The Yellow Wallpaper

After reading The Yellow Wallpaper, we can see that Gilman through her writing was trying to affect change by demonstrating the gender division that existed kept woman in state of ignorance and child like behaviors, not letting women over excel. We can see this with the woman in the yellow wall paper, her husband would do everything for her, he made the decisions of what she was allowed to do such as not letting her go see her cousins and picking out the room where she would be staying. (pg. 356) Throughout the text we see that her husband is very controlling of her actions, she is not capable of going downstairs, or even to write in her journal, "there comes John, and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word." (pg. 356). I believe that all his behaviors towards her made the narrator almost obsessed with the yellow wallpaper because for once she felt like she was in control, which then lead her to become almost insane. By this I think Gilman demonstrated that woman "were not able to handle being in control and have the power to make decisions on there own because of the fact that they have never been given the opportunity to do so.

In Ragged Dick, I believe that Alger too was trying to affect change by demonstrating, that even though one can be born and raised in the streets, it is possible to succeed in life. Alger uses ragged Dick a young boy living out on the streets of New York, who has no family, no home and a job that is not stable. Through this I think that Alger wanted readers to understand that through hard work it was possible to accomplish many things. He did this by using a young boy that many could pity and maybe use as a way to compare themselves to.

I think that both Gilman and Alger that change is possible but it just takes time and work to reach to the point of being successful.

Tom Sawyer

After reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer it didn't surprise too much to see a child in the novel without parents. It was brought up in our discussion in class how all the children presented in the novels of this semester don't have their parents. Even Ellen Montgomery who had parents in the beginning of the novel, was left alone.



The good news is that even though the children don't have parents there is always someone in the novel who is willing to take care of them. In the Hidden Hand Capitola is saved by a man she encounters in the streets of New York, also in the Lamplighter, Gerty is picked up from the streets after her evil guardian Nan Grant kicks her out by True her "uncle." In Tom Sawyer we find out the Tom's mom has died and that his Aunt Polly has taken over his care. "He's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to to lash him." (pg. 3) Even thought Aunt Polly can sometimes get tired of Tom and his mischievousness she does her best to care for him.



I started thinking so why is it that all this children presented in the novels don't have parents and the first thought that came to my mind was that the novels would not be interesting. I believe that the author purposeful placed these orphan children in the novels to perhaps get more readers interested in reading there novel. I find it more interesting when suspense and drama are present in a novel.

The Yares of Black Mountain

The novel of The Yares of Black Mountain, can be related back to the children theories we have read earlier in the semester. I believe that the presence of child in the story makes a difference in the way the "the mom" Denby is treated in the novel. The child and mother relationship is what interested me most in the story, there were several instances in the novel where it can be seen that the mother of the sickly child, Charley is treated good becuase of the fact that she has the baby, I think that otherwise she wouldnt have been offered a rocking chair, food, or a petticoat. "That baby's not wrapped warm enough for a night like this," said the woman of the house, and forthwith dragged out of a wooden box a red flannel petticoat, ragged but clean, and pinned it snugly about him. (pg. 247). This part of the novel was my favorite because it was a very nice and kind act of the lady to offer her petticoat to Denby to keep her child warm, it also proved to Mrs. Cook that people do do nice things to help others. In another instance Jonathan milks a cow to feed the poor child. It is interesting to see how many people are willing to help the woman and her child.


Throughout the novel the mothers purpose was to save her child, even though she knows that the baby is ill she stays positive and open minded that things are going to turn ok. I liked Denby's character because she is willing to leave and put her own life at risk all to safe her child. I still wonder what her actual reason was to leave her home and go to the south but to me it seems like her purpose of leaving New York was because she was running away from death, and in the end the child wasw able to live through the help of others.

Ragged Dick

I have enjoyed reading Ragged Dick, it has been on of my favorite novels that we have to read. After reading Ragged Dick, it is evident that there are several differences between the other novels we have read this semesters. One of the main difference that we see being protrayed between little boy and little girls is that the little girls in our past readings were taught and instructed that they need to behave well and learn how to do chores around the house in order for them to be seen as proper young ladies. While in the other hand in Ragged Dick it is never seen in the reading where Dick is being told to behave well and be a good little boy. Even though the narrator does lets us know that Dick is a good boy. "He would not steal, or cheat, or impose upon younger boys, but was frank and staight-forward, manly and self-reliant. His nature was a noble on," (pg 258). As can be ssen Dick is a good hearted kid but even as a good kid Dick can be a bit mischevious. Dick lies, drinks and smokes. (pg.256) Compared to the little girls in other novels that would have never been seen and if they did they would have been probably punished. Another comparison that I can make is that in the novels with the little girls it was important for them to know about God and the bible. It almost seemed that if they did not know about the bible, they were bad and were encouraged to read it. Whereas in Ragged Dick, Dick mentions that he has never has never read the bible and that reading gives him a headache (pg. 303). This shows that in the text religion is not a big part of Dicks life and it is ok. I think that as we continue reading stories with young boys we will see many new things that were not present in the novels that included young girls. I think that fictional representation of young boys is that they are independent, they are shown by the text that unlike little girls they do not need the guidance of an older adult in there life. Boys are shown as stronger, smarter and with the ability of being able to do pretty much whatever they want. After reading Dick, I also think that novels with boys are not going to end with a happily married couple instead we will most likely just see the boy succeed in life. Overall I think we will be seeing boys througout the novels accomplishing good things and gaining success up the social ladder.

