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Jacquelin Rojas
Marxist

While reading "Bartleby the Scrivener" it talks about Bartleby and his coworkers and how Bartleby impacts their lives and there differences. Marxism focuses mainly on class, race, culture, and correcting social injustices. In “Bartleby the Scrivener” Bartleby has three former coworkers, Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut. Ginger nut is the youngest and doesn’t get paid as well as the others but works just as hard. Since he isn’t as experienced and can’t do as much as the others. The next coworker is Turkey, Turkey works harder and better in the morning and is usually shut down and doesn’t work as hard in the afternoon. Nippers on the other hand is the opposite, he works slower in the morning and is up and getting the job done in the afternoon. Since it is hard for the workers to get their work done they get little to no breaks, they are constantly working. When Bartleby comes around gets his work done on time and is a more efficient worker than the others, but one day Bartleby just decides to stop working and he refuses to copy more paper. His boss and coworkers begin to complain that Bartleby isn’t getting any work done. Bartleby the stops eating and when their workplace gets sold to new people and Bartleby refuses to leave he is sent to jail. His boss goes to check on him occasionally, one day he finds out the Bartleby has passed away due to starvation.

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Austin Williams
Biographical
Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story titled “Young Goodman Brown” is about someone that wanders into a forest and discovers that his community is participating in a satanic ritual. The man comes to the conclusion that everyone in his village is a bad person. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, had a grandfather that was a leading part of the salem witch trials a long time ago. John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin questioned both those accused of being a witch and those who accused people of being witches. Historical accounts point to John Hathorne always believing that those who had been accused of being a witch were guilty. It is a possibility that Nathaniel Hawthorne decided to write this short story based on what his grandfather did during the salem witch trials. Witches are commonly associated with the devil just like the practices shown in “Young Goodman Brown”. The practices that John Hathorne participated in could be what influenced the rituals that were going on in the forest. Young Goodman Brown began to believe that everyone in the village was evil and that could have been a very possible outcome for John Hathorne as he might have believed everyone around him was evil after seeing so many people become corrupted by the devil and become witches.

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Emanuel Silva-Lopez
Formalist

While reading "Young Goodman Brown" it's easy to note that YGB is a round and dynamic character. He goes through the forest and his faith changes. As his faith changes, he also changes. Pushing himself away from other people. The writing makes this clear from start to finish. YGB was a happy married man at the beginning and then he begins changing throughout the story. Hawthorne puts the reader in third-person as YGB and the old man walk through the woods. This helps visualize the conversation between the two from a distance. He also sometimes tells the reader how YGB feels. An example would be when he was leaving his wife faith Hawthorne writes "With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose." Hawthorne also writes with feeling so he can more effectively paint the surroundings. He does this when YGB is walking through the woods and Hawthorne describes it as lonely, gloomy, and dreary. Faith, his wife, was a very loved by YGB but he left her, so he could go wander in the woods. This also brings up some symbolism used by Hawthorne. Faith, his wife, also could mean his faith in religion. He was leaving his religion for just a moment to peek at the other side of the fence just for his knowledge. The old man also carried a staff with a snake carved in it. This symbolized the snake that tempted Adam and Eve. The language Hawthorne was using was a form of early modern English which contains words like thou and sayest. In the end, Hawthorne uses the trope of it all being a dream, but instead of him confirming it was a dream, he asks if it was. Giving the reader the choice to decipher what they believed truly happened. We will never know if it was a dream or not, but I believe there isn't only one way to look at this. I believe Hawthorne didn't want to end the story with it was all just a dream. Hawthorne wanted to make the reader think and wonder about the writing. He did a great job because this was a very good read.

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Michael Ferrell
Marxist

For my analysis of Bartleby the Scrivener will be analyzing the story from a Marxist point of view, since Marxism is strongly based on the oppressed worker and the belief of the "oppressed vs the oppressor". I will be mostly focusing on the social aspect and struggle of the proletariat which is the common worker and bourgeoisie who only seeks gain from the worker.

The story is based in wall street in New York city which is an area that we know is full of business men or the bourgeoisie in this case, which brings us to the narrator. The narrator runs a law firm in the story and keeps close tracks to the workers who he only gains off of, his workers being Turkey, Ginger Nut, Nippers and eventually Bartleby, but I'll focus on the characters before Bartleby arrives.

