Harrison Bergeron's Yellow Wallpaper

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. creates chilling portrayal of society seventy-four years into the future in his story Harrison Bergeron. At first, the story really freaked me out with the idea of everyone being totally equal. The fact that most of the people were forced to live their lives with weights, masks, and handicaps is truly frightening. The detailed imagery Vonnegut uses when describing the different handicaps makes the story only more disturbing. George and Hazel’s inability to fully comprehend information is both shocking and heartbreaking. When George is explaining to Hazel why he can’t take off his handicap weights, he refers to the “dark ages, with everybody competing with everybody else” (25). I assume that the “dark ages” are supposed to be this present day. George, along with most of the other characters in the story, is so brainwashed that he thinks the uncomfortable weights and the painful brain handicap are good for him and for society. This sense of acceptance towards extreme conformity is almost inconceivable to the reader. Vonnegut is able to create sympathy for these two characters, as well as for the others, because they are all forced to live lives where individuality is looked down on and conventionality is praised. The idea that everyone is “equal” causes those who are gifted to feel guilty about their uniqueness, “She had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice to use . . . a warm, luminous, timeless melody” (40).
It is this recurrent theme throughout the story that caused me to draw upon a quote from the Pixar movie, The Incredibles, “They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity, but if someone is genuinely exceptional...” I believe it is safe to say that this phrase applies perfectly to the story. Also, the reader feels sympathy for George and Hazel because they are so brainwashed that when Harrison is taken away from them (5) and then when he is later shot (80), they do not even feel sad due to their handicaps. A couple cannot morn the death of their child because it would cause them to feel certain emotions that would cause them to be unequal with the rest of the population.

However, despite the government’s attempts to create an equal society by using handicaps, the handicaps still create an almost ranking system based on the severity of the disadvantage. For example, George is able to ascertain the variety in attractiveness between the ballerinas due to the differences in their handicaps, “She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And . . . she was the strongest and most graceful . . . for her handicap bags were a big as those worn by two-hundred pound men” (40). The sensation of an almost class-like system that underlies our own society is still evident in this futuristic world. An interesting aspect of Vonnegut’s story is that even while this is set in the year 2081 and there is evidence of technological advancements, the gun Diana Moon Glampers uses to kill Harrison and his Empress is one that we currently have in 2007. If this society is set so far in the future with the tools that are able to control other people’s thought process, why use such an archaic weapon? I believe it is to symbolize a regress back to more primitive times by those whose thinking is not controlled. When Harrison discards his handicaps and regains control, he declares he is Emperor (55), a title that had not been used for hundreds of years. It proves that when you try to force something, in this case extreme equality progressing society, it will only rebel and produce an opposite effect, a relapse to more elemental times.





In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman creates an extreme case of a stereotypical marriage, with a domineering husband and a submissive wife. John, the husband and a physician, is described as “practical in the extreme . . . has no patience with faith . . . and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (5). In fact, the wife claims that his over controlling manner is the main reason why she seems to be unable to get healthier (5). Her constant need to please her husband causes her to give up many of the things she enjoys or to do them in secret, such as writing (15). Also, she is reluctant to often tell him what is on her mind for fear of disappointing him. The control that John holds over his wife is so strong is seems that he has almost brainwashed her, causing her to believe that whatever he says and does is best for her. Therefore when she questions his actions about her recovery he causes her to feel guilty about it, as if she is being selfish and unappreciative by doubting him, “He takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more” (30). In the beginning of the story the wife appears to be quite sane, yet as the plot progresses we see her mental health spiral down. This is due to John’s “care” of her. It is he that worsens her condition by keeping her isolated all the time. The wife writes to us that John is always gone all day on “important” cases (90). If he truly cared about his wife’s recovery, he would have been by her side making sure she was ok. John’s almost mentally abusive behavior towards his wife is what ultimately drives her insane and forces her to look towards the “woman” in the wallpaper for some kind of company.


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Where Have All The Good Men Gone?

In the short story A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Flannery O’Connor retains the title of a “Southern Gothic” in her ironic and almost predictable tale of one family’s road trip from hell. One of the defining aspects of the story is O’Connor’s ability to consistently foreshadow throughout the entire narrative. The story opens with the grandmother attempting to deter her son from taking the family to Florida, using the warning of the criminal at large The Misfit as one of her arguments (3). At this point it apparent that this character is integral to the story or else the author would not have introduced him so early. O’Connor uses the grandmother, through her dialogue and actions, to foreshadow most of the dark events that await the unsuspecting family. When getting ready for the long car ride, it is explained to the readers that she is dressed in such a proper manner because “in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (12). This darkly humorous comment acts as an indirect prediction of her and her family’s unfortunate future. O’Connor skillfully sets the stage for the family’s meeting with The Misfit not only through the grandmother, but through other characters as well. When Red Sammy’s wife expresses her would be lack of surprise if The Misfit attacked their diner (43), this re-affirms the reader’s suspicion that an encounter with him is likely.

