The short story “Petrified Man” by Eudora Welty is about two women—Leota, a beautician, and Mrs. Fletcher, her customer—who spend the entire story gossiping in a beauty parlor. The story is told in a limited third-person point of view, where the psychic distance of the view places the reader right next to Mrs. Fletcher and Leota, hearing and seeing only what someone present in the scene would. Their gossip tells the reader the stories of this piece, that of Mr. and Mrs. Pike and of the Petrified Man. However, this is not the main focus. Welty uses this short story to comment on the appearance obsessed, judgmental, and flighty nature of people, especially southern women. This is done through Mrs. Fletcher’s comments about what Mrs. Pike must …show more content…
Fletcher is not the only one obsessed with looks. Leota is a beautician after all. The setting of the story taking place in a beauty parlor is significant, as is Leota’s job as a beautician. Leota’s character is almost stereotypical in appearance from what is learned, she has black and blond hair, long red nails, and obsessed with a single pastel color, lavender (Welty 1094). Her occupation is to enhance the beauty of women but it is no secret that she lives up to the gossiper stereotype surrounding beauticians. There is not a single person who does not gossip with the person who cuts their hair, especially if they go to a beauty shop. In this shop, the ugliness of gossip and judgment rears its head, ironic is a place where women come to make themselves …show more content…
Pike by Leota. During the first half of the story she tells Mrs. Fletchers “Mrs. Pike is a lovely girl, you’d be crazy about her” but in the latter half of the story she says “she goes around actin’ like she thinks she was Mrs. God” (Welty 1097, 1102). Just a week had gone by and went from saying she was lovely to arrogant. That also applies to Billy, the Pikes’ son. At first Leota says “he couldn’t hurt a thing” but later says “that mean, bad little ole kid here, getting’ under my feet ever’ minute of the day an’ talkin’ back too” (Welty 1096, 1102). Her jealously of Mrs. Pike getting that reward led to Leota changing her perceptions of them. She doesn’t even care that Mrs. Pike helped catch a man wanted for raping four women, she boils them down to “be[ing] worth a hundred an’ twenty-five bucks apiece” or rather she assumed that was how Mrs. Pike would feel (1103). But it doesn’t seem that she’d be offended if she did, she was angry she didn’t get that reward, because it was her
Eudora Alice Welty practically spent her whole life living in Mississippi. Mississippi is the setting in a large portion of her short stories and books. Most of her stories take place in Mississippi because she focuses on the manners of people living in a small Mississippi town. Writing about the lives of Mississippi folk is one main reason Welty is a known author. Welty’s stories are based upon the way humans interact in social encounters. She focuses on women’s situations and consciousness. Another thing she mostly focuses on is isolation. In almost all of Welty’s earlier stories the main character is always being isolated. Throughout her short stories, a hidden message is always evident. Eudora Welty does a wonderful job of exposing social prejudices in the form of buried messages.
In today’s world, many people place a huge emphasis upon appearance, self-image and fitting in. Some are willing to go great lengths to gain a better sense of confidence, even though the outcome may come at a great cost. In the short story,“Anointed With Oils”. Alden Nowlan introduced Edith as a young, shack girl who tried so hard to extinguish her past to create a new life for herself. As an uneducated young lady, Edith found it very hard to land a respectable and organized job that she desired. She was embarrassed of many aspects of her life so she always tried to enhance her quality of life and the way she appeared. Edith believed that in order to be a star, she needed to be beautiful but she didn't see that in herself. Changing her appearance
Renner, Stanley. “The Real Woman Inside the Fence in ‘The Chrysanthemums’.” Modern Fiction Studies. Vol. 31. No.2. (Summer 1985). 305-317. print; reprinted in Short Story Criticisms. Vol.37. eds. Anja Barnard and Anna Sheets Nesbitt (Farmington Hills: The Gale Group, 2000). 333-339. print.