Ginger Nut is a child who works for the company, his only wage is a dollar a week, he is already being oppressed by the bourgeoisie since he is not gaining a lot of money and his only purpose was to run basic errands instead of getting an education. Turkey and Nippers only work hard at a certain time, Turkey works harder in the morning and Nippers works harder in the afternoon, this shows that they are not getting proper treatment, they're forced to work the whole day with barely any breaks or off time until the day is over. Then Bartleby shows up, Bartleby is your common worker who does his job, which is copying papers, he does his job at a good pace, until he was asked to examine a piece of paper by the bourgeoisie (narrator). He declines the task and the narrator, as well as his other employees, start complaining that he isn't working. Bartleby at this point is constantly oppressed by the narrator and his fellow workers, and he has now stopped working nearing the end of the story, the narrator tries to persuade him to leave because he was of no use to him. It isn’t until the law firm closes down and Bartleby is thrown in prison where he eventually starved to death because he was given improper treatment from the law firm. The bourgeoisie society killed Bartleby since they had no use for him.

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Evan Lancaster

Psychological Interpretation

When examining the short Story known as Bartleby Scrivener by Herman Melville, we can observe several instances that would constitute an inspection of the psychological interpretation of Bartley,who many, infer as the protagonist of the story. In general terms; Bartleby is apathetic at best and the perfection example of hopelessness for individuals lost in life. When taking a closer look at Bartleby in particular, we find some perplexing behavior. For example, the atypical phrase “I would prefer not to” is used an absurd amount in the story when Bartley deflects others. On the shallow surface one could easily chalk up his actions  as a severe case of depression. Knowing certain details of Bartley past we can summize his previous  job revolved around pointless tasks. His employment by the lawyer also included task of regurgitating information. Bartley very well might not have had desire, or will to live. His environment possibly caused irreversible damage to his psyche and the result is, his unwillingness to participate in life. With scientific theories on psychology being limited during the time period of Bartleby. It became apparent that many around Bartleby were perplexed by his behavior. The outcome received by Bartley may of been altered if it was set in modern day,where professionals have a better understanding of the human mind. This coupled with the fact Bartley may very well of required proper empathy from the reader by the end of the story; The lawyer ends up justifying all of bartleby’s woes by implying the prison was ideal for someone like Bartleby.

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Jaer Medina
Formalist

While reading “The Story of an Hour,” one of the first things readers recognize is how Kate Chopin likes to write very long sentences. Some of her paragraphs only consist of two sentences, but those sentences are very detailed. Chopin makes sure you’re seeing what she’s seeing. Everything is clearly described from the sky to the room and the woman. The title of the story also very clever; it foreshadows how short the story is. The story is only a page and a half long, and all the events that happen in the story happen very quickly. After reading this story, I’m sure everyone can agree that the ending is very ironic. In the beginning of the story, Chopin tells us that Mrs. Mallard’s sister, Josephine, has to break the news to her sister in an extremely gentle way that wouldn’t break Mrs. Mallard’s heart because she has a heart trouble. After breaking the news most people would expect for Mrs. Mallard to break down, which she does. Chopin hints at death coming when she says Mrs. Mallard no longer had anyone to live for. Here is where most people will assume she dies of a heart attack because of how sad she was. In the end. Mrs. Mallard does end up dying of a heart attack caused by joy. Her husband is actually alive and not harmed. A very good twist by Chopin.

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Blake Vander Kuyl
Psychological
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a highly psychological story. One could even consider the conflict between the narrator and the wallpaper to be a psychological conflict solely in the narrator’s head. Another conflict in the story is between the main character and her husband. Their marriage is one dominated by John, the husband, and his wife has almost no say in many aspects of her life. She seems to be experiencing something similar to the character Mrs. Mallard in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” Mrs. Mallard feels a sense of freedom after her husbands death, as if he were trapping her into a life she did not want. The narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” remains trapped in her marriage, sacrificing her freedom. The narrator also suffers from the psychological damages of postpartum depression. These effects are only worsened by her prescription of bedrest, to the point of her going insane. Because her life consists of almost no activity, she becomes fixated on one thing; the wallpaper in her room. In her state of mind this is very unhealthy, and becomes obsessed with the wallpaper. The psychological pressures of depression, boredom, oppression, and obsession collide to be the cause of her becoming insane.

