Thesis: 19th Century Literature

Thesis:

While reading American short stories from the late 1800s to early 1900s, many themes and ideas are presented. It would be easy to say that the way humans lived during this era was gritty, rough, sometimes frightening. But it wasn't just the physical way human beings had to live, it was also the emotional way. There was an expectation on how people were to behave and think. Both men and women abided by a social presumption that men were to be strong, bountiful, and final and women were to be quiet, humble, and forthcoming. The themes that are prominent in the nine short stories listed below are social disparity, choice and consequence and duty and these three themes emphasize the hardships of men and women both physically and mentally to adhere to the social expectations bestowed upon them by earlier generations. 

Unit One:

Stories that will be studied for Unit One are:

"Cannibalism in The Cars" By Samuel Clemens

"Under the Lion's Paw" By Hamlin Garland

"The Yellow Wallpaper" By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Unit Two:

Stories that will be studied for Unit Two are:

"The Coup de Grace" By Ambrose Bierce
"The Revolt of 'Mother'" By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
"The Ransom of Red Chief" By William Sydney Porter

Unit Three:

Stories that will be studied for Unit Three are:

"The March of Progress" By Charles W. Chestnutt
"Editha" By William Dean Howells
"A Journey" By Edith Wharton

September 24, 2014

Unit One: Social Disparity

Unit One

Social Disparity

What is Social Disparity?

Also labeled as social inequality, it is a state of being different. This difference can come by age, race, class etc.... It can be a difference between countries, economies, or between two people. A more general way of illustrating social disparity would be to say, "I'm better than you. I have more money than you. I have more power than you. I am stronger than you."  In the early part of the 1900s, social disparity was very distinguishable as there was a lower class and higher class, there was rich or poor, there was distinguished or undignified and if you didn't have money then you were nothing. There was a social expectation for women to marry wealthy and were cast out if they married anyone otherwise. Social Disparity was present in marriage as a woman was supposed to be agreeable at all times. This theme was present between men who work hard in the fields to no avail and men who find their wealth easily earned if not inherited and social disparity is witnessed among politics both past, present and most assuredly future.  

Other literary themes arise while examining the unifying theme of social disparity. These themes or ideas include: Man vs. Society, Man vs. Man and Madness.

All themes are applicable and available in Unit One's short stories:

"Cannibalism in Cars" By Samuel Clemens

"Under the Lion's Paw" By Hamlin Garland 

"The Yellow Wallpaper" By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

August 28th, 2014

Samuel Clemens "Cannibalism in the Cars"

August 28, 2014

In this satirical short story written by Samuel Clemens (or even better known as Mark Twain) we witness the themes of social disparity or equality, man vs. man and madness

This story is about a group of men who get trapped on a train during a snow storm. After being stuck for five days, the men in their restlessness and hunger begin to accept the idea of cannibalism.

"Gentlemen: it cannot be delayed longer! The time is at hand! We must determine which of us shall die to furnish food for the rest!" (Clemens, 8)

This is the first mention of cannibalism and definitely the first time the reader understands that this will be in acceptance among the other men trapped on the train. With this proclamation to the other passengers, the debate begins to decide which man shall be the first.

 As the men offer their opinions on who shall be eaten, they also explain the lives that these men live. Men who live comfortable, or cushy lives will provide a nicer feast. Other men who work hard with their hands or spend their lives in the sun will supply a less desirable meat. For example:

"It may be urged by gentlemen that the hardships and privations of a frontier life have rendered Mr. Davis tough; but, gentlemen, is this a time to cavil at toughness?" (Clemens, 10)

This quote illustrates the opinion of men who spend their life working on the frontier.

In the following paragraphs, as the narrator continues to tell his story, the men are eaten one by one.

"Morgan of Alabama for breakfast...he was a perfect gentleman, and singularly juicy. For supper we had that Oregon patriarch, and was a fraud there was no questions about it--old, scraggy, tough, nobody can picture the reality" (Clemens, 11).

As the story comes to an end, the narrator takes his leave and the conductor explains:

"He was a member of Congress once, and a good one. But he got caught in a show-drift in the cars, and like to have been starved to death." (Clemens, 11)

"He is all right now, only he is a monomaniac, and when he gets on that old subject he never stops till he has eat up that whole car-load of people he talks about." (Clemens, 11)

"When he gets them all eat up but himself, he always says: 'Then the hour for the usual election for breakfast having arrived; and there being no opposition, I was duly elected, after which, there being no objections offered, I resigned. Thus I am here." (Clemens, 11).

