as treatment. During their three months stay, the wife had very little interaction with the outside world, was forbidden from doing strenuous activities, and was not supposed to write. Due to her constant isolation and slim activity, she progressively hallucinated a woman who was trapped in the wallpaper of her room, and was trying to break free. The woman in the wallpaper was a reflection of the progressive woman in the United States during the late 19th century. Many readers would argue that the narrator was actually mentally ill from the beginning, however the â€Å"sickness† she experienced was a result of both her husband and society restricting her and every other woman’s actions and freedom. For treatment to the narrator’s â€Å"illness† that was diagnosed by her husband, she underwent a less severe regimen of the rest cure for twelve weeks. The rest cure treatment was developed by Silas Weir Mitchell in the 1870s, the most prominent physician in the treatment of neurasthenia in the United States at the time, and was practiced widely throughout the U.S. and western Europe until the mid-1930s (Stiles). His therapy consisted of five elements: extreme bed rest, seclusion, dietary changes, massages, and electricity. The patients are removed from their home and family and are cared for by nurses. They also aren’t allowed to read or write or create a lot of neural stimulation. For at least five weeks, the patient is bedridden and can only leave to use the bathroom. Because of this, massages and electricity were used to prevent muscular atrophy. As for their diet, they mostly drank milk because of its high fat content. The treatment was used mostly on women that had severe nervous system issues which included hypochondria, hysteria, and temporary nervous depression (Poirier). Supposedly, many women actually benefitted from the treatment, however numerous patients developed negative psychological responses just like the ones the narrator experienced. The effects the narrator experienced from the rest cure were anxiety, hallucinations, depression, and paranoia. Although Dr. Mitchell and other medical experts weren’t fully aware of the physiological effects during the 19th century, recent researchers were able to uncover the negative outcomes of bed rest and isolation. Multiple studies have shown that long periods of bedrest can cause a patient to show symptoms of depression, anxiety, forgetfulness, and confusion. The lack of personal control and freedom one feels during bedrest is a factor in the cause of these symptoms (Breslow). Since the narrator’s husband made almost all of her decisions and wanted her to stay in her bed most of the time with little brain stimulation, it comes as no surprise that the wife is experiencing the negative psychological effects. Studies investigating the psychological effects of long-term solitary confinement reveal that â€Å"hallucinations, insomnia, paranoia, uncontrollable feeling s of rage and fear, and distortions of time and perception† can occur (Weir). Even though the narrator in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† did not experience the same severity of isolation as prisoners in solitary confinement, it is expected that her symptoms are similar considering she spent the three months powerless in a secluded mansion under her husband’s overpowering actions and patriarchal tendencies. Although the rest cure technique was one factor into the narrator’s anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations that led her to â€Å"free† the trapped woman in the wallpaper at the end of the story, another cause of her actions were from the restraints put on her emotional and physical freedom by her husband and the patriarchal society in the 19th century. Just like almost every other woman during that time period, the narrator didn’t have a voice in her marriage or society— unable to make her own choices such as writing in her journal, picking the room she will stay in for three months, and deciding who visits her. When she was fixated on the details of the wallpaper, the narrator perceived part of the design as a woman who was stuck in the wall and unable to break free. She described the woman in the wallpaper as â€Å"† (). When she ripped the wallpaper at the end of the story and â€Å"freed† the woman, it represented the narrator’s esc ape from the patriarchal and sexist gender roles that prevented equality in the American 19th century. By the mid-1800s, the fight for women’s suffrage became prevalent. In July 1848 Seneca Falls, New York, the first meeting dedicated to women’s rights took place and around 100 women attended with two-thirds of them being female. Smaller women’s rights conventions were also being convened across the United States which were prominently in the North. These groups were able to have the Married Women’s Property Act adopted in numerous states in 1882, which allowed married women control over their own property and income. Other regulations were also being enacted across America, such as the a New York Law created in 1860 that â€Å"gives women joint custody over their children and the right to sue and be sued† (Eisenberg et. al). The first state to grant women full voting was was Wyoming in 1869, and the other states that passed suffrage laws in the 19th century were Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), and Idaho (1896) (Crumrin et. al). These activists were no t just fighting for the right to vote, but were striving for social, economic, and educational equality. Just like the rest of the women in the late 1800s, the narrator in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is struggling with the lack of freedom and civil rights apparent in society. The frustration and stress from the inferiority she feels while stranded alone in the house with her misogynistic and obstinate husband ultimately leads to her psychotic breakdown in hopes to break free from the oppression.

