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  • Essay / Essay on Appearance vs. Reality in Yellow Wallpaper,...

    Appearance vs. Reality in Yellow Wallpaper, Story of an Hour and LotteryAuthors often write literature to have an emotional impact on the player. These effects vary from job to job and can include happiness, sadness, anger, or shock. Even authors trying to achieve the same effect can go about it in very different ways. This article discusses three short stories written to shock the reader, but each uses a different method to achieve its effect. While Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" uses a sudden plot change at the end of a short story, Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" provides clues throughout the story preparing the reader to a shocking end; In contrast, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" shocks its readers with its careful character development. The narrator of Gilman's 1892 short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a woman seeking professional medical assistance to treat her mild depression and nervousness; Ironically, the treatment is much worse than the disease itself. At the time Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper," the accepted treatment for depression was complete rest in an isolated environment. The narrator's husband, a doctor, forces her to follow this treatment; therefore, he imprisons her in a small room with no one to talk to and nothing to do. When the narrator is locked in this prison, her only pleasure is to write secretly in her diary. Since... middle of paper ......ing, but "The Story of an Hour" is more sudden. It is not surprising, however, that all three stories managed to make an impact on the reader. Works Cited Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. Literature and its writers: an introduction to fiction, poetry and theater. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. 308-14. Chopin, Kate. “The story of an hour.” Literature and its writers: an introduction to fiction, poetry and theater. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. 158-9. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The yellow wallpaper.” Literature and its writers: an introduction to fiction, poetry and theater. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. 230-42