Pick at least one of the short stories below:
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” – is found in your digital textbook, but here is an easy link: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/theliteratureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digitalDocs/The-Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf
Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”- is found in your digital textbook, but here is an easy link: https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/163604/A%20Rose%20for%20Emily%20-%20William%20Faulkner.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Questions to help facilitate discussion – You can use any of the questions below as a guide. You can also write about what you found interesting or thought-provoking from the text. Your initial post needs to be at least 200 words. To receive full credit, please respond to your peers’ posts (at least one well-developed response).
“The Yellow Wallpaper”
- What does the story suggest about gender roles during this time period? (late 1800’s-early 1900’s) Based on the outcome of this story, how was the idea of “separate spheres” damaging to women?
- Discuss what society expected of the typical nineteenth-century American woman. Has this changed much today? Give specific examples to support your answer.
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Do you think her studies there influenced how she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”? Explain your answer.
- The narrator does not give her own name except in an oblique reference at the end of the story. Why? Does she believe that she lacks an identity and is a mere appendage to her husband? How could this be considered a critique of society?
- The narrator and her husband sleep in separate beds, as the following sentence indicates: “He said there was only one window and not room for two beds, and no near room for him if he took another.” Is the reader to take this statement as an indication that the narrator and John are having trouble with their marriage? Explain your answer.
- What does the woman behind the wallpaper represent? Why does the narrator come to identify with her?
- In the end, who/or what is ultimately responsible for the narrator’s descent into madness?
- Some critics argue that Gilman is portraying motherhood as a “punishment”-the narrator’s insanity occurs right after the birth of her baby. How could Gilman’s text be read as condemning childbirth? Remember the idea of ‘separate spheres’-how can we see this demonstrated today? How can women function in two spheres if the man’s sphere isn’t extended to the home as well?
- Is the narrator “free” at the end of the story? Why or why not?
“A Rose for Emily”
- What is important about the short story’s title, “A Rose for Emily”? What are the multiple meanings of the “rose”?
- What are the conflicts in “A Rose for Emily”? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional) do you see in this story?
- How does William Faulkner reveal character in “A Rose for Emily”?
- What are some themes in the story? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
- What are some symbols in “A Rose for Emily”? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
- Do you find the characters likable? Would you want to meet the characters?
- What is significant about the gray hair at the end of the short story?
- What is the central/primary purpose of the story? Is the purpose important or meaningful?
- How essential is the setting to the story? Could the story have taken place anywhere else?
- What is the role of women in the text? What about single/independent women? What about the role of wife and mother?
- Would you recommend this story to a friend?
Lombardi, Esther. “‘A Rose for Emily’ Questions for Study and Discussion.” ThoughtCo, Aug. 25, 2020, thoughtco.com/a-rose-for-emily-study-questions-741271.
