When She Stops Going Into Town Analysis

In "A Sorrowful Woman" the wife is depressed with her life, so much so, "The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again"(p.1). This wife and mother has come to detest her life, the sight of her family,

In the poem “Half-Hanged Mary” and in The Crucible women have very specific gender roles set, especially as a woman, they must carry forward after each fall. Mary is an outcast in her hometown in Massachusetts. No one agreed with the way she carried herself independently without

(Nash, et al., 2007., p. 387) Bailey also provides insight to the emotional toll of the journey as she writes on May 23rd that she “shed many tears and felt very unhappy” and later on July 4th her homesickness is evident as she speaks of her friends from home. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 387) Bailey’s experience also provides insight into the roles women played during these journeys. Early in the trip she describes staying inside the wagon while the men attempt to dig the wagon out from mud, which aligns with the social expectations of the time as women typically handled domestic chores, but this was not always the case as often the difficulties encountered during the journey eroded traditional gender rolls. (Nash, et al., 2007., pp. 387, 390) With the difficulties described by Robe and Bailey such as losing horses, being stuck in mud, disease, emotional turmoil and staring down uncertainty it is easy to understand the words Mary Power wrote in her own journal: “I felt my courage must fail me, for there we were in a strange land, almost without anything to eat, with a team that was not able to pull an empty wagon.” (Nash, et al., 2007., p.

“Rowlandson’s recounting of her eleven weeks of captivity shares characteristics with Bradstreet’s elegies to her grandchildren, Annie Burton’s Memories of Slavery Days, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Like these works, Rowlandson’s story is a mother’s story, and her voice is a mother’s voice” (“Mary . . .”).

Not only are the themes present for the readers, but they contribute to the character evolution of the dynamic personage: Mary. Themes such as the quest for immortality, man vs. society, man vs. self, the experience of alienation, and the character’s role as a hero are the universal truths which can be examined and elucidated in this text. In conjunction with these themes, readers fathom the maturation of Mary because the themes attribute as reasons to the discovery of Mary’s identity in her society. Motifs such as man vs. society, vs. self and the experience of alienation are correlated to one another and evident in the text. For example, quotations "No, I - I don't care." (7). “Mary knew what they were talking about. Her neighbors’ conversation, otherwise not troubling, might at any moment snag itself on this subject...causing her to look despairingly out of windows..trying to find some wonderful explanatory to bring it to a stop” (4). Mary is benevolent because of her thoughtfulness towards Mrs. Fullerton and her consensus on the demolishment of her own home. She doesn’t believe in destruction causing stability. The hesitancy present in Mary’s voice suggests the exposure of immense amounts of societal pressure inflicted upon her. She is frightened to defy the social norms and what must be done in the context of building the lane through Mrs.

“...Mary didn’t seem to care for books, but I . . . I dreamed of them in my sleep. I loved them in a way I couldn’t fully express even to Thomas. He pointed me to certain volumes and drilled me on Latin declensions. He was the only one who knew my desperation to acquire a true education, beyond the one I received at the hands of Madame Ruffin, my tutor and French nemesis.

Mary’s father is what we call a freethinker. He insists that his daughters wear men’s clothing while performing chores on the farm because he feels that women’s clothing is too restrictive. This may be one of many catalysts that set Mary on the road to deviating from what 19th century America deems proper women should wear, think, or even be. Mary challenged the long-held ideals of the day about a woman’s place in society. She became a doctor and served in the Civil War, she was a staunch supporter of women’s rights, and above all, someone who helped paved the way for future generations of women.

The narrative titled, “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” written by Mary Rowlandson is closely related to the narrative titled, “The interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavvas Vassa”, written by Olaudah Equaiano. Both narratives talk about captivity, the struggles of being held a prisoner, and the everyday emotions that each character goes through. Each of the narratives dives into the theme of Self vs. Other; however, each one takes a different look or view between racial and cultural difference. Each other also focuses on different aspects of faith and the impact that it has on the characters captivity experiences.

