By Mary Ward | On February 16, 2018 | Updated November 25, 2020 | Comments (0)
The following introduction to and analysis of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is excerpted from Life and Works of the Sisters Brontë (1899) by Mary A. Ward, a 19th-century British novelist and literary critic.
Though much has been written about Jane Eyre, Charlotte’s 1847 classic. The excerpt following, abbreviated from Ward’s 1899 book about the Brontës, is a critical yet insightful analysis of the beloved novel. Ward doesn’t hold back on what she feels are the inconsistencies and even the absurdities of the plot and characters. Seriously — locking a mentally ill wife in an attic? Read More→
By Sarah Wyman | On February 8, 2018 | Updated June 7, 2026 | Comments (2)
“Paul’s Case: A Study in Temperament” is a short story by Willa Cather, first published in McClure’s Magazine in 1905. That year, it also appeared in a collection of Cather’s stories, The Troll Garden. This analysis of “Paul’s Case” is by Sarah Wyman, Associate Professor of English at SUNY-New Paltz:
You probably know someone who reminds you of Paul, someone who does not seem to fit in with others in society. Paul’s mannerisms are tense and nervous. He appears antisocial with his classmates, confrontational with his teachers, and emotionally estranged from his family.
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By Sarah Wyman | On January 17, 2018 | Updated July 15, 2024 | Comments (2)
Following is Professor Sarah Wyman’s analysis of The Awakening by Kate Chopin, an 1899 novella telling the story of a young mother who undergoes a dramatic period of change.
She “awakens” to her own desires, casting off the restrictions of her traditional societal role as wife and mother, and seeks her full potential as a woman.
Many times, we find Edna Pontellier awake in situations that signify more metaphorical awakenings to new knowledge and sensual experience. Read More→
By Sarah Wyman | On January 16, 2018 | Updated August 8, 2025 | Comments (1)
This analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892) highlights a long short story (or short novella) considered a feminist literary classic. The story starts with a bit of a mystery: the house seems to have “something queer about it.”
As we read on, it becomes clear that the house isn’t the only thing that’s “queer ” The secluded country home and the attic room the narrator inhabits come to represent or symbolize her tenuous situation and slippery sense of self.
The nameless heroine/narrator lives under her physician/husband’s care as a patient (deemed abnormal), subjected to the “rest cure” as a treatment for what appears to be postpartum depression.
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By Sarah Wyman | On January 11, 2018 | Updated October 25, 2021 | Comments (0)
The Dream of a Common Language: Poems 1974 – 1977 (1978) appeared early on in Adrienne Rich’s (1929 – 2012) long career and solidified her position as a leader who articulated the central ideas of the second wave U.S. feminist movement.
These poems, about and for women, envision an alternative to a patriarchal system in which men control the avenues of power and the definitions of female existence. In this analysis, we’ll discuss how this collection of poems continued to establish the primary concerns of Rich’s life’s work. These included the promotion of: Read More→
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