Please read my comments under "Read This" on the class blog homepage, as well as my instructions on blogging about literature on your course syllabus--see the syllabus in the Course Information section of Blackboard.
Here are some things to consider RE this story:
Try to explore how details of the story--the careful description of Mrs. Mallard, of how she changes, and what Mrs. Mallard observes--what she sees/hears through the window, and the window itself--may help us understand the character's conflict, and what she is experiencing mentally and emotionally. Attend especially to patterns of imagery, similarities and contrasts--the way the clouds and sky mirror the open window in the wall, for eg., or the conntrasting descriptions of Mrs. Mallard's body--her physical change, as this might relate to her mental/emotional one.
Key things to remember about all stories--all have conflict, and all usually have at least one character who undergoes a change; this change can sometimes bu subtle, yet is usually significant. Characters' states of mind, connflicts, changes, are implied by details of imagery, symbols, setting, actions,and excnanges of dialogue.
SO, once you have a sense of what the story is "about,"--i.e., that Mr. Mallard's death has brought the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, to a new sense of self so fulfilling that, on learning that he is really alive, she, ironically, dies of (a different sort of) grief (misinterpreted by tehdoctors as a "joy that kills")-- begin analyzing and focusing on specific details--here and esp. in par. 2 of your journals--to see in more depth and gradation how these conflicts are worked out.
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Please read my comments under "Read This" on the class blog homepage, as well as my instructions on blogging about literature on your course syllabus--see the syllabus in the Course Information section of Blackboard.
Here are some things to consider RE this story:
Try to explore how details of the story--the careful description of Mrs. Mallard, of how she changes, and what Mrs. Mallard observes--what she sees/hears through the window, and the window itself--may help us understand the character's conflict, and what she is experiencing mentally and emotionally. Attend especially to patterns of imagery, similarities and contrasts--the way the clouds and sky mirror the open window in the wall, for eg., or the conntrasting descriptions of Mrs. Mallard's body--her physical change, as this might relate to her mental/emotional one.
Key things to remember about all stories--all have conflict, and all usually have at least one character who undergoes a change; this change can sometimes bu subtle, yet is usually significant. Characters' states of mind, connflicts, changes, are implied by details of imagery, symbols, setting, actions,and excnanges of dialogue.
SO, once you have a sense of what the story is "about,"--i.e., that Mr. Mallard's death has brought the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, to a new sense of self so fulfilling that, on learning that he is really alive, she, ironically, dies of (a different sort of) grief (misinterpreted by tehdoctors as a "joy that kills")-- begin analyzing and focusing on specific details--here and esp. in par. 2 of your journals--to see in more depth and gradation how these conflicts are worked out.
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