The men's debates inside of the cars illustrates social disparity in the sense that clearly some are better than others to be eaten. Specifically, the lower class, manual laborers would not meet high standards. But not only is social disparity present. We also see the theme of "man vs. man", or even more suitable, "man eats man." The narrator was once part of congress, and it can be said that many people in politics are bloodthirsty and ruthless and will do anything to survive. Thus, the elections were held and one by one each man was taken until the narrator was the only living person left. He survived, he won. So he resigned. Unfortunately, he was driven mad.

Hamlin Garland "Under the Lion's Paw"

August 28, 2014

The title in and of itself clearly illustrates the theme of the story: inequality or man vs. man "Under the Lion's Paw" suggests that someone in the story will be strong-armed and/or trapped; he will be taken advantage of and will not be able to escape.

This short story gives a clear picture of how hard things could get in the prairie. A man could slave over his work from sunrise to sundown, but could never be ready for or prevent natural disasters such as drought or infestation.

Haskins and his family have lost everything that he worked so hard in creating. Grasshoppers ate the entirety of their crops and left them with little hope so the family packed up and moved away.

They met a man named Council who provides them food, shelter and a name of a landlord to call upon for cheap land.

The Haskins went to sleep that night believing:

"There are people in this world who are good enough t'be angels, an'only haff t'die to be angels."(Garland, 15)

 This small quote from the story illustrates so much hope in other human beings.

When Mr. Haskin meets Jim Butler, he was unaware of the crookedness of Butler's business. On page 15, we read:

"A change came over him when he sold a lot of land for four times what he paid for it. From that time forward he believed in land speculation as the surest way of getting rich. Every cent he could save or spare form his trade he put into land at forced sale, or mortgages on land, which were "just as good as the wheat," he was accustomed to say." ( Garland, 15)

This gives a pretty clear idea early of his character right away. We also can come to the conclusion about Butler that he is wealthier than he leads people to believe and that money is more important to him than he allows others to think.

"Butler persisted in saying he "hadn't enough money to pay taxes on his land," and was careful to convey the impression that he was poor in spite of his twenty farms. At one time he was said to be worth fifty thousand dollars, but land had been a little slow of sale of late, so that he was not worth so much." (Garland, 15).

Haskins rented the land from Butler with his word that he would tame and enrich the land.

"Haskins worked like a fiend, and his wife, like the heroic woman that she was, bore also uncomplainingly the most terrible burdens."(Garland, 17)

Haskins wore himself thin, fixing up another man's land, even investing his own money into the farm. In doing so, the land felt like home and he wanted to buy it from Butler.

Butler, the crooked landlord, seeing how prosperous and fruitful his land had become, offered to sell Haskins the place for double the original price that was quoted.

"...but it's my land."

"I didn't say I'd let you carry off the improvements nor that I'd go on renting the farm at two-fifty. The land is doubled in value, it don't matter how."(Garland, 19)

In this particular situation, Butler saw the opportunity in this homeless man. He new that Haskins would work hard to prove himself to his family and others. He also worked hard to show his gratefulness in receiving a second chance. Butler took advantage of him; a man who had too much faith in other human beings.

"But I trusted you word."

"Never trust anybody, my friend. Besides, I didn't promise not to do this thing. Why, man, don't look at me like that. Don't take me for a thief. It's the law. The reg'lar thing. Everybody does it."(Garland, 20)

Butler double-crosses Haskins which is a clear example of man vs. man; the stronger taking advantage of the weaker. He was trapped like a mouse under the lion's paw and even though he was strong enough to threaten Butler with violence, he had no other choice but to accept the price, and purchase the land.

Butler had nothing to lose. Haskins had everything to lose.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman "The Yellow Wallpaper"

August 28, 2014

Social Disparity is present throughout the entirety of Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." We've seen inequality in the previous stories we read regarding class. But in this story the disparity of women and the subordination of women in marriage in the 19th century is at it's clearest.

It was appropriate behavior and completely acceptable to treat women as an inferior being. Women were thought of as irrational, melodramatic and weak or fragile. Fainting chairs were put in women's bed chambers for a reason.

