Reoccurring Symbol in Shakespeare's Plays

While I was reading act I of Othello, I began to notice a trend in several of Shakespeare's plays. In all of the tragedies that I have read by him, he has somehow incorporated witchcraft or potions. (Now I don't have any direct quotes for most of these plays because I don't have copies of them with me, therefore all my arguments are from my own recollection of the plots.) In Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers end their lives by drinking a potion. Macbeth is more associated with witchcraft with all the influence the three witchs have on Macbeth's thought process. But if I recall correctly, it is through a potion that Macbeth is able to receive the three warnings from the witches as to how his power will be taken from him. Hamlet's father is killed by Hamlet's uncle when he pours a potion in his ear while he sleeps in the garden. We already see this repetition of witchcraft in Othello. Barabantio's first reaction when he hears that his daughter has married without his knowledge is "is there not charms (spells)" (I, 1, 173). I think Shakespeare used this reocurring symbol throughout his tragedies because during the time he wrote the dominating religions were Christianity and Muslim. Among these religions, especially in the Christian religion, many cults were arising that were very much into witchcraft and postions. Shakespeare was not a person of religion and therefore I believe the used these ideas from the cults in his writing. I have included two links: one to the life of Shakespeare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare and the other to popular cults of the Christian religion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_Hunters.

Minority Consciousness

Minorities, ironically, are often seen as threatening to the majority of society. The majority often have what is known as a "minority conscience," where they feel threatened by the minority, who are actually quite powerless. There are examples of this throughout history, such as persecution of the Jews before and during World War II. Jews were scapegoated for the problems plaguing Germany, problems that were obviously out of control of one particular group of people, the Jews were just convenient targets. Othello also illustrates this problem of "minority consciousness." Othello, a Moor, who is physically different than the rest of the society in Venice, is accused of witchcraft by Brabantio. Brabantio says to Othello, "...that thou hast practiced on her with foul charms,/Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals/That weakens motions" (74-75). How could Othello, a Moor, possibly woo the daughter of Brabantio without witchcraft? How could a perfect young women be attracted to an outcast like Othello? It must be witchcraft! In a way Brabantio held this "minority consciousness" because he could not even fathom the idea that is daughter would fall in love with a social outcast, so he resorted to the idea of witchcraft. The idea of minorities as threatening, and so different that they could not be assimilated into the society that they lived in, is not something new; clearly, this was an issue that dates back to the time of Shakespeare and further.

The Ups and Downs of Shakespeare

Shakespeare:

It's a name known to most every student around the nation. To some, it brings images of characters professing their love on balconies, or perhaps the images of men in tights. To others, however, it just brings a very large sigh.

So what exactly is it about Shakespeare that brings dread to so many people's mind? Or is it even dread? Whatever it may be, it certainly exists because just the name Shakespeare has gained a reputation of meaning a lot of different things to many people.

I have to admit, reading Shakespeare definitely isn't one of the things on my top five list of fun things to do, but I think that might have to do with the fact that it takes a lot more effort for me to read it than other literary works. Cameo and I were talking about this on Monday in our little groups, on how you can't just read a page of Shakespeare. You're always having to look up word after word, trying to translate the language he uses! I wasn't joking when I said it could probably pass as a foreign languge! I enjoy the characters and setting he creates, but sometimes those things are clouded by the crazy-tongue-twisting words he uses!

When I walked down my hall and asked people what they thought about Shakespeare, I got a couple of different responses, but the majority came up with something I hadn't expected: they all enjoyed reading Shakespeare! I found that Macbeth was a favorite among the girls of McCandless, and they didn't mind the language he uses; actually, they LOVED the language he uses. One of my friends responded that her favorite part of Shakespeare was the language because she "loved how they talked back then. It just sounds so cool, and man, we just don't talk like that anymore!" When I asked people whether or not they found it hard to read because the language was so different, some said no, but many people responded that they enjoyed Shakespeare because it was hard, and because every single sentence has an underlining meaning.

Even though I've read a ton of Shakespeare's plays, perhaps I've never given them a chance to be favorites of mine. Even though they're harder to read, at least for me, than most pieces of literature, it could be this very fact (that they're harder, and they stick out) that makes them known and beloved by so many people!

IaGo aNd HiS pErCePtIoN oF wOmEn

In Shakespeare's, Othello, Iago is easy to detest. I almost immediately found myself despising his character in any soliloquies or plots he made clear to the audience. Not only is his character malicious, selfish, and deceitful, but his view of women is incredibly degrading and reinforced my hatred for his character.

Iago's perception of women can be defined by his description of his wife, Emilia, and Desdemona. In these instances, it is clear that he views women as deceptive and lazy. In act 2, scene I, Iago states, "you rise to play, and go to bed to work." The you refers to women, and in the context of this play refers to Emilia and Desdemona. In his opinion, women are lazy and deceptive human beings who show energy only in bed. The idea that women are only of use in bed and fanciful about sex is extremely demeaning and ignorant.

Women are also played as pawns in his intricate schemes and are used as tools to gain revenge against Othello. The one cause of Iago's hate towards Othello is unclear, but it is evident that his lust for Desdemona seems to be a result of the assumption that Othello slept with his wife. In this instance, Iago plans to get even with Othello "wife for wife." The feelings of Desdemona are not even considered and I feel he assumes that because she is a woman she will easily be manipulated into his bedroom. This lead me to believe that Iago not only viewed women as useless, deceptive, and lazy beings, but creatures unable to think for themselves and control their desires. These ideas not only portrayed Iago in darker light, but helped reinforced his role as the villain.

