Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper Story English Literature Essay

Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper Story English Literature Essay The work by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Yellow Wallpaper and the work by Tillie Olsen both represent the genre of a short story. These stories are very much alike. Apart from the similarities they share, they have a lot of differences. Both works belong to the genre of a short story. However, they were written with an interval of sixty nine years. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote her The Yellow Wallpaper in 1892. The work I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen was printed in 1961. Still, if to analyze the content of these stories it would be rather difficult to imagine this interval of almost seventy years. Both works deal with the same problem a females right for her personal happiness and self-realization regardless of her social duties of a wife and a mother. Both stories are told by women whose life went wrong because of their responsibilities towards their families. The narrator of the story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Yellow Wallpaper is an insane woman who has a husband and a child. Having suffered from a serious depression she takes a course of treatment. Though, it does not seem at all to have much effect on her. Doctors characterize her as a woman with slight hysterical tendency (Gilman). However her insanity aggravates. First she feels that there is something queer (Gilman) about her illness. She wants to relieve her mind (Gilman). She is tired of rings and things in her bedroom (Gilman). I Stand Here Ironing is a story about a womans sacrifice that she made after becoming a wife and a mother. She is not insane, but her feelings are of the same nature. The difference from The Yellow Wallpaper is that the narrator feels guilty. The narrator feels that she is responsible for her failings as a wife and a mother. She realizes that her best efforts were frustrated by such circumstances as lack of social services and inadequate pay. As opposed to the character from The Yellow Paper not only does she blame other people and life circumstances for her hard life and lack of her daughters confidence. It is hard to admit but the narrator is aware of her fault. But the main character of The Yellow Wallpaper does not seem to demonstrate any sign of such awareness. She considers that her family murdered a person inside her, but does not think about the fact that her husband needs her as a wife and her child needs her as a mother. She is an egoist. Both stories The Yellow Wallpaper and I Stand Here Ironing contain a lot of autobiographical elements. The story by Tillie Olsen includes such narrators recollection as being a young mother whose opportunities are rather limited, or being a wife who was abandoned. This story is autobiographical. Like the main character of the story I Stand Here Ironing Olsen also met some challenges in life. She struggled to balance her family life with her political ambitions and activism. The story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells about the authors own severe depression and mental disorder. She confessed that the presence of her husband and child even worsened her terrible state. Both the character of The Yellow Wallpaper and the character in I Stand Here Ironing are unfortunate miserable women. However, the narrator of I Stand Here Ironing is not the only unhappy woman in the story. This is the other distinction from the story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The narrator confesses in a phone conversation that her daughter Emilys childhood was rather rocky. Though she was a beautiful baby (Olsen), she was a very unhappy child, that cannot be helped (Olsen). However, these unhappy characters are united by one common problem: they do not see themselves as valuable creations. The narrator of I Stand Here Ironing is oppressed by environmental and her personal circumstances. She feels sad that she did not succeed as a wife; she laments her unwise and desperate choices that she made as a mother. Emilys fractured portrait comes from her mothers memories from the past. When her mother tell about her poor life, it becomes clear, that Emilys life was not better than her m others. She was a forgotten child. She suffered a lot; her development was slow, her nature was silky and gloomy; her self-esteem was very low; and her life was not a joy, but a survival in the brutal world. The narrator of The Yellow Wall Paper also feels sorry about her unrealized dreams and wishes. In contrast to the main character of The Yellow Wallpaper who has a serious mental disorder and blames her husband for unhappy life, the narrator in I Stand Here Ironing has the ability to analyze her life and her mistakes and determine the best way to solve her problems. However, she did not have this luxury long ago when she was a young and inexperienced mother. The woman is literary weighed down with constant demands of her family and domestic duties. Of course, being a mother she understands her responsibility for not very successive role in her daughter Emilys unhappy life, her development. However, this responsibility is not full. The narrator also blames environment, social conditions that can make the life of a single mother terrible. Thus, she cannot estimate in full how unhappy her daughter is. Both stories contain very bright symbols that reflect the inner state of both characters. These symbols are named in the titles of the stories. The main character of I Stand Here Ironing tells about her life while ironing clothes. Ironing is a backdrop for her thoughts, her considerations as a mother. The narrator in the story by Ch. Gilman is totally obsessed with the yellow wallpapers that cover the walls of her bedroom. The narrator believes that there is woman trapped inside. Her intention is to help the woman, though the narrator is afraid to reveal her intentions as she realizes that no one would ever understand her. By the end of the story a reader comprehends that the character is completely insane as she believes that she herself is a woman from the wallpaper. These symbols mean that both women have found something to distract from their grief. One of them hides in ironing and another one hides in wallpapers. Written in different periods of time both short stories have much in common. They are both told by women who are not satisfied with their family life. The work by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Yellow Wallpaper and the work by Tillie Olsen I Stand Here Ironing are both masterpieces that raise serious questions of duty, self-esteem, personal self-realization and female happiness. Still, they also bear a lot of differences. Once one woman blames people who surround her, another one comprehends that her own fault is also great.