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Abe Mata
Feminist
"The Story of An Hour" depicts a tale of Mrs. Mallard who loses her dear husband. We are shown that she is a very sensitive lady and relied on her husband. She acknowledges that she no longer has a husband at her side. Filled with sorrow, she sees that she has some freedom now to be able to enjoy herself a bit more. It is also uncovered that Mrs. Mallard has a weak heart which at the ending we found out that she dies of a heart attack. This shows that although women are able to be happy without men-sometimes the thought may be overwhelming to be without one in this time period of the story. As I believe that this story describes women as everyone tends to see them, which is that they are more sensitive, more emotional and very tolerant of many things. Although this is true we also see the strength that women have as such men do. Mrs. Mallard looked young, yet at the same time, she had signs of dealing with deep feelings of sadness. She’s portrayed as a woman who has suffered much and continues to live her life. She didn’t always love her husband yet she put her feelings at bay when he wasn’t making her happy.

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Ashley Trace
Feminist

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of the Hour” is told by an outsider witnessing Mrs. Mallard receive the news of her husband’s death. As she sat alone in her room watching outside the window, she felt a certain feeling appearing in her thoughts. Could it be? No, she’s wouldn’t know how that felt. Or maybe it is. . . freedom? Mrs. Mallard couldn’t know this feeling until her husband was gone. “Free! Body and soul free!” she repeatedly whispered, realizing that she was once again her own person. Now that her husband is finally absent she is freed from the ties of marriage that are fixed upon a woman. It’s unlike the feeling if the genders were switched and it were Mr. Mallard receiving the news of his wife’s death. Men don’t understand the new feeling of freedom because their freedom is achieved through birth. When Mrs. Mallard opens the door to find a rather unexpected man standing at the bottom of the steps, she is so shocked, and heartbroken her independence is gone that she dies. The reappearance of her husband causes the reappearance of her limitations. The male doctors, thinking she died from joy never felt their freedom appear and then get ripped from them in the matter of an hour. Women in stories are most often referred to by their husband's name, including this story. The reader doesn't know Mrs. Mallard's first name until the story is almost over.

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Anai Jimenez
Formalist
In The Birthmark, Hawthorne has a very interesting style. He starts off the story with his language.  His language is simple and understandable. It gives young readers the chance to understand everything in simple terms. His structure is also interesting. Hawthorne really wants to tell a story. He likes to use long sentences and tries to be very descriptive to try to hook his readers.  “ … There was a singular mark, deeply interwoven as it were, with through delicate bloom - the mark wore a tint of deeper crimson… It’s shape bore not a little similary to the human hand, though of the smallest pygmy size.” Just in these sentences alone, Hawthorne describes the mark on Georgina’s face, which is a small hand. He could of said that it was a small hand but, that’s not how he writes. Hawthorne likes to be descriptive to try to make his readers visually see what’s going on. Hawthorne also has a unique type of tone. Not only is he good at the structure for a story, but he also has a good tone. Hawthorne tries to prove a point or moral in the story which is where the tone comes in. Especially in the ending, the narrator focuses on moralizing the story that you never end up knowing how Aylmer feels about his end decision. This causes the reader to be hooked onto the suspense and the answer is up to the reader.

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Jamaari Hawkins
-Psychological-

In the short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, nearly all the characters have some sort of background that is expressed to the reader. Although his name remains unknown, readers find out the main character, who is also the narrator of the story, is a lawyer. We find out that he runs a business and has three other employees, Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut. Even their backgrounds are told, and with much detail; their personalities and odd habits as well. The only character without a given background is Bartleby. But why? Melville purposely left Bartleby’s life prior to his introduction unknown. Maybe this is what gets the reader’s attention. Melville leaves it to question where Bartleby actually comes from. It is also a question as to why Bartleby lacks a preference to everything asked of him. He doesn’t do anything; not even his job. Why does the lawyer put up with this behavior from Bartleby? And why does he do so in such a calm manner? Seeing as to how he deals with his other employees and their weird tendencies, maybe Bartleby is no different to the lawyer. Bartleby always seems to be staring off into space without saying a word to anyone else around. Maybe he is mentally ill and that’s the way he has always been. Or, maybe something traumatizing happened to him shortly after being hired to his new job.

