The Yellow Wallpaper (Bedford Cultural Editions)

The Yellow Wallpaper (Bedford Cultural Editions) Review

Plot Summary:
A young family goes to a country home in a small American town for the summer. The husband is a physician who hopes that being in the country will help his wife over her currently unhappy state. The wife is probably suffering from what we would call postpartum depression. She often feels tired, and her physician husband's cure for this is to isolate her in the attic of their rented home. The attic has barred windows, a bed nailed to the floor, and hideously yellow wallpaper. As time moves on, we see the woman, who narrates the story, become more and more enthralled with the wallpaper- first she sees it as ugly, then she sees patterns and shapes in it and finally she sees that there is a woman trapped behind it, trying desperately to get out. And she decides to help this poor woman escape.

My thoughts:
In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator asks her husband multiple times to let her out and to allow her to socialize and write and enjoy her life, but he refuses, citing her health as his reason. As the narrator says, her husband "is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction." Thus, isolated as she is and suffering from what starts as a seemingly mild form of mental illness, the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper descends into insanity and no one even notices until it is too late.

I think this is a very important story when one considers women's health and the coddling way in which women were (and still often are) treated. Here is a story of a woman who tried to stand up for herself, but was told to just relax by her dear, sweet husband who always knows and wants what is best for her. The narrator's thoughts on the yellow wallpaper also morph and change with her mental state and her own feelings. What begins as ugly wallpaper turns to moldy and smelly paper and then finally becomes a prison for a woman stuck behind it, yearning to break out. And the narrator tries to help this imprisoned woman get out, in much the way she herself wants to escape her room and her life.

This story conveys a great deal in a very limited amount of space. It's also a very important work for its time- it sheds light on both mental illness and the role and rights of a woman in a family. It really makes clear just how unhappy women were in some circumstances, Gilman proves in her short story that unhappiness can lead us all to commit desperate acts. Whether to gain love, or freedom, or just to remove herself from horrible circumstances, a woman will leave her person and personality behind to escape her reality.

Highly recommended for fans of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. I also highly recommend Stephen Benatar's Wish Her Safe at Home!

The Yellow Wallpaper (Bedford Cultural Editions) Overview

This edition of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is based on the 1892 "New England Magazine" text of the story. The edition includes a selection of documents designed to help students situate the story in relation to Gilman's time period and wide range of interests. Included are 19th-century advice manuals for young women and mothers; medical texts discussing the nature of women's sexuality; social reform literature concerning women's rights; the working classes, and immigration; and excerpts from periodicals, diaries, and writers notebooks that reflect the sense of the changing literary scene of the time.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 06, 2010 14:58:06

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels Review

The undeniable strengths of this book have been described well by other reviewers. I would like to describe a few weaknesses I've perceived in this otherwise very useful book:

1) In his perceptive analysis of literary structures and cultural context, sometimes Bailey seems to under-analyze the wider literary context in which each parable/account is situated. This weakness appears twice, for example, in his commentary on the parables in Luke 16. First, in his consideration of the parable of the unjust steward, Bailey focuses on verses 1 to 8, emphasizing their connection with the previous chapter, but dismissing their connection with verses 9 to 13 by saying, "The verses that follow in Luke 16:9-13 display their own inner integrity and are best understood as a new paragraph" (pg. 334). This ignores the very clear connection between verses 4 and 9 (both speak of using money to win a welcome into future homes) which show that verses 9-13 are Jesus' commentary on the parable. This leads Bailey to underestimate the parable's concern with how we are to use money. Second, in his discussion of the story of the rich man and Lazarus, also in Luke 16, Bailey does a better job of allowing the context to shape his interpretation of the story, but still skips over the (admittedly difficult) verses 16-18 with this brief comment: "The reasons for the presence of Lk 16:16-18 between the poem on mammon and the parable have thus far escaped me" (pg. 380, footnote).

2) It also seems to me that sometimes Bailey is a little over-eager to draw interpretive conclusions from cultural considerations. For example, in his discussion of the parable of the pounds (Lk 19:11-27), Bailey suggests that the nobleman's final command to bring "those enemies of mine [who had rejected his kingship]... and slay them before me" is "an opening statement, no more" (pg. 407). He finds such a judgment to be "critically damaging" (pg. 407) to Luke's portrayal of Jesus and Jesus' commands to love our enemies. Bailey provides cultural support for this interpretation by saying, "If a Westerner is told by his employer, 'You're fired! Clear out your desk! I want you off the property by 5 p.m. today!' the employee will understand that he or she is fired and start packing at once.... A traditional Middle Easterner will listen to the same speech and conclude: 'The master is clearly very upset! Hmm--I see that I have a long negotiating process ahead of me...." (pgs. 406-407). This cultural context is fascinating and potentially useful, but appears to me to be misused in a way that underestimates the Bible's portrayal of Jesus as the final Judge and as the One who warned of a very real and final judgment to fall on Jerusalem for rejecting their Messiah. (See later in this very chapter, Luke 19:41-44; also Luke 13:1-9; 21:21-24.) At other times Bailey similarly offers fascinating cultural context that seems best taken as suggestive, not definitive, for interpretation.

3) A final (and less important) criticism of this book is that Bailey can at times feel slightly too repetitive when you read through the book from cover to cover. On the upside, this allows the reader to usefully dip into any chapter at random and still benefit from Baileys commentary on a single passage.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Bailey's keen insights into the stories and teachings of Jesus. I have been comparing Bailey's conclusions with those of Joel Green in his commentary on Luke The Gospel of Luke (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) and find the comparison very useful. (Much of Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes is based on Luke.) Bailey reveals much color and emotional impact in each account, and Green adds a more cautious eye with a greater consideration for how each account fits into Luke's larger literary and theological context. Sometimes I find myself agreeing with Bailey's interpretations and sometimes with Green's--and many times they reinforce each other's insights!

Enjoy Bailey's insights. Let them enrich your understanding of Jesus and add emotional impact to his teachings--and read this book alongside another (such as a good commentary).

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels Feature

• ISBN13: 9780830825684
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels Overview

Beginning with Jesus' birth, Ken Bailey leads you on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus throughout the four Gospels. Bailey examines the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord's Prayer,

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 23, 2010 23:46:07