She could not take it anymore. She was convinced that she could no longer endure the presence of that hateful vagabond. She was determined to end it, end everything, no matter how bad it might be, rather than bear his tyranny.
It had nearly been fifteen days with that struggle. What she didn't understand was the tolerance that Antonio had with that vagabond. No, truthfully, it was strange.
The vagabond begged for hospitality for one night: the night of Ash Wednesday exactly, when the wind dragged along a blackish dust, whirling, and whipped the glass windows with a dry crackle. Afterwards, the wind ceased, and there befell a strange calm to the earth, and she pondered, while closing and adjusting the window blinds.
--I don't like this calm--
She hadn't even locked the back door when that man arrived. She heard his call ringing from behind the door in the kitchen:
--Kind lady...--
Mariana felt sudden fear. The man, old and raggedy, was there; a hat in one hand, with a begging manner.
--Shall God protect you...--he started to say. But the vagabond's eyes looked upon her in a strange way. A way that robbed her of words.
Many men like him begged for the grace of heaven on winter nights. But something about that man frightened her without motive.
The vagabond began to recite his ballad: For one night, if they would kindly let him sleep in a stable; a piece of bread and a stable; he doesn't ask for more.
The storm announced its coming...
Outside, Mariana heard the drumming of the rain against the door. A deaf rain, thick, a warning of the approaching storm.
I'm alone--she said dryly--. I mean...when my husband is away, I do not want unknown people in my house. Go, and may God protect you.
But the vagabond remained still, looking at her. Slowly, he put his hat on and said: --I'm a poor man, kind lady. I never did any wrong to anyone. I ask very little: a piece of bread...
In that moment, two maids, Marcelina and Salome, came running in. They came from the vegetable garden, with their aprons over their heads, screaming and laughing. Mariana felt a strange relief after seeing them.
Well--she said--. Fine... but only for this night. For tomorrow when I awake, I do not find you here....
The old man knelt, smiling, and said a strange poem of thanks.
Mariana ascended the stairs and went to go to bed.
“Instinctively, with sudden overmastering passion, at at the sight of her helplessness and her grief, he stretched out his arms, and next, would have seized her and held her to him, protected her from every evil with his very life, his very heart’s blood… But pride
father had thoughtfully kept himself and his son some bread, but after his son seen he
must die." God spoke to her and she acted upon the support of a loved one.
The experience of being locked in a room, against her desire drove her to complete and utter mad...
Her bedroom was closed but with an “open window” (463), with a roomy armchair she sank into. As she is looking out the window she sees “the tops of trees,” “new spring life,” “breath of rain was in the air,” and she could hear a peddler below in the street, calling to customers, and “patches of blue sky showing” (463). The author depicts in the previous sentence that when she uses “breath of rain was in the air,” rain is more like a cleansing so she could be feeling a sign of relief but can’t recognize it. She sat with her head on the cushion “quite motionless,” except when a sob came in her throat and “shook her,” like a child “continuously sobbing” (463) in its dreams. The author uses imagery in the previous
...asking him to not think her afraid but to see that she is doing what is best for him and as any wife of the time would states that “I must be most pleased when you are pleased” (Gowing 153). So after everything she has asked for in her letter she is still looking to her husband for guidance on what actions to take. She even adds a note reminding her Lord for a new gown that she has asked for. Clearly she is an opinionated woman who will question her Lord but she is one who knows her role and does not overstep her place.
...e, because she’s too busy running around on some-” (Gaitskill 317) and these words show us how utterly “shitty” (Gaitskill 317) he feels, be it warranted or not. He’s faced with the reality that his wife and daughter are ‘leaving’ him behind, doing whatever necessary to detach themselves from his wretched stubbornness and consequently he’s left miserable and alone to mull over the bitter past and even more difficult present. He begins as a likeable character, but gradually becomes a self-righteous and hateful idiot. But, by the end the reader is left feeling extremely sympathetic for him. Though he’s in fact the bad guy, he gets us to view him as the bad guy whose evil is almost justified, or at least that it’s an inevitable symptom of his difficult childhood, poor marriage, extreme anxiety over what others think of him, and disapproval of his daughters lifestyle.
... sins, but she can’t take back what she did so she will forever have blood on her hands. This guilt and all of the lies she has told is giving her true trepidation and in the end she decided to end her terror by taking her life.
In conclusion, Jane has been through oppression and depression but she stands up for what she believes in. Jane gains her femininity, socialization, individuality and freedom. Her husband, who has been oppressing her for so many years, is no longer her prison guard. Jane defies her husband, creeps right over him and claims her life” so, that I had to creep over him every time” (Gilman 1609). Jane is now her own personal freedom through perseverance.
Before she opened the door, she asked, “Who is it?” But no one answered. A few seconds later there was another knock. Janine flung open the door, “What the...”
And she revelled in it, before it became too dangerous. She, unblinkingly, sent countless people to their deaths; she effortlessly imposed dreadful fear upon the young girls in the village, to the extent that one was reduced to insanity. She thought not once to stop, the euphoric indulgence was too great for her, because she could, she did. Ironically throughout her diabolical reign the one redeeming feature she possessed enforced her actions and accusations most powerfully, her illusive childlike innocence.
She had let her guard down and trusted that the handyman new someone who appreciated and somewhat valued her work. She was so sad when she saw the flowers she gave to the handyman lying on the road that she tried, unsuccessfully, not to look at it. Also, when she passed the handyman wagon she turned her back to them. After passing she cried, according to the narrator, like a weak old woman.
...child relationship is pure agony and resentment. In the same way her master forced her to work he forced her to bear a child that she does not want. In response, she runs away from her master by running away to Pilgrim's Point. She runs away from her duties as a mother by killing her child.
“Are you sure you want to be at home? How about you stay at my place tonight instead?”
The conflict continues in the next passage, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away...