In a secret
In a secret
Sports policies and the sports environment are extremely important to promote safe participation on an athlete, by ensuring these factors are optimal, the chance of injury can be avoided, thereby promoting safe participation.…
Women have forever been portrayed as curious, deceitful, beautiful creatures that capture the hearts and minds of men and Kate Chopin does a fantastic job of portraying women in her amazingly talented short stories. While the stories may be short, the roundness of the characters and plots are intricate, and are nothing short of depictive. For example as she speaks of when Armand falls in love with Desiree, “the passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles.” (Kate Chopin, 116) She also does just as well, if not better, of a job describing Calixta:…
The word melancholy rarely comes out of people’s mouths, or people are too afraid to admit that there is sadness that goes around them. Society makes sure that this “life” is so happy like tv shows and movies that we don’t face reality. No one wants to face the reality that sadness and depression are growing more and more, but people are hiding behind meditation and antidepressants. There are some people who are starting to embrace their inner sadness. There should someone out in the world who would know you for who you are not what they think, how you appear to them, and having to pretend to feel something you can’t feel.…
The one element that Godwin really hits on in the short story to strengthen the overall theme is the use of fairy tale aspect. At the beginning of the narrative, Godwin inserts a line before the actual story starts that reads, “Once upon a time there was a wife and mother one too many times” (Meyer 36). In this line, she is trying to put the point across to the reader that this short story will challenge the notion of what women desire. Godwin tries to portray that the wife in her story is not the normal wife and mother, like in most fairy tales. The wife in A Sorrowful Woman resembles the exact opposite of what women in fairy tales were portrayed as. In most fairy tales, the woman usually finds prince charming, gets married, has children and lives happily ever after. She desires to different and hopes for a changed role in society. The reader doesn’t know about the wife and husband’s life before their child’s birth, however some passages presume that she had a…
There was a big deal with depression in the 1800’s because one who was taught to have a mental illness didn’t get the treatment they needed. Society didn’t believe mental illness was a problem so therefore family members secluded loved ones who might show signs of any mental illness from the outside world. They also had mental hospitals in which patients displaying mental illness where put in. Benjamin Rush and Dorothea Dix discovered that these institutions were mistreating many of the patients and acted more like jails. There were many writers with very controversial novels such as William Faulkner and Charlotte Gilman. These two were well known…
There are many differences between "A Secret Sorrow" and "A Sorrowful Woman". One difference is the problems that the two women face. In "A Secret Sorrow" Faye deals with a physical problem, the inability to produce children. In "A Sorrowful Woman" on the other hand the unnamed wife deals with a psychological problem, making it more complex and difficult to fix. Another difference is the role the men play in the stories. Kai, from "A Secret Sorrow" has a forceful role, he plays the role of the average formula fiction man, he's masculine, strong and tries to save Faye from herself. For instance when Faye told him that he didn't have to be a gentlemen and that it was okay for him to leave her it was interesting when Kai responds with the line "Shut up and stop playing the martyr". He refused to allow herself to give into her insecurities and wallow in self pity. Instead readers constantly see Kai picking Faye up and trying to snap her out of this funk she has slipped into. He spends the entire story trying to force Faye to believe that she is worthy of being loved. The unnamed husband in "A Sorrowful Woman" is the exact opposite of Kai. The unnamed husband is an enabler, always understanding he does not do anything to help his wife get over her problems. Instead he in a way avoids the issue and allows the woman to succumb to her issue eventually resulting in her downfall. It's interesting that Godwin constantly repeats that the husband always understands. It shows that he realizes his wife is having trouble and he wants to help however the way he attempts to help just perpetuates the issue instead of resolving it. He complies with his obviously unhinged wife's demands and behaviors, just understanding not fixing. He allows her to get away with things such as hitting the child, firing the nanny and not doing her household responsibilities. The battle is lost when the husband allows his wife to isolate herself from her family and move into a separate…
In the dictionary, character is defined as the aggregate of the features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing. This is what people look for in a person they read about in any kind of genre. There is no perfect character in a story. Every character has some kind of flaw in them that draws us in. This is called a tragic flaw. Tragic flaw is a flaw in the protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to their down fall. The tragic flaw is what causes the internal turmoil in our character in this particular story. In “Story of an Hour” (p.168-171) by Kate Chopin, the main character Louise Mallard suffers an internal turmoil when she finds out that her husband, Brently has just died. She first sees this as a huge upset then she realizes that she is now free of her husband, who she has never truly loved. Louise also had a heart condition so that “great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.” (p.168) This is a major part of the story. At one point, the condition goes away. She realizes that her husband was part of the heart problem. Not only was the condition physical but also emotional. When she realizes that her husband has died she has a sense of being free physical but also emotional. She has conflicting emotions that she tells us about by her thoughts and actions rather then in dialogue. These are all traits that help us understand who Louise Mallard is and how she feels about the lost of her husband.…
Marriage is a broad concept to understand. The concept of marriage can mean different things to different people. Although many people go into a marriage with hopes high, things can still go awry. Even though marriage is a supposed bond for eternity, people can go into a marriage unprepared for what comes with the eternal bond. When one goes into a marriage unready, regret can fill the relationship fast and cause a drastic turn of events. A Secret Sorrow and A Sorrowful Woman are two totally different stories; The former encourages marriage while the latter makes the reader question marriage.…
