As the end of the semester arises

As we got told today, we only have 4 days of class left. I am totally freaked out. I have been revising a lot of my papers, but I just don't find them good enough to go into my final portfolio. I am nervous that as the weeks come closer, I won't have time to make the papers as good as I want them to be and I will get a bad grade on my portfolio. This weekend, my homework is working on revising all of my papers. I have really learned a lot throughout this class, so hopefully I can revise easier than I have been able to in the begining of the semester.
On a side note, I really enjoyed the peer editing today. For some reason, it was really beneficial for me to meet with someone doing the same paper as me. She was able to really help me with more ideas and saw what I was missing in my paper.

The Literacy Analysis Outline for 1st draft

I found that this outline was highly beneficial for me. I wrote down all of my information in the parts and from there on got to just type it all up. I had a lot of trouble though thinking my points for the body of my paper. I felt like all of my points kind of went together and that I was sometimes repetitive. Although, I really liked this knew system. Before, we didn't really have an outline so we had to just wing out rough draft. I feel that when I do that my ideas are scrambled and not put logically together. For me, this was a very beneficial outline to use.

Thesis

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charloote Perkins Gilman shows how women in the 1900s weren't understood and therefore were thrown into a deep mental state that leads them to insanity.

Literary Analysis Thesis

My thesis is coming from "The Yellow Wallpaper" and I am analyzing the wallpaper.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," the despriction of the wallpaper reflects not only Jane's mental state, but many other people in society and how easy it is to compare one's life to that of a non-humanistic object.

Reading critically

In class on Thursday, I really found analzing and re-reading the stories together helped me a lot. I have a tendency to read and not comprehend very well because I read too fast. I do however read and always highlight while reading. I found that really saves me a step. If I really would look at the literal meanings of words I would find a different meaning to every paper we have read in class. Although, I am afraid to do it on my own. I think I did pretty well on my own this weekend. It was so easy in class when others contributed their ideas to help me form my own, but doing it on my own is going to be a little tricky. I am just afraid that I am going to miss something. When I re-read the stories I tried to focus really hard and hopefully my analysis's were right. Learning to read critically will hopefully help me do better on my quizzes in class and also in my future classes.

Symbolism

The White Heron
color white= symbolizes non-sinful, true, and love. The girl never told the guy where the white heron ever was because she was a true person and felt that the heron deserved to live. Along with that, I feel that the white heron was a symbol of love. Sylvia didn't have many people in her life, but her grandmother that was in her life meant everything to her. She loved spending time with her and thought she was a fantastic lady.
The old cow= symbolizes how much Sylvia didn't have friends and that her only friends were her grandmother and the animals that are around her farm. She enjoys spending time with the cow because it feels like someone that she can relate to- someone always wandering about by itself, just like her.

The Yellow Wallpaper
Color yellow= symbolizes uglyness. Obviously the wife thought that the walls were ugly being yellow, but also it could be how she feels about herself. She doesn't feel pretty and is afraid of what others think of her.
Spot of holes in the Wallpaper= the flaws in the wallpaper are actually the flaws she has. She is a crazy woman that is trapped from her husband and always needs to have help. It is like each time she sees a different kind of thing wrong with the wallpaper, she is actually seeing another thing wrong with herself.
Her cousins= symbolizes the life she wished she had. She wishes she could go to see them and be a normal person again.
Her baby= symbolizes post partum depression, reason for why she is so depressed and not acting normal.

Women's conditions in the early 1900s

In the 20th century, there were many changes that affected women in a positive way. Some of the changes were polygamy ended, the state allowed women to vote, and guaranteed other equal rights (Murphy, 1). Technology dramatically changed women's lives, especially in urban areas (Murphy, 1). There was Electric service, indoor plumbing, central heating, and the small power motor that allowed the women to work outside of the home (Murphy, 1). "The growth of commercial laundries and expanding factory production of clothing, processed foods, and other household items relieved women of many tasks and created hundreds of jobs for them outside the home" (Murphy,1). On average, women earned $9 for a 6-day work week while men earned $17 for a week (Murphy, 1). Women typically worked from dawn till dusk during this time period (Lebergott, 1) In 1900 only a few families earned enough to enjoy such expensive luxuries as piped water, hot water, indoor toilets, electricity, and separate rooms for each child (Lebergott, 1). Looking at the information, women were treated less fairly than men and had to put up with poor working conditions, not many rights, and not a lot of respect. In a past movie I saw, it was about a woman who worked in the 1900s and she worked in a textile company and was treated very poorly by other men and even her boss. She was raped and many men tried to kill her because they didn't think she deserved to work with them, she should be back in house working.

Murphy. B. Miriam. "A Look at Working Women in the Early 20th Century." History Blazer, Nov. 1995.
Web. 1 Nov. 2010. http://historytogo.utah.gov/
Stanley Lebergott, "Wages and Working Conditions." The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. 1993. Library of Economics and Liberty. 1 Nov. 2010.  http://www.econlib.org/