The contrast between how She sees herself and how the rest of the world sees Her can create extreme emotional strain; add on the fact that She hails from the early 1900s and it becomes evident that, though her mental construct is not necessarily prepared to understand the full breach against Her, She is still capable of some iota of realization. The discrimination encountered by a female during this time period is great and unceasing.
HYPOTHETICAL INTRODUCTION: Eudora Welty’s short story « Why I Live at the P.O. » is a story of family relationships. The narrator, Sister, imposes her point of view to the reader about the disturbing return of her sister, Stella-Rondo. By confronting Stella-Rondo, Sister gradually becomes a stranger to her family, and eventually leaves the family home to live in the post office where she works. In this paper, I will question the point of view of the narrator, who is rather unreliable. Also, I will analyze how denial can lead to isolation. Finally, I will study how Welty’s use of irony affects the story.
Now we have examined three stories written by two well distinguished authors known for their Southern Gothic Literature and found many similarities in each story. Each story has its form of the grotesque we have Miss Emily, the Misfit, the Grandmother, and Marley Pointer and let’s not leave out Helga. The characters of each story has some form of cringe inducing quality, meaning some kind of attitude about themselves that gets under ones skin. Then as we can see from the stories they all are Southern based each story is in a Southern setting. And the final thing we look for in Southern Gothic literature is tragedy which all three stories possessed.
I decided to write a poem for my final project to analyze and provide my interpretation of the character Andrew Compton, from the novel Exquisite Corpse.
The outspoken narrator of Eudora Welty's "Why I Live at the P.O.," known to us only as "Sister," intends to convince us--the world at large--that her family has "turned against" her, led on by her sister, itella-Rondo. To escape her family, she explains, she has left home and now lives at the P.O., where she is postmistress. As she delivers her monologue, the narrator reveals more about herself than she intends. We see her as a self-centered young woman who enjoys picking fights and provoking melodramatic scenes in which she is the center of attention. Not too far into the story, we realize that others in the family behave as melodramatically as Sister does, and we begin to wonder why. The story's setting may provide the answer: In a small town in Mississippi, sometime after World War II and before television, entertainment is scarce. The members of this family cope with isolation and boredom by casting themselves in a continning melodrama, with each person stealing as many scenes as possible.
Society continually places restrictive standards on the female gender not only fifty years ago, but in today’s society as well. While many women have overcome many unfair prejudices and oppressions in the last fifty or so years, late nineteenth and early twentieth century women were forced to deal with a less understanding culture. In its various formulations, patriarchy posits men's traits and/or intentions as the cause of women's oppression. This way of thinking diverts attention from theorizing the social relations that place women in a disadvantageous position in every sphere of life and channels it towards men as the cause of women's oppression (Gimenez). Different people had many ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities amound women, including expressing their voices and opinions through their literature. By writing stories such as Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic that took a major toll in American History. In this essay, I am going to compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to James’ “Daisy Miller” as portraits of American women in peril and also the men that had a great influence.
As the story continues, Sammy curiously watches the provocative young ladies as they stroll through the store looking for groceries. In this fictional story, Sammy describes all three noticeable ladies, the main girl, "Queenie" he describes her as the leader of the two other girls. The second young lady he described was the chunky one; he fully described the chunky girl from head to toe, because Sammy had more descriptive words regarding her appearance. The third girl was the taller of the two. She was not as striking as the other two young ladies. The girls were barefoot and wore bathing suits, which is why they caught Sammy's attention. The reason being not because of the bathing suits they were wearing, but the way they strolled down the isles with confidence as they walked through the store. These young ladies were, "The kind of girls that other girls think are "Striking" and "Attractive." (48) Updike wants to let the reader know these girls wanted attention and only attention; by the way he described what they were wearing and how they flaunted themselves.
In a subtle way, Brush also makes the wife’s actions selfish. Even though her husband was wrong to react in the way that he did, she was also selfish in her actions. Clearly, her husband has a shy personality because “he was hotly embarrassed” (13) in front of “such few people as there were in the restaurant” (11). Using a couple of this age (“late thirties” (1)), Brush asserts that the wife should have known her husband’s preferences and been sensitive to them. The author also uses the seemingly opposite descriptions the couple: “There was nothing conspicuous about them” (5) and the “big hat” (4) of the woman. The big hat reveals the wife’s desire to be noticed.
