The Correlation of Setting and Emotion in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Swimmer
Nicole Osborne
Mr. Chris Button
English 1080
November 27, 2012
The Correlation of Setting and Emotion in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Swimmer”
In both short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Swimmer”, the protagonists use the settings to symbolize their emotions and tribulations throughout the story. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Jane was isolated by her husband in a house, and specifically in a room that brought her to her eventual insanity. In “The Swimmer” Neddy lives in the suburbs, a place that looks like it has everything figured out but in reality it’s full of isolation and emptiness. In both stories, the protagonists use their settings to reflect their lives. It’s used to show how everything is not as it seems on the outside, and there’s imperfection and darkness behind every seemingly perfect place.
As Neddy travels through suburbia, he visits different people that he knows in his community and sees the emptiness behind what seems like a perfect life. Everyone seems to be happy and fulfilled, but in reality their relationships are shallow, and their lives don’t have much meaning behind the empty façade of having it all figured out. Everyone seems to be very close, but in reality they don’t know much about each other and their relationships are quite impersonal. Neddy uses his setting of the superficial perfectness of suburbia, to show how bleak and isolated his own life is. Although he seems happy and fulfilled, he’s away from the world and has a very empty being. He purposely disconnects himself from people, and his life doesn’t have much depth.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Jane ‘s husband moves her away to a different house so she can get better and come out of what he refuses to believe is depression. It’ an old house that Jane suggests might have once been an asylum, which is crucial to the use of the setting in this story as it is essentially what leads to her insanity in the end. She is isolated in this house, even more
Mr. Chris Button
English 1080
November 27, 2012
The Correlation of Setting and Emotion in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Swimmer”
In both short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Swimmer”, the protagonists use the settings to symbolize their emotions and tribulations throughout the story. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Jane was isolated by her husband in a house, and specifically in a room that brought her to her eventual insanity. In “The Swimmer” Neddy lives in the suburbs, a place that looks like it has everything figured out but in reality it’s full of isolation and emptiness. In both stories, the protagonists use their settings to reflect their lives. It’s used to show how everything is not as it seems on the outside, and there’s imperfection and darkness behind every seemingly perfect place.
As Neddy travels through suburbia, he visits different people that he knows in his community and sees the emptiness behind what seems like a perfect life. Everyone seems to be happy and fulfilled, but in reality their relationships are shallow, and their lives don’t have much meaning behind the empty façade of having it all figured out. Everyone seems to be very close, but in reality they don’t know much about each other and their relationships are quite impersonal. Neddy uses his setting of the superficial perfectness of suburbia, to show how bleak and isolated his own life is. Although he seems happy and fulfilled, he’s away from the world and has a very empty being. He purposely disconnects himself from people, and his life doesn’t have much depth.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Jane ‘s husband moves her away to a different house so she can get better and come out of what he refuses to believe is depression. It’ an old house that Jane suggests might have once been an asylum, which is crucial to the use of the setting in this story as it is essentially what leads to her insanity in the end. She is isolated in this house, even more