Cathedral

Upon reading the title "Cathedral" my first thought was "this is going to be one boring story." I figured it would have some sort of dark gothic theme present. But the turn out actually wasn't to bad. As I read I became more engaged into the story and actually didn't mind reading it at all. You would never think you would be reading about people that are hanging out, drinking, and getting high with a title like "Cathedral". What was mosting interesting to me was the moral of the story, and how the author uses the symbol of a church to portray his message. 

"The Yellow Wallpaper"

After reading "The Yellow Wallpaper" some may argue that they now feel crazy. After a deep analysis into the connection between the short story and the life of it's author, it becomes clear that she wrote the story to tell the world about her own story. A lot of the story was based on factual events that Gilman experienced. As in the story, she herself suffered from nervous breakdowns was put to bed by a reputable doctor. She was also advised not to write again, and just as it happened in the story her illness worsened. The events of "The Yellow Wallpaper" also had roots to what she can remember of her mothers life. The woman in the story was a "prisoner" to her husband. That analogy also implies that the story has a theme of female isolation. I found it very interesting that Gilman was able to say so much to her reader in this story alone. Ideas of her concern for other women like herself are raised, ideas of her childhood and her parents marriage are raised, even ideas of gender inequality are present.

Cinderella by Anne Sexton

I definitely liked reading this poem compared to most other poetry I have read simpley because It was easy to read and comprehend. A lot of the sarcasm was easy to catch and to interpret, which makes reading fun. Sexton also brought a lot of modern ideas to the story in her opening stanzas. That helps bring reality and truth to the moral lesson of the "Cinderella" story. I feel as if Sexton is also almost mocking or undermining the famous fairly tale because of the way she opens the poem in the first few stanzas. All in all it was a pretty cool version to the tale, very close to the original Grimm version, which shows a nice darker version of the tale.