Displacement

To continue on our conversation of displacement, I was having a flow of thoughts as we were discussing it. Sitting there, it hit me how many times, ways, and different places I have felt displaced. One can feel displaced in social situations, at school, a different country, or even in their old group of friends. I found it extremely interesting that we used our homes as our comfort zone and college as our displacement, but then we were able to switch it. I found it interesting how one place can become one's new home. This can happen by spending time and energy in the place of unfamiliarity. The more time spent, the more familar it comes. One can also use the example of a new group of friends. At first, everyone feels awkward and doesn't want to say the wrong thing to upset another. However, the more time you spend with one another, the less displaced you feel and the closer you get. When I think of a home, I think of a warm and fuzzy feeling. When I think of displacement, a picture of a bubble and one person in it and many people surrounding the outside looking in. One can tell that another is displaced by their body language. Usually they are sitting (or standing) with their arms folded looking down at their feet.

What is a Moor?

Throughout Acts I and II, I noticed that many of the characters refered to Othello as a "moor." What exactly is a moor, though? According to Marriam Webster, a moor is one the Arab or Berber conqueres of Spain. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Moor) I was slightly confused by this. Before looking up the definition, I never once thought that Moor was a word dealing with nationality. To be honest, I had absolutley no idea what it meant. But while working in my small group the other day during class the race of Othello did come up. We were confused if he was black, just tan, who knows! But now I know! Othello was a Berber, which is a person from Nothern Africa. While I'm not exactly sure how much importance this has to the story, at least I know what the word means now!

Blackboard & Other Tech News

I've had a chance to talk with IT about some of our Blackboard troubles. As we suspected, Blackboard tends to work best with earlier version of Firefox (2.0.0.16) (not version 3.0) and all versions of Internet Explorer. Safari's compatibility is best on versions 2 and 3, but it sounds like those that used it had no problems. We will give this one more try with our next assignment (the workshop), but we will also begin moving toward using our class wiki as an alternative. Frankly, this is a good excuse for you to become familiar with wiki platforms, especially given our discussion of networks and web 2.0 technologies in class on Friday (mind maps...not hamburger paragraphs). In short, try one more time when you receive details for submitting work for the next assignment AND get ready for a "using wikis" lesson to come.

For those of you who use Firefox and really aren't keen on having to switch to IE, fret not! Firefox offers an IE tab for download. In other words, if you suspect that a website may not be responding well to Firefox, you can right click on the link and select "open with IE tab" from the drop down menu. An IE tab will appear alongside any other Firefox tabs you already have open. If the notion of "tabs" is unknown to you, do a little reading about it online. It will change the way you surf the internet.

Microsoft Word Compatibility

If you use older versions of Microsoft Word (1997-2003) on your personal computer, please download a compatibility pack so that you can open current Word files (2007). All SMC computers have the more recent versions, so if you use college computers you are ok. Also, if you have the newer Word, be aware that when you save files, you can save as a "Word document" (2007) or a Word 97-2003 document.

Room Irrelevant?

Do you need your own room to be a great writer?

Woolf claims that "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." I viewed this quote as a larger metaphor; not just a physical room, but instead, a 'room' or a place of any sort that a writer can feel comfortable or inspired to write. In this sense, the writer creates the room. In Gilman's story, however, it's different. Whereas Woolf believes every woman should have a room, Gilman's character is given a room, but she doesn't even want it. The narrator dislikes everything about the room, and states that she "should hate [herself] if she must stay in the room. Yet, as time goes on, her feelings about the room, specifically the wallpaper change. "I'm getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper. Perhaps because of the wallpaper." Her writing becomes almost obsessive about the wallpaper; it becomes the only thing she even writes about. Unlike Woolf's story, where the writer can choose whatever sort of 'room' she wants, Gilman's story has the room creating the writer.

This brings me back to my original question: Do you need a room of your own to be a great writer? Gilman's character did have a room of her own, and because of it she was able to write very well. And yet, perhaps it's not the room itself that inspires her, but instead, it's the wallpaper that draws motivation and encourages her muse. If she can find inspiration in the wallpaper, she can find inspiration in anything. If this is true, then the room becomes irrelevant again. Gilman's narrator almost strengthens Woolf's claim that a writer needs a 'room"; room still being a metaphor for anything and anywhere a writer wishes the write. it's not the room that inspired the writer, and I think this can be easily mixed up' it's the wallpaper. The concept of needing a room becomes extraneous because inspiration can be found anywhere, not just inside a physical room; it can be found in a park with children playing, or with the breeze blowing through the trees. it just depends on the writer, and that's why I believe the writer creates the room.

