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Intro to Fiction: Themes and Setting

Literary Analysis

By Victoria WardPublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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Themes and Settings

What happens when the world that was once known is turned on its head and everything changes? During the first week of this Introduction to fiction course, the class has read two short stories that encompass the theme of change and loss. The first story is “We All Go Through This” by Jamey Bradbury. The story is about a group of students who go to school every day expecting things to stay the same, but then one day one of their classmates doesn’t return home from school. Most of the story revolves around how the change from losing their friend affects the students and the setting of the story. The second piece of literature up for analysis is “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This short story changes in two ways; the narrator has trouble around her newborn, and there is a change in location. Both stories analyzed in this essay contain themes of change and loss that affect or cause a setting to change.

In "We All Go Through it," a classroom goes through a change after their classmate, Marty, doesn't come back. The classroom takes on a new personality as it reflects the attitudes of the children and their teacher. In an article found on literarydevices.net, they state “Setting can establish the mood or atmosphere of a scene or story, and develop the plot into a more realistic form, resulting in more convincing characters” (no author). When Marty was still there, the students talked to one another with joy in their voices, smiles on their faces, and pep in their step. The energy the children bring the classroom’s character to life. There are descriptions of the bright light coming from the windows and the array of stuff hanging on the walls. After Marty leaves, the classroom is described as much sadder than it was before. The narrator describes the room as cast in shadow: "a fluorescent light flickered and buzzed over our heads as we struggled to concentrate on fractions or state capitals, until finally it blinked out and plunged one corner of the room into shadow" (Bradbury 38). The quotation alludes to the notion that the classroom itself is sad at the removal of a student. The flickering light represents a metaphor for how the kids are trying to cope. The light continues to flicker, the classroom hopes for the student’s return, but ultimately goes out when it realizes along with the remaining students that their friend not be returning. Not only do the kids have a hard time dealing with the loss of a friend, but also the change of someone new coming into their classroom. A new student comes to sit in Marty’s chair and a new teacher replaces the other due to her grief over the loss of Marty. The theme of change appears as this classroom of students loses a friend which in turn changes the appearance of the setting.

Next, the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” has her setting completely changed from what she is used to. She is confined to only one room in an estate away from her original home and anyone else’s for that matter. First, the indication of the themes of loss and change is related to the whole estate where the story takes place. The house is secluded from the neighboring towns by a few miles, so John’s wife can be away from distractions. According to John, the change in scenery and seclusion will be good for his wife. “The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village… for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock” (Gilman). Where the manor sits in relation to the nearest town, and how the manor was used is important. The quotation above indicates that there are hedges and a gate that locks. In the eyes of John, the gate indicates safety for his wife; she is protected from the fancies or wasting energy in the outdoors. To the narrator, moving to the large estate with gates that lock is a prison. The narrator lost her baby, was uprooted from the normalcy of home, and finally goes crazy. Again, the theme of loss and change is heightened by the fact that the narrator has lost her only child, been confined to a room, and everything around her has changed while there is practically no change in her room, except for the yellow wallpaper.

The theme of loss is found in a very particular room, the remnants of a children’s nursery. This children’s room is very important to the narrative as the narrator is suffering from post-partum depression. The birth of her child and the quick change in scenery makes the theme of change and loss quite clear. Readers can detect from the narrator’s description of the room that she realizes it was used for children. “It is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore. It was nursery first and then playground and gymnasium, I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls” (Gilman). The room the narrator is in affects her mental health in ways that John does not understand. Together, these themes of loss and change are presented and connected by the setting of the story.

For this last section, the concept of Post-Partum Depression and the connections it shares with Gilman. This illness is not directly talked about in the short story, but it is indirectly described through different illustrations given by the main character. One of those descriptions is exemplified in the paragraph above with the mention of how the main character believes the room she is in was once used as a playroom for children. Since she is thinking about children, and she mentions the baby in the beginning, the audience might assume that she is overwhelmed by leaving behind her baby with another person while she could be frazzled when she is around the baby. According to cmblaise in a blog post:

“In today’s world readers could assume her illness to be Postpartum Depression. Although, it is unknown how she got this depression I myself personally believe it is due to the birth of her child which is very common in today’s world” (cmblaise).

It is quite possible that the main character is suffering from this illness because of the sudden gain of a baby in her life. The importance of displaying this character as having Post-Partum Depression is to make the connection that Charlotte Perkins Gilman was also treated for the illness.

Another connection to be made between the main character of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Gilman is that in both of their cases they were restricted from writing which was supposed to help them get better. They lost one of the most helpful ways to get out of depression. After reading the short story, and researching about Gilman, the audience will come to find out that both disregarded the advice and wrote secretly. This is probably one of the many reasons why the women went crazy in their little rooms because they were feverishly writing to stop themselves from going insane with their thoughts. KV Rama Rao expresses the same idea in her article, “How a woman hungers for freedom to do her thing is subtly conveyed through the dynamic and growing symbol of the yellow wallpaper” (Rao 1). The main character is so caught up in her thoughts that she begins to imagine a woman coming out of the walls. It is the symbol of the wallpaper that encompasses the loss of communication and freedom as the image of the woman forms clearer. The themes of loss and change are present within this analysis in the study of women where a changed location and motivation from not actively looking after the ones they love.

“We All Go Through This” by Jamey Bradbury and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, are similar in the fact that both stories deal with the topics of loss and change. These two authors have written two very different stories, but they have also produced stories that center around the setting of their story that allows those settings to enact themes of loss and change. In Bradbury’s narrative, readers experience a classroom of students who suddenly lose one of their classmates, and then the process of dealing with the changes that continue throughout the school year. Gilman’s story deals with the narrator’s loss of being near her child, her freedom from the outside, and all of the changes that John has prescribed to her. The setting of this story, the confining room, speaks to what leads the narrator to start believing the wallpaper is changing. Both Bradbury and Gilman represent loss and change in their short stories by focusing on the setting element to get their themes across to readers. As a final thought, it is exciting to compare these stories and realize that the first theme of change and loss impact the setting, while the second’s setting is what causes the conflict. Think about that implication over the next cup of coffee.

Works Cited:

Bradbury, Jamey. “We All Go Through It.” Black Warrior Review, vol. 35, no. 2, Spring/Summer2009 2009, pp. 31–46. We All Go Through It.: A Tool for Searching Park University Library Resources (ebscohost.com)

Cmblaise. “Postpartum Depression in the Yellow Wallpaper.” Writing on Women Writers. March 18, 2013. https://writingonwomenwriters.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/postpartum-depression-in-the-yellow-wallpaper/

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Short Stories and Classic Literature.

Rama Rao, KV. “The Yellow Wallpaper—A Dynamic Symbol: A Study of Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s Story.” Poetcrit. JSTOR. January 1, 2006. Accessed December 13, 2020, https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=595202da-3394-42d1-93a0-0c1b317c2e27%40sessionmgr101.

“Definition and Example of Literary Terms: Setting.” Literarydevices.net, Setting - Examples and Definition of Setting (literarydevices.net).

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About the Creator

Victoria Ward

I am a girl who likes reading, writing, watching, and having fun! I love writing about books, movies, music, games, and anything else that makes me happy.

Come down the rabbit hole with me!

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