Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Free Essays on A Sorrowful Woman

used to describe them are very pleasant, and yet the sight of them makes her sick. The overall tone of the piece is ... Free Essays on A Sorrowful Woman Free Essays on A Sorrowful Woman Explication of a Passage from Gail Godwin’s â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† One winter evening she looked at them: the husband durable, receptive, gentle; the child a tender golden three. The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again. She told the husband these thoughts. He was attuned to her; he understood such things. He said he understood. What would she like him to do? â€Å"If you could put the boy to bed and read him the story about the monkey who ate too many bananas, I would be grateful.† â€Å"Of course,† he said. †Why, that’s a pleasure.† And he sent her off to bed. The next night it happened again. Putting the warm dishes away in the cupboard, she turned and saw the child’s gray eyes approving her movements. In the next room was the man, his chin sunk in the open collar of his favorite wool shirt. He was dozing after her good supper. The shirt was the gray of the child’s trusting gaze. She began yelping without tears, retching in between. The man woke in alarm and carried her in his arms to bed. The boy followed them up the stairs, saying, â€Å"It’s all right, Mommy,† but this made her scream. â€Å"Mommy is sick,† the father said, â€Å"go wait for me in your room.† The first three paragraphs of â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† by Gail Godwin are a precursor of the tone and overall plot development of the rest of the story. The tone put forth in this passage is continued throughout the progression of the piece. Godwin also uses certain words and setting that lend to developing this tone of dreariness and sadness. The events that take place here foreshadow very similar ones later on in the story. The first paragraph also sets up the rest of the story. Now the reader knows the main conflict. The woman seems to love the husband and boy as the words used to describe them are very pleasant, and yet the sight of them makes her sick. The overall tone of the piece is ... Free Essays on A Sorrowful Woman The Sorrow of a Family: Selfishness and Lack of Communication Destroys Family Thesis: A deeper look into the story reveals that her selfishness and pity for her life is fueling her sorrow and along with their lack of communication causes the demise of this family. Neva Pittman February 27, 2003 A Sorrowful Woman Gail Godwin’s â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† leads one to believe that the wife is maybe overwhelmed, possibly just having a bad day. The belief is that with her husband’s understanding she and her family will get through this. Everyone has a bad day and people sometimes get on each other’s nerves. A shocking revelation comes to the reader that this isn’t just a bad day. A deeper look into the story reveals that her selfishness and pity for her life is fueling her sorrow and along with their lack of communication causes the demise of this family. In reading this story we find a woman tired of being a mother, a wife and of her life in general. â€Å"The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to ever see them again† (35). Do you not see what she is thinking? They are sucking the life out of me. Why did I choose to get married? I could have been anything, instead I am the mother of this child and the wife of this man and am here to take care of their needs. Who will take care of my needs? She feels that she is some how letting herself ease away and needs to regain her identity. She soon isolates herself even more by moving into another room maybe thinking she will be able to find the part of herself she has lost. â€Å"She was a young queen, a virgin in a tower, she was the previous inhabitant, the girl with all the energies. She tried these personalities on like costumes† (38). Her husband’s constant saying he understands such things only seems to enable her to isolate herself more and ignore her responsibilities as a mother. If the tending to the child is such a pleasure why hasn...