And the women accepted this. It was how they were supposed to behave. We see this right away in "The Yellow Wallpaper," written like a journal, the wife mentions that her husband, John, will laugh at which everyone expects in marriage.

In a paragraph towards the beginning of the story, she says:

"John is a physician, and PERHAPS-(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)-PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster.

You see he does not believe I am sick!

And what can one do?

If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency-what is one to do?" (Gilman, 21)

Society during would listen to the man, especially a husband and a doctor. How could he be wrong? Men could speak for their wives, make itineraries for their wives, tell them what to eat and still go out and have mistresses.

Another quote from the story that demonstrates the way men view women:

"I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition. But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take pains to control myself-before him, at least, and that makes me very tired." (Gilman, 22)

In this particular quote we see that the wife tries extremely hard to please her husband even though she is the one who is ill. This is a great example of social-disparity and inequality in her marriage.

The "rest cure" was supposedly a method of relieving a person of their depression. This is mentioned indirectly several times within the story that adds to the unifying theme that her physician husband knows best. The narrator has to face two different forms of subordination in her story: that of the husband/wife and the doctor/patient. Both these forms of "authority" can be easily misused. He repeatedly tells his wife to rest...."just rest," not allowing her to sleep downstairs in more comfortable place, ignoring her requests. Her husband doesn't even allow her to write. She spends all her time in the room where the bed is nailed down and the yellow wallpaper worsens her overall mental health.

As she continues to "rest" and continues to do as her husband wishes, the room makes more and more mad as the days continue to pass. As her husband see her struggle he even threatens her.

"John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall." (Gilman, 25).

* Weir Mitchell introduced the rest cure.

Her disease worsens and she can not speak to her husband about it and it becomes harder for the narrator to think straight. All the while, she loves and supports her husband and believes he is right.

Finally, she begins peeling the wallpaper away, looking for the woman creeping about, running free in the night. But what her husband and neither herself understand is that she is the woman trying to escape from her illness, from that room and possibly even her husband/doctor.

"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!" (Gilman, 32)

Unit Two: Choice and Consequence

Unit Two

Choice and Consequence

The word choice should be a very familiar word since the human being is required to make choices everyday. Although the number of choices a human being makes per day varies from person to person, Time Magazine says the number of choices can be in the thousands. This number doesn't seem extravagant if you really think about all the little, minuscule things that we have to decide everyday. What should I eat for lunch? Should I study? What color shoes do I put on? Should I really drink that glass of bourbon? 

Choices can be made to better the environment, your family, your school, your marriage. Or choices can be selfish and only benefit yourself. Sometimes these choices come with consequences. Immediate gratification can lead to a set of negative reactions. Some consequences result in a very clear irony, so much so, that some consequences become quite laughable.

The theme of choice and consequence is present in Unit Two's short stories:

"The Coupe de Grace" By Ambrose Bierce

"The Revolt of 'Mother'" By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

"The Ransom of Red Chief" By William Sydney Porter

September 11, 2014

Ambrose Bierce "The Coup de Grace"

September 11, 2014

In the first story of Unit Two, the theme or idea of choice and consequence doesn't appear until the last few pages of Bierce's story.

"The Coup de Grace" is a foreshadowing title which literally means: 

"  An action or even that finally ends or destroys something that has been getting weaker or worse; a hit or shot that kills a person or animal that is suffering."

                                                                                                   Merriam-Webster

 We see three important characters in this short story. Two brothers Creede and Caffal Halcrow and Captain Madwell. Sergeant Caffal Halcrow and Captain Madwell are friends. Creede Halcrow and Captain Madwell are enemies.

The first major choice is made by Creede Halcrow. He says:

"Captain, the colonel directs that you push your company to the head of this ravine and hold your place there until recalled. I need hardly apprise you of the dangerous character of the movement, but if you wish, you can, I suppose, turn over the command to your first-lieutenant. I was not, however, directed to authorize the substitution; it is merely a suggestion of my own, unofficially made." 

To this deadly insult Captain Madwell coolly replied:

"Sir, I invite you to accompany the movement. A mounted officer would be a conspicuous mark, and I have long held the opinion that it would be better if you were dead."

A half-hour later Captain Madwell's company was driven from its position at the head of the ravine, with a loss of one-third its number. Among the fallen was Sergeant Halcrow.

