yellow wallpaper

After reading yellow wallpaper I thought that Perkins Gillman wrote it to affect change in how women of the time were treated. Women had to overcome so many domestic hurdles to be successful and achieve good things in their lives. The yellow wallpaper served as a hurdle that the narrator had to try to pass. I feel that trying to overcome it and break free was what drove her to near insanity. At the time, women were thought of as being delicate and weak, and not really able to have concrete thoughts of their own. The narrator was handled and treated as if she were a child. I think that initally she was able to think for herself, but if our thoughts are inhibited by others and we're forced to believe that they don't really matter, sooner or later that will control our thoughts and we will be always depending on others for everything. I think the writer was trying to show that if women weren't given more freedom and respect and instead "trapped in wallpaper" that it would be very bad for women, and society overall.
I think that Alcott's A Whisper in the Dark, alluded to teaching the same message and trying to affect the same change. Both Sybill and her mother were institutionalized and thought to be insane for no real purpose or reason. I think that in a whisper in the dark and in the yellow wallpaper the women were locked up so that the men in their lives wouldn't really need to deal with them; they were locked up when they became an inconvience in their lives.

City and Country

I enjoyed our discussion in class about the differences between city and country boys. Tom Saywer was the epitome of a typical country boy. He was scheming and loved above all things, playing and swimming, and hated doing anything related to work, labor, school, or chores. He was a very cunning boy; he often tricked his friends into doing his work for him. He lied to his aunt several times and was also guilty of skipping school more than once. Despite all these faults Tom Sawyer is a very endearing, likeable character. Earlier in the smester we read about a very similar character named Ragged Dick. Ragged Dick was different from Tom in that he lived in the city and worked in the streets as a boot shiner in order to make money to live on. Ragged Dick lived on the streets and was a honest boy who didn't lie or steal, even when afforded the chances to. He seemed to have much better characteristics than those of Tom Saywer, but was not as likeable as a character.
I think Tom Saywer may be more endearing because his character is a familar one. He lived with family members, went to school, had chores; things that we all can relate to. He also had the short attention span recognizable and expected in young boys. I think Tom Saywer represents the type of child that all of us would have liked to be like, even for just one day. He cunningly managed to get out of his chores and convinced his friends to do them for him.. who wouldn't want to be able to do that at least once?
In contrast, Ragged Dick is not that recognizable as a character. He is grown beyond his years and does not live the typical life of a young boy. He is orphanless, living on the streets, and having to do actual labor and work to make money to live on. The city life is more realistic than country living. It is not as fun and carefree. I feel that Ragged Dick's orphanless working city boy is not as enjoyable to read about as Tom Saywer. When reading Tom Saywer the reader is transported back into childhood.. living without worries and strife. I think that feeling is one that needs to be experienced every once in a while in the midst of the chaos that is life.