Symbolism

The "Yellow Wallpaper", to me had many deeper meanings that might one come across. Not only does it touch on Gilman's personal story, but also what was going on during that time of history. Male dominance was at an all time high. John believed that she should not do any work and be kept to herself. When in reality, writing could have helped her more than anything. He also has a tendency to overpower the narrator.e "I don't like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! but John would not hear of it." She also seems to make excuses to protect herself, such as "He is caring and loving and hardly lets me stir without special direction."
The wallpaper could be a symbolic relationship to John. The wallpaper is simply hiding and covering the true wall for what it really is. John simply wants the narrator to hide and hinders her. The wallpaper starts to become personified, "This paper looks to me as if it knew what a vicious influence it had!" When the narrator finally begins to tear away the paper, it symbolizes her breaking free from John's and societies hold. She will no longer be covered and overpowered. " I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane? And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" This passage also signifies a great importance for other women. It means that other women to will be coming out of man's shadows and make their mark clearer and more distinct in the world.

Creepy? Eerie? Slight Spooky?

In spite of the beauty of Gilman’s descriptions of this consuming wallpaper, I can’t help but notice how eerily spooky the majority of this story is. Whether it is autobiographical or not, to have a woman who sees this yellow paper, who allows it to take over her life, and drive her to her wits end. To watch the transformation through Gilman’s words, as the woman in the story goes from “a yellow smell” to seeing the paper as having a “vicious influence” to literally seeing people coming out of the 2D paper, is strangely creepy. How her husband thinks that leaving her allow in a room, all cooped up, will help her feel better is beyond me. This woman, Gilman or whoever, obviously has some sort of problems (in this case I believe its postpartum depression). Her deviation from reality, easily slipping into this dream world of yellow smells, yellow colors, and yellow hues, displays her mental instability. I guess the question then, is… why does Gilman tell us this story? What does it have to do with the role of rooms as a necessity for writing? The way I’ve come to see it, is Gilman is trying to tell the audience that a room that one creates for oneself is the only kind of room that will adequately suit one’s writing needs. In line with Mary Shelley’s telling of Frankenstein, possibly Gilman is attempting to tell the reader something about social discontent in the form of a semi-Gothic, slightly paranormal short story. Either way, it most definitely is an unforgettable read, which I have a feeling, was her intent.

Words and Books are Closer than we Thought

The English language is always changing, whether it is words, or the definitions. A reason why the language always changes is because of the use of words are used by people of different generations. If the words are going to change, then the way an author writes will change, too. The way a story is written gives a reader the imagination to picture what the author was really thinking about when they wrote their piece of art. Some authors are naturally very explicit in their use of imagery, others just keep it plain and simple. If an author writes too detailed, then they might lose their readers because they might barely understand what the author is describing. If an author keeps it simple, they have a better chance of keeping their reader's attention. I am not saying that an author should dumb down their work, but there is always that chance of writing a too complicated book. So, why was it that Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own was so complicated to read, yet her writing is so famous? It was Gilman's story, about her insanity, that was the easiest to read, but many readers have never heard of her.

A Room of One's Own was not a bad book, or the story line was not that complex to follow, but the actual writing itself. When we started reading the books, Woolf's story was about her defining what a woman needs to write, to become a famous authoress. Gilman's story was about her obsession with a yellow wallpaper, which lead her futher down the rabbit hole of insanity. Virginia's story was more in depth and had more to talk about then Gilman's, but she lost me and many other readers so many times in the story. For example she would never clearly state when a person was talking, or she would jump from one storyline to another, all on the same page. Another book like this is the Great Gatsby, which jumped around a lot, too. These books were written near the same time, so maybe the type of writing of these authors had to do with the times.

The times that we live in determines who we are, and how we communicate with the world, and other people. Autors do that job when they write books in the most popular style of that time. While Woolf's style might be considered very complex for this age, it stills opens a window into the way people did talk and expressed themselves back then. Gilman does this too, but it wasn't so much the technique, so much as the way a woman's opinion was valued, when she knew something was wrong. Just like the times and writing, the rights of a woman has changed too.

From Renting to Ownership

Throughout history, women have time and time again tried to create a name, a face for themselves, apart from the male dominated society of which they lived. Virginia Woolf discusses this idea in her work, "A Room of One's Own." She recounts the various ways women throughout history have tried to make their mark on the literary world, but often that process has been hindered by men. Men have, not always directly, hindered the works of women who had the potential to be great writers of their day. Women have not only been denied the privilege of writing, but once it was seen as acceptable for women to pursue careers in writing, and in some ways given a room, they were limited in what they could write about. So, this "room" that it appeared women were finally given, was, in fact, a room, but was it their own? No, this room was designed, constructed, and given to women by men. Women had no say in its size, its shape, its location, or the time of its arrival. Women had to be complacent and certainly just thankful to have a room that they could call their own. I do not feel as though Virginia Woolf came to the point in hisory where women actually owned the room, it seemed the women she discussed were "renting" the room, and had to comply with rules of the landlord.
Real ownership of the room is expressed in Gilman's work, "The Yellow Wallpaper," where the narrator is forced to stay in a room which she hates: the color of the walls, the wallpaper its self, and the smells. However, this is where she is told to stay, by her husband. In fact, she begs her husband, " I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza...but John would not hear of it." The narrator spends her days being preoccupied with the wallpaper. At the end of the summer, the narrator successfully pulls of the wallpaper, and she says to her husband, "'And I've pulled off most of the wallpaper, so you can't put me back!'" The room is closer to the idea of a room that she imagined, the dream she had for the room.
Here, unlike in Virginia Woolf's essay, there is more of a sense that now the room is the way the narrator wants it, it is no longer just an ordinary room. I thought it was interesting to draw on the idea that now the part of the room that the narrator despised so much is gone, and her mind is freed of that preoccupation. The narrartor, like women who were finally able to go from the "renting" to the "owning" stage of the room, can take pride in what they have done to make that room truly their own. In my opinion, Gilman better addresses the idea of a room of one's own, where as Woolf only addresses the idea of obtaining that room, but not really owning it.

