Claudia Hsu's answers to the Mid-Term Take-home Exam

Midterm Take Home Exam

Simple Questions:

1.     

What distinguishes The Yellow Wallpaper from the popular ghost’s story is that there is no real ghost in the story: it is a psychological horror, and the protagonist “creates” the ghost herself; as opposed to popular ghost story, the house is not actually haunted by spirits and the hallucination is not caused by ghosts. On the other hand, it is the protagonist, who is put to practice “the rest cure”, eventually goes mad after being locked up for a period of time. The horror and all the hallucination are generated by the protagonist herself, which makes everything even more creepy as it is all self-created, and on top of all that, when even one’s mind is out of control, it is nearly impossible to save her/him from her/himself; the situation is hopeless and helpless. (5)

2.

  Tom’s role in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn serves as the “foil” of the protagonist Huck. Tom is from a rather comfortable background compared to Huck, and he believes in rules, is fond of codes of conduct, fanciness and does not care about others’ welfare while Huck is a boy of Tom’s age who constantly questions authority and has his own independent thinking. In one word, Tom’s opposite qualities high-light Huck’s various characteristics, and this enables the author to present Huck’s characteristics even more vividly with Tom’s contrast. At the end of the novel, Tom’s revelation of the fact that he has deceived everyone about the death of Miss Watson and her will of freeing Jim two months ago uncovers that Tom’s cruelty is beyond what is originally expected: he treats Black people no differently than the majority of the grown-ups and he uses Jim as a plaything to his “adventure” game, and it means that all the moral crisis, and the social conventions Huck has broken through the journey have all been part of a game. (5+2=7)

3.

  It is not difficult to understand why The Awakening was criticized as “a sordid novel” by Kate Chopin’s contemporaries, even some of the themes can still be criticized in today’s society as it contains social taboos like adultery, especially when it is the wife who commits such crime in this novel. As the title of the novel is “The Awakening”, the focus of the book is not simply a romance but a deep and struggling process of a woman in search of her true self. This book should be considered seriously despite some of the themes are taboos because Kate Chopin spoke out many truths that many of the women of her era were not aware of or could not voice, which include that maternal love may not be every woman’s innate urge, not all women are domestic and can be happy by just being someone’s wife and that women have the ability to arouse their own awareness of various senses and desires. Therefore, to consider many of the other messages included in The Awakening, I think it is not fair and is too limited to simply judge this book in the negative way. (5+2=7)

4.

 The doctors in The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper are the opposite of each other. In The Awakening, Doctor Mandelet is described as “bore a reputation for wisdom rather than skill...and was much sought for in matters of consultation.” As to give Edna’s husband suggestions, he seems to be more open-minded and considerate of Edna’s condition than his male contemporaries as he advises Mr. Pontellier to “let your wife alone for a while. Don’t bother her and don’t let her bother you.” In The Yellow Wallpaper, the doctor is the narrator’s husband John and her brother, who, on the other hand, are more of the type of man who believe so much of his own authority, and they regard the narrator’s mental problem as “a slight hysterical tendency” which implies that it all has to do with women’s reproductive systems. On top of all that, the doctors of this story put the narrator to practice “rest cure” which is ultimately absurd and devastating. (5)

5.

  One of my favorite poems by Dickinson is “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?”. I am really fond of the playful tone of this poem, and that it playfully expresses Dickinson’s ideal life: she likes the secluded life instead of being famous. The spiritual privacy of nobody is a luxury for Dickinson that is incomprehensible to the dreary somebody. Furthermore,   

How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Dickinson continues to say that being somebody is being public like a frog, having to keep announcing their names to the crowds like a frog croaking to the swamp. Indeed, Dickinson lived a quiet life when she was alive, having only a few poems published, she was able to live a rather spiritual and private life despite now, after her death, she has long been one of the most time-tested and acclaimed poets of all time. (5)

Essay Question:

1.      Comment on the gender issues in The Awakening:

The Awakening was first published in 1899, and the story reveals many of the Victorian concepts of women’s roles in marriage, motherhood and social expectations to females. Kate Chopin created the heroin Edna as a rebel to the society, instead of condemning her, Chopin on the other hand, let her explore herself and freed her in the end. The gender issues in The Awakening that I am going to mention include women’s role in marriage and motherhood and Edna’s female awakening.

In the very beginning of the novel, the parrot shouts:“Allez vous-en! Allez Vou-en! Sapristi!” which literally in English means: “Go away! Go away! For God’s sake” foreshadows Edna’s desire to break free from the status quo and her marriage. When Edna first appears in the novel, she is described by her husband looking at her “as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered from some damage.” And the first thing Edna is reminded of by her husband is her wedding ring. It is obvious that Edna, in this marriage, is regarded as an object that is owned by her husband instead of a human being. In chapter three, the narration shows how Edna is chained by the marriage and how miserable she is: “She could not have told why she was crying. Such experiences as the foregoing were not uncommon in her married life” and she feels “an indescribable oppression” and is filled by “a vague anguish”. Like many women of the past, they were treated as object as if they had no personal desires, and were trapped in their marriages whether they were happy or not.

Another gender issue in The Awakening is motherhood. Maternal love is considered to be natural and right for every woman; yet, is maternal love really an innate urge? Kate Chopin also challenges such idea or to be more precisely, she overturned such idea as she wrote: “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman.” Edna’s friend, Madame Ratignolle is a contrast of Edna, who is a “good woman” based on traditional viewpoints. Madame Ratignolle is fond of sewing, children and domestic life while Edna is the complete opposite. These two roles represent two different types of women, and it represents that women do not just belong to one type, and the existence of women like Edna does not contradict or threaten the existence of characters like Madame Ratignolle; these various types of women can co-exist, and they can get along like Edna and Madame Ratignolle.      

The novel continues with the process of Edna’s awakening. First, a twist occurs after Edna learns how to swim; she learns something new which means she experiences being able to do something outside of the household, and the ocean serves as an imaginary of Edna’s desire and revelation. She later has two extra marital relationships with two other men. In the end of the novel, Edna embraces the ocean, which symbolizes her sense of liberation and the full embrace of her true desire.

In conclusion, the main female character in this novel is presented in a very different way back at that age, and it also explores women’s desire and identity as well as challenges the traditional roles of women, and above all has made this novel one of the earliest books dealing with feminist consciousness. (25)

Total: 54