Dr. Freeman
April and May, 2001
Wednesday, April 25: Finish "The Sandman"; begin "The Horla."
Thursday, April 26: Finish "The Horla"; review for test.
Tuesday, May 1: Test on Short Stories.
A 5 page essay comparing two short stories of you choice is due on Monday, May 7.
Essay Topics:
1. Both Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Guy de Maupassant's "The Horla" document in journal or quasi-journal form the descent into madness of their narrators. Compare the treatment each author uses to establish the stages of his/her character's gradually increasing insanity, considering the following question in crafting your essay: how much does the different gender of the protagonists affect the way their madness is handled (by them and by society and by the author)?
2. The focal character (the husband) in Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral" might be seen to undergo a gradual spiritual transformation through his interaction with the blind man Robert. Compare his awakening to self-knowledge to that experienced by Meursault in Camus's novel The Stranger. Be careful to note both structural, thematic, and philosophical similarities and differences between these two treatments of their transformations.