A Home of One's Own

One's own dwelling place; The locality where a thing is usually found, or was first found, or where it is naturally abundant (Wiktionary).

These are definitions for the word home. After all of this reading about rooms from "Writing From the Center", " The Writing Life", "A Room of One's Own", and "The Yellow Wallpaper", we, as a class, have gained a lot of information about these authors' opinions of where it is that they gain their inspiration. I think the authors of these works can all come to an agreement that everyone finds their inspiration in their "room"(using this word in a figurative sense). Your room is not necessarily inside of a house or even a physical thing, but rather it is the place where personality, creativity, and inspiration are found. A home. All passion for what we do every day derives from this place. Everyone has a place like this no matter who you are or where you have come from. In your room, you find your true self and a place to "carry [...] every scrap of your experience, however acquired" (Writing From the Center). My room is the place where life, emotion, motivation, and insight all come to fruition. For me, this place can be found in various places like my house, family, religion, and nature. If it weren't for these rooms we would lose our center and knowledge of ourselves and reality. In order to create anything we must have a place for it to come from, a home. Therefore, it is important for us to explore and use our homes in attempt to learn more about who we are and what we spend our lives doing. If we don't, then we will not only lose our stimulation, but more importantly ourselves. From our homes, all of who we are and what we do is "naturally abundant."

Poetry Is Our Glass Menagerie: Christian Culture Lecture Series

Poetry is society’s looking glass into the past.

As a member of the audience, I was stuck by the beauty of this argument. To be able to decipher the past through the rhythms and cadences of great writing must be, if not exhilarating at the very least, an aesthetically pleasing job. Menocal’s presentation of Medieval Spain’s tumultuous history (to put it lightly) opened my eyes to the beauty of language. As the daughter of a historian, I am not unaware of the social, religious and political history of the country; however, the professor’s discussion was enlightening. As she discussed the influence of Moorish customs and art, I found it fascinating to see their cultural magnificence embodied in cathedrals throughout Spain. In addition to the cathedrals, Menocal bring to surface the magnificence of the Arab written word. I guess that this is what is so fascinating. At a time when the vernacular, Latin, was being pushed and prodded; at a time when it could be considered a crime to have a Jewish ancestry; Arabic was more popular than any other language. So much so, that the popular books and romances of the day were written almost exclusively in this language. The question Menocal poses is, “Why?” Why was Arabic so popular? Why did families learn this language instead of the language they were hearing in Mass almost every day? Maybe in rebellion. Possibly because these medieval people felt a deeper tie to Arabic and its history. One way to find out, Menocal says, is to read poetry. Let its beauty, its life, its permeating words take each of us back to discover for ourselves.

This is just a little photograph that was displayed at the event that really spoke to me of the aesthetics I was speaking about earlier:

The Yellowish Essay

I never thought I would be so intrigued by a piece of literature on yellow wallpaper. However, I would have to say that "The Yellow Wallpaper" is my favorite piece so far in class. It is almost impossible to believe how one person could obsess so much about such an intangible topic! What I find most striking is the way Gilman is able to write so beautifully while talking about the ugly and disturbing wallpaper. I believe she writes so magnificently about the wallpaper because of the fact that it is an obsession. Her best descriptions, metaphors and word usages overall come when she is describing the hideous paper! She is entirely focused on one object, one idea if you will, and writes passionately and to the extreme on this subject. Honestly, this reminds me of writing an essay. Gilman places all of her attention, focus and passion into the wallpaper and studies it in such impeccable detail that it is no wonder she writes so passionately. One of my favorite parts of Gilman's explanation of the wallpaper is when she declares it is "One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin" (1). Another beautiful line is when Gilman describes the patterns in the wallpaper, saying, "when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard contradictions" (2).

I believe writing an essay is this same type of process. A writer must focus on one idea and base her essay on, around, underneath, on top of, etc. this idea. The idea must consume you, like this yellow wallpaper has consumed Gilman. Let it take over, if you will, and even if you despise the topic you are writing on, you may just surprise yourself by writing a beautiful masterpiece.

The Importance of Place

Last week we read Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own." Through out the essay there is a constant stress on women having a place they can call there own. With-out this "room" women were subjected to constant interruptions and distractions. Woolf discusses the effect these differences had on a woman's writing and the fact that the work of early female authors was not their best. The distractions women faced caused awkward breaks in their writing, which in turn suppressed their ideas. With this idea in mind, an expert from "The Yellow Wallpaper" reminded me of Woolf's emphasis on place.

The narrator in this story lived in a world dominated by the males in her life. Her husband and brother not only diagnosed her condition, but diagnosed her treatment and feelings as well. It was clear from the very beginning that the narrator had no control over any aspect of her life. Her choice of room was chosen by a man, much like the room choice of the authors Woolf mentioned in her essay. Instead of the room "downstairs that opened on the piazza," the narrator of Gilman's story was placed in an "atrocious nursery."

