Analysis of John from the Painted Door

The theme of isolation is a heavy premise throughout all three books that help to shape not only certain characters but also provide insight on fundamental qualities of their identities. The object of this essay is to prove who seems to be the most solitary character between the books Light in August by William Faulkner, A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In these stories, the idea of isolation is the loneliness that has been experienced in a characters life. Some characters have experienced their loneliness since early childhood while others have been kept isolated involuntarily. Although these three characters have taken different approaches in their lives, they all ended up isolated from society. As Alfred Kazin believes that Joe Christmas is the most solitary character in American fiction, I would like to discuss how both the villain in A Good Man is Hard to Find and the heroine of The Yellow Wallpaper would not rival Kazin’s opinion. Joe Christmas in Light in August proves to be the most solitary character I have read about, as he is never able to become a full member of society.

Due to their behavior, both men lead their wives to rebel. John’s controlling behavior causes the narrator to abandon him by going completely mad. First, she questions John’s pronouncements. The narrator believes that congenial work, with excitement and change would do her good (p.297). Next, she focuses on the wallpaper. She describes its negative features noting that patches are gone as if school boys wore it out (p.298). Upset by her husband’s actions, the narrator decides to begin writing in secret. . It reaches the point where the narrator has to hide her writings from him, because he gets upset if she even writes a word (p.298). -After time passes, we see her obsession grow. John seems to be oblivious to the narrator’s conditions, telling her “you know the place is doing you good” (p.299). She notices that the pattern is torturing (p.303). Finally, she begins to see a woman hiding behind the pattern (p.304). Looking for the woman in the pattern gives her something to look forward to (p.305). Ultimately she comes to believe that she is the woman in the wallpaper and wants to free herself. She begins peeling off the paper through the night, and by morning removes all the paper she could while standing (p.307). The narrator even begins to contemplate jumping out of the window, but does not

I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are my own, to approve or amend my plans” (5). Walton’s wish is for a perfect friend almost a mirror image of himself. I wonder how, when, or where Walton will meet this person. In his 4th letter he says that they found a stranded European floating on a piece of ice with dogs but only one alive. The man turned out to be what Walton considered, “the friend he is looking for.” Walton notes that the mans gloominess and speech makes his affection grow for him day by day. This shows that gloominess and sadness is present within Walton’s feelings as well. He is very attracted to the man’s personality and calls him the friend he is looking for, but that friend must embody the tastes and amends of his own. I wonder if Walton has had a very depressing trauma in his life. It seems that Walton seeks for happiness and positivity from humans perhaps contrary to what has happened in his own

Wisdom and Knowledge are related to the painted door as Ann experiences loneliness and isolation from her husband John since he is occupied with work all day. "Pay no attention to me. Seven years a farmer 's wife - it 's time was used to staying alone." John leaves, trusting both Ann and Steven to have a friendly game of cards. When John returns he sees the unexpected, he finds both Anna and Steven in bed, at the sight of that John rushes out and freezes himself to death. Ann now will have to use her wisdom through her knowledge and experience to face her, even more, loneliness and isolated future without john. Sinclair believes that Isolation will test and perhaps divide relationships.

In a healthy relationship, both parties should be able to openly confide in one another, and understand that the other’s intentions are to benefit the other and yet respectfully compromise on decisions together. With that said, in Sinclair Ross’s short story entitled The Painted Door, the message of how lack of communication can result in dire circumstances is exquisitely envisioned. Moreover, as the seemingly conventional young rural couple’s story gradually progresses, the implications of Ann, the emotionally suppressed wife of John being left alone during an unbearable blizzard fatally brings to end their partnership. Through symbolism and other literary devices, Ross cleverly constructs the themes of isolation and loyalty in this 1939

Oftentimes, when burdening or stressful circumstances begin to generate strain on an individual, they find themselves turning to literary art as a form of mental relief. This deliverance applies, in particular, to the narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and the father in “The Boat,” by Alistair MacLeod. In both short stories, readers can pinpoint several instances in which these specific characters seek solace through differing formats of written language. The function of the father’s books in “The Boat,” and the narrator’s diary in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is to serve as an instrument of escapism, rebellion, and self-expression, within the controlled existence of

Many of the passages concerning the husband can be interpreted as containing sarcasm, a great many contain irony, and several border on parody (Johnson 528). It is true that the husband’s language is exaggerated at times, but dismissing the husband’s character as caricature seems extreme. He is instead the natural complement to the narrator’s madness and uncontrolled fancy: the character of John is control and “sanity” as defined by Victorian culture and is therefore the narrator’s opposite. Greg Johnson notes that John exhibits a near-obsession with “reason,” even as his wife grows mad. He is the narrator’s necessary counterpart, without whose stifling influence her eventual freedom would not be gained. And he is also transformed at the end of the tale—in a reversal of traditional gothic roles—because it is he, not a female, who faints when confronted with madness (529).