Sociological Imagination And Historical Imagination

Sociological imagination is the ability to look beyond one’s social environment and observe those of others. It is being able to make connections between these different milieu and notice any patterns; to see if something is just a person trouble or a social issue. â€Å"The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society† (Mills). We are given the ability with this imagination to see how one’s personal scene plays into that of the larger historical one. Often times, it may seem that in the grand scheme of world history, our personal lives offer little contribution, yet, sociological imagination shows us how we in fact are crucial factors in determining our historical time period. The Elliot passage further drives home the point that it is impossible to â€Å"set apart† the self â€Å"from the social, cultural, political and historical contexts in which it is embedded† (Elliot: 6). We like to think that we cultivate ourselves yet we disregard the fact that our identities are influenced by the external factors in our milieu; our biographies are connected with history. Donna Gaines except from Teenage Wasteland illustrates the ideas of Mills’ sociological imagination by showing the connection between personal and public issues. Gaines discusses the epidemic of teenage suicide by examining the individual motives and branching it to the larger picture. She notes the difficult the individual teen faces on a daily basis,Show MoreRelatedThe Sociological Imagination And Me Essay1343 Words   |  6 PagesThe Sociological Imagination and Me Charles Wright Mills was a writer, a researcher, a teacher, a scholar and a well known sociologist. He was the author of the 1959 book, The Sociological Imagination. This book was poorly received by the sociological community at first, but it is one of the most widely read sociological texts today. The Sociological Imagination and Mills’ other works have had an immense impact on sociology, as he influenced many other scholars and the â€Å"New Left† movement of theRead MoreSociology Imagination833 Words   |  4 Pagesdefined sociological imagination as the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society. The sociological imagination is the capacity to shift from one perspective to another: from the political to the psychological; from examination of a single family to comparative assessment of the national budgets of the world; from the theological school to the military establishment; from considerations of an oil industry to studies of contemporary poetry.[1] Sociological Imagination:Read MoreEssay on The Sociological Imagination1389 Words   |  6 PagesMy personal condensed definition of â€Å"the sociological imagination† is that it is the idea one should be aware of the societal structures around themselves, and how those structures can influence a person and vice-versa. In addition, I think that having a â€Å"sociological imagination† also involves a deep appreciation for the importance of society and culture. Consequently, for a person that has completed a basic introduction to sociology college course and actually paid attention, I would hope thatRead MoreThe Social Imagination of Forrest Gump1653 Words   |  7 PagesThe Sociological Imagination of Forrest Gump OR The Sociological Imagination Concept As Illustrated by the Movie, Forrest Gump What is sociological imagination? Our textbook describes sociological imagination as the ability to see our private experiences, personal difficulties, and achievements as, in part, a reflection of the structural arrangements of society and the times in which we live. The movie entitled Forrest Gump is a great example of sociological imagination. In this paper, I willRead MoreLiving As Woman And A Muslim Essay1235 Words   |  5 PagesAmerica The term sociological imagination was a concept constructed by the American Sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1959 to describe the ability to understand how our lives are affected by the historical and sociological changes around us. In order to possess the knowledge of sociological imagination, we should be able to pull away from the current situation and be able to look and think from a different perspective. C. Wright Mills defined his concept of sociological imagination as â€Å"...the vividRead MoreThe Sociological Imagination As Described By C. Wright Mills930 Words   |  4 PagesThe sociological imagination as described by C. Wright Mills is â€Å"the ability to understand the intersection between biography and history or interplay of self and the world.† (13) Mills also describes the sociological imagination by saying, â€Å"we have come to know every individual lives, from one generation to the next, in some society; that he lives out a biography, and that he lives out within some historical sequence. By the fact of his living he contributes, however minutely, to the shaping ofRead MoreThe Sociological Imagination and Freedom from Feelings of Entrapment1133 Words   |  5 PagesThe sociological imagination is the â€Å"quality of mind† (Mills, 1959: 4) that enables individuals to look outside their private sphere of consciousness and identify the structures and institutions in society that influence or cause their personal experiences. In this way, by looking at the bigger picture, they can understand their place in society and explain their circumstance in terms of societal influence. It was developed by Mills in a time of great social upheaval – industrialisation, globalisationRead MoreSociological Imagination Essay865 Words   |  4 PagesFrom The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills addresses a distinction between personal troubles and public issues. Mills uses specific examples like unemployment and societal development. Mills explains the ability to connect the individual problems with societal problems. Throughout the text, we can see how Mills uses the perspective of an individual to explain the perspective of society and vice versa. Using sociological imagination, I will explain how education is influenced by societyRead MoreThe Concept Of Sociological Imagination : Connecting History987 Words   |  4 PagesConcept of Sociological Imagination: Connecting History to Biography C. Wright Mills believed that sociological imagination connects history and biography by means of cause and effect. Society and all things surrounding it have a particular interconnection when it comes to change. As a result, one major alteration to everyday society causes human relationships in history to adapt to change. History is altered by man, without human interaction and the exponential growth of historical events. MillsRead MoreSociological Imagination1017 Words   |  5 PagesThe concept of â€Å"sociological imagination† is one that can be explained many different ways. A simple way to think of the sociological imagination is to see it as a way a person thinks, where they know that what they do from day to day in their private lives (like the choices they make), are sometimes influenced by the larger environment in which they live (Mills 1959, 1). What C.W. Mills meant by this concept is that it is the ability to â€Å"understand the larger historical scene in te rms of its meaning