By no means was the nursery a room of her own. Not only did she not choose it for herself, but the constant supervision prevented her from writing, the one activity she stated helps with her depression. The wallpaper itself was a distraction that disrupted the flow of the narrators writing. There was a moment when she is describing the country "full of great elms and velvet meadows" before abruptly changing her focus toward the pattern of the wallpaper. The wallpaper posed as a interruption that Woolf would have stated hindered this woman's writing. The narrator by no means had a room of her own. The oppression she faced by the men in her life, not only prevented her from writing, but were the cause of her insanity. Without any form of expression the narrator found herself trapped in a room that ultimately unraveled her sanity.

Christian Culture Lecture

Last Thursday I attended the Christian Culture Lecture Series, where the topic of Jewish, Christian and Muslim influences in Medieval Spain was discussed. Other than the fact that I knew the topic would take place in the historical context of the Medieval period, I had no other background knowledge. This made it a bit difficult for me to keep up with the speakers, as I had no prior knowledge of the literature of which she referred to throughout the speech. Although I did have a difficult time understanding everything, the main aspect of the speech was very clear to me: the influence of the Arab language during this time. First, I have never thought of the Arabic language as being prominent in Spain, despite the Moorish background. I have always thought of it as a heavily Christian society, therefore, Latin would have been the language of the writers. However, there was a time when the Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together and were influence by the Arabic language. Arabic culture clearly influenced this society, as there is evidence of Arabic art and architecture even in Jewish synagogues.
So, even though I had a difficult time understanding every detail of the speech, due to my lack of knowledge of Spanish literary history, I did pick up on some main points. Had I had a little more background on the speech, I may have been able to absorb a few other aspects of the speech, but I think that the affect of the Arabic language and people was the significance of the speech.

Now I see...

Whats the big deal about rooms anyway?

I hate to say it...but I do think our "rooms" are a big part of us.

If I may say, they even go as far as to define us.

How often do you find yourself just wanting to go back to your room? When you're having a bad day, don't you just want to go to your room and lay in your bed? Our rooms are part of us. They are just a tiny peek into our lives.

Does this explain why so we've read so much about rooms?

I don't know if it explains why we've read so much about rooms, but it does help make sense of why so many authors find themselves writing about rooms. Describing a character's room can help to describe the character himself.

Charlotte Gilman's sickness is seen most vividly when she is in the room on the top floor of the house with the yellow wallpaper. Is it possible that the room contributes to her sickness? Gilman quite possibly reaches insanity after a few weeks in that room.

Woolf argues that women need a room to write. It is quite possible that women feel they have no writer identity without a room of their own. They have no place to go to be themselves. Their writing does not have a place because these aspiring women authors have no place. Rooms help us to know who we are. Our rooms are where we can be who we really are. Women had no rooms, therefore had no writing.

I better see now how important rooms are. Let's stop thinking from merely they author's viewpoint and relate the main idea to our own lives. I mean, come on, I would die without my room. My room is my comfort zone. I need my room.

Maria Rosa Menocal and Don Quijote

While I know Dr. Menocal's speech was not about Don Quijote, rather the role of poetry in history, she did open her speech with examples from Cervante's book Don Quijote de la Mancha. My mind couldn't help but wonder a bit from that point. Man, was I excited! I knew what she was talking about! I knew Don Quijote! I read, or rather attempted to read, parts of the book in my Spanish class last year. While Dr. Menocal went on to explain how literature, or any aesthetic, preserves history, the story of Don Quijote played through my mind. Then it hit me...are some of us avid readers going to end up like Don Quijote himself? Will our non-stop reading send us into a downward spiral towards mental oblivion!? I, for one, do not want to end up as Don Quijote. I do not want to make a fool of myself as Don Quijote did. I would hope my family would send me to the doctor if I started to lose my mind. But will any of us give up our favorite past time, reading? Will any of us be phased by the threat of pending insanity? I think not. But now I realize I should only speak for myself on this matter. Maybe some of us book worms read in order to escape reality. Maybe some of us would rather lose our minds and live in a dream life, just like Don Quijote.

"The Yellow Wallpaper": Some Historical Context

Published in 1892, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" predates Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own by over 35 years, and, unlike Woolf's British text, takes place in America. What historical, national and cultural conditions might help us understand the broader context that Gilman was living and writing in?
To help you explore answers to some of these questions, I've posted a few resources below.

• "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper'": Here you'll find Gilman's own response to the "elephant in the room" question, especially given her own personal experience at the hand of mental health "professionals" like S. Weir Mitchell (mentioned in the story).
  
• What's going on in art? For a sense of how women are being represented in late 19th-century American art, check out The University of Virginia's American Culture pages on this very topic. You'll have to scroll down to the bottom to get to links to other related topics like women & domesticity, women in literature, etc.
• What is a "nervous disorder" anyway? At the turn of the 20th century, a condition called neurasthenia was determined to be the root cause to many cases of anxiety and depression, especially in the U.S. and especially for women. The actual medical validity behind such cases, however, was often suspect, creating instead what some have called a "culture of neurasthenia" in which women were often portrayed in nervous, weakened states. Women said to suffer from such conditions were many times prescribed rest cures or periods of severely restricted activity: no reading, no exercise, no sewing, reduced diet, strict bed rest, etc. The American Journal of Psychiatry has a helpful article, "The Rest Cure Revisited," explaining the history behind the supposed "cure" and the physician responsible for its use, S. Weir Mitchell (the same doctor Gilman references in her story, one she was herself treated by).
• Where was the story originally published and what did it look like? For links to images of the original pages from The New England Magazine, see Cornell's Making of America website. The image you see above was included in the initial publication.
  

