The Yellow Wallpaper Feminist Analysis

The Yellow Wallpaper Feminist Analysis One of the major goals of feminist literature is to determine what kind of voice women have or do not have in a world, dominated by men. Women are seen as not as important as men in humanity, and language is one of the tools used to emphasize mens power over women. Often the world in literature is represented from a male point of view, yet female writers have continued to write. In Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper the author uses slight symbolism to tell the reader how the main character is really feeling while the literal text goes  either talk like men or not talk at all. Even with these expectations, men have different experiences than women and women needed to find a way to express them, by finding their own style that includes specific themes, like mental illness, and women work on self expression. Mental illness and disease are common themes in North American feminist writing (Feminist Criticism, 173). This piece was written during what Showalter refers to as th e Feminist phase, which was between 1880-1920 when omen protested against societys standards and values. (Feminist Criticism and Jane Eyre, 462) Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of many women who used mental illness as a theme in her writing, as well as suffering from it in real life. As the story unfolds, the characters oppression from men and resulting mental illness takes shape. At the beginning, the author quickly makes it obvious who is dominant in her marriage, saying John and myself while writing in her personal diary. Even in her private thoughts she feels respectful to the men in her life. As quickly as she lets the reader know the way her relationship is set up, it becomes obvious that she has a very active imagination. She describes the house as a haunted house, which also is a foreshadowing to the conclusion of the story. Her resentment towards John is shown in small ways and is hard to detect, John laughs at me, of course. She is used to John thinking her ideas are a joke. Throughout the beginning of the story we learn all about Johns personality traits, a practical forceful physician. In describing John and emph asizing how different the two are, she implies that she is the opposite of his traits. Where he is practical, she is a dreamer. The juxtaposition of John and the narrator reflects the universal juxtaposition of men and women. The dominance of men is undeniable, He does not believe Im sick. The narrator has lost control to decide if shes sick or not, one of the most basic things a person can determine. Her brother is another male figure who makes decisions for her. Although she disagrees, it is not something that she is vocal about. While describing herself, John and her brother the narrator does not use a lot of symbolism. However with the sentence So I will let it alone and talk about  the house, the symbolism begins. Because she cannot argue in the realm of men, she chooses a different outlet for her feelings in issues surrounding the house. She describes the house and its surroundings as beautiful, she then says There were greenhouses too, but they are all broken now. It is common knowledge that greenhouses are areas of new life and growth, the fact that they are broken symbolizing the end of growing new life. The narrator was pregnant, and the  idea of a broken greenhouse could symbolize depressio n relating to the pregnancy and not having the baby growing inside her anymore. The narrators imagination is something that John expects her to control and change, his constant disapproval of her true personality is unavoidable. She does not disagree with John  actively or in an upfront manner, even within the text. The houses features, especially the wallpaper, can be seen as a symbol for the narrators marriage and general feelings. John chooses for the two of them to live in the upstairs nursery, while the narrator preferred the prettier downstairs. I dont like our room one bit. The narrators distaste for the nursery could also symbolize the fact that she did not want to have a child in the first place, which is also evident in the fact that she does not refer to the baby by name or show any desire to interact with it. Their room and shared space could be interpreted to mean their marriage, where it seems that she spends a lot of time alone. Even when attempting to describe John in a positive loving way such as, He is so careful and loving, and hardly lets m e stir without special direction the narrator manages to imply that this is irritating and stifling. This isnt genuine pleasure in this attention. She is not openly rebellious, yet her