Yellow Wallpaper

In the Yellow wallpaper the narrator begins her journal by admiring at the greatness of the house in which her and her husband vacation. She then goes into a in-depth description of her illness. She explains she is suffering from “nervous depression” and of her marriage. She complains that her husband, as well as doctor, John pays little attention to her and says her treatment requires little to no activity and especially forbids her from reading and writing. She obviously rebels against this as she does a good job of hiding her journal from him. Aside from irritably rambling on about her husband, the narrator often describes the room she is isolated in and particularly the yellow wallpaper. She is at first disturbed by the wallpaper with its “strange, formless pattern it is rebellious.” She later on however, begins to see it as not only ugly, but strangely provoking. The narrator notes that John is worried about her becoming too obsessive and fixed on it, and also that he refrains from repapering the just to prove he won’t give in to her anxious fears. More time passes, and as the narrator appears to be making no sort of progress in recovery, John impends to send her away to a real-care physician. The narrator is isolated nearly always she has grown to appreciate the wallpaper and that struggling to decipher its pattern has become her main entertainment. As her fixation increases, the patterns in the wallpaper become more and more distinct. It begins to look like a woman creeping behind the foremost pattern, which looks like the bars of a cage. Soon the wallpaper controls the narrator’s mind. She identifies with it so clearly now, and is determined to figure it out on her own. The yellow wallpaper’s pattern now visibly is a woman who is trying to escape from behind the main pattern. The narrator however, suspects that John is well aware of her obsession, and she decides to finally destroy the paper at night. By the end, the narrator is despairingly insane, persuaded that there are several creeping women around and that she is in fact the trapped woman resembled in the wallpaper and has escaped. When John finally breaks into the locked room he is shocked at the apparent situation and faints in the doorway.

The Yellow Wallpaper is written in such a descending way that it actually made me feel as though I could identify with her spiral into insanity. It was very feminist and seemed to recommend that woman at this age were very oppressed and ignored by those in authority, or just men in general. As the narrator and her husband were clearly having marital problems, John decided to treat her as a doctor, and not husband. The story poses an argument that if roles are reversed or distorted, disaster occurs. I would agree with this, as the narrator was treated medically for marital problems, isolated alone, driven to insanity taking comfort in wallpaper, and eventually (as the text suggests) kills herself. When roles are treated wrong, whether it be the overpowering of man over women in the wrong situations disaster may occur, and things won’t function properly as they were meant to be.

            

Howell's “Criticism and Fiction”

In William Dean Howell’s excerpt from “Criticism and Fiction,” he opens essentially praising the work of Jane Austen, claiming her creativity makes her the first and last true realist of English literature. Realism is “material with entire truthfulness.” He expresses that it is because of her honesty that make her work so great, and therefore, beautiful. Howell from here however, then goes on to criticize numerous English writers such as Bulwer, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Thackeray, and even George Eliot. Due to the Romanticism era, he explains that these great writers could not escape the “taint of their time.” Thus, they could seldom write unbiased truth without shaping the subject in a self-pleasing way. On a more positive note however, he does compliment the quality of these writers. Yet he again proclaims that it doesn’t matter how well a piece is written if the idea it is conveying holds no truth. The one author, besides Austen that Howells slightly commends is Anthony Trollope. He says his “simple honesty and instinctive truth” made him great however, when he allowed his opinion to get in the way it would warp his wholesome idea, and thereby beauty surpassed him. Howell ends by claiming that if truth were a fad, perhaps society would seek it more in our writings; however we will have to wait until civilization advances to that point.

                Howell was very bold in criticizing so many well respected writers in “Criticism and Fiction.” I would agree with him in saying that the wholesome truth that lies in writing does in fact make it beautiful as truth is so untainted, and all together perfect in its nature. However,  I do still believe that it is not solely truth that makes a piece of work beautiful. And although some people may alter truth accordingly to what they see as beautiful, that is very well acceptable and in many cases what makes a writer unique and great. 