Differents in Rooms

As you all know, we have reading a lot about rooms. But so far we have only heard one concept of room. Both Dillard and Woolf used the idea of a room to escape for the commotion and be able to write. Gilman, in The Yellow Wallpaper, takes a completely different approach. She describes the room she has been forced to live in with "the windows are barred for children." I interpreted this to mean that she feels trapped while writing in a room of her own. I agree with Gilman that one needs to be outside, not necessarily out in nature but out interacting with other people and one's surroundings. Being in a room of one's own can feel trapping and uninspiring.

Christian Culture Lecture - 9/18, 7:30 pm, LittleTheater

Here's a reminder to attend this year's Christian Culture Lecture by Maria Rosa Menocal who will be addressing the question "Just what about history does a poem tell us that political history cannot, or will not?”. In particular, she will be exploring the relationship between Islamic, Christian, and Jewish communities in medieval Spain/Portugal (the Iberian peninsula). This talk is a great example of the historical and cultural overlap students explore in the HUST major. In fact, some of our majors were quoted in an article posted on the Saint Mary's home page. If you do attend the lecture, please post your responses, reactions, comments, and questions on the blog as an "extra credit" option. Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

What does place mean? Should it mean the singlular term by which we, as individuals, define ourselves? Or is it merely a starting point from which we all propell ourselves into life? As these past few weeks have gone by, it’s occurred to me that people generally allow themselves to be defined by that which surrounds them, whether it be South Bend, or Saint Marys, or even just friends and peers.

Why is that?

Why, in our search for self acculization and awareness do we let setting or place

limit what we can become?

I guess that this is what eacho of the authors we have read have been trying to decide as well. For Sanders, it was a tangible place, for Dillard it was a desk or chair, and for Woolf it’s her place or identity as a woman. Instead of defining us, these things (our homes, our pasts, our gender) should only serve as backdrops to who we become.

Place, time, space… all of this is temporary, it comes and then it goes, but who we are, who we choose to become, lasts for a lifetime. And hopefully, our lives will positively affect other generations. Woolf talks about how, as a woman, she feels the walls of “man”kind closing about her, limiting her genius as well as the genius of those who came before her. For this reason, we (as women) cannot let place limit us, restrict us to what society is comfortable accepting.

Having a Place is about Money

Money always plays a vital role in a person's life. It affects what they dream about and how they go about achieving that dream. The issue of money is very difficult when the discussion of women are involved. When I say this, I mean women in the nineteenth century and earlier. Whether that woman was a writer or had another career, there were always social guidelines about women and their money, followed. For a female writer, it was very hard to know what to do socially; it was looked down if a woman was a famous female writer, who made money off of her books. It was lady like, and she rarely was accepted in certain social circles, even if she was 'born' in it. It was always a difficult decision for a woman to become a writer, they may have to give up certain dreams if they wanted to be dedicated to their work, also many women were afraid that men would not want to marry them, if they did not depend on him for money. Even though this thought is not common today, it was the norm in Austin's and Bronte's time, and it happened on occasion in Woolf's lifetime. When they were little they were told certain things had to be certain ways,

"...girls could go to their parents and say, You need not give me an allowance; I can make money by my pen. Of course the answer for many years to come was, Yes, by living the life of Aphra Behn! Death would be better!" (Woolf 64)

This passage indicates that a female used to believe that the life of an authoress was the worst thing that she can do with her life. It was improper, no matter what success they earned. If a woman wrote and made money she often did not find welcomed gratitude, unless she was anonymous, which Jane Austin did. For a female writer to be famous, have her own income, and be successfully married was something that was never done, it was unheard of; of course that happens when no one tries to defy the stereotype. In modern day literature there are many famous authoresses, that have it all, by most people's definition. By obvious example, a authoress can have it all, if they have the right encouragement to allow them to defy the odds that was set against them.

Space Just Doesn't Matter

I found the question asked at the end of class yesterday interesting, and couldn't help but think about it more even after class ended. Is a pen and a room of her own all a woman needs in order to write? Is Woolf correct when she states this?

It seemed as if a lot of us took Woolf's statement as a metaphor; instead of specifically talking about an actual room for writing, the "a room of one's own" could be any special space a writer has for writing. It could be a corner in a library, a spot by a lake, or like I mentioned in class, a coffeehouse just as J.K Rowling used to write the first Harry Potter book before she had gained fame and fortune. I liked what Sarah began talking about in class, how sometimes an actual room can be too confining, and doesn't allow the writer to think beyond the limits of that room.

I liked thinking that Woolf's statement was more of a metaphor. When I first read her statement, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction," I had thought perhaps Woolf was speaking about the imagination of a writer. Instead of being a metaphor for any special space, the "a room of her own" could be about all a writer needs is her imagination and a pen.....nothing else. My take on this comes from my belief that a writer has to write. They just have this impulse and need to write all the time. They don't need a room of their own, or even a piece of paper. Just as J.K. Rowling did, writers will use whatever they have in order to express their imagination and physical need to write; whether this is on a napkin, on a sticky note, or even on the walls, writers will write no matter what. Space just doesn't matter for writers because as long as they have their imagination, they will find a way to express it.