William Shakespeare s Merchant Of Venice - 2351 Words

William Shakespeare has written many plays with tragic endings, happy endings, and everything in between. One of his plays, Merchant of Venice, is considered a comedy for its resolve of marriage, fortune, and wellbeing of its main characters. Except for one. This character, Shylock, is the sole force pushing the play as a conflicted characters, and he is depicted as the villain of the play. The events that take place in the story leave Antonio with a happy ending, but a much more grim, destructive and crushing forfeiture for Shylock, which when boiled down and considered leaves a much darker happily ever after than thought for this play, which is why this play is best understood as a tragedy because the heart of the story is not the tale of the static Antonio, but rather the rise and fall of Shylock, the perceived villain, and money lender of Venice. Shylock’s rise and fall through the entire story reflects the play as a tragedy through Antonio’s relentless abuse towards Shylock with the devastating end of Shylock not having justice, Shylock losing of his daughter Jessica when he’s only trying to protect her, and Shylock losing everything during the trial scene where the law is manipulated to be in Antonio’s favor. To begin, Antonio’s abuse towards Shylock previously and presently in the play contributes heavily to the feeling of defeat when Antonio unjustly wins the trial, and only adds to the pain and suffering he has already experienced from Antonio. This abuse, ruthless,Show MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1624 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeare s comedy The Merchant of Venice uses contrasting religions to draw out major themes through the ethnic divides that are exemplified. The play expresses the extreme cultural divide between the Jews and Christians through a legal contract between two men. The rivalry between the two men, Shylock and Antonio is clear from the beginning of the play and only intensifies as it continues on. Modern day readers most likely take away a slightly different message from the play than whatRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1320 Words   |  6 Pagesghetto, and were treated as inferior to the rest of the city. William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice exhibits the prejudicial attitudes of his era. Antonio, a Christian merchant, makes a deal with Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock uses it as an opportunity to exact revenge by demanding a pound of Antonio’s flesh if he does not meet his end of the bargain. By pitting the majority of his characters against Shylock, Shakespeare portrays Shylock in a way that discriminates against all JewsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2269 Words   |  10 PagesSamantha Hansen ENG 314 Brother Brugger 12.15.14 The Question of Shylock It is hard to read The Merchant of Venice without finding at least one character to sympathize with. The unforgettable villain Shylock as well as Portia, Shakespeare’s first and one of his most famous heroines are arguably some of this plays most beloved characters. But, is Shylock really the villain? Or is he a victim of circumstance? Shylock’s insistence for a pound of flesh has made him one of literatures most memorableRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1970 Words   |  8 Pagesthe titles are reflective of the protagonists featured within. For example, the famous titles of Julius Caesar and Hamlet tell the tragedies of those respective characters. However, when it comes to William Shakespeare’s fourteenth play, The Merchant of Venice, it can be argued that Antonio, the merchant, is not who the play is about. In fact, there is not just one character, but instead multiple that fit the description of the protagonist. The main plot, or rather p lots, of the play revolve aroundRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1315 Words   |  6 PagesIn The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare the play is based upon the hierarchy between Christian men and Jewish men. A character by the name of Bassanio borrows money from his friend Antonio, and Antonio borrows the money from Shylock to give to Bassanio. Eventually, Antonio cannot pay the money back because his ships have supposedly sunk. Therefore, he comes close to death because he signed a bond with Shylock stating that Shylock would get a pound of his flesh if the bond was not repaidRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1532 Words   |  7 Pagesuseless dialogue can make readers skip over what seems like a false beginning to a good story. But think about this: what if those seemingly lengthy, extra, useless words were actually important? For example, the opening 115 lines of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice are provide minimal support to the story at first glance. In these lines, Antonio and his friends are discussing the dynamics of happiness and sadness in order to find the root of Antonio’s sad mood. This portion of the play givesRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Merchant Of Venice988 Words   |  4 PagesAs I finished reading Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, I realized that the struggle of the play gyrates around whether justice is truly served and is morality advocated or manipulated by those in authority. The struggle between the principles of justice have caused many readers to question the interaction between the definition of morality and justice. The bond that causes readers to take a closer look throughout the play originates from Shylock’s desire for vengeance and Antonio’s desireRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1532 Words   |  7 Pagesfundamentalist Americans. The ills of money-lending from the Eastern perspective have been fodder for Western literature for centuries, replete with illustrations that mirror the differences and similarities in East-West cultural norms. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, money-lending has gone awry. In Act I, Scene iii, the Italian Antonio seeks to borrow 3,000 ducats from the Jewish Shylock, and Shylock intends to charge him interest, which is against Jewish economic-religious principles (BateRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1275 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is so alike to our financially afflicted world. The rules of law and commerce are subject to deceptive manipulation, fear of the other overwhelms respect for a common humanity, duplicity is the norm, sexuality is a vehicle for ambition, and money drives and wraps almost every action. It is a classic tale that includes important details of the financial crisis in the Unit ed States during 2007-2009. Shakespeare’s Venice, like the New York of his time - and theRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2059 Words   |  9 Pagesin The Merchant of Venice resembles a folktale known as â€Å"A Pound of Flesh† (325). Artese supports his supposition with background context and parallels between the two story lines. Literary versions of the pound of flesh story circulated during the sixteenth century and were collected since the nineteenth century because of the plot’s longevity and populairity Shakespeare would have been familiar with pound of flesh stories (326). Human commodification is a central issue in both The Merchant of Venice

Media Bias in News Reporting free essay sample

Media bias in the reporting of the news is pervasive it is present in every form of media and every style of reporting, no matter how non-biased one platform or outlet may claim to be. This is because of agenda-setting: the ability that the news has to tell the consumer which issues are important. Media of all kinds assert their agenda by many means. In a newspaper, the story on the front page is deemed to be of most importance; on a nightly news show, the story at the top of the hour is highlighted as most important, or labeled breaking news to signal that the viewer should pay ttention; on an online setting, the links to stories at the top of the page signal the consumer that these are newest and of most concern to them. Every media outlet has methods of agenda-setting that have been meticulously cultivated since the inception of mass media over a century ago. We will write a custom essay sample on Media Bias in News Reporting or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are many forms of bias that show up in the media, and there are many reasons why these biases happen. According to Studentnewsdaily. com Bias by omission is when the author intentionally leaves out facts that support the other side of an argument presented in an article. This bias can happen over the short term (for xample, an article on CNN that rips apart Obamacare by systematically pin-pointing how this system will attempt to under-cut conservative interests, such as private- sector health insurance providers); or, this bias can occur over long-term (for example, Fox News has become a haven for conservative viewpoints because, over time, this media hub has systematically omitted the liberal voice in the majority of the stories it reports). Another form of bias is inherent in the selection of sources to support a specific viewpoint in a news story. An example of this is when a newspaper uns a story about abortion and backs up its assumptions by testimony from experts who already subscribe to a school of thought that is either anti- or pro- abortion. The author simply references more experts who share the same point of view about an issue, therefore implying in that those in the know all feel this way about a topic like abortion. Another form of bias is story selection. This form is most obvious in media outlets that openly subscribe to a certain affiliation, be it republican or democrat. MSNBC may choose to run with a story at the top of their news show bout Joe Biden visiting a church in a poor, rural town in Alabama and reaching out to the locals about how they wont be left behind by the current administration, while Fox News may not even air the story at all. MSNBC frames the story as very important by selecting to air it at the top of their reports; Fox News, on the other hand, chooses to not air the story at all, framing it as unimportant and not news-worthy. Another form of bias, referenced already, is story placement. Each incarnation of mass media has a different, but equally powerful, way of placing a story in a certain way to make t feel more important. Newspapers may print a story they deem most important to their values on the front page, or give the story more body than others. Live news coverage than to less important stories. Another form of bias is labeling. A conservative news outlet may label the president as far left or ultra-liberal as opposed to democrat. A more liberal news outlet may label Bill OReilly as radical or far-right as opposed to republican. A polling organization that caters to republican ideals may show up on Fox News as experts, while on MSNBC they will e labeled a radical organization. The last form of bias is perhaps the most notorious in the news industry spin. Spin occurs when a story is presented with a certain tone that determines how the audience interprets it. It involves subjective comments about objective facts. For example, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart have made their careers on satirically spinning the news with a liberal voice. In their famous study of agenda-setting, McCombs and Shaw (1968) came to the conclusion that 1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and hape it; and, 2) media concentrations on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. Through rigorous content-analysis and interviews with the public, McCombs and Shaw formulated that specific communities viewed certain issues as more important in a presidential elections than other communities, and these views were directly correlated to the media consumption of that particular community. For example, a more urban and racially diverse community may see the creation of Jobs as most important, because hat is what their news outlets choose to highlight as the main issue by using the methods of bias described above. In a more rural community, other issues are deemed as most important, such as a candidate subscribing to a pro-life point of view, or an anti-immigration platform.