This text was definitely very interesting, it grabbed my attention as soon as I started reading it. I liked how I never knew it exactly what Sybil's intentions were or what was going to happen next in the story.

With the introduction of the concepts of insanity into the text, made things completely change, I found it interesting how they used insanity get Sybil's fortune after all else failed. Throughout the whole time Sybil was in the asylum, I never believed she actually insane or manic. Only for an instance in the story I did believe she was becoming insane. My theory behind all this is that the original plan was to have Guy marry Sybil, and once they were married he would go forth with the plan of placing Sybil in an asylum. This plot would get rid of Sibyl and leave the fortune all to him and his father. "You are as a curious woman, sir, and always make me tell you all I do and say, yet never tell me anything in return, except this business, which I hate, because my liberty is the price, and my poor cousin is kept in the dark. I'll tell her all, before I marry her, Father." (pg. 228) Here we can see a clue of what is going to happen, they after the price which her money and Sibyl will be left in the dark, meaning the asylum. After Sybil encounters her mother in the story, it convinced me once more that Sybil was not insane and was placed in the asylum so that her uncle could keep fortune that was "supposed to be his". The messages that her mother was giving her for her to get away as soon as possible which made it obvious that she too might have possibly been put there to be get rid of. "If you are not mad, you will be; suspect you were sent here to be made so;" "Read, destroy, but obey it. I implore you to leave this house before it is too late." (pg. 244) After reading the messages it can be inferred that her mother too was taken to the asylum. She is urging Sybil to leave before she does become insane, she is warning her that if she does not soon leave she will be soon. A Whisper in the Dark, does show a different mother/daughter relationship. For once compared to the other text a true bond can be seen between mother and daughter. Even thought the mother is not portrayed as being physically present, the relationship can be seen as a good relationship, she is looking out for the best of her daughter. She cares about her daughter and urges her to leave, by giving there hints of what to do. (pg. 243-244) Overall I enjoyed the suspense of this story that kept me wanting to read further on.

The Hidden Hand

After reading the Hidden Hand, we once again see a young little girl struggling through the hardships of life. In the Wide, Wide World we see young Ellen raised to grow up to quick for her age, she too had to live the rest of her life alone without the care of her parents. In the Lamplighter, we see Gerty a young unprivileged girl that struggles through her young life being treated bad by Nan Grant. In the Hidden text Capitola also has had to live her entire life without the care of her parents, she struggles surviving on her own in the streets trying to find jobs that suit her and that will provide some money in order to feed herself.(p.180, 185) As I finished reading the text and with the discussion that we had in class I was able to make several comparisons and inferences between the three girls presented in these text. One major thing that I can see in all the text is the independence that the three girls demonstrate throughout the text. I say independence because I just can't imagine having to grow up living without the care and support of my parents, even though good people did come into the lives of the girls it is just difficult imagining having to grow up so young, they very independent girls who know how to take care of themselves, in the Wide, Wide World we see Ellen learn how to sew, do toast and do all the chores for her ill mother. In the Lamplighter we see poor Gerty defend herself and stand up for herself whenever she knocks Nan Grant out by hitting her in the head. (pg. 92-93).

Another thing that has been brought up in these texts were the innocence of children. We see this in the Hidden Hand, when Capitola dresses herself as a boy in order to get a job and survive out in the street. I consider this as innocence displayed by Capitola because she meant no harm to anybody in doing so. (pg. 185) As I mentioned before even though the three girls at one point in their life they were left without a mother or father, they all were able to find a good old man who enters their life and makes changes that greatly impact their lives in many ways. (pg. 185) Capitola after living in the streets dressed as a boy is adopted by Old Hurricane.

The Lamplighter

The depictions of girls haven't necessarily completely changed but some changes do exist. I believe that girls are no longer raised to be believe that they will be house wife's and are taught to only do house work. Such as in the Lamplighter Gerty is very excited to know that Mrs. Sullivan was going to teach her how to do house work. "What could I do?"stated Gerty. "You could sweep the room up every day; you could make the beds, after a fashion, with a little help in turning them; you could set the table, toast the bread, and wash the dishes." (p.108). Now in days little girls from the start are given the opportunity grow up into what they want to be and taught to believe that they have the same opportunities as men. I do believe that girls do struggle to find balance, but the same goes with everybody else. With so many things that go on during the day it is hard to sometimes balance things. Even I still struggle to find balance with school and taking care of my daughter."My! what an odd-faced child!--looks like a witch!" (p.81) In the Lamplighter Gerty struggles to find balance between her old life and way of being to changing her image of an ugly dirty little girl to a well composed little girl as well as learning how to take care of Uncle True. "She took the cat in her arms, smoothed down her dress, gave a look of interest and pride at her shoes and stockings and then composed herself, with a determined face to look patient." (p.105) Here Gerty is trying hard to show that she is changing and hoping that Uncle True will like her even more. I think that if Gerty were to be on the show things wouldn't be so different. Like when Amy asked Anna about how she does to even things out in her life and she mentions that she does yoga, she finds it relaxing, and Gerty also finds things to relax her and get her mind off of Nan Grant and how horrible her life is by escaping to the large wood and coal yard, or by watching the lamplighter who gave her hope there was somebody watching out for her. One thing that Gerty would have mentioned different from Anna was when Amy asked Anna about how girls now in days want to fit in, Anna responded by saying that girls should just accept who they are. I think Gerty would have answered differently just because she is trying to be a different person just to be liked by others and not being herself.