Gumption to do it

So I was just thinking on the idea that all a woman needs is place and money. How about the expectation of what they are suppose to do? I was rereading about how Pride and Prejudiced was hidden under creaky boards in the bedroom and written in secret, and it seemed that it was without the animosity towards men generally speaking. Jane Austin was not expected to write, I feel that this is amazing. How strong she must have been.

It is easy to be a sheep and do exactly what was expected of you. I did that for my first three years here, going into the major/profession that my family supported, and which my grandfather and godfather both were. It was expected of me. There is a very good chance that I will go back to it, but becasue I have found I truly like doing it. It took a lot of energy and fretting and worry to tell them that I was switching majors (from Accounting to Political Science) to explore a subject that also held my interest, but unfortunately would not get me that job on Wall Street.

While writing is not my thing, I think that this idea of women having the freedom to do what they want is one that is universal. I am being pushed in a very real way into finding a good Catholic husband who will eventually make more than me and he will be able to support the family, so I can stay home while children are being raised until they go off to school. This is coming from the grandparents I was raised by. It was interesting to tell them that I was not going down the path that they had picked for me, and in that time things were so much more rigid. However, coming from my situation, and I do not know your situations, that there are people out there lead by society who fell that in some ways there are things that we should be doing as we grow up, whether we want to or not.

Eventually this winds back around to not just that physical and/or mental place and 500 pounds a month, but I think it also takes a fair amount of gumption to go out and get this job done for yourself if it is that which is against the grain.

Playing With Fire

The ultimate beauty of Virginia Woolf’s book, A Room of One’s Own flourishes in the way Woolf grows as a woman throughout her thought process in writing her essay. In starting this essay, Woolf admits she had no idea where to begin, as she sits in a library, staring at a "blank sheet of paper on which was written in large letters WOMEN AND FICTION, but no more" (25). As the pages turn, the reader can see the way Woolf develops her own theory as to why women need a room of one’s own and money to be able to write. Woolf admits that she is actually asking the reader to “live in a presence of reality, an invigorating life, it would appear, whether one can impart it or not” (110). In the foreword in the beginning of the book, Mary Gordon writes something that I cannot agree or come to terms with. Gordon interprets Woolf’s essay in her own way and states, “Yet the writer cannot, for Woolf, work to be rid of the self; the writer must be born into a world which never allows grievances to appear, or must be born of a soul made of stuff that will not bear the impress of resentment” (viii). I would have to say that I strongly disagree with the first part of this statement and I actually received a very different view of what Woolf was saying about women writers and reality in this book than Mary Gordon. I do not think it is possible for a writer to be born into a society where grievances do not appear. It is possible, of course, to try to rid one's self of the grievances that hinders her writing, but as for being completely born into a world without them, that I cannot agree. The inequality between men and women has always exsisted and probably will always exist. If it were possible to be born into a society without hardships or inequality, I do not think Woolf would have wasted her time on making the points she does in this book or writing it at all for that matter.

To me, Mary Gordon is suggesting that Woolf believes men and women who write famous works of literature were born into that era for that purpose only. Take Shakespeare for example. No one in his day and age (and maybe not even today) could have ever written with such beauty as Shakespeare. Does that mean that no one will ever write anything beautiful again? I agree that there is a time and a place for everything and that maybe everything happens for a reason, but I do not believe that a writer cannot work to be rid of the self. Jane Austen was able to write literature without bitterness, resentment, fear and hate (68) and who is to say that she was "born" to write this way. Jane Austen could have learned to write this way by simply practising. Did not Emily Dickinson sit in her room until all hours of the morning writing lines of poetry just to discard them until she wrote the perfect poem? Most of the women writers in Woolf's time were uneducated and therefore probably taught themselves to write as beautifully as they did. Also if what Mary Gordon says is true, why would Woolf continually exhaust herself trying to explain the importance of women having a room of one's own to be able to write? Although Woolf decides that this in not the only means necessary for a woman to be able to write, it is the spark that ignites the fire that makes Woolf begin this essay in the first place.

Inspiration from Distractions

After reading "A Room of One's Own," I was thinking of "a room" as a physical room with a locked door where one could fully concentrate. However, I found a similarity between the piece we read from Sander's "Writing from the Center", and our current reading, "A Room of One's Own." "Writing from the Center" focuses on the idea that to be a good writer, one does not need to completely isolate oneself from society, a common trend among various writers. Writers, Sanders states, "long for the uncluttered space of mind, for the freedom to pursue one's imaginings without restraint from any other soul"(154). This sounds very similar to Woolf's argument that great writers need "a room of their own." Both Sander's and Woolf would agree that women have been deprived of this "room." In fact, Sanders says, "Women have had to tug harder and longer to open room of their own...for the freedom to pursue one's imaginings without restraint from any other soul, is neither male nor female"(154). Both Sanders and Woolf recognize the struggle for women to open up doors to fully explore their imagination.

Is a room of one's own, as described by Woolf, a tangible place or a mental escape? The "room" is physical in the sense that it is a place where the writer can go, but that does not necessarily mean a place in total isolation. By finding this place, one is able to mentally escape. Sander's found the room of his own at home, where he "made his home ground the ground of his imagination" (157). This is where he was inspired; for him, creativity stemmed from the people and surrondings of his past. Therefore, "the room of one's own," is a tangible place where someone is able to make "room" in their mind for creativity and inspiration; not necessarily a desolate island or a locked chamber, with no distractions.

