Essay Number Two

          Most of the topics for essay number two seem pretty easy. The one topic about symbols is easy because there are so many symbols found in the story “The Glass Menagerie.” One major symbol is the unicorn. It symbolizes Laura. The unicorn didn’t fit in with the horses, just like how Laura didn’t fit in with people. When the horn broke off of the unicorn, it showed that Laura had experienced being normal, even if it was just for a few moments. Another easy topic is comparing a character from this story with a character from another story. An example is comparing Laura to the woman from “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Laura was trapped inside her idea of how she was crippled and extremely shy. The woman was trapped inside her room because of how others saw her and her mental stability. One topic that seems a little difficult to write on is about escape. All of the characters escape reality, but to write one whole paper on one character’s escape from reality maybe a little hard. Tom’s escape is going to the movies, Laura’s escape is her glass collection and records, Amanda’s escape is her memories of Blue Mountains.  

The Glass Menagerie

         
          After reading the play, “The Glass Menagerie,” I believe that it is an interesting play. You can tell that Amanda, Laura, and Tom are in an unrealistic, dreamlike world. Jim brings in a piece of reality to the household. You have to feel sorry for Laura and Tom because their mother is very annoying. She tries to bring her Southern manners into her children’s lives. She also nags at her children. She cannot accept that Laura is crippled because whenever anyone mentions it, she hushes them. Laura is a very shy girl, who lets it overpower her life. She is scared to live, so she lives through her glass collection. Tom just wants to experience a life full of adventure, but instead he has to provide for his mother and sister. Jim is a working man who pulls Laura out of her extreme shyness. I didn’t like how Jim led Laura on. He kissed her and then started to apologize because he is engaged. He tried to build up Laura’s confidence, but that could’ve torn her apart. I didn’t really understand the ending of the story, but hopefully after finishing the movie in class, I will be able to figure out what happened. 

The Cask of Amontillado

            In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” there are two main characters. One character, named Fortunado, has insulted another character named Montresor. Montresor decides to seek revenge by luring Fortunado down to the catacombs to “try” some wine that maybe amontillado. Instead of finding wine, Fortunado walks straight into his own grave. Montresor buries him alive by building a brick wall to enclose Fortunado. Edgar Allan Poe never gives a specific description on what the insult may have been, but he gives the readers little hints. The root word of Fortunado is fortune. Fortunado may have been flaunting his wealth to Montresor and claimed that the Montresor family is broke. Another insult that could have occurred is when Fortunado talks about the Free Masons. Fortunado claims that Montresor wasn’t a Free Mason. Montresor claims to be one, but it sounds like Fortunado isn’t convinced. Montresor must not have liked how Fortunado talked about his family. So, he sought out revenge. Edgar Allan Poe does a wonderful job at creating suspense in the story. He portrays his characters in a way that makes the reader feel sorry for them. He also creates a setting that gives the whole story a eerie feeling so that the reader knows that something evil is going to occur.

The Yellow Wallpaper

            The story called “The Yellow Wallpaper” has a much bigger meaning than just a mentally insane woman living in a creepy house. The wallpaper has to different patterns inside of it that have symbolic meaning. The first pattern is a woman or many women. The second pattern is bars. The two patterns symbolize how society viewed women. Women were supposed to be the ones who had children, raised the children, and took care of the house like chores. The wallpaper is saying that women were trapped by the stereotype of society. The ending also shows proof of this stereotype. When she talks about tying the woman up with the rope if she escaped from the wall shows that even if a woman is lucky enough to escape from a “woman’s duty,” she will not survive because there were no opportunities for women in the workforce. The ending of the story isn’t clear, but I believe that she hung herself. She couldn’t escape the pressure and stereotype that the world placed on women. She took matters into her own hands in order for her to find freedom. Her husband John treated her like a child and she wanted to have control of her life and death was the only answer. The last sentence is very hard to figure out, but if she hung herself, her body would have kept on swinging over her husband’s fainted body. Her body would creep over him, setting herself free.