Have you ever been told you weren’t pretty enough or you were too tall, your feet and butt were too big, or you were ugly? Marge Piercy’s poem sheds a bright light on how differently women handle criticism and rejection. The poem really sadden me and it stroke me to my core. As a woman, I’ve been through puberty, acne, and poverty. While in grade school, my fellow class mates were so jaded and mean spirited with their words toward me. The same people who were calling me name where in the same situation as I. Piercy writes, “She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity. She went to and fro apologizing. Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.” It appears the young lady was happy with herself. She saw no flaws and was confident in her looks and intelligence. But it only takes one negative comment to override years of self-love. The young lady in the poem even apologized for being herself! How emotional crippling that must have been. She let a few nay sayers wreak havoc on her life and form that point on, she did whatever she thought would make the nay sayers approve of her. She sought their endorsement and no longer possessed any power within. Tragically, this did not end with a waltz to her bedroom. The lack of recognition and need to be desired ended up killing her. “In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie. Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said” (Piercy). She changed her nose and fat legs and only in death did they see her beauty. This poem was few in words but spoke volumes about a woman’s mental state. Women are very in tune with their feelings and are willing to appease others, even if it means killing ourselves in the
In Eudora Welty’s Petrified Man, there is a huge lack of the stereotypical strong “southern gentlemen.” This story, set in 1939 Mississippi, follows Leota and Mrs. Fletcher through two beauty shop appointments, where the two ladies discuss, in detail, the people around them. Fred, Leota’s husband, and Mr. Fletcher’s, Mrs. Fletcher husband, are spoken of almost like second class citizens and the other men, Mr. Pike and Mr. Petrie do not fare much better from these ladies’ discussion. The men in this story are a shadow of what a “southern gentleman” should be, and why do these ladies put up with their lack of manhood and laziness and lack of manhood? Ever action the men take in this story is led by the women, and all the men seemed to be as “petrified” as the real Petrified Man.
Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth is an affront to the false social values of fashionable New York society. The heroine is Lily Bart, a woman who is destroyed by the very society that produces her. Lily is well-born but poor. The story traces the decline of Lily as she moves through a series of living residences, from houses to hotel lodgings. Lily lives in a New York society where appearances are all. Women have a decorative function in such an environment, and even her name, Lily, suggests she is a flower of femininity, i.e. an object of decoration as well as of desirability to the male element. We see this is very true once Lily's bloom fades, as it were, a time when she is cast aside by her peers no longer being useful as something to admire on the surface. The theme of the novel in this aspect is that identity based on mere appearance is not enough to sustain the human soul physically or metaphysically. Once she is no longer able to keep the "eye" of her peers, Lily finds herself with no identity and dies. This analysis will discuss the theme of the objectification of women in a male dominated society inherent throughout the novel.
Eudora Welty was born in 1909, in Jackson, Mississippi, grew up in a prosperous home with her two younger brothers. Her parent was an Ohio-born insurance man and a strong-minded West Virginian schoolteacher, who settled in Jackson in 1904 after their marriage. Eudora’s school life began attending a white-only school. As born and brought up under strict supervision and influence, at the age of sixteen she somehow convinced her parents to attend college far enough from home, to Columbus, Mississippi and then to Madison, Wisconsin. After graduation in 1930, she moved to New York to attend Columbia Business School. While living in New York, Harlem Jazz theatre occupied her more than her class did. She returned to Jackson in 1931 following her father’s untimely death, where she worked for a local radio station and also wrote articles for a newspaper. Later she worked as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration in 1935. As a part of her job she traveled by car or by bus through the depth of Mississippi, and saw poverty of black and white people, which she had never imagined before. This time photography became her passion. She was somehow influenced by black and Southern culture as seen in her novel or short story called “Some Notes on River Country” or “A Worn Path”.