John Armellino

ERH 203W 02

Focused Response: Ezra Pound

In his short poem “In the Station of a Metro,” Ezra Pound uses only two lines to describe a crowd of people on a typical day in a typical metro. The poem is concise, but beautiful. Of the few words that make up the poem, the word “bough” catches one’s attention. Pound compares the faces of the crowd to “petals on a wet, black bough.” A bough is a main branch of a tree, one of the strongest. Pound suggests that each group of people make up one of these boughs. Although to many readers the poem feels like a dark and negative view of crowds, it seems Pound meant the opposite. It is only fourteen words, but the poem is full of sincere emotion and vivid imagery of people whose lives are interlocked but still their own, moving about their own routines. It is a beautiful, almost uplifting perspective of the everyday, and paints a picture of this relatively small group of people being a part of a larger world, a single branch on a single tree in a great forest.

The poem may feel like a gloomy experience to those who have read it because of its use of the words “apparition” and “black.” The word apparition is usually used in a negative light (often to describe hostile paranormal entities), but I feel that in this instance it is neither positive nor negative. It just is. It is simply describing the appearance of the “faces in the crowd.” They all blend together in an undistinguishable mass of different lives and different experiences, which come together to form a bough of a tree. If one metro station is a single bough on a single tree, and each bough holds the lives and stories of hundreds of people, then it is amazing to think of all the different experiences that an entire forest would contain. In only fourteen words, Pound creates a beautiful image of humanity.

John Armellino

ERH 203WX 02

Major Knepper

Due 11/5/15

“What Makes The Yellow Wallpaper so Frightening?”

Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a masterpiece of feminist literature and horror (some would argue that those are both the same thing). It tells the story of a young woman, the wife of a doctor, who is suffering a terrible case of depression. The story is from her point of view, and begins at the couple’s arrival to a “colonial mansion,” which the narrator compares to “a haunted house” in her thoughts. Of course, it has been debated if the mansion was actually haunted. A frightening thought indeed, but I do not think that is the case. And even if it were, it is not the true horror of “The Yellow Wallpaper.” What makes this story so disturbing is the protagonist’s suffering at the hands of her well-intentioned husband, as well as her utter lack of free will.

Consider that immediately upon entering the estate, the narrator notices that there must be something “queer” about the mansion, as they have rented it cheap. Her husband laughs at her, which is something to be expected, the protagonist states. It seems as though the narrator is treated not only like a child, but also like a child whose cares and concerns are almost always dismissed immediately. She also appears to simply accept this. “What is one to do?” As the story goes on, the more “practical” husband locks her away and refuses her the simple pleasures of human interaction and even writing. She is essentially a prisoner.

As time goes on, the narrator becomes more and more disturbed. It is apparent that she is not only a prisoner of the room, but also a prisoner of her own mind. Because of her mental illness, and the lack of an outlet for her fears and frustrations, her mind has no choice but to turn in on itself for some form of escape. It is almost as if her consciousness is folding in half to read itself. The woman stuck behind the yellow wallpaper is the narrator herself, as she truly is, a prisoner. With the wallpaper as her metaphorical cage, she tears it apart while “creeping” around. To be reduced to such a state is unimaginable, even terrifying, to someone like me, who does not like to be told what to do at all. The idea of having one’s basic freedoms stripped away, and being forced to accept it by a patriarchal system that “knows best” is horrifying to me. Even outside the room there was no escape for the narrator. She was powerless, and Charlotte Gilman made sure that the reader knew what that powerlessness felt like, and what its consequences were.

John Armellino

ERH 203WX 02

Major Knepper

Due 11/5/15

“Why did Uncle Ben Make That Choice?”

“Uncle Ben’s Choice” is a story told in monologue form. Its stream of consciousness format reflects the fact that it is supposed to seem like an oral story, as if the author Chinua Achebe is telling it to you in person. It tells the tale of a young African man, a clerk, and his impressive bachelor lifestyle. As a man who lives fairly well, the narrator seems to have it all, even a “surplus of women.” He does not appear to want to get married, as he had “seen many young men kill themselves with women.” However, at the end of the story, Ben is tempted (at least he believes that he is) with great wealth and material possessions, as well as an intimate relationship with a beautiful woman, but at the cost of never being able to marry, and father children of his own. Ben rejects this temptation and flees, but why? It appears that Ben was never truly concerned with romantic love, but rather with his material possessions. Why the change of heart? If he does not have a family, then upon his death his wealth would go “to outsiders.” Ben does not believe that is “good wealth.” It is the beginning of the narrator becoming a responsible man.

The narrator has a relatively high paying job, and enjoys going out to clubs to drink and meet women. Obviously going out as often as he gives the impression of going, requires a decent amount of moola. He simply does not want to see this wealth go to those that he does not care about. Perhaps this is slow turn from an a selfish obsession with material goods imprinted on him by the colonists around him. After all, why would a selfish man care about his belongings once he is gone? It would no longer concern a selfish man.

It would concern a family man. Ben, when tempted to become the man he has been acting like, ultimately does not give in. He has become a “true son.” Only a “crazy white man” would accept such a deal. Ben learns that the true wealth is his heritage and his legacy, and refuses to give that up.