Blog 4 - All You Need Is Love

     In the story “The Lady with the Dog”, Anton Chekhov shares that every one has one true love . True love cannot be found in just any body. Chekhov used Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna to show two different characters that are unhappy until they find love in each other. They are both married but do not love their spouse at all. “It was clear that Anna was very unhappy.” (Chekhov, 469) In the beginning Gurov does not even believe in love. He thinks that no matter who he is with, they will still get sick of each other after time. “every intimacy, which at first so agreeably diversifies life and appears a light and charming adventure, inevitably grows into a regular problem of extreme intricacy, and in the long run the situation becomes unbearable.” (Chekhov, 467) He cheated on his wife numerous times thinking nothing is going to change. He thinks of Anna as just another woman. It is not until Gurov goes back home that he realizes he loves her. “He would pace a long time about his room, remembering it all and smiling” (Chekhov, 472) Anna thought of Gurov often as well. “I have thought of nothing but you all the time; I live only in the thought of you.” (Chekhov, 474) When Gurov finds out about their feelings for each other, his attitude toward love completely changes. “And only now when his head was grey he had fallen properly, really in love - for the first time in his life.” (Chekhov, 476) Gurov even has 3 children with his wife. “He was sick of his children” (Chekhov, 472) This shows that no one can force themselves to love someone else, even if they have a family together. There is only one true love for every one person. 

     “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” gives the same message that the heart wants what it wants. In the beginning Mabel Pervin is rude toward everyone, including Dr. Jack Fergusson. “Mabel looked at him with her steady, dangerous eyes, that always made him uncomfortable, unsettling his superficial ease.” (Lawrence, 480) Jack thinks of Mabel as just another patient. “He had never thought of loving her. He had never wanted to love her.” (Lawrence, 484) Yet, he risks his own life to save hers. “He could not swim, and was afraid.” (Lawrence, 482) but he goes in the pond anyway. After he brings her to the house he cannot stop looking at her or leave her side. “There was another desire in him. And she seemed to hold him.” (Lawrence, 483) He realizes at the end of the story that he is in love with her. “And again, from the pain of his breast, he knew how he loved her. He went and bent to kiss her, gently, passionately, with his heart’s painful kiss.” (Lawrence, 486) So, although he had no intention on ever being with her. The true feelings of his heart came out in the end. Love can only come from what the heart wants. This story also gives the thought that life is not complete without love. Mabel “waded slowly into the water” (Lawrence, 482) to commit suicide. However, in the end she is ready to start a new life with Jack. She just wanted to take care of him right away. She gets dry clothes for him, “she had on her best dress,” (Lawrence, 486) and she is ready to make him some tea. Now that she has love in her life she is ready to live again.

Blog 3 - Irony

     Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is full of irony. It is ironic that Mrs. Louise Mallard is young but dies from heart failure. “She was young, with a fair, calm face.” (Chopin,338) “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease - of joy that kills.” (Chopin, 339) It is ironic that the sky resembles her situation. “There were patched of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.” (Chopin, 338) There is the huge dark moment of death, however there is still light shinning through, and that is her freedom. It is ironic that her husband, Brently Mallard, supposedly dies in a train accident, but Brently he was not even on the train. “He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one.” (Chopin, 338) The most ironic part was not only that Louise dies instead of Brently. But that Louise is soaking in her freedom and rejoicing all of her wonderful time to come. She is thinking about the long life that she is going to live all be herself. “She was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window. Her fancy was running a riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.” (Chopin, 338) Her dreams are interrupted by her husband walking through the front door. Instead of living that long, wonderful, free life, her life actually ends at that moment. 

     There is also irony in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe. It is kind of hard to follow. It seems as though the narrator of the story is imagining that his old friend, Fortunato, is with him on the trip down to the vault. Although, it is possible that he kills Fortunato while they are in the vault. While on the trip the narrator is worried about Fortunato’s health and tries to do what is best for him. “We will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible.” (Poe, 526) It is ironic that the narrator thinks so highly of Fortunato and does not want to be responsible for what happens to him because the narrator is the one who kills him. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (Poe, 525) In the end we learn that his revenge is death. “In pace requiescat!” (Poe, 529), which means may he rest in peace. I also think the name, Fortunato, is ironic. I think of “the fortunate one” when I hear this name. However, in this case he is not so fortunate because he is killed.


                                                      Ironic???

                                  

Blog 2 - Narrators Make a Difference

The narrator of a story can make a difference. There are times an author tells a story from the outside. This is a point of view from the outside which sees the whole picture. There are also times when a story is told from a character in the story. These stories are told only through that character’s point of view. For example, the story of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. This narrator happened to have mental problems, which causes one to believe that her side of the story is inaccurate. She saw and believed things that were different from others because of her condition. 

This narrator was thought to have “temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman, 565) in the beginning of the story. Throughout the story her condition got worse over time. The narrator only told what was in her head instead of what reality was. Throughout the story she also stated that her point of view was different from others. In the beginning she said, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas.” (Gilman, 565) about her condition. The fact that she did not agree with others is a sign that she is an unreliable source.  

There were certain things that she said that lead to her be unreliable. “I take pains to control myself” (Gilman, 566). If the narrator had difficulty controlling herself, then she was possibly unable to control her thoughts, words, or actions at all. “I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time.” (Gilman, 568) As the story went on the narrator appeared to be changing from depressed to possibly delusional. 

The point in the story that showed when the narrator was getting worse and completely unreliable was when she fixated on the yellow wallpaper and became obsessed. “There are things in that wallpaper that nobody knows about but me, or ever will”.(Gilman, 569) She came up with all these crazy ideas about the wallpaper and believed them. She said that the pattern on the wallpaper changed at night from what it was during the day. Her conclusion was that “The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out.” (Gilman, 570)

It is hard to trust a person when they believe a woman is trapped behind wallpaper. The end of the story showed that the narrator was in fact mentally ill, not just depressed or delusional. She locked herself in the room to help the woman out. In the end the narrator believed that she, herself, was the woman trapped in the paper. “I’ve got out at last, and I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so now you can’t put me back!” (Gilman, 574)

The author is showing that the narrator makes a big difference. Along with many other things, the narrator can change, and also create a story. If this story was told by the narrator’s husband, then it would have been about his wife getting ill and going crazy. All of the narrator’s thoughts would have been different. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, although inconsistent and inaccurate, is what made the story very different and interesting.