The short story, ” The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Gilman, and “The Cask of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allan Poe, are stories in which the plots are very different, but share similar qualities with the elements in the story. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a powerful tale of revenge, in which the narrator of the tale pledges revenge upon Fortunato for an insult. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story about a woman, her psychological difficulties and her husband’s therapeutic treatment of her illness. She struggles over her illness, and battle’s her controlling husband. The settings in both stories are very important, they influence the characters, and help with the development of the plot.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the setting helps define the action as well as to explain characters behaviors. The setting is which the story takes place is in the narrators room, where she is severally ill, and she is “locked up” in the room which served as her cage. The room in which the narrator is caged in is a nursery, “it is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways. The paint and paper look as if a boys’ school had used it.” The narrator describes the color of the walls as repellent, almost revolting, it is an unclear yellow with a dull orange. The condition that the narrator is in, the repulsiveness of the room, and the room haunting her, drives her into insanity.
“The Cask of Amontillado” takes place in an appropriate setting, not only is the setting underground, but also in the blackness of the night. The story begins around dusk, one evening during the carnival season in a European city. The location quickly change…
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…he wall, he thinks about his rejected opportunities and his unbearable regret. As he sobers with terror, the final blow will come from the realization that his life is ending in his catacombs dying with his finest wine. The catacombs, in which he dies, set the theme, and relate well with the story. Without the yellow wallpaper in the short story, the significance of the wallpaper would not mater, nor would it set the theme or plot. At night the wallpaper becomes bars, and the wallpaper lets her see herself as a women and her desire to free herself. She needs to free herself from the difficulties of her husband, and from her sickness. The settings in both, set up the elements of the stories and ads to the effect in both of the short stories.
Bibliography
Branson, Leigh W. Edgar Allen Poe’s Literary Neighborhood, 17 Mar. 1997
*htt://www.geocities.com/Athens
An Analysis of The Little Convent Girl
An Analysis of The Little Convent Girl
Grace King’s The Little Convent Girl is an excellent example of post-Civil War realism incorporating a trick-ending. In this local color short story, King methodically lures the reader into a false belief that her story is about an insignificant and nameless young girl who, after twelve years seclusion in a convent, is exposed to the fervor and excitement of a steamboat trip down the Mississippi River. The success of Ms. King’s trick-ending is achieved through three basic elements; 1) de-emphasizing the importance of the main character, 2) tidbits of information followed by wordy misdirection, and 3) a false climax.
Ms. King masterfully downplays the importance of the little convent girl by not giving her a name, even the steamboat captain and crew members refer to her as “the little convent girl”. As a result, the reader is led to believe that the story is not really about the little convent girl. She is merely the instrument chosen by the author through which the reader will experience a steamboat adventure. King further misleads the reader by offering paragraphs of information about the complexities of navigating the river, the habits of the crew members, and the skill of the steamboat pilots. On those occasions that the reader is provided bits of information about the little convent girl, King immediately misdirects the reader back to the overt theme of a steamboat adventure.
King, in introducing the little convent girl to the reader, goes to great lengths to present her as a dreary and uninteresting creature. She wore dark clothing, sat rigidly upright, secluded herself in her room, and displayed little zest for life. Therefor, when King uses the work “blac…
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…it up to each reader to draw their own conclusions and search their own feelings. At the false climax, the reader was surprised to learn that the quite, well-liked, polite, little convent girl was colored. Now the reader had to evaluate how the forces within their society might have driven such an innocent to commit suicide.
In analyzing this story, there are several other interesting facts that merit further exploration. For instance, throughout the story all references to the little convent girl use black or dark references. But, when plunging to her death, the author describes the little convent girl as a “flutter of white petticoats, a show of white stockings”. What is the significance of the sudden color change? Also, Since the reader must assume that the little convent girl is Catholic, what can be concluded about a proper catholic committing suicide?