Creede insisted that Madwell's group take the head of the ravine. This was a choice that Creede Halcrow made and the consequence was that his brother, in Madwell's group, is injured severely.

Madwell finds Caffal's injured body. He is in agony and very near death. Madwell makes the next choice.

"To the earth and the sky alike, to the trees, to the man, to whatever took form in sense or consciousness, this incarnate suffering addressed that silent plea.

For what, indeed? For that which we accord to even the means creature without sense to to demand it, denying it only to the wretched of our own race: for the blessed release, the rite of uttermost compassion, the coup de grace."

Madwell has made a decision, a choice, that he would relieve his friend Caffal of his pain.

Before he helps his friend, however, he is distracted by an injured horse.

"Madwell stepped forward, drew his revolver and shot the poor beast between the eyes, narrowly observing its death-struggle, which, contrary to his expectation, was violent and long; but at last it lay still."

Shooting the horse first was a choice...

Presently he lifted his face, turned it toward his dying friend and walked rapidly back to his side. He knelt upon one knew, cocked the weapon, placed the muzzle against the man's forehead, and turning away his eyes pulled the trigger. There was no report. He had used his last cartridge for the horse."

This was his consequence for shooting the horse first.

Madwell's next choice:

"He passed the fingers of his left hand along the edge from hilt to point. He held it out straight before him, as if to test his nerves....grasping the hilt with both hands, he thrust downward with all his strength and weight. The blade sank into the man's body-through his body into the earth...the dying man drew up his knees and at the same time threw his right arm across his breast and grasped the steel so tightly that the knuckles of the hand visibly whitened."

"At that moment three men stepped silently forward from behind the clump of young trees which had concealed their approach. Two were hospital attendants and carried a stretcher.

The third was Major Creede Halcrow."

The irony in the story and Madwell's consequence for killing Caffal with his sword was first, help was coming to his aid and secondly, Caffal's brother and Madwell's enemy, Creede Halcrow, witnessed Madwell killing his brother. Although, his choice was to take away his friends pain, the action to Caffal's brother would look like murder.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman "The Revolt of 'Mother'"

September 11, 2014

Freeman's ironic story,"The Revolt of 'Mother'" contains two very strong-willed characters: Mother and Father. Of course, in 1890 when the story was written, women were encouraged to mindful to their husbands, quiet, courteous, humble. They were to let their husbands speak for them and ultimately make choices for them, choices made by the husband and father for the better good of the entire family. 

In this story, Father and Mother both make very strong choices. Only one character, however, has has to accept the undesirable consequence. 

From the beginning of the story, Mother pleads with Father to tell her why men are digging in their field. Father's choice is to not tell his wife about his plans. 

"I want to know what them men are diggin' over there in that filed for."

"They're diggin' a cellar, I s'pose, if you've got to know."

"A cellar for what?"

"A barn."

"A barn? You ain't goin' to build a barn over there where we was goin' to have a house, father?"

 Mother is disappointed that Father is building another barn.

"...the digging of the cellar of the new barn in the place where Adoniram forty years ago had promised her their new house should stand."

Father (Adoniram) has made his choice to build a barn instead of a house for his wife.

Mother speaks up for herself which was unlike women during this time to be self-assertive.

"I want to know if you think you're doin' right an' accordin' to what you profess. Here, when we was married, forty year ago, you promised me faithful that we should have a new house built in that lot over in the field before the year was out. You said you had money enough, an' you wouldn't ask me to live in no such place as this."

Which Father responds:

"I ain't got nothin' to say."

Father knows that he is making the choice of breaking a promise. He made the choice of making the promise forty years earlier. He made the choice to break the promise. He made the choice to build the barn instead of a house.

The next choice that Father makes is to leave town to look at a horse, leaving his unhappy wife behind with a brand new barn.

"I dun' know but what I'd better go," said Adoniram. " I hate to go off jest now, right in the midst of hayin', but the ten-acre lot's cut an' I guess Rufus an' the others can git along without me three or four days. I can't get a horse round here to suit me, nohow, an' I've got to have another for all that wood-haulin' in the fall. I told Hiram to watch out, an' if he got wind of a good horse to let me know. I guess I'd better go."

"He looked at his wife, and his manner was defiantly apologetic. "If them cows come to-day, Sammy can drive 'em into the new barn," said he; "an' when they bring the hay up they can pitch it in there." 