Franzen

Franzen’s essay “Liking is for Cowards. Go for what Hurts.” Mainly deals with the concept of liking versus loving, as well as our infatuation with consumer technologies such as BlackBerrys, and Facebook. He clarifies why our infatuation with technology delivers an easy alternate for love. “The striking thing about all consumer products – and none more so than electronic devices and applications – is that they are designed to be immensely likeable.” Franzen boldly claims that this is “the definition of a consumer product.” If considered in human terms, he relates this to people who can be defined by their desperation to be liked. These people go to extreme measures to present them self in a likeable pose. They are narcissists and cannot bear the thought of their image not being accepted, desired, or just plain liked. Franzen’s core claim could arguably be that highly apprehensive and self-absorbed  people are solely concerned with being liked, acknowledged, and approved. They have no integrity, and will soon become obsessed with satisfying what others’ want to see in them despite what it actually is. Today’s electronic devices and applications are so popular among these people, and for that fact, the majority of today’s society, because they are all targeted around and have access to the means of achieving these hopes that these people have of being accepted and desired. Technologies like these, such as Facebook, allow you to create a profile that defines you within the boundaries of a few quotations and photos; they enable you to associate yourself with what’s popular and socially acceptable. They hope to increase their appeal to others via these technologies and since attaining that satisfaction is so desired it really is what so strongly sells these websites and electronic tools the vast majority of today’s self-obsessive and concerned society.

                In Franzen’s essay he essentially criticizes society of what we are all truly guilty for; the strong, desperate desire to be liked and accepted. He explains how today’s technology are majorly used as social tools to enhance our social life, appeal, and popularity. I would definitely agree with Franzen. Even I myself, and I can think of many, many others who fall into this category at one measure or another of desiring so strongly to be liked. It is deep down something that is so desired in us and an obsession that these social applications are just feeding. In that light, are these technologies considered good, or sef-harming? How much more will we become dependent on Facebook, and these type of medias for our social stature; and to what level is it considered superficial?

Jamais cascio's "Get Smarter"

Jamais Cascio, in his article “Get Smarter,” begins by reflecting on how by in the past humans through adapting to situations that may be potential threats, have made us essentially smarter. We alter our brains to adapt to any abnormal situation that we may encounter. The technologies that we operate today are so detailed and up to date. They match exactly what we need and it is hard to imagine what could get better than this. However, we must acknowledge that this is how our ancestors have thought for centuries. Thus, it is only a matter of time until a new breakthrough in technology occurs and the current ones are thrown out of date, old, and useless. Cascio explains the amazement he finds in all the detail put fourth into today’s video games, and graphics as well as Pharmacological advances. Having pills that now permit us to concentrate for hours pass ones normal capacity, you would think that it is the pill making us smarter, however It is not the pill that is giving us the information but its enabling us to figure things out that would of been impossible before without the concentration. Technology and the contemporary way of life have allowed us to start having "fluid intelligence." In other words, with all the tons of information coming at us every day we only pick up little bits and store it without even thinking about it. A good analogy would be like that of a waterfall always overflowing and you having no other option but to undergo it. Cascio mentions also the possibility of a future computer chip that may be inserted into ones brain and programmed. He expresses that with this comes the danger that we may all not think alike. Therefore, if we’re all thinking alike we can never excel. It takes a contrast in back round and cultures for our world to truly grown and without those, we are essentially doomed and will fail to launch. Cascio does indeed believe that technology has made us smarter but there are definite cautions we must be aware of in this journey of advancements. In order to move forward into the unknown future technologies and mile stones we have yet to conquer, we must first be willing to adapt to new circumstances, and grow from them, in order to get there.

In “Get Smarter” Jamais Cascio is definitely pro-technology and optimistic for what the future holds. He claims that it is our technologies, the constant adaption to new circumstances, and how we grow, deal, and advance from these situations is how we get smarter. I agree with Cascio’s claim, and it is even true in my life from what I’ve observed; you can only truly grow if you go experience and deal with an issue for yourself. Therefore, by our society continuously striving for new solutions to problems, we become smarter, and from there are able to grow and advance.