Literature 201-LC
Homework Assignment 2
Literal:
1. The narrator’s husband John forbids her from engaging in the one activity she enjoys, writing. The narrator who usually obeys her husband, does not listen to his orders and writes whenever she is able, however it is difficult for her to do so since her other family members also agree with her husband.
2. The narrator believes that her husband’s profession has prevented her from becoming better quickly because as a doctor he feels that he is always right and she describes him as being “practical in the extreme”. The narrator had expressed her discomforts with the room with her husband but he always put her down and in turn it was hard to convince him of her preference for the other room. John simply did not listen to any of his wife’s wishes and thus she had no say in her own treatment.
3. Tessie is stoned at the end of “The Lottery” as her name is the one to be drawn from the lottery.
Interpretive:
4. The fact that women are expected to be laughed at in marriage as the narrator states suggests that women are not taken seriously in marriage and are not considered equal counterparts in the partnership of marriage. The narrator is a stay at home wife who is expected to obey her husbands orders while her husband is a physician and makes all the decisions for her. Their relationship is suggestive of what gender roles were like in the 1800’s.
5. The figure behind the wallpaper symbolizes many things. First and foremost, it symbolizes the narrator. The narrator connects to the woman in wallpaper because like herself she is trapped in the room. Also, the woman is described as being trapped “behind” the wallpaper. This description is symbolic in that women of that time were often trapped behind their husbands. The narrator works to remove the wallpaper so she can set the woman behind it free. This also symbolizes the narrator and her desire to set herself free from her controlling husband.
6. It became clear that the lottery was not a benign tradition when Mr. Hutchinson opens the slip of paper and Tess starts to protest as her friends try to calm her down. I believe the author chose to portray the lottery as a happy occasion towards the beginning of the story to show that sometimes traditions are presented to be benign when in fact they are harmful and destructive.
7. Yes, I believe that is the message that Jackson is trying to portray in her story. Although traditions are respected and rarely questioned, they are not always right. In the story, the characters do not question the tradition of the lottery even though they all fear their luck of being selected.
Applied:
8. “The Lottery” embodies Hannah Arendt’s theory of “banality of evil” because although the tradition of the lottery was an evil one, the people of the town continued to do it.
9. “The Yellow Wallpaper” can be considered a feminist story because it discusses the emancipation of women from the control of men. The main character is so controlled by her husband that she starts to see her reflection in the woman that she sees in the wallpaper. She feels stuck behind her husband and that is why she proclaims that she is free when she finishes ripping off the wallpaper.,
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