In reaction to our class discussion, one does not need a physical room in order to write well; however, one needs a place where room can be made in the mind in order to write well. Perhaps women in the past did not feel as though they could be inspired or creative in their daily lives, and that if they had a room to call their own, ideas would more easily flow. However, it is the distractions in our lives which inspire us, and we should take advantage of our surrondings when searching for creativity, not attempt to escape them.

The Importance of Money

It is obvious that Virginia Woolf believes “that it is necessary [for a woman] to have five hundred a year and a room with a lock on the door” to write fiction or poetry (105). I agree with Woolf because money is essential in order for a woman to have a room of her own. Without a private space, women were subjected to constant interruptions and lacked the freedom and privacy that was available to men. When looking at the work of Jane Eyre, we saw first-hand the effect of disruptions.

Jane began discussing how “women feel just as men” and their “need to exercise…their faculties…as much as their brothers” (69) before she switched to an unrelated topic about Grace Poole’s laugh. Because Eyre lacked a space of her own, her “genius” was interrupted and therefore unexpressed. Would this have happened if instead of writing on a rooftop, Eyre found herself in her own cottage? I think not. Men had the power to separate themselves from any form of distraction and therefore had an automatic superiority over the female writer. Without money a person could not buy the “material things” that “intellectual freedom depends upon” (108). Lack of this intellectual freedom made writing impossible and therefore untouchable to most women who had no means to acquire it.

Broken Dreams

I'm gonna go back a little bit, sense this is an open topic blog, to Sanders and how his biggest point was that all writers live single, isolated lives. I was looking through the newspaper a couple days ago and found an article of a woman who has recently died. The title is Wanted to be writer but chose to be mom. The article is Catherine Rooney Sullivan who, like the title suggests, gave up her dream in a career as a writer and editor to raise a family. This got me thinking about the piece that we read by Sanders. I questioned why she would give up her dreams. I have always been taught to chase my dreams and never give up on them. Although, I like that she became a mother, I think she still could have pursued her dream to be a writer. It may have been more difficult writing with six children running around the house but I believe it could have been done, who knows maybe her children could have inspired something brilliant. All she needed was some place to sit and be alone to write, not necessarily a room of her own but a quiet place.

Room To Think

Going off of our question from class, I just wanted to expand my thoughts.

I think women need more than a room of one's own, our inspiration is pulled through all forms of life and if one were to lock oneself in a room, where would the inspiration stem from? As far as being able to concentrate, as Woolf says with all of the responsibilites that women have such as raising the family and keeping the house in good shape, women are constantly being disturbed. A room in that sense would become of great aid, and it doesn't even have to be a room, it could be a place where one finds themselves lost in deep thoughts and relaxation. A room of one's own could be repetitive and a non-inspiring aroma would sufficate and nothing would be accomplished. One of the greatest writers, Jane Austin, got all of her inspiration from her living-room. With the hustle and bustle around her, she based many of her characters and plots off of those who she observed having conversations right in front of her. Another example would be J.K Rowling. She sat in a coffee shop and wrote Harry Potter. Yes, she might be able to block out all of the happenings around her, but what if she came to a writers block and needed new inspiration.
As far as the money goes for back in the time of Dillard, women did need money to keep writing or even start writing. Writers did not earn a sufficient amount of money that they could support their family on. If one found their passion is writing and found a way to promote their writing, they would still need another way to keep their family a float. For todays society, I do not think that one would need money to start to write. One wouldn't even have to buy the basic materials. One could gather a pen just lying around, and take the J.K Rowling way and write on napkins.

Freedom's Sentence

Tradition can be a great thing. It offers connections from generation to generation, it is an efficient way to obtain knowledge about the past, present, and future, and it is natural and practically stress-free with no need for change. There are many things I have learned about in my life through tradition, such as religion and family history. As Virginia Woolf explains in A Room of One's Own, male writers throughout history have had tradition before them, a kind of "sentence" to write off of. Although this "sentence" proved helpful and appreciated by male writers, "it was a sentence that was unsuited for a woman's use" (76). Initially I thought, "gosh that would have been such a disadvantage for past female writers. No tradition to follow? How could they even begin to write without examples laid before them?" After I thought about it, it became clear to me why this lack of tradition for women writers could be such a benefit...FREEDOM! "Indeed, since freedom and fullness of expression are of the essence of the art, such a lack of tradition, such a scarcity and inadequacy of tools, must have told enormously upon the writing of women" (77). And so it did. Female writers of the nineteenth century, like Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen, received praise for their original works. When you think about it, female writers could have gone most anywhere with ideas for their writing, and that, to me, is reason enough to become a writer. The ability to express whatever you desire on a page with no set guidelines or anticipated criticism for going against the tide (of course there will always be criticism though) is unbeatable. I am tempted to say that male writers throughout history were the ones with the disadvantage because of their lack of freedom to write whatever they wanted, unlike nineteenth century women writers who could explore all types of writing and ideas to the ends of the earth. To boot, women writers of that time period receiving praise and acceptance for their works in the face of traditional male writing was a miraculous achievement. If I were given the choice between the two, I would have liked to be a female writer over a male writer during that time because of the freedom of expression and the ability to write my own sentence.