ShortStories

=Stories for Review=
 * 1) “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson
 * 2) “A Telephone Call,” by Dorothy Parker
 * 3) “I Stand Here Ironing,” by Tillie Olsen
 * 4) “Winter Night,” by Kay Boyle
 * 5) “…& Answers,” by Joyce Carol Oates
 * 6) “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
 * 7) “Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin

=Connections between each story:=


 * 1) Since the short stories we read were written by women, in some ways they reflect how women were treated in the time period that they were written. The main characters are not always strong women or conventional women. But they are nevertheless strong as individuals in their own minds; they believe what they think is correct and usually don't listen to male "authorities."
 * 2) In every short story we read, characters are reaching out or pulling away from a human connection. Some are completely codependent and some are completely independent, but always present is some kind of analysis of human connections and the human need to reach out. The main characters all grow in some way--through shared experiences or vicariously living through told experiences.
 * 3) In "I Stand Here Ironing" the mother shows remorse for failing to do things for her daughter and protect her from occurrences in her life. Similarly, in "A Voice From the Wall," Lena's mother shows remorse for not protecting her daughter when the Chinese man lunged at them. These women are haunted by the past in the same way that Holden is haunted by his past and his feelings of regret and remorse about his brother Allie.
 * 4) Certain characters take on a nurturing or "motherly" role. Simon and Piggy, in //LOTF//, care for the littluns. Mr. Antolini and Mr. Spencer, Holden's former teachers, both try to guide him and give him advice. The husband of the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" tries to control her life and her "recovery." The narrator in "I Stand Here Ironing" reflects on what she sees as her own failures as a mother. None of these characters seems to fare very well in the end!
 * 5) Catcher in the Rye---The Yellow Wallpaper. Mental breakdown!
 * 6) In all the stories all the women seemed to be preoccupied, with their psycological problems. Like Macbeth absessing with Kingship adnkilling, and Holden with sex.
 * 7) In the lottery they are in their own little world, with their own traditions which seem normal just like the boys in "The Lord of the Flies". A united society works well at first, then when someone disagrees they are overuled even if they are right. Like Piggy, Simon, and Tessie.
 * 8) Both "catcher in the rye" and " the telephone call" are both in inner monolouges, and they both show their insecurities, which makes them not likable.
 * 9) In "a story of an hour" and "a telephone call" women are portrayed as weak characters relaying on their husbands/boyfriends, thee is a message here.
 * 10) In "The Yellow Wallpaper", it seems as thought the woman is trapped within the walls of this house. This relates to "Catcher in the Rye" because just like the woman is trapped inside the house, Holden is trapped mentally since he will not admit that his life is a total mess.
 * 11) In "The Lottery", Mr. Summers is like Jack from LOTF in the sense that they both lead their people to a point where everything goes wrong.
 * 12) In the "Yellow Wall Paper", the woman in the beginning believes that her husband is doing the right thing by isolating her inside the house. However, near the end of the short story, she loses her mind and practically becomes insane. This relates to the change in the boys in the LOTF because at first, the boys are civilized and orderly, but near the end of the bookm they too lose their minds and become crazy.

=**Role of Women**=

A Telephone Call- Completely dependant upon this man. Needs his approval and security that she thinks he gives her. Not self suffiecient in all aspects of her life. Weak character that is broken. Her personality changes constantly, and very hyper-critical. She's dependent on God, the demanding to God. I Stand Here Ironing- Reflecting on her daughter and realizing what she should have done differently, but in the end she decides that everything that happened was for the better. She sees her role is to be the mother of her daughter and protect her. Winter Night- The role is the mother switches from Felicia's mother to the night sitter. The Lottery- The mother of the Hutchinsons, Tessie, is chosen to be killed and she was also the one who said that the lottery wasnt "fair." Nancy, the daughter, is hoped not to be killed by the crowd. didn't realize this was bad until she was chosen to be stoned The Yellow Wallpaper- Woman, in this story are dominated over by the man. Even though she is the main charatcer, she has a very inferior role. She talks about how she can be indpendent even though she is a woman. She represents during the turn of the century, 1900s. And Answers- The woman who is in the "accident" is very driven in her own mind, she is very set that she didn't kill her daughter, but other people question her reliability and her story Usually the women has a problem that she needs to solve.

=**Point of View**=

A Telephone Call- Not reliable, the reader does not know how long she knew the man. ...& Answers- Reader does not know how long she is being intarrogated or how long it has been since the accident Yellow Wallpaper- Reader does not know how long they are away at the house, how long she has had this illness

=Characterization= Through this unit we talked about general characterization and how we learn about characters through the different ways they are presented.

The Yellow Wallpaper and Catcher in the Rye-Both are first person narritives, we learn about their characters through the way they speak to themselves, speak to others, the way in which they speak (tone, emotion, anger). We learn about the characters throughout the entire book, usually new things as the reader goes along.

The Lottery- The reader learns their characters by how they react to different situations, and lots of emotions

= =
 * Themes:**

The Story of an Hour The Yellow Wallpaper A Telephone Call ...&Answers The Lottery
 * 1) Slavery- Louise is enslaved in her husbands wants and needs all the time and never gets a chance to do what she wants.
 * 2) Freedom- When Mr. Mallard dies, Louise regains her freedom that she lost in her marriage with Mr. Mallard
 * 3) Marriage- Louise is happy that her husband has died because now she is not in a marraige, and not enslaved anymore(Until Mr. Mallard returns)
 * 4) Time- In just an Hour Louise Mallard's life totally changes and she has to restart all over agian
 * 1) Seperation form society/constraint
 * 2) Insanity
 * 3) Conforming to expectations
 * 1) Dependence
 * 1) Manipulation- not sure whether or not she is telling the truth about her daughter
 * 2) Self deception- she says she swears there was a car there, but we are not sure whether or not she was just committing suicide.
 * 3) Imposing beliefs- she hate her life, so she assumed her daughter would. Connects to Holden, who imposes his beliefs on others like pheobe
 * 4) Fate
 * 5) loss
 * 6) Nostalgia/Memory- she is remebering these evants. Connects to Holden.
 * 7) Immunity to reality and seriousness of a situation
 * 8) Not living up to expectations- men expecting too much from her
 * 9) Failure
 * 10) Denial
 * 11) Anger against men
 * 1) Tradition
 * 2) Fear of Change- the people continue this tradition because they are afraid of what will occur if they change it. Relates to HOlden, who does not want anything to change and values Allie because he is dead and thereforeis safe in his memory.
 * 3) Aninimity
 * 4) Distancing yourself fromother people
 * 5) Denial


 * Important Quotes**

1. Suddenly, all the women began to speak at once, saying "Who is it?" "Who's got it?" Is it the Dunbars?" "Is it the Watsons?" Then the voices began to say, "It's Hutchinson. It's Bill." "Bill Hutchinson's got it." 2.Yellow Wallpaper "I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jennie. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back."