Discuss a few instances of Symbolism in Gilman's Story Essay

Discuss a few instances of Symbolism in Gilman's Story - Essay Example The wallpaper in the room in which the narrator is staying is covered in yellow wallpaper, a color that she detests. This could symbolize that the author has a deep dislike for this ‘disease’ in the society of her era characterized by the oppression of the fairer sex by a patriarchal society. Her hatred for the wallpaper, its color and design is actually a hatred for how men in that era treated women because to the author, the yellow wallpaper with its â€Å"hideous color† and â€Å"torturing pattern† symbolizes exactly that. The windows in her room are another symbol, symbolizing opportunity and that the narrator keeps sitting in her room and looking through them symbolizes a desire to make use of that opportunity and acquire much wanted freedom from the current oppression they face, freedom for women to be recognized as equals to their male counterparts. Another instance is of the woman stuck inside the wallpaper that the author sees creeping around, this woman is actually a representation of the author/narrator herself. It shows us how the author perceives herself and her current role in life. She feels trapped much like the woman inside the wallpaper and she feels that she has to ‘creep’ around like the woman in the wallpaper because she wants her actions to go unnoticed by her husband. Another instance of symbolism in this story is when she talks about the pattern of the yellow wallpaper which initially doesn’t make any sense to her. The author says â€Å"I never saw a worse paper in my life,† (Gilman, Charlotte) which means that she dislikes the structure of dominance and restriction that the men had created over women in that era by refusing them status equal to that of men and by treating them like silly â€Å"little girls†. The pattern of the yellow wallpaper signifies the complex structures in her life that have bound her in her current subordinate role. The pattern sometimes feels like bars to her and she feels like she’s stuck behind them and trying to escape. There is also the issue of how her husband and brother treat the issue of her illness. They regard it as if it were but a silly whim and ignore any input from the author/narrator herself. This symbolizes how in the 1800s men thought that women were inferior to them and thus so were their opinions. The women were thus largely ignored and their thoughts and views given no real notice or importance. The author believes that some mentally stimulating activity would actually help her come out of her depression, but her husband and brother give her opinion no real thought and on the contrary forced her to undergo the ‘rest cure’ whereby she was to be confined to one room and allowed no activity that would mentally stimulate her. This in itself is another symbolism, where the author shows us through the dynamics of her relationship with her husband and his attitude towards her illness an opinions h ow he (he here stands for all the men in that era) has ‘confined’ her according to his will and it doesn’t really matter whether she concurs to his ways or not. What she thinks is of no consequence because she, as a female is inferior to her husband and thus her husband â€Å"must know better†. Not allowing her any activity also symbolizes that the men restricted women’

Technology as Fast and Slow Knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Technology as Fast and Slow Knowledge - Essay Example On the one hand, he is right to say that technology ruined the environment because of overproduction and industrialization. On the other hand, he does not consider how technology can also help promote ecological interests by developing slow knowledge. This paper argues that although technology has produced harmful effects on ecology, it can also be used in studying and resolving environmental problems through providing fast and slow knowledge. As stated above, Spayde contends that a gap exists between what people have (technology) and their capabilities in properly using it (ethics or moral development). Spayde argues that slow knowledge that is based on â€Å"ecological and cultural context† is better than â€Å"fast knowledge† that â€Å"zips through the terminals of information society† (68). He proves this by saying that fast knowledge provides technology, but this technology has no sense of morality and collectiveness. He also differentiates hard facts from having the slow knowledge or ethics in properly using facts. ... This essay will prove that these contentions on the balanced outlook on fast and slow knowledge and the importance of technology in ecology are correct through evidence and logic. Technology, especially through computing, has significantly helped the development of the study of ecology. In Chapter 24: Roles of Technology in Ecology, Klomp, Green, and Fry explore the role of technology in advancing environmental interests. They stress that computing technology has expanded the spatial reach of ecological studies through the use of remote sensing and related methods. They underscore that computers have eased the use of large data sets and sophisticated statistical packages and also enabled access to and accumulation of national and global data sets. Klomp, Green, and Fry add that using computer-generated models help simulate environmental events, can offer a greater understanding of ecosystems, and enhance predictive powers to conservation and land managers. Hence, technology can also be used as a tool in addressing environmental problems. Technology does not only produce fast knowledge, like what Spayde contents, because its fast knowledge can also be used to produce slow knowledge. Computer modeling, for instance, has affected ecological theory. Klomp, Green, and Fry explain that ecosystem connectivity is an illustration of a complex ecological problem that computer modeling has handled with substantial success. They underscore that computers have enabled simulations of experiments that real time or space would not otherwise permit. This fast knowledge produced slow knowledge that allowed the development of landscape ecology. Klomp, Green, and Fry argue that computer simulation of this complexity has helped ecologists to better