feelings of unhappiness towards male dominance cause her to feel ungrateful because she is aware of the role women are supposed to happily play. She feels trapped, her unwanted nursery room is ugly and the windows are barred. This was once a precaution for children inhabiting the nursery, but now makes a cage like environment for the narrator and serves as a constant reminder of children. It also is a blatant symbol of the fact that the narrator is caged within a life she has no control over. Her hatred of tire room is intensified by her disgust with the wallpaper. She describes it as committing every aesthetic sin. At first glance, the wallpaper may be seen as insignificant. But upon closer inspection it can be obviously interpreted as a symbol for her marriage. She calls the wall paper dull but irritating, John is either leaving her which is boring or trying to control her life which is annoying. The narrator spends a countless amount of time studying the wall paper, I start, well say at the bottom, down in the corner over there where it has not been touched, and I determine for the thousandth time that I will follow that p ointless pattern to some sort of conclusion. This passage despite how frustrated she is, she continually complains of feeling a lack of strength. She is unable to truly change her situation and feels defeated by this. John makes assumptions and assertions such as You know the place is doing you good,  while the narrator is slowly slipping into madness. It shows his ignorance towards his wifes situation, and mens general ignorance of the well being of women. Also it makes it obvious that one person shouldnt be making decisions for someone else, which was a major cause of unhappiness for women when men were accepted by society as the dominant gender. The narrator feels separated from her husband, there is a disconnected displayed by their inability to communicate, his lack of awareness of their needs and their marriage as a whole. The fact that the narrator has been put in this room, symbolically her marriage, angers her and she makes this known I would not be as silly as to make him uncomfortable just for a whim. He makes her stay upstairs just because that is his preference, when he is often away. The narrator describes the wallpaper and her feelings towards it by saying, I get positively  angry with the impertinence of it and everlastingness. Her marriage is something she cannot escape from, and she has no choice in the matter. The word choices made in this part of the story intensify the feeling of unhappiness, words such as inharmonious and sentences like ravages  the children have made here they must have had perseverance as well as hatred convey a negative image. Yet as much as there is the narrator fights against the oppression of men there are moments within the text where she doesnt do a very good job of making her case. And dear John gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me upstairs and laid me on the bed, and sat by me and read to me till it tired my head At times like this she enforces the idea that she is a child and needs to be babied. If this is the way she behaves than it is no wonder that he treats her the way he does. As much as the oppression is created by men it is accepted and at times encouraged by women. Her tears and weakness are leading towards a mental breakdown. She begins to see a woman in the pattern, stooping down and creeping about. If her marriage is the wallpaper, than the woman behind it can be seen as the narrators subconscious. Her growing unhappiness makes the woman more and more noticeable. She lacks purpose, as she is not allowed to write, and this causes her over active imagination to engage. Her woman behind the pattern feels as she does, the faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out. The narrator desires to shake off her marriage as the woman tries to shake the pattern. The use of the word pattern is no accident either, as these types of relationships are the typical pattern followed by society at his time. As time progresses the narrator sinks deeper into her obsession with the woman in the wallpaper, perhaps her only means of escape from a situation she cannot change. Finally the narrator gives way to madness, ripping at the wallpaper and creeping around the room causing her husband to faint. She hasnt managed to escape the confines of her relationship, yet she is attempting to free the woman from behind the pattern of the wallpaper. Her obsession with the wall paper is directly correlated to her desire for control within her life  and relationships, she can assert her dominance over the wall paper yet she is incapable of changing her relationship.