With good intentions, John controls his wife's life and makes all decisions for her, whether she agrees with them or not. His wife is full aware of the restrictions that her husband has imposed on her, but she is recessive to his control and often agrees with him. However, she fails to see “signs of her confinement: the bars at the window, the gate at the top of the stairs, steel rings on the walls, and the nailed-down bestead” (Korb). Because she is unable to escape from the isolation that her husband has kept her in, the woman seeks relief from the yellow wallpaper and she creates an imaginary relationship it. In fact, the worst thing her husband should not of done is give his unstable wife an object that is not appealing to focus on. In doing so, he has given her an opportunity to let her mind wonder and create objects that no one else sees. John, however, does not give any thought to this because after all, he thinks he knows what is best for his wife.

	One of John friends found him a job at Lake Tahoe in June of 1925. His plan was to make enough money to become a freelance writer in New York City. Low on funds John signed on as a working berth on a freighter headed to New York is November of 1925. When he arrived in New York John got a job as a newspaper cub reporter. He finally seemed to a secure job and things seemed alright. After a couple of months working as a reported John realized that he did not fit this kind of job. "Due to his lack of experience John was never given a chance to show his talent and he was given unimportant assignments with no value"(Morrow 75). Numerous times he failed to show up at work and was soon after fired.

Divided into five chapters, this book follows Stephen's life from childhood through adolescence to manhood. We are essentially given a window into Stephen's consciousness, and the whole world is unveiled to us through that single aperture. According to Sydney Bolt, no novel written before A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man can match its variety in styles This indicates Joyce's originality. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is told in characteristic dialogue and ironically sympathetic

Her husband restrains her from any social, physical and mental activity and allows little room for personal input or fulfillment. Longing for a voice and an emotional outlet, she begins writing in a secret journal, which she describes as a relief to her mind, also saying that her husband would think it absurd, but that she must write in it; it is her only outlet for what she feels and thinks (Gilman 340, 345). John exemplifies his role in society by being such a domineering force and keeping his wife constrained both physically and mentally, mentally being the worst for the protagonist.

The narrator’s feelings of inferiority and powerlessness parallels the female figure she sees trapped behind the pattern in the wall-paper adorning her room. She gradually withdraws from both John and reality by locking herself in the room and ultimately merging with the figure. Through the changing image of the pattern from a “fait figure” (Gilman 46) to a “woman stooping” (Gilman 46) behind the paper and “shaking the bars” (Gilman 46) as if she wanted “to get out” (Gilman 46), we can see her becoming one with the figure: “I pulled and she shook, I shook and she pulled, and before morning we had peeled off yards of that paper.”(51) Her collapse into madness as reflected in her behavior with the “bedstead [that] is fairly gnawed” (Gilman 51) and her “creeping all around” (Gilman 50) is a direct result of her passive submissiveness to John’s control of her life.

The use of themes and language in the story help shine some new light on John’s hometown as portrayed in the

Even though Richard Paul Evans mainly writes fictitious love stories (the kind that transform millions of die-hard romantics into a puddle of sentimental goo), he does write non-fiction as well, where his wisdom is even more evident. I chose the book The Four Doors to illustrate this point. The purpose of this book is to show others how to live their life with meaning by opening the door to possibilities. Evans uses this metaphor to illustrate how passing through a door requires knowledge, intent and action. We must find a door in order to pass through it. It also

The painting, The Bedroom, is one that has a lot of elements put into it. Some may think it is not the best piece of artwork, but to others, like me, it is a piece of artwork that has style, and elegance. When someone first takes a look at the piece of artwork, they are able to take in all of the detail that is put into it. But, some others may ask what made Vincent van Gogh want to produce this piece of artwork? There is some detail that is behind this piece of artwork, and facts about Vincent van Gogh that not everyone knows. Even though Vincent van Gogh is a famous artist, there are some things that people do not know about him, or about the piece The Bedroom.