The Character of Norma Jean in Shilo Essay -- Shilo Essays

The Character of Norma Jean in Shilo      Ã‚  Ã‚   Norma Jean Moffit is a major character in Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shilo" who undergoes a profound, yet subtle change. She had to marry at the age of eighteen to the man who got her pregnant, and in a cruel twist of fate, the child dies suddenly of crib death. Now at the age of 34, she is ready to have the life she feels she always should have had, however she is stuck in a loveless marriage to a man whose interests are the opposite of hers. Her decision to leave her husband, Leroy, at the end of the story seemed a long time in coming, and various aspects of her character revealed that desire. These aspects of her character were her devotion to self-improvement, her inability to communicate with her husband, and her apparent unhappiness that Leroy has returned home for good.    From the very beginning of the story, Norma Jean is portrayed as a woman continuously trying to better herself. She takes the opportunity of Leroy's rehabilitation from his accident to start bodybuilding. After the body building class is over, she takes a comp...

Hca 322 Week 5 Assignment

A Deeper Look into Ethics and Laws Regarding Surrogacy HCA 322: Health Care Ethics and Medical Law A Deeper Look into Ethics and Laws Regarding Surrogacy When one or more persons contract with a woman to gestate a child than relinquish that child after birth to the person or couple is known as surrogacy. It is a course of action that goes outside of natural reproduction. For some, it is the only method of having children, extending family. Surrogacy has been stirring up many controversies over the years. Ethics, morals, laws, religious views, etc. ave played a major role in the issues that follow the topic of surrogacy. Laws and regulations pertaining to surrogacy vary from state to state. Some states have no enforceable laws towards surrogacy, while others only permit surrogacy contracts that are uncompensated arrangements and gestational agreements (Trimarchi, 2011). Some states prohibit same sex couples from entering into any form of surrogacy contracts. In this paper, I will be a ddress the legal and ethical issues involved and other aspects of surrogacy. History of Surrogacy and Case Study Surrogacy was assumed to have been around since the Babylonian times.Alternatively, the most credible records to date allocate managing legal passivity and the public responses during the middle of the 20th century. Surrogacy did not become public in 1976, when Attorney Noel Keane negotiated the first ever surrogacy agreement (â€Å"History of surrogacy,† 2011). Attorney Noel Keane and Dr. Ringold created the first ever fertility clinic (surrogacy clinic) in the United States. Many laws and regulations were not implemented until the case of Elizabeth Kane and the case of Baby M. Elizabeth Kane was the first woman to enter into a compensated surrogacy agreement in 1980.She was to be compensated with $10,000. She, however, was unwilling to leave the surrogacy agreement without the baby. It was the decision of the court to not grant custody of the child to Elizabeth K ane due to her signing a legal contract. This is the case known for starting the implementation of some laws in some states. In 1986, Mary Beth Whitehead (surrogate mother) and the Stern family entered into a surrogacy agreement. This is the notorious case of ‘Baby M. ‘ It was agreed that Whitehead would receive $10,000 if the child were born healthy, and the surrogate maintained the guidelines and restrictions stated in the contract.However, if there was a case of miscarriage or still born, Whitehead would only receive $1,000. Also, once the child was born Mrs. Stern could legally adopt the child. Once the child was born, Whitehead decided she did not want to give custody of the child to the Sterns. She fled the state and was soon taken into custody. Judge Sorkow, ruled that custody of Baby M would be given to the Stern family, enforcing the surrogacy contract. Whitehead was also deemed an unfit mother. Mrs. Stern was given permission to adopt Baby M. Whitehead appealed the court's decision.New Jersey's Supreme Court overturned Judge Sorkow's ruling, invalidating commercial surrogacy contracts as a disguised form of baby-selling (Tong, 2011). Whitehead was granted visitation to baby M. Cases like ‘Baby M' assisted in triggering some but not many regulations on surrogacy. Ethics and morals, and forms of discrimination against women arose after the case of ‘Baby M. ‘ Some believed that the ruling was justified, whereas others felt that it exploited financially unstable, young, minority women searching for an easy way to earn cash (Tong, 2011). The