Creating Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper - 2777 Words

As summer progresses in the story The Yellow Wallpaper, Johns treatment of the narrator as though she were a helpless docile child becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; she sheds the skin of her adult self and gives birth to her inner child via the wallpaper. From the moment she implies she is sick, his behavior becomes more and more parental and authoritarian. Under this guise he slowly disintegrates any resemblance of an adult wife he had. At the end hes victorious because he does beget a child. Simultaneously, hes a loser because the behavior of this childlike being mirrors his own attitude toward his wife: shes defiant and assertive and runs right over him. The tables have reversed. In the beginning of the story, John†¦show more content†¦As Conrad Shumaker writes, John wants to deal only with physical causes and effects: if his wifes symptoms are nervousness and weight loss, the treatment must be undisturbed tranquility and good nutrition (591). He knows how to treat the physical body but not the soul. John takes her sensitivity as a sign of lacking proper self-control (Gilman 179). Because of his callous opinion, she must hide parts of herself. This reminds the reader of a parent telling a child to grow up. The colorful, sensitive side of her psyche is being pushed aside for his more black-and-white male perspective. His view is one of a colorless world that is cut, dried, and neatly organized with no room for varying shades. If he cant see or touch it, then it doesnt exist. Beverly Hume writes, John is mechanistic, rigid, predictable, and sexist; he combines as Rachael Duplesis notes the professional authority of the physician with the legal and emotional authority of the husband (478). Not only does John not sleep with her, but he decides they will take the nursery at the top of the house (Gilman 179). The words barred windows (181) and gate at the head of the stairs (181) have nursery analogies such as the spindles of a crib and the gates in the doorways of nurseries. When she timidly requests that they sleep downstairs, her preference means nothing to him in the matter. He is the authoritarian father figure whose word is law.Show MoreRelatedThe Yellow Wall Paper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1107 Words   |  5 PagesIn January of 1892, author Charlotte Perkins Gilman published her short story, â€Å"The Yellow Wall-paper† in The New England Magazine. Gilman’s work illustrates the public perception of woman’s health in the 19th century and is considered to be an important part of early American feminist literature. During the 19th century, women were confined to the idea of the â€Å"ideal† woman and the â€Å"domestic sphere.† Ac cording to Barbara Welter, in her 1966 paper entitled â€Å"The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860,†Read MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman846 Words   |  4 PagesThe dignified journey of the admirable story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† created by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, gave the thought whether or not the outcome was influenced by female oppression and feminism. Female oppression and feminist encouraged a series of women to have the freedom to oppose for their equal rights. Signified events in the story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† resulted of inequality justice for women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman gave the reader different literary analysis to join the unjustifiableRead MoreHaunted Houses By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1705 Words   |  7 PagesWar, slavery ended and the plantation homes fell into ruin. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892, short story, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† while the story does not take place in a ty pical haunted plantation house, it does take place in a vacation home that is revealed to be haunted. The short story follows the female narrator as she succumbs to the paranoia of seeing things in the wallpaper as she descends into insanity. The haunted house in this short story represents the coming decline of the power menRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper Essay : Importance Of Identity And Self Expression1707 Words   |  7 PagesThe Importance of Identity and Self Expression in The Yellow Wallpaper In the article â€Å"‘Too Terribly Good to Be Printed’: Charlotte Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’† Conrad Shumaker explains the genius of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and how its themes reflect the patriarchal society of the time period. Shumaker identifies one theme as the detriment of suppressing the narrator’s sense of self and that â€Å"by trying to ignore and repress her imagination, in short, John eventually brings about the very circumstanceRead MoreThe Weird Is An Essential Horror Component1231 Words   |  5 PagesThe Yellow Wallpaper is her take on the world through the semi-autobiographical lens of a woman put on â€Å"rest cure†. Rest cures are a form of sensory deprivation used extensively in the early 20th century to try and cure nervous breakdowns, and Gilman herself was prescribed one herself. She followed the treatment (which stresses as little mental stimulation as possible) and â€Å"came so near the borderline of utter mental ruin that I could see over.