In addition to the more direct references to death in the story, there are a multiple allusions, some not so subtle, to an inevitable meeting with this unfortunately real-life bogeyman. One is the passing of the graveyard on the way to the diner. When the grandmother points out that it was a family burial ground (24), the parallelism is undeniable. A blatant indication towards death is the description of The Misfits car that the grandmother hails down, which is most accurately illustrated as a hearse-like vehicle (72). Throughout the long-anticipated meeting of The Misfit, O’Connor becomes more and more direct in her references to death. When the escaped killer requests that Bailey and John Wesley step into the woods, it is obvious to the reader that they will not be returning (95). It is the same case when The Misfit asks the mother if she would like to “join” her husband in the woods (125). There is some irony in the grandmother’s being the last of the group to die. She was the only one of the family to casually point out the potential dangers of a mundane car trip. The other irony is that her actions are what ultimately create the sequence of events that lead them to The Misfit. This includes her suggestion to visit the “plantation” (48), her cat hidden in her purse (11), her hailing down the criminal’s car (73), and her recognizing The Misfit (84). When he informs the grandmother that she would have been better off if she had not identified him (85), we begin to wonder if The Misfit really would of spared their lives.

Though the reader knows very little about character of The Misfit, through his conversations he seems to be very ironic. He comes off as almost a proper man with a polite disposition, such as when he apologizes for not being appropriately dressed (100). One of the most contradictory things about The Misfit is his view on killing people. At first this man seems completely amoral, declaring “it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can—by killing someone . . . “(135). However, he contradicts himself by dismissing Bobby Lee’s comment about killing the grandmother, saying that murder had no real pleasure in life (140). O’Connor ends the story with one final irony: the cat. The cause of their accident and ultimate murders becomes the only member to engage The Misfit’s humanity and thus survives.


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Everyday Wasteland

Alice Walker creates two extremely different characters in her short story Everyday Use: Dee/Wangero, the “cultured, intelligent, trendy” daughter, and her “poor, uneducated, rural” Mother. However, even though Dee was the smartest in school and received scholarships to college, it is Mother’s character that seems to be more sensible and more grounded. Walker adds humor to Mother’s character when she indirectly calls Dee out on her ridiclousness. For example, when Dee declares she has changed her name from the “oppressive” one she had, Mother tells her that she was actually just named after her aunt (30). Mother has a much more realistic outlook on life than Dee does and this is especially apparent when she and Dee are arguing about the quilts. Dee wants to hang them as decorations and Mother can’t seem to understand why anyone would do that (73). Coming from an extremely poor background, it can be assumed that Mother was someone who never used a quilt, or any kind of household object for that matter, as “art”. The way in which Mother conducts herself and her mannerisms really show us that “less is more” in that she is a more rational, pleasant, and overall more likeable person than Dee, despite that fact she lives much more modernly. You would assume that since Dee went to college and followed the current times, her behavior would mirror it. However, it does not. Dee comes off as silly and ridiculous, however it is not funny, but instead rude and disrespectful. When Walker describes Dee when she is younger, you come to learn that she was embarrassed by her heritage and who her family was. Yet, when family trees become the next big trend, she then decides to embrace it. Dee feels no emotional connection to her past; rather to her it is just another accessory. She embraces her heritage only when it is convenient for her.


In Teenage Wasteland, Anne Tyler shows us the emotional battle Daisy must face when trying to figure out a way to salvage her relationship with her troubled son Donny. When she first learns of her son’s problems in school Daisy is embarrassed and confused (4). Her confusion never fully leaves her throughout the rest of the story. Daisy can’t figure out why her son is behaving like this, and since he is her first child, she has no experience in dealing with it. I think this is one reason why Daisy is so willing at first to let Cal work with Donny, despite her instincts telling her otherwise (30). She is so lost in the situation that it seems Daisy will to listen to anybody with a PhD, even if they do more harm than good. Daisy is caught in a very tricky situation with Donny because no matter what she does, he will just rebel. Donny protests when his parents constantly monitor his schoolwork, but when his parents leave him alone, Donny doesn’t do any of his work. It is a lose-lose situation for Daisy, because she always comes off as the bad guy not only to Donny, but to her daughter Amanda as well. Daisy has to push her time with Amanda aside when she is attempting to help Donny (50). This severely damages Amanda’s relationship with her parents and she begins to gradually distance herself from them (113). I think that another thing that causes both Donny and Amanda to drift away from their parents is that neither of their parents set good examples. The father seems to be working most of the time, leaving Daisy by herself. Daisy’s overwhelming insecurities and lack of confidence do not create a good role model for her kids to look up to (10). Her obsession of what other people think of her affects her parenting and therefore causes her to feel twice as ashamed when Donny begins to struggle.

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