case of ‘Baby M,' had some thinking that if Mrs.Whitehead were financially stable, like the Stern Family, she would've been granted full custody of the child. On the other hand, those favoring the decision stated that most surrogacy advocates chose women who are 20-30 and have had a child. They also noted that majority of surrogates chosen are Caucasian women. Surrogate agencies now seek women who are unselfish and are financially ready to be the role of a surrogate. Legal Issues A contract is considered to be an agreement, written or verbal, outlining terms and conditions (legally binding obligations) between two parties.Contracts are legally enforceable. In regards to surrogacy, contracts are drawn up with terms and conditions for the surrogate as well as the intended parents. While a majority of the population feels this is a legally enforceable contracts others see the contract as null and void. Due to the close resemblance of ‘baby selling,' which is illegal in every state, there has been, and still is a bit of a divide on decisions in legislation in regards to surrogacy. â€Å"Court decisions and legislation in the United States are split on the issue of whether or not to prohibit surrogacy contracts† (Pozgar, 2012).The surrogacy field has some regulations, such as the use of contracts, which are considered to be law binding, as of right now . The topic of surrogacy is a topic, with much needed deliberation. Before any couple may move forward with the surrogacy process, there are certain factors that must be considered. This includes: Is surrogacy permitted in the state? Are surrogacy contracts permitted? Is there the option to transfer parental rights (adoption)? Once one has these questions answered, they have to determine other factors.Such as: costs for both surrogate (if any) as well as intended parents, contract agreement, testing procedures, medical expenses for the surrogate, etc (â€Å"What are the,† n. d. ). If an agreement has been reached, and all aspects of the surrogacy are agreed to, a surrogacy contract can be entered into without any issues developing. However, this does not mean no issues will arise later in the surrogacy. Some aspects may have been over looked, or the surrogate could develop issues once the child is born, hence the case of ‘Baby M. ‘There is nothing in federal legis lation in regards to surrogacy. Laws regarding surrogacy vary from state to state. As of this moment, several states prohibit acts of assisted reproductive technologies. In those states any surrogacy contracts are unenforceable, proclaiming all contracts void (Hansen, 2011). Some of these states consider acts of surrogacy a crime, punishable by law. While some states allow surrogacy by only to married couples or to couples where one of the intended parents is related to the child. A majority of the states allow surrogacy to take place.In fact they have allowed the surrogacy field to prosper (Hansen, 2011). These states do not have any regulations on surrogacy. Surrogacy contracts are binding just as any other drawn up contract. When entering into such a potentially controversial contract, lawyers should be present to discuss any issues, and to witness the agreement. All parties involved in surrogacy have legal rights. Ones that should not be over looked. For instance, all parties in volved in surrogacy have a right to confidentiality. The right to privacy and confidentiality should be underlined in the contract drawn.The intended parents of the child as well as the surrogate mother must keep all information private. While information between the surrogate and the intended parents may be shared, a third party (surrogacy agency) tries to keep all information to a need to know basis. For example, the intended parents may want to know of any mental or physical issues of the surrogate. Otherwise, all information should be kept private. Both parties in the surrogacy contract have the right to an attorney. Due to high risks of controversies, all parties should have legal representation.Lawyers can assist in explaining the contract. They can also give legal advice if the other party has a ‘change of heart. ‘ With legal representation comes attorney-client confidentiality. The attorney hired must keep all information private. Ethics & Morals Surrogacy raises many ethical issues. All too which must be evaluated before entering into a surrogacy contract. The biggest ethical issue pertaining to surrogacy is the mental and physical displacement the surrogate mother endures. The surrogate mother must be capable of releasing the child once she has completed labor. In a surrogate situation, the gestational mother is the woman who carries the baby to term. This can be a very taxing process both physically and