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Maddie Bazan
Formalist
Upon reading Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, it becomes clear that there are many elements that play a significant role in bringing the story together. One that is hard to miss is the irony at the end of the story. The reader is taken to a shocking ending, and one that is far different than they’d expect. After Mrs. Mallard’s husband shows up after supposedly dying, she dies of shock. This shock however is not because she’s ecstatic to see her husband alive, it’s because she realizes she no longer has the freedom she gained after his passing. This is not what a reader would expect from a widower. I think that it is a very important element in that it creates questions in the reader’s mind. It makes the reader want to double back and figure why she responds in the ways she does. Another important element in this story is symbolism. In the very first sentence, the story states that Mrs. Mallard has a heart trouble. Reading further, it’s evident that this can be representative of her marriage. She’s troubled with the afflictions of her marriage, as is her heart. Then, once she discovers that her husband is “dead” her heart begins to beat faster, and her blood seems to be flowing better. This symbolizes her newfound freedom, and relief. Finally, when her husband shows up, she dies. Her heart gives out. Her heart no longer beats, because her freedom was taken away from her as quickly as it had come.

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Luis Carranza
Biographical

The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne talks about a young man who walks in the woods and ends up finding his whole village in a demonic ritual. He then concludes that everyone is evil and lives his entire life believing that. I believe this all ties back to Hawthorne’s great great grandfather, John Hathorne, who was one of the judges of the Salem witch trials and one of the only judges to not repent for his actions. Perhaps Hawthorne wrote this story thinking that this was how his great great grandfather ended up living his life. The demonic ritual could be construed as either the trial for the witches or the hangings. It also wouldn’t be much of a reach to believe that his grandfather believed many to be evil as he himself found these witches guilty and had them hanged with little to no evidence. After all these trials it would be hard for him not to think that humans easily give in to the devil which could be the reason he didn’t repent for his actions. After these trials John Hathorne may have given up his faith after finding that many people of the town of Salem were evil and had connections to the devil, similar to how Young Goodman Brown lost his faith after finding the village in a demonic ritual.

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Jamie Gonzalez
Feminist

Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” can already appear to be quite a morbid and peculiar story upon first glance, however when looking even deeper into the context and the themes throughout it, different messages can surface. Georgiana, Alymer’s wife was seen as someone who was practically perfect in every way, however, her husband was quite unhappy with a tiny flaw that many would overlook. In modern times, this situation would be considered absurd as the roles and expectations of gender have changed significantly over the past century. However, based on the context clues its clear that the intended time period of the short story was a time where women weren’t given nearly the same amount of rights as men, and even if they were, it was still seen as uncommon and highly unethical. Alymer criticizes and devastates Georgiana to the point where their marriage is in danger. However, in the end rather than leave him for someone else as a woman in the modern day and age would, she risks her life and allows Alymer to devise a plan to get rid of it. Alymer obsessed over a simple flaw but still managed to not only have his wife stay with him but also allow him to try to get rid of it, killing her in the end. It is clear what the differences are between Alymer and Georgiana based on how they treat each other. Georgiana relents and simply deals with Alymer’s devastating words about her birthmark rather than defend herself, thus being a clear example of the male dominance of the time. Through the eyes of someone living in the 21st century, one can’t help but take pity upon Georgiana considering everything she was put through during her marriage, however, the fact that she remained his wife despite being heartbroken and that she allowed Alymer to “fix” her problem, it just goes to show that the idea of what men and women should have acted like really did favor males and allowed women no liberty to free themselves from toxic environments such as Georgiana’s.