Once Father has left, Mother makes her first big choice which is equivalent to Father's consequence. In regards to her husband's timely leaving:

"Unsolicited opportunities are the guide-posts of the Lord to the new roads of life," she repeated in effect, and she made up her mind to her course of action." 

"At five o'clock in the afternoon the little house in which the Penns had lived for forty years had emptied itself into the new barn."

Father returns and faces his consequences of braking his promise, building a barn and briefly leaving town.

"Adoniram emerged from the shed and stood looking about in a dazed fashion. His lips moved he was saying something by they could not hear what is was...

 Adoniram took the new horse by the bridle and led him across the yard to the new barn."

Mother makes the choice to move into the new barn and she makes the choice to be assertive with Father.

"Now, father," said she, "you needn't be scared. I ain't crazy. There ain't nothin' to be upset over. But we've come here to live, an' we're goin' to live here. We've got jest as good a right here as new horses an' cows. The house wa'n't fit for us to live in any longer, an' I made up my mind I wa'n't goin'' to stay there."

Scorned, Father accepts his consequences.

"The old man's shoulders heaved: he was weeping.

"Why don't do so, father," said Sarah.

"I'll-put up the-partitions, an'-everything you-want, mother."

Sarah put her apron up to her face; she was overcome by her own triumph.

Adoniram was like a fortress whose walls had no active resistance, and went down the instant the right besieging tolls were used. "Why, mother," he said, hoarsely, "I hadn't no idee you was so set on't as all this comes to."  

William Sydney Porter "The Ransom of Red Chief"

September 11, 2014

The overall theme of choice and consequence in Porter's short story "The Ransom of Red Chief," is very present. From beginning to end, there are clear choices made by the leading characters and direct consequences of their choices.

In the first paragraph, the characters tell readers of their first and most important choice within the story.

"It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you. We were down South, in Alabama-Bill Driscoll and myself-when this kidnapping idea struck us. It was, as Bill afterward expressed it, 'during a moment of temporary mental apparition'; but we didn't find that out till later."

Kidnapping was a choice that the characters made and in this passage from the story, the narrator foreshadows that there will be consequences.

After the initial first paragraph, all choices and consequences are based on the overall choice of kidnapping.

"'Hey little boy!' says Bill, 'would you like to have a bag of candy and a nice ride?'"

"The boy catches Bill neatly in the eye with a piece of brick."

Choice- The kidnappers approach their victim with the promise of candy.
Consequence- Bill gets hit with a brick.

"Just at daybreak, I was awakened by a series of awful screams from Bill. They weren't yells, or howls, or shouts, or whoops, or yawps, such as you'd expect from a manly set of vocal organs-they were simply indecent, terrifying, humiliated screams, such as women emit why they see ghosts or caterpillars"

"Red Chief was sitting on Bill's chest, with one hand twined in Bill's hair. In the other he had the sharp case-knife we used for slicing bacon; and he was industriously and realistically trying to take Bill's scalp, according to the sentence that had been pronounced upon him the evening before."

This is a consequence of the choice to kidnap. The terrorizing of these two men could also be said to be a consequence of the particular child they chose to kidnap.

Again, three passage from the story that illustrates a consequence of their choice.

1. "When I got to the cave I found Bill backed up against the side of it, breathing hard, and the boy threatening to smash him with a rock half as big as a coconut.

'He put a red-hot boiled potato down my back,' explained Bill, 'and then mashed it with his foot; and I boxed his ears. Have you got a gun about you, Sam?'"

 2. "I dodged, and heard a heavy thud and a kind of a sigh from Bill, like a horse gives out when you take his saddle off. A niggerhead rock the size of an egg had caught Bill just behind his left ear. He loosened himself all over and fell in the fire across the frying pan of hot water for washing dishes."

 3. "I was rode,' says Bill, 'the ninety miles to the stockade, not barring an inch. Then,  when the settlers was rescued, I was given oats. Sand ain't a palatable substitute.

 I takes him by the neck of his clothes and drags him down the mountain. On the way he  kicks my legs black and blue from the knees down; and I've got two or three bites on my thumb and hand cauterized. But he's gone-continues Bill-gone home. I showed him the road to Summit and kicked him about eight feet nearer there at one kick."