† This inspired her to write The Yellow Wallpaper, asRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper and the Tell Tale Heart Analysis1189 Words   |  5 PagesHawkins 1 Deidre Professor Connors English 102-15 March 12, 2011 Narrative Unreliability and Symbolisms in â€Å"The Tell -Tale Heart† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† â€Å"The Tell -Tale Heart† by Edgar Allan Poe, was released in 1843. It is one of Poe’s shortest stories and provides a look into paranoia and mental deterioration. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was released in 1899. This story also provides a look into mental deterioration and had been misinterpreted when it wasRead MoreNarrative Voice Of The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1706 Words   |  7 PagesCharlotte Perkins Gilman aptly used narrative voice to shape the meaning of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† by writing a first-person narrative about a woman who slowly loses herself to madness. This voice is one of a woman who may possibly have post-partum depression or some other form of manic depression, and her unheard cries for help. She slowly draws within herself, and allows the insanity to take over. Within the first few paragraphs we learn general characteristics about the narrator: she is middleRead MoreThe Yell ow Wallpaper, By Perkins Gilman1658 Words   |  7 PagesPerkins Gilman aptly used narrative voice to shape the meaning of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† by writing a first-person narrative about a woman who slowly loses herself to madness. This voice is one of a woman who may possibly have post-partum depression or some other form of manic depression, and her unheard cries for help. She slowly draws within herself, and allows the insanity to take over. Within the first few paragraphs we learn general characteristics about the narrator: she is middle class, asRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1442 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the most prominent feminists of her century. She brilliantly created a haunting and gothic allegory in her short story, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper.† It was difficult for women to express themselves in a male dominant society, and they would often try to seek greater fulfillment. Gilman takes her audience through her unnamed character’s journey of emotional deterioration, and her quest for control over her own life. The author’s allegory for theRead MoreThere Have Been Multiple Conceptions About â€Å"The Yellow1510 Words   |  7 Pages There have been multiple conceptions about â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† over the true significance of the story and it has been evaluated by many scholarly writers for several generations. The story was written by the poet Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the nineteenth-century and it conveyed ideas about symbolism, feminism and individualism. It provides the reader with her viewpoint on soci ety’s subjugation of women by the patriarchal model that reserved power for men. The gender ideology stressed that women

Self-Image and Consumer Behavior Free Essays

Article Review: Self-Image and Consumer Behavior: How Sacrosanct Self-Beliefs Sway Preferences in the Marketplace Written by: David Dunning In this article, David Dunning questions whether or not beliefs, wants, and needs are the keys to decision making in a consumer’s mind. He believes in a decision making technique called belief harmonization. With this, Dunning means that in order to reach a decision , it may require arranging and revising one’s beliefs, needs, and preferences into a network of cognition that produces little tension among its elements. We will write a custom essay sample on Self-Image and Consumer Behavior or any similar topic only for you Order Now He states that this allows for two major influences on decision making.The first influence is if people hold a bias to favor one decision over another, then that will alter how they perceive the product. They will solely make a decision on that bias and keep to it. In our book, it explains this with brand equity. The outcome shows that a consumer will decide based on the belief that this brand is better than all of the others and not think twice to purchase. The second influence involves the beliefs that the consumer want to maintain, called sacrosanct beliefs. This is one claiming that the self is a moral, lovable, and capable individual.Dunning states that many decisions in the consumer world are based on this belief of self-image, even when the decision at hand has no relevance to the self. We buy to highlight or hide aspects of our self. Evidence for Decision Making as Belief Harmonization There is much evidence that suggest that judgment and decision making, including consumer behavior decision making, is known to be belief harmonization. Dunning stated that through the 1940s and 1960s, people depended on the consistency theory, balance theory, and the cognitive dissonance theory.However, it has been known that belief and other connections are applied as well. This would be referred to as connectionist modeling or parallel-constraint satisfaction. He gives a certain example of a young woman buying a car and the positive and negative factors based on buying this car. There can be some direct and indirect contradictions in the harmonization process. What people do is revise what they believe in and make connections with the