Frances Harper poem “The Slave Mother”, gives up an imagery illustration of how much both the mother and son suffer during the separation. During this era mothers, did not have the right of their children given birth to. “Her boy clings to her side, and in her kirtle vainly tries, His trembling form to hide. These stanza describe a scared

With this craving comes a confusion of her role as a mother and rather than nurturing her daughter with the same love and attention she bestows on Carl, she enables the molestation of the ‘cradle’ (originally a safe place for a child) by not protesting when he “try to stick his thing in her” while excusing him as “jus’ a high natured man”. Her failure as a mother who is unable to protect her child from an abusive father leads to a warped state of denial in which she responds to the oppression of the cruel patriarchal figure, with her own maternal oppression, constantly abusing Precious both verbally and physically; “pushing her head down” does not only refer to the sexual abuse she subjects Precious to, it also highlights Mary’s unwillingness to attempt to get herself and her daughter away from the brutish man that causes both of them pain.

Throughout the account of “Neighbor Rosicky”, Mary Rosicky is portrayed as a typical housewife. She works to make her home comfortable and cozy for her kids, husband, and guests. “With Mary, to feed creatures was the natural expression of affection--her chickens, the calves, her big hungry boys (3)”. Although she spends the majority of her time cooking and cleaning, she always makes sure to care for each of her family members individually, making sure they recognize the unconditional love she feels for them. She is an incredible woman with a strong soul and mindset. Even through her husband’s health struggles, she managed to stay put together for her children. Mary agreed to marry Anton knowing that the expectations of a wife and mother were very high, and she knew she could live up to them. Her big heart does not allow her to feel any contempt, so she is simply obliged in working her days away as a busy stay-at-home mother. This is the only life she knows. This is the only life she ever wanted.

Unlike the wandering narrator, the seafaring narrator focuses his descriptions of the community that is present in nature. The seafarer the utterly rejects the notion that a “sheltering family / could bring consolation for his desolate soul” (25-26). This “sheltering family” (25) that the seafaring narrator alludes to in this line is the exact form of close-knit family that the narrator in “The Wanderer” laments for desperately. While the seafaring narrator offers striking similar descriptions of the landscape being “bound by ice” (9), he does not focus on these descriptions to dwell on the loss of an earthly community. Instead, the narrator in “The Seafarer” finds the landscape that he inhabits wonderfully abundant with natural — even spiritual — elements that are commonly associated with an earthly community. In the barren landscape, the seafaring narrator discovers “the wild swan’s song / sometimes served for music” (19-20) and “the curlew’s cry for the laugher of men” (20-21). These vibrant and vivid descriptions of the natural world that the narrator discovers in the harsh,

Religion carries many individuals through life’s joys and heartaches--in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Mary is one of them. She grows up in a Catholic family and then lives in a convent, where she finds her life’s purpose as a nun. After her marriage and life on the road with her husband, however, she loses her faith. Religion--the force that has once created a comforting and happy structure for her--is now diminished. After this “theological loss,” (Floyd pg. 258) Mary’s life shifts to turmoil. She endures the loss of a child due to the measles, gives birth in grotesque hotels, and loses her connection with her husband. She refuses to accept that her youngest son, Edmund, like her father, has consumption. And while dealing with this misery,

Mary’s is seen as the caretaker of the household and in the story that is reversed when her husband is trying to tell her something important. “Tired darling”. “Yes”, “I'm tired”. This statement represent a dry and distance tone. “Listen,” he said. “I’ve got something to tell you”. This can state the anitionpation the author is trying to make us feel when reading the story. “He had now become absolutely motionless, and he kept his head down so that the light from the lamp beside him fell across the upper part of his face, leaving the chin and mouth in shadow”. This symbolizes the growing darkness and foreshadowing of intensity that is coming up next in the story between her and her husband that opens up Mary’s insanity. This allows us to see the transition of Mary’s once innocent

Looking eastwards she could see Pauper’s Field where Seth and Mary lay side by side. When she imagined them she saw them comfortable in their graves, very much alive and enjoying talking to each other. Mary was not locked inside the pale body that she tended as it lay on her bed, and Seth’s throttled face on the body his friends bore home from York was restored to the youthful face she had loved when he was a young man and she a maid and they took their first kiss. Her only sadness then was that she was not between them sharing their amusements.