The narrator and Bill along with kidnapping the boy, make the choice to send the kid's father a ransom note demanding fifteen hundred dollars in exchange for the return of the child. The father returns a note stating:

"I think you are a little high in your demands, and I hereby make you a counter-proposition, which I am inclined to believe you will accept. You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and I agree to take him off your hands."

This counter-proposition is a consequence of the kidnapping, taking an incorrigible child and demanding ransom from the victim's father. The father knows perfectly well his son's behavior.

At the end of Porter's story, the kidnappers believe the father's proposition to be sound deal and they return the child.

"'Tell you the truth, Bill,' says I, 'this little he ewe lamb has somewhat got on my nerves too. We'll take him home, pay the ransom and make our get-away.'"

Unit Three: Duty

Unit Three:

Duty 

The word duty means a moral or legal obligation, a responsibility, an expectation, or a task or action that someone is required to perform. The word duty is not always a positive one in the sense that duty can bring on deep sadness, frustration, anger and loneliness. Duty can be a burden. Although, titles of duty are not necessarily different now than they were in the early 1900s-duty to your husband, family, boss-the social expectations have changed. For instance, a family might feel it is their duty to put a grandfather in a nursing home because he will have better care in a facility than at home. Perhaps, in the early 1900s however, if a man were to get sick, it would be his wife or family's moral duty (obligation) to care for him. Standards have changed. Duty has become easier. We ultimately make a decision but there is a slew of things to buy and people to hire to make these decisions easier for us to make. The duty of a wife, teacher and fiancee in the early 1900s were faced with the same hardships as we are faced with today, however, the social standards of a wife, teacher and fiancee in the early 1900s were much tougher. 

The theme of duty is present in Unit Three's short stories:

"The March of Progress" By Charles W. Chesnutt

"Editha" By William Dean Howells

"A Journey" By Edith Wharton

September 25th, 2014

Charles W. Chesnutt "The March of Progress"

Miss Henrietta Noble in the short story "The March of Progress" is a former African American school teacher with a heart condition. This story conveys her duty to teach but also a duty to herself to be well.

Before she was a teacher she thought:

"It was not easy to find employment such as she desired. She wrote to her Western cousins, and they advised her to come to them, as they thought they could do something for her if she were there. She had almost decided to accept their offer, when the demand arose for teachers in the South. Whether impelled by some strain of adventurous blood from a Pilgrim ancestry....she decided to go South, and wrote to her cousins declining their friendly offer." (Chesnutt, 72)

She began to feel a sense of duty to the young children that she taught.

"She had distributed among them the cast-off clothing that came from their friends in the North; she had taught them to wash their faces and to comb their hair; and patiently, year after year, she had labored to instruct them in the rudiments of learning and the first principles of religion and morality. And she had not wrought in vain." (Chesnutt, 73)

She worked with children for fifteen years.

"She had lived a lonely life. The white people of the town, though they learned in time to respect her and to value her work, had never recognized her existence by more than the mere external courtesy shown by any community to one who lives in the midst of it." (Chesnutt, 73)

When her health began to deteriorate, her duty to work became even more important because her treatments in New York were very expensive. She went up against the school committee to fight for her position against a well educated black man who she had previously taught when he was a young boy.

The committee wanted to give the position to the African American. It made sense to them that their people be taught by one of their own until Old Abe spoke up and reminded the people in the committee meeting that many wouldn't be there today without the help of Miss Henrietta, certainly not the well-educated man that she was up against.

The job was restored to Miss Henrietta. Her duty restored to herself so that she may take care of her own needs. Unfortunately, she died the very night she was given the teaching position.

September 25th, 2014

William Dean Howells "Editha"

In William Dean Howells short story "Editha" the theme of duty is prominent in both the title character and also her fiancee, George Gearson. Throughout the story, many different duties or obligations develop between these two characters and through the development we see that the sense of duty or what one person might think is their duty can often create conflict.

There was an expectation of women that involved behaving and speaking in a certain manner. Women were not supposed to have fantastic ideas or wild opinions about their husbands or worldly affairs such as war. 

"She was aware that now at the very beginning she must put a guard upon herself against urging him by any word or act, to take the part that her whole soul willed him to take, for the completion of her ideal of him." (Howells, 86)

Editha's opinions on war or her "ideals" of war was that she expected her fiancee to fight for there was no greater honor than to fight for their country, This she believed, was his duty. She persuaded her George Gearson to also believe that he should fight for his country.