emotionally – and unique in that after the surrogate mother physically carries the baby throughout the pregnancy, she needs to physically and emotionally detach herself from the child once it is born† (The ethical issues,† n. d. ). For some women this issue is effortless, they simply see their body as a temporary home for the child, a ‘womb for rent'. While others form an attachment with the child while in the gestational period.This attachment presents difficulty for the surrogate mother once the child is born. à ¢â‚¬Å"After the child is taken, the surrogate mother may be negatively impacted as her feeling of isolation is felt along with the reality of the sale of her body † (Pozgar, 2012). This, in the long run, could cause more negative impact for the surrogate mother than positive. Women's values in liberty and autonomy need to be weighed against other values like exploitation, health and welfare. When entering into a drastic contract, the fear of infidelity weighs heavy on all parties.Trust in one another is a major characteristic that must be displayed. â€Å"It is easy to praise a successful arrangement in retrospect, but the danger always exists that an arrangement one is planning would cause moral harm to the surrogate and/or the commissioning parents† (van Niekerk ; van Zyl, 1995). If the surrogate mother were to change her mind after the child were born, it could cause an emotional impact on all parties, including the child. In the case of ‘Baby M,' Whitehead gre w attached to the child. At first, she was considered to be unfit as a mother and lost all rights.However, she continued her efforts to custody of the child. After two years, she was awarded visitation to the child, and the intended mother was unable to adopt the child. The emotional devastation felt had to have been overwhelming. The child was subject to the custody battle and confusion of ‘who is my mommy? ‘ While the Stern family (intended family) had to endure in sharing a child too which they would have full custody. What about the rights of the child? This is a question stirring around controversy. The child is usually never considered when people decide assisted reproduction technologies.The child is not given the option of knowing his/her gestational mother, or of any other details pertaining to her (unless otherwise stated, like in the case of ‘Baby M'). The child is also denied the ability to know if his/her biological parents (if sperm donation and/or eg g donation is used). â€Å"Transferring the duties of parenthood from the birthing mother to a contracting couple denies the child any claim to its â€Å"gestational carrier† and to its biological parents if the egg and/or sperm is/are not that of the contracting parents† (â€Å"Surrogacy: A 21st,† ).Also, the baby may have identity issues upon being informed of the nature of his birth, that is if the intended parents decide to disclose this information to the child. Awkwardly, there has been deliberation that surrogacy is close to resembling prostitution. Commercial surrogacy (paying a surrogate mother for gestation of a child) is said to be considered a form of prostitution because the woman is selling her body for someone else's contentment. Although surrogacy is not for intimate purposes, people feel it is the same concept.They feel it is immoral. However, those favoring surrogacy argue that ‘we live in a society where physical labor is compensated wit h money or material items. ‘ They feel that this argument is invalid (van Niekerk & van Zyl, 1995). . Lastly, ‘baby-selling' is the issue surrounding surrogacy. Selling a child is illegal and unethical in any state. Infertility clinics and surrogacy agencies are growing more popular in the United States. These clinics and agencies do take a portion of the money involved in the surrogacy.This little fact gives more power to the argument of ‘baby-selling. The agency or clinic is considered to be the third party in the process, assisting with finding probable surrogates for intended families, drawing up a contract, what each party is responsible for throughout the gestation period of the child. An infertile couple pays an agency $10,000 to find a surrogate, and another $10,000 to the surrogate for any expenses she made covered while carrying the child. The infertile couple also pays the medical expenses, prenatal and postnatal care.So some like the state of Michigan, this is unethical and illegal. It is classified as ‘baby-selling. ‘ However, if a woman who bears a child gives the child to a infertile couple for free, this is completely legal and ethical. In my opinion/ Conclusion In the future, the topic of surrogacy will still be controversial. However, with technology becoming so advance, I foresee a solution to