Following the plotline for each of the stories from beginning to end may be the best indicator of which piece truly fits the definition of literature. From the very first word to the last one written, A Secret Sorrow follows the traditional romance plotline. Faye and Kai are in love, but Faye has a secret that she fears may end the relationship. Once she reveals the secret, she flees thinking that Kai has lost his love for her. Kai goes after her and reassures her that their love will never die. In the end, they live happily ever after. In the final sentences, the story says, “Life was good and filled with love” (Van der Zee 37). Almost every other book that is picked up contains the exact same plotline and ending. Since this story is so predictable, it has no chance of retaining its relevance. A Sorrowful Woman begins with an unexpected epigraph that sets it apart from the rest. It says, “Once upon a time there was a wife and a mother one too many times” (Godwin 38). The woman is married with a child and slowly begins to withdraw from them, becoming more secluded. Eventually, she sees what it is like to be single with no children by watching the babysitter. Because of this, she desperately tries to become a person she knows she can never be. It does not end with a happily ever after, but instead with her death. The twists and turns of the plotline leads to a notable story, as opposed to the story created by Van der…
The main conflict in both stories is an internal struggle in which the protagonists Anne and Laksmi suffer. Although their marriages appeared successful from a bystander’s point of view the reality was the complete opposite. “Their tracks ran parallel, without any hope of intersection.”(pg142) This quote from Behind the Headlines gives the reader a solid image of what their marriages are like. In comparison, The Painted Door consists of a similar quote “Pay no attention to me. Seven years a farmer’s wife—it’s time I was used to staying alone.”(pg226) The reason these marriages weren’t working wasn’t because the love was nonexistent it was because of the dull repetitive life styles they endured due to their husbands professions. Both protagonists seek change in their marriages concluding in both of them turning away from their present husbands.…
In the short story “From a Secret Sorrow” by Karen Van Der Zee a woman who struggles to tell her fiancé a truth that is killing her inside. The story focuses on two main characters, Faye and Kai. Faye is a woman who thought that the world was over for her after finding out she was infertile. Faye had no idea on how to communicate such horrendous news to Kai, her fiancé. She was afraid that her Kai was going to leave her and find someone else. She then started acting weird, nervous, and distanced herself from him. Her fiancé questioned her about a note he found, Faye immediately recognized that it was the note the doctor gave her and with a terrified voice asked “How did you get that?” (31). Finding out that she was infertile made her felt sorrow and like she was the only one who had the right to be upset. She thought that Kai was not going to love her anymore but it was the other way around. Kai seemed like he was really in love with her and cared about her. He wanted to let her know that whatever the problem was she was not alone, that it was not only her problem and that they will work together, then eventually get married. But Faye would not listen, she also loved him so much that she would have rather let him go instead of ruining his life with her knowing she is infertile. She knew he would be extremely disappointed and she told Kai that he had the choice to leave her and marry someone else.…
Karen Van Der Zee “A Secret Sorrow uses, Characterization, Tone and Irony to show that love is powerful and will heal any hurt. Anyone can say that what you hope for always doesn’t come to past, and then you may lose hope of it ever happening. It is possible to give up and live in despair or even defeat. This is very similar to Karen Van Der Zee, the writer of “A Secret Sorrow portrays in her story. Karen uses the characterization, tone, and irony to show how love is more than a feeling.…
The author, Kate Chopin uses marriage to show how powerless women were compared to men during the late eighteen hundreds in her short story entitled, “The Story of An Hour “. At the beginning of the story the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard has a heart condition. Due to her illness, her sister Josephine and her husband's friend Richards has the hard task to tell Louise that her husband Brently Mallard has died in a train wreck. During this first hour Mrs. Mallard experiences the sorrow of her husband's death and the loneliness she would feel, but also the conflicting and exciting feelings of being able to feel alive and the freedom she will have in the future being alone without her husband.…
The first element to discus is theme. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the theme is the self-independence of women. In the beginning of the story, the main character, Louise Mallard mourns over the death of her husband, Mallard. As the story progresses, Louise Mallard grows as she sees the new found freedom she has been given at the loss of her husband. “… she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence …” Though, at the end of the story it is brought to light that the death of Brent Mallard was false belief, and her idealism of being free is diminished. With this shock along with her heart problem, she died from a heart attack. It seems Louise feels her inner emotions are trapped and confined through her marriage, home and even heart. “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” In the time this story takes place a woman’s independence is frowned upon and she probably felt forced into the marriage and having a man in her life instead of being independent and making her own decisions.…
The main female character in “A Sorrowful Woman” had a family. She had a husband and a child who loved her, yet she wanted no part of it. She was depressed and angry. “The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again” (Meyer 39). A feminist critic might say that a woman needs to be more than just a wife and mother. Women want to be educated and work outside of the home. A mother/wife needs to do more than just housework and child care, they need other duties. They want/need to feel more important. Not all women feel this way though, some women’s life goals are to marry and have children like Faye in A Secret Sorrow. Faye so badly wants to have children but is unable. Faye is a stereotype of how women are perceived. In Faye eyes and others’ women are born to marry and have children. Faye feels that the fact that she can’t have children makes her less of a woman. “You wouldn’t want me any more.” “I’m afraid… afraid to marry you” (Meyer 32-33). Faye believes that because she can’t have children, then she shouldn’t marry either because she would be letting her future husband down. Once Faye realizes that you can have children and a family other ways she is once again content with…