"There is a sort of fascination in it. I suppose that at the bottom of his heart every man would like at times to have his courage tested, to see how he would act." (Howells, 87)

Editha also used feminine manipulation as a way to encourage George to go to war.

"George, I wish you to believe whatever you think is true, at any and every cost. If I've tried to talk you into anything, I take it all back." (Howells, 88).

Editha speaks to her mother later about her expectation of her fiancee joining the war.

""And I hope he will," the girl said, and confronted her mother with a stormy exaltation that would have frightened any creature less impressionable than a cat. 

Her mother rocked herself again for an interval of cogitation. What she arrived at in speech was: "Well, I guess you've done a wicked thing, Editha Balcom."" 

Her manipulation continues through a letter she writes to her fiancee saying:

 "I shall always love you, and therefore I shall never marry any one else. But the man I marry must love his country first of all, and be able to say to me,

"I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honor more." (Howells, 89)

In this moment she believes her duty is to persuade and encourage her fiancee to fight and if he chooses not to she would make an ultimate sacrifice of declining his marriage proposal. In her letter she gives George an ultimatum. After she is finished writing her letter, however, she realizes that her duty as a loving fiancee would not force a person to fight if they do not wish to fight.

 "She must leave him free, free, free. She could no accept for her country or herself a forced sacrifice." (Howells, 89)

George Gearson, under the persuasion of Editha, joins the war to fight. He too comes to terms that it is his duty to his country and to Editha to fight in the war. Editha has condemned him. Once he joins, Editha returns to her former manipulation tactics. George celebrates with his men and has too much to drink in which Editha responds:

""Promise me," she commanded, "that you'll never touch it again."" (Howells, 90)

"You don't belong to yourself now; you don't even belong to me. You belong to your country, and you have a sacred charge to keep yourself strong and well for you country's sake." (Howells, 91)

Before George leaves, he asks Editha to look after his mother. Gearson dies at war and Editha remembers her duty to her fiancee to tend to his mother.

"When she was well enough to leave her bed, her one thought was of George's mother, of his strangely worded wish that she should go to her and see what she could do for her. In the exaltation of the duty laid upon her--it buoyed her up instead of burdening her--she rapidly recovered." (Howells, 92).

When she goes to speak to Mrs. Gearson Editha is chastised for sending George off to war. The ideals of duty in accordance to Editha, were not the same as George's and there was consequence because of it. Because he loved her, he had to die.

September 25th, 2014

Edith Wharton "A Jorney"

This short story by Edith Wharton illustrates a woman's duty to her husband even in the hardest hours. However, even love and duty in the truest sense can't stop a woman from wishing herself free of such a burden as tending to an ill husband. This story contains a conflict of duty and finding oneself as a woman.

The wife's struggle with freedom and duty are prominent from the very beginning. She is becoming weary and tiresome of her husband's illness. Because her husband was ill, it was her obligation to take care of both her husband and herself. 

"His voice has grown very weak within the last months and it irritated him when she did not hear. This irritability, this increasing childish petulance seemed to give expression to their imperceptible estrangement." 

"She was too impenetrably healthy to be touched by the irrelevancies of disease."

"A year ago their pulses had beat to one robust measure; both had the same prodigal confidence in an exhaustless future. Now their energies no longer kept step: hers sill bounded ahead of life, preempting unclaimed regions of hope and activity, while hes lagged behind, vainly struggling to overtake her." (Wharton, 104)

She doesn't blame him for his illness but she does blame the illness for their estrangement but she continues on because she loves the man she married.

"She felt herself beset with difficulties too evasive to be fought by so direct a temperament. She still loved him, of course; but he was gradually, undefinably ceasing to be himself. The man she had married had been strong, active, gently masterful: the male whose pleasure it is to clear a way through the material obstructions of life; but now it was she who was the protector, he who must be shielded from importunities and given his drops or his beef-juice though the skies were falling." (Wharton, 104)

That night, on their train journey home, she thought she hear him call. She worried that if he called, she could not hear him or feared that the room was too silent for her husband to be breathing. Her duty as wife was to keep him comfortable and safe.

When she awoke, her husband was dead. She was afraid to let anyone know of her husband's death because they would surely put her off of the train at the next stop. She couldn't be abandoned in an unfamiliar place with a dead body. She could not be free during his life nor after. Her duty even still was to care for herself and care for her husband.

September 25th, 2014