Shreya's Treasures

JANE EYRE CHARLOTTE BRONTË GENRE : BILDUNGSROMAN, GOTHIC FICTION, ROMANCE NOVEL FIRST PUBLISHED : 1847 “I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into it’s expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst it’s perils.”   -- Jane Eyre. Brontë's iconic novel of 1847, Jane Eyre, is subtitled ‘An Autobiography’. It is an example of a Bildungsroman: a work that traces the education and development of its heroine, and follows her journey through life. The text combines realism with fairy tale and Gothic motifs.  During the Victorian era the ideal woman's life revolved around the domestic sphere of her family and the home. Middle class women were brought up to “be pure and innocent, tender and sexually undemanding, submissive and obedient”. A woman had no rights of her own and; she was expected to marry and become the servant of her husband. Few professio...

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN FIRST PUBLISHED : 1892 “ The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story about a woman, written in a diary form, who has a mental illness but cannot heal due to her husband’s lack of belief. We here get inside the mind of a troubled lady who soon enters a state of madness. "I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write_ a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me.But I find I get pretty tired when I try.It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work."  The use of imagery and setting helps illustrate this theme throughout the story. The setting of the vast colonial mansion and particularly the nursery room with barred windows provides an image of loneliness and seclusion experienced by the protagonist. The way the wallpaper of the room is described throughout the story fills the reader with a sense of eeriness. "The color is repellent, almost revolting ; a smoldering...

HANDMAID'S TALE DYSTOPIAN LITERATURE MARGARET ATWOOD FIRST PUBLISHED: 1985 The story is about a woman Offred, who lives in a dystopian age. The population is shrinking due to a toxic environment, and the ability to have viable babies is at a premium. (In today’s real world, studies are now showing a sharp fertility decline in Chinese men.) Under totalitarianism, the ruling class monopolizes valuable things, so the elite of the regime arrange to have fertile females assigned to them as Handmaids. This name Offred is composed of a man’s first name, “Fred,” and a prefix denoting “belonging to”. Within this name is concealed another possibility: “offered,” denoting a religious offering or a victim offered for sacrifice. Offred’s real name is not revealed; probably because she represents the multitude and also, it doesn’t really matter.  The Handmaids are forced by the Aunts to join in what is called the “slut-shaming” of one of their members who is being made to recount how s...