decision. It may lead towards the negative factors or the positive factors in this decision. Dunning states that the best decisions should be based on the beliefs that the person possesses and will be the best indicator for it. Beliefs are equally able to influence and be influenced by other beliefs. The Influence of Decision Outcomes on Perceptions of â€Å"Input† Variables Emerging evidence demonstrates just how easily the causality in decision making can run in reverse. A preliminary opinion leaning toward one conclusion tends to alter how people evaluate evidence in decision making. This also is a part of product choice as well.The Influence of Logically Irrelevant â€Å"Outside Beliefs† Any belief can bias people to initially favor one over another. These beliefs are called â€Å"outside† beliefs and tend to be irrelevant when it comes to the decision making process. Dunning talks about how a juror decides on whether or not someone should be sued for posting negative comments on the internet. They looked at both positive and negative sides of the defendant and never based their decision on if the defendant was a nice guy or not. Work in the consumer world has also found similar bias due to outside beliefs.Evidence for Sacrosanct Beliefs about the Self People commonly approach every decision with the belief that their decision takes precedence and that they are honorable individuals. They want their decisions to be positive so that their self-image is positive. In class, we learned about impression management, which means that we work to â€Å"manage† what others think of us. This is a factor in our self-image. Evidence for Positive Self-Beliefs Researchers have showed that people have upbeat self-images, even to an unrealistic degree.Our psychological process that might help leave people with flattering views is a constant engagement in belief harmonization anchored on a self-belief. Research on self-evaluation also shows what type of moves or decisions people make for a positive self-image. This goes in hand with the ideal self portrayal and our concept of what we would like to be. With consumers, they easily adapt to certain products to help us reach our ideal self and have a positive outcome in our beliefs. Evidence for Belief Harmonization with Positive Self-BeliefsBeliefs about the social world are harmonized with flattering self-views. The judgment of people will affirm the positive impression of self. Culture is a big factor in the consumer world, and that is where the beliefs and self-image become intertwined together. In our book, it talks about how in some cultures, women are supposed to foster harmonious relationships and men are supposed to be assertive and have certain skills. These beliefs make the positive self-image in the culture that the male and female are in. Definitions of Social Traits and JudgmentThere are many social traits out in the consumer world today. The article talks about how people tend to emphasize specific attributes and talents that they have and de-emphasize those they do not. These beliefs guide people’s judgments. They align their attribution for success and failure to affirm about the self and the image it portrays. Dunning states that at times a behavior is clearly an underlying trait. People tend to adopt performance standards that place their own competence and character in a good light. Evidence for Belief Harmonization in ChoiceRecent developments in the consumer psychology literature provide strong hints that self-image motives may influence decision making in the marketplace. Here are some points that play an important role by self-image in decision making. * Self-Signaling: this is the notion that people reach their decisions with an eye toward bolstering their self-images is similar to another idea emerging from work in decision making and choice. This is to signal the type of person they are. This explains behavior that remains curious and has been an explanation for people’s behavior. Shafir and Tversky conducted this behavior in the Newcomb problem, where it showed that a participant in the experiment picked an economically inferior option to another option. * Endowment Effects: People place more value on an object once they own in. Handing a coffee mug to a college student causes them to more than double what the mug is really worth. Once products are associated with people, it confirms the positive impressions of that person and becomes valuable for them to have. * Compensation Effects: People buy to compensate for perceived deficits. For example, men buy toupees to make up for hair loss.People buy products to cover their shortcomings for others not to see. * Affirmation Effects: People express ideas that they are invulnerable to risk. Having self-esteem may prompt people to make choices with less concern. * Licensing Effects: Once people have gained solid evidence that they possess some sacrosanct trait, they act in a way that could potentially violate that they have that trait. This arises in consumer choice many times. Future Questions Dunning focuses on one specific sacrosanct belief, which is that the self is a lovable and capable person.He feels as though there could be other beliefs that exist as well. People possess personal self-esteem but also can possess collective self-esteem. This very much indeed influences people’s decisions and behavior in the marketplace. Also, beliefs that people seek might involve specific ones or rather a more overall general one about the self