Theories of Relativity

Waheed Ahmed The book I have chosen to complete my ISP journal on is Theories of Relativity by Barbara Haworth-Attard. The second half of the book begins with Dylan planning a trip to Murdock to try to move in with his grandparents. However, this plan fails miserably when he discovers that his grandmother has died and his grandfather is soon to follow. His situation only worsens when he returns to Toronto; Dylan is brutally beaten by Brendan’s men for his attempt at running away with Jenna. To help cope with the pain of broken bones and sore muscles from the beating, Dylan accepts some mysterious pills from Jenna. He soon becomes addicted to them and longs for more. He then realizes that he has been betrayed by Jenna and soon finds himself indebted to Brendan. Due to the severity of these events Dylan begins to reflect on the type of life he is living. He is fed up and realizes he needs to turn his life around. After being denied another loan from Glen, Dylan takes the first step to turning his life around by accepting a job offer as tutor at a computer lab. The main themes of this book would be family relationships, homelessness, nature versus nurture and always staying true to one’s moral values. Dylan’s character is very similar to another character named Jesse Pinkman from the television series â€Å"Breaking Bad†. Jesse is a drug addict and a recent high school dropout. Jesse finds himself living in the streets after his parents refuse to financially support him. Jesse’s parents forbid him from reentering their household because they believe he will act as a negative influence on their seemingly perfect son, Gale. However, Jesse has a very good relationship with his younger brother. Interestingly, Jesse feels as though Gale is his personal responsibility once he discovers that Gale is experimenting with marijuana and headed towards a bad pathway. The relationship between Jesse and Gale is almost identical to Dylan’s relationship with Micha and Jordan. Jesse feels responsible for Gale because he has experienced that lifestyle and wants to ensure that Gale doesn’t follow in his footsteps. Both Dylan and Jesse feel that the parents are not doing a suitable job and want to intervene for the betterment of their siblings. Making the connection between these two very similar characters allows one to make a more accurate judgment towards why people act the way they do. This connection helped me see another side of Dylan and understand why he cared so much about the wellbeing of Micha and Jordan. All his efforts were to ensure that they did not end up in his situation. On that same note, Jesse had made the mistake of experimenting with drugs and didn’t want his brother to make the same mistake. A major difference between both these characters is that Jesse’s parents were very supportive and helpful, whereas Dylan’s were the complete opposite. Ultimately it did not matter how their parents raised them because their environment would mold them into different people. Personally, I can also relate to how Dylan and Jesse felt about not being able to help their siblings. In my case, my cousin’s parents were not very strict on practicing Islam, the religion that we both shared. I felt as though it was my duty to educate my cousin about the basic principles of Islam because I felt he was deprived of something truly valuable. He was labeled a â€Å"Muslim† but did not have the basic understanding of what it meant to be one. However my efforts rendered useless as my aunt did not appreciate me teaching her son about Islam because she was Christian and her husband did not have a say in the matter. It was not my obligated duty to help my cousin; nevertheless I only took the responsibility because I felt his parents were not doing a suitable job of educating their son about either religion. I felt like the parents were just an obstacle between me helping someone. Ultimately, the parents had more authority than me so I was to do what they asked. This experience helped me understand the mindset of both Dylan and Jesse. No matter how much Dylan detested drug abuse, ultimately it was not in his control. He became addicted to drugs due to the environmental circumstances. This is the subject of nature versus nurture that Theories of Relativity is structured around. The author shows the reader how an environment such as Dylan’s can change any person regardless of race, gender and certainly not age. The author demonstrates just how vulnerable the human mind is to assimilation. The messages the author conveys can also apply to the real world situation of homelessness. Society doesn’t realize the harsh realities of living on streets and our views are solely based on what we see visually and what the media feeds us. Over 7 000 people are homeless in Toronto as of 2012. After doing some research, I was astonished by how accurately the author has depicted the issues discussed in the book. Issues like prostitution, drug abuse and homelessness are very prominent in my own city! The author also raises many important questions in the book. For example, can an immoral deed like stealing be justified if it is committed when one is severely desperate? Normally I would automatically disagree because taking someone else’s belongs is extremely wrong. However, in Dylan’s situation he only stole exactly what he needed to survive, basic necessities. He would steal when he was desperate and there was no other option. In my eyes, if you are young and healthy, like Dylan then you have the ability to work and support yourself. Based on the book, I believe Dylan did not persevere as he stopped trying after his first job interview failed. If Dylan kept trying he could have been hired and in doing so he could have avoided many problems. On the other hand Dylan had the option of many other illegal and immoral sources of income like selling drugs but he stood true to his morals and declined those offers. In relation to the real world I think that the government should create more programs aimed to help under-aged homeless people. These programs should be more inviting to the homeless and serve as a viable escape route from the street life. It is ridiculous that in a developed country like Canada over 300 000 people are homeless! (Bri Trypuc â€Å"Homeless in Canada†) I think after reading this book, we as a society should come together in collaboration and help these homeless people get off the streets and become contributing members of society.

Accounting Ethics Free Essay Example, 3750 words

History of the issues Ethics are a very important issue in case of maintaining accounts in a professional way. History says that this kind of accounting practices provide moral value and prevent anyone to do any kind of injustice. Every professional accountant should have the ethical knowledge otherwise they will be unable to know what is right and what is wrong. Ethics provide disciplinary action to do the accounting work in a proper and accurate way. The accounting skill will also enhance by using the ethical factors. At the same time, a good reputation can be built by any accountant for practicing ethical knowledge in the accounting system. Work pressure will also be reduces by such kind of practices because chances of doing wrong entries will be omitted totally if someone will follow the ethical guidelines for keeping accounting records. Now another more important problem can also be solved by this issue. From the very past doing fraud in accounting entries is a very common prob lem. Ethical factors can build strength within an organization which will help to prevent such kind of practices. We will write a custom essay sample on Accounting Ethics or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Such kind of practices will maintain the stable professional work environment in any organization. The major duty of an accountant is to maintain the settled guidelines of ethical issues by any organization where they are involved.

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