Natalisha Burrow
Daniel Hutchins
LITR 221 D021 Sum13
27 October 2013
Fun Times with American Literature
Over these last eight weeks in American Literature, there were many readings that I enjoyed, and there were a few that did not seem as great to me when I read them. During the first week, I enjoyed reading about the elements of Gothic fiction, but the fun part was looking for these elements in the required readings. For instance, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” the following elements of Gothic fiction were in it: there was a castle setting, visions, there were inexplicable events, high emotion, a woman in distress, a woman threatened by a powerful male, gloom, and lovers parted (Harris, N pag). Gillman started this story out with the family moving into a mysterious mansion (70), the woman’s husband basically wanted her confined to an upstairs bedroom with yellow wallpaper that she found a bit creepy(71), there were moments when the woman was in good spirits followed by moments that she was hysterically crying (73;76), the woman could not sleep well at night and thought she saw eyes appear on the wall (73), and her husband was away an awful lot when she wanted him at her side (71-72).
The woman in this story was suffering from postpartum depression, with a doctor for a husband who seemed to never really have time for her. The woman was basically cut off from having any interaction with others, and was not allowed to do what she prized most, to write. It seemed that the treatment was worse than the disease itself. I enjoyed reading on the differences between the cures of the past and current treatments, which is what made this reading one of my favorites. The rest cure typically was preceded for six to eight weeks. It entailed seclusion from family members and friends and. It inflicted bed rest, and almost perpetual feeding on fatty, milk-based food. The outspoken patients were allowed to undergo treatment outside a facility,...