as a whole. Willer studies on masculinity suggested that people bolster specific self-values. Also, many suggest that people are not as concerned with specific self-views as they are worried over a general sense of self-worth. Automatic versus Deliberative Nature of Self-Image MotivesAnother issue would be whether the impact of self-based sacrosanct beliefs is deliberative or automatic in nature. Dunning believes that the impact of self-beliefs might be more automatic in nature. He argues that the term automatic can be the case that the process of affirming favorable self-beliefs is beyond people’s control. Also that is may be the case that this process occurs below people’s awareness; they may lack any insight that their choices are influenced by concerns over the self. However, people’s preferences can impose its influence below a person’s awareness.The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem For sacrosanct beliefs about the self to influence consumer psychology, people must presumably have those sacrosanct beliefs, and people with low self-esteem may not have positive views to maintain. In the consumer realm, one could ask whether low self-esteem people will work as energetically as their high self-esteem peers harmonize consumer decisions with positive views of self. The Moderating Role of Culture/Implications of Marketing As I discussed in this paper earlier, culture is another condition with how consumers make decisions.People in North America and Western Europe work to bolster their self-esteem. In the West, people seem more concerned with individuality and in the Ea st; they focus on the collective self. Self-Image concerns may also carry implications for effective marketing according to Dunning. People tend to state that they are motivated to do good work in their job for reasons like personal growth, whereas other people are more motivated by money. That is how it works with decisions in consumer buying. People are influenced by social status.This article suggests that marketers should be mindful of the motivations that people are likely to cite as prime considerations for their purchases. In conclusion, the article is about how consumer behavior is acted and what it is based upon. There are many different factors that the author speaks about in this article. Self-Esteem and Culture are two main pieces of the puzzle when it comes to how consumers react to certain products. In the marketing world, we marketers have to look at these factors and how much insight it will provide us when we are trying to get into the minds of our consumers.Dunning makes very interesting arguments of how we cannot look at the picture as a whole, but yet as different segments of ourselves that all tie together with the decision making process. I thought this was a very interesting article because it shows how experiments and studies were done to prove that these are main factors with consumer behavior. It also showed me how we basically become the product and shine through the product for our own self-image. It could be even with becoming part of a group that reflects your personality, or just for your individual traits themselves. How to cite Self-Image and Consumer Behavior, Papers

Families of Children with Downs Syndrome free essay sample

A study into the effects of poverty on parents with children with Downs Syndrome and other stress factors placed on these families. A paper which identifies the stress placed on families of children with Downs Syndrome. It identifies the stressors specifically identified with having a Downs Syndrome child in contrast to the normal stresses associated with parenting a normal child. The study determines whether the parents of Downs Syndrome children experience greater levels, more frequent or more chronic stress symptoms than parents of normal children. The study examines the effects of poverty on both the parents of normal and Downs Syndrome Children. The study examines the effects that these stresses are likely to have on the family and outcomes of the handicapped child. It focuses on the stresses associated with families of low socio-economic status who have Downs Syndrome children. The author offers suggestions as to the types of programs, which may be helpful to improving the outcomes for both the children and their families. We will write a custom essay sample on Families of Children with Downs Syndrome or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It offers suggestions as to how to help these families gain better access to education and services tailored to their specific needs. Many factors have been shown to affect the ability of the family to adapt to changes and stress, such as the birth of a handicapped child. Research by Flaherty (2000) investigated adjustment in mothers and fathers rearing children with Downs syndrome. He compared families who had a Downs syndrome child by birth with families who had knowingly adopted a child with Downs syndrome. He surmised that the families who adopted children with Downs Syndrome were more likely to be well-adjusted. Actual results, however, demonstrated that birth mothers and fathers were functioning quite similarly to adoptive mothers and fathers on the outcome variables. Overall, birth as well as adoptive families appeared to be adjusting well to the challenges of rearing a child with Down syndrome. (Flaherty, 2000). This study would lead us to believe that stresses are the same whether the situation was a surprise or expected.