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Ashley Grotenhuis
Formalist

In the short story “The Birthmark,” all of the elements in the work contribute to the overall meaning. When Aylmer dislikes the birthmark on Georgiana's left cheek, he comes up with the solution to have it removed with one of his experiments. This is what starts the conflict because Georgiana and everyone else she knows doesn’t have a problem with the birthmark. Once she agrees to have it removed, there is the conflict of how the removal with be dangerous, but he then comes up with the solution to continue with another experiment and see how it works out. Throughout “The Birthmark,” the birthmark is symbolic. It is a symbol for Georgiana's humanity and mortality. When Aylmer wants to have the birthmark removed, he wants to make her perfect. Ironically, he succeeds at removing the birthmark, but ends up killing her. In addition, the birthmark is also a metaphor. The birthmark is a metaphor for individuality because it is what makes her different from everyone else, yet Aylmer wants to remove what makes her different. A paradox in this short story is how Georgiana feels about her husband marrying her when he didn’t like everything about her. In addition, this story is presented in the third person, which limits us to the characters emotions. All of these elements contribute to the work and lead to the tragedy of what perfection can lead to.

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Sophia Coppersmith
Biographical
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” suffered from depression, just as the main character in the story, and had similar treatment. She wrote this story while she was being treated. One of the main reasons she wrote it was to show the world that the kind of treatment that was given to a lot of people with depression was horrible, and only made the depression worse, as well as bring about more mental problems. The story was based off of her own life. She was isolated just like the main character in the story, which made things much worse for her, like it did for the main character. She even mentioned her real-life doctor in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” saying that he was a very bad doctor. The main character was scared to death when her husband talked about sending her to him. Also, Gilman disliked her husband and the way he treated her, and she made him an oblivious, somewhat cruel person that doesn’t understand his wife’s needs in the story. The events in “The Yellow Wallpaper” were a reflection of the events in her life, and she was expressing how she felt about her life in that story.

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Alaina Copeland
In the short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," the actions of the narrator, and affairs of the story reveal past events in the author's life. After doing some research, I found out that Charlotte Perkins Gilman was suffering from depression and common nervousness throughout her daily routine. In response to her mental state, Gilman sought medical care from the greatly recognized neurologist, S. Weir Mitchell, just as the narrator did. Gilman is essentially retelling her life through this story, as the plot of the narrative almost directly correlates to the author's life. After contacting S. Weir Mitchell, Gilman was advised to use the "rest cure," where she can have very little activity and interaction. Gilman reports that she knew this was the opposite of what she needs in order to deal with her "fever," in a sense. The main character in "The Yellow Wallpaper" is also held back from initiating in any interaction and extensive mental activity, and had the same opinion. Not only do the narrator and author suffer from similar illnesses and follow the same procedure for recovery, but both acknowledge the dominance of men over women. Gilman has argued that social, economic, and political roles of women need to be equivalent to those of males. In the narrative, the main character is very off-set by the fact that her husband is also her doctor/physician, and he dominates everything within her life. It is easy to see that Gilman portrays herself through the main character in order to bring awareness to treatment of Postpartum Depression, and the roles that men and women play in the marriage and in the home.

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"The Birthmark" -Maggie VanTil ---Which critical theory?---

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"The Birthmark" -Maggie VanTil ---Which critical theory?---

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“The Birthmark” nathaniel hawthorne is an interesting story that makes his audience a little angry as to how the character Georgiana was treated by her husband Aylmer. Aylmer is a man who loves his wife but he also has a deep passion for science. Overtime he becomes obsessed with a red birthmark with a shape of a little hand on Georgiana’s left cheek, even though Georgiana is beautiful Aylmer cannot get over this one tiny mark on her body. In a feminist interpretation Aylmer wants to have a perfect wife, a woman with no flaws such as a birthmark. Throughout the story Georgiana becomes ashamed of her looks due to her husband shuddering everytime he sees her cheek, it makes her feel like she isn’t good enough for him. Instead of accepting Georgiana for who she is and how she looks Aylmer wants to remove the birthmark with his precious science, only to take her life along with the tiny mark. This story connects to how a lot of women today buy makeup and other beauty objects to change their appearance in order to look “better.” The expectation that a woman must be perfect is what causes someone to go through drastic measures to look like the ideal model. Aylmer should have accepted his wife rather than make her feel shameful for one small mark, they both should have embraced it rather than destroy it.