“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This story is very weird and is about a woman’s decent into madness. The story really creeped me out and I don’t think I like it. It’s like a horror story and I’m not a liker of horror stories at all. I get nightmares after watching or reading them. Hopefully I won’t get one after reading this one.

            So the narrator and her family move into this house for the summer and the narrator obsesses about this yellow wallpaper and swears she see someone behind it. She found something creepy about the house and tries to tell her husband, but he won’t listen. The narrator thinks that the person behind the wallpaper is a woman who was confined in the room as if she was and that is why the guards were put up around the window and other such things. Well eventually, she goes mad and tears off all the wallpaper and when her husband finally opens the door, he faints and she circles the room on all fours saying. “I’ve got out at last,…despite of you and Jane! And I’ve pulled off all of the wallpaper, so you can’t put me back!” (1695). Creepy little story isn’t it? Ya, I thought so.

            Well that’s really all I have to say on this story. I don’t want to get to into it because of the whole horror crazy side of it. The story was interesting, creepy and I don’t think I’ll be reading it again any time soon.

Atlantic Monthly July-Dec 1989

These periodicals were very interesting. They look much like any other magazine that we see on shelves in stores today. However, there are a few differences that distinguish them from our magazines today. First of all, the magazines are older and not full of gossip. Instead, this periodical is full of fiction stories and poems. There are also full or reviews of paintings, articles, and pieces of art. There are also reviews of TV shows, movies, books, and different brands. There is an article on Landsend and their new bathing suits that get rid of padding and excess fabric. Reviews on books, movies, TV shows and brands. There are also recipes and ads like there are in magazines today. There are also lots of pictures and cartoons. However, the article and stories in these magazines are much longer than articles today. They go on for 3 or 4 pages. It shows how fast paced our world has gotten and we don’t have time to read a 3 page article. We want the facts now and in the fastest way possible. There are also letters to the editor, crosswords and, and car ads.

                               

There were poems that I liked in the magazine. One was named “Squirrels Mating” by John Updike. It’s about 2 squirrels mating, which is what the title says it’s about. There is a male squirrel that chases a female squirrel and then they do it. It was weird that they would put something like this in s a magazine. However, I guess kids back then didn’t read magazines, so I can see why. Also, there is a poem called “Mushrooms” by W.S. Merwin, which is as the title says, it’s about mushrooms. It was interesting and detailed. Also, it talked about how mushrooms grow and where you find them.

There is also an article that I found really interesting that is entitled “Origins of the Cowboy Boot” by Roland Sodowsky. The first settlers in the Texas Occident were from New Hampshire and they were gatherers. These gatherers were high and wide boot in which they dropped the food they gathered. The gatherers specialty could be determined by the color of their boot tops because the seeped juices of the things they gathered stained the leather. Later on Angus Macleoud became the first boot maker in the Texas Occident. At the end of the article the author said that it has never been determined how the Macleoud boot became the “cowboy boot” in the early 1920’s. However, conservative Texas Occidental refer to it by its traditional name which is the Fruit Boot.

Response to Madison

            I too really liked the quote “She was thanking God for the blessings of her husband’s love: - so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (1619). I love irony in stories. When I read this part, it made me want to punch Armand. To answer your question, I think that Armand will not admit to it. He will probably try to bury the fact that his mother was black, because he is too prideful and can’t admit his mistakes. Unfortunately, there are people out there that cannot let go of their pride and move on. Armand is one of these people.

The Luck of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte

I did not particularly like this story. It had too much testosterone in it for me, probably because I’m a girl. Also, the ending was way weird. There’s a flood and it takes away the house where the baby lives and then the town finds the baby and the man who looks after I and the baby is dead and then Kentuck says “”he’s a-taking me with him. Tell the boys I’ve got The Luck with me now” (1491). And then dies. That’s just weird to me.

            I don’t really understand the setting of this story. I get that the town is filled with refugees and people running from the law. The town is filled with only men and then suddenly there is this woman who has a baby and dies during childbirth and the whole thing is like a miracle to the men in this town. Even though the baby is an orphan, the whole town seems to adopt him. The story seems really happy until the end where the child dies, which to me seems really random.

            I did like the part in the story about the baby talking to the birds and how Mother Nature was “his nurse and playfellow” (1490). That was a nice image. It reminds me of the good old days in elementary school, where the neighborhood kids would get together, and play kick ball or capture the flag outside. We would get dirty and have fun outside in the sun. Mother Nature was our playfellow.

Reply to Julianne

I agree with you that The Diary of Adam and Eve did not look like it was written by Mark Twain. If I didn’t know it was him, then I would surely not even think of his name while reading it. I also thought it was interesting that Eve seemed to have all the brains in the relationship and then the change after the fall was interesting. After the fall, their relationship seemed more realistic to how relationships work today.

I also don’t really have any idea about Journalism in Tennessee and don’t really know what to make of it.