infertility for couples coming to an end. States have their different opinions on the subject, and because of those opinions laws and regulations have been placed on surrogacy.Some states laws will change, as the issue of surrogacy arises. † As surrogate/contract parenting arrangements are normalized and routinized, the U. S. public will probably press federal and state authorities to pass clear legislation governing surrogacy† (Tong, 2011). Woman are given the gift to bare children. However, some are incapable due to some form of medical issue. If a family wants to extend their family by having children (legal ly) that is their given right. Of course this varies from state to state. Surrogacy does cause many ethical and legal issues.However, these are issues that all surrogate mothers and intended families take into close consideration before pursuing. It is important that all parties involved weigh in liberty, autonomy, fidelity, ethical and moral values against all other standards and values. Many issues are bound to arise when entering into such a highly drastic contract, but with close monitoring, fidelity and understanding, the contract should be capable of being carried out with no issues. References Hansen, M. (2011, March 01). As surrogacy becomes more popular, legal problems proliferate.Retrieved from http://www. abajournal. com/magazine/article/as_surrogacy_becomes_more_popular_legal_problems_proliferate/ History of surrogacy. (2011). Retrieved from http://www. findsurrogatemother. com/surrogacy/information/history Pozgar, G. (2012). Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professio nals (3rd ed). Jones ; Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved from http://online. vitalsource. com/books/9781449685065/id/ch02lev1sec10 Surrogacy: A 21st century human rights challenge. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. cbc-network. org/issues/making-life/surrogacy/ The ethical issues of surrogacy. n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. modernfamilysurrogacy. com/page/surrogacy_ethical_issues Tong, R. (2011). Surrogate parenting. Retrieved from http://www. iep. utm. edu/surr-par/#H4 Trimarchi, M. (2011). Surrogacy overview. Retrieved from http://health. howstuffworks. com/pregnancy-and-parenting/pregnancy/fertility/surrogacy3. htm van Niekerk, A. , ; van Zyl, L. (1995). The ethics of surrogacy: Women's reproductive labour. Journal of Medical Ethics, 21(6), 345-345. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/216336102? accountid=32521 What are the

Genetic Engineering And The Human Genome Project - 2436 Words

In 1990, the science world began a vigorous new exploration of human DNA- the Human Genome Project. The goal of this project was to map out all the human genes (An Overview of, 2015), which ultimately led to a deeper understanding of all genes, not just a human’s. This deeper understanding also helped scientists to progress further in the technology of recombinant DNA. Recombinant DNA is when DNA from different cells is spliced together, creating a new strand (Kuure-Kinsey, 2000). Recombinant DNA is often used to genetically change a cell, which is known as genetic engineering. Genetic engineering can be used to prevent and alleviate symptoms of various diseases, by pinpointing and fixing the gene that causes them. It enables organisms to†¦show more content†¦Instead of testing genetic engineering directly on a human, scientists perform tests on other living things- like the Escherichia coli bacteria used in the pGLO lab. The purpose of the scientists performing the p GLO lab was to see if they were able to alter the DNA of a bacteria, E. coli, causing the bacteria to glow, if the insertion of the glow gene, which originated in a jellyfish, was successful. Four groups of bacteria were experimented with. Two of these groups were control groups; the bacteria with no DNA alteration on an agar plate containing nutrient broth, and the bacteria with the pGLO gene added on an agar plate with both Ampicillin and nutrient broth added to it. Each of these plates acted as a baseline for comparison for the other two plates, which were the experimental plates. The experimental groups were the groups consisting of unaltered bacteria on an agar plate containing Ampicillin and nutrient broth, and the altered (pGLO gene added) bacteria on an agar plate containing the nutrient broth, Ampicillin, and Arabinose sugar. Along with control groups and experimental groups, every experiment has both independent and dependent variables. In the pGLO experiment, the independ ent variables were the Ampicillin, Arabinose sugar, and the nutrient broth, all of which were added to the agar plate, as well as the pGLO gene being added to the bacteria’s DNA. These