The Storm The Yellow Wallpaper Young Goodman

The Storm, The Yellow Wallpaper, Young Goodman Brown Essay, Research Paper Conflicts of Similar Nature in Selected Short Stories The Storm, The Yellow Wallpaper, Young Goodman Brown Because writing is inherently romantic in nature, throughout the history of literature, we see many authors’ insights into the enigmatic and often ambiguous subject of love and relationships. Three short stories penned by three separate American writers deal with such matter: Charlotte Perkins Gillman in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Kate Chopin in “The Storm”, and Nathaniel Hawthorne in “Young Goodman Brown.” Though the relationships presented in each of these stories are unique in their own persuasion, the same underlying theme runs true in all. At first glance all of these relationships

may appear healthy in their existence; however, further introspection uncovers specific maladies which I believe elicit much of the discord which arises within each of these writings. All of the husbands in the aforementioned short stories evoke, though some more subtly than others, varying degrees of conflict. Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story pertaining to, and narrated by, a women suffering from depression after the recent birth of a child. Although the name of the women in the story is never revealed, many believe this is short story is an excerpt from the author’s life. Much of the setting of the story takes place in an aging mansion recently inhabited by the narrator and John, the narrator’s husband. Due to her affliction and under strict instruction of

her husband John, who is also a physician, the narrator is sentenced to bed rest in one of the upper rooms of the house. The walls of the room in which the narrator is forced to occupy, are enveloped with decrepit yellow wallpaper displaying an irksome pattern which, coupled with the ennui of doing nothing, works in a maleficent manner on the mental sanctity of the narrator. The narrator’s ailment could easily be rectified if she were allowed to busy herself. However, John’s view as a doctor denies any type of activity, even writing, for he feels it will only exacerbate her already fragile condition. John is characterized by Gillman as being very analytical, very scientific in thought. As such, so when he fails to find anything physically wrong with his wife he attributes it

to fatigue, almost refusing to entertain the idea that it might be an emotional unsoundness that afflicts her. There also appears to be an immense lack of communication between the narrator and her husband John. “I had no intention of telling him it was because of the wallpaper”, says the narrator, referring to her husband, “he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away”(Gillman 583). This paucity of interchange and inability of John to truly listen to his wife’s needs are the ultimate sources of conflict in the story. Similar conflict is also found in Chopin’s short work “The Storm”. However, the disharmony does not manifest itself in such an apparent fashion as witnessed in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Storm” takes place in New Orleans and

deals with the controversial issue of infidelity. Here again we can attribute a substantial portion of the stories conflict to the husband, Bobinot, who seems almost indifferent to his wife Calixta. In the opening of the short story by Chopin we find Bobinot and his son, Bibi, sitting in front of a local store where they notice a storm of impending detriment drawing near. Bobinot’s lack of concern rears its proverbial head when Bibi draws attention to the fact that Calixta is at home alone. “’Mama’ll be ‘fraid, yes,” he suggested with blinking eyes. “She’ll shut the house. Maybe she got Sylvie helpn’ her this evenin’, Bobinot responded reassuringly.’” (Chopin 645). Bobinot seems to have no sense of urgency where his wife’s safety is involved, and the