The Bouquet And Gimpel The Fool

The three stories to be discussed in this essay are “The Bouquet” by Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “Gimpel the Fool” by Isaac Bashevis Singer. It’s interesting to dissect these pieces of literature to see how they reflect the time period they were written in, by whom they were written, and if the stories they read have any abnormalities outside what is expected.

So first up is “The Bouquet”; I sympathized mainly for the young girl named Sophie. Society’s faults stunted her growth as an individual, and kept her from bonding with those she desired relations. The whole culture surrounding her took away most of the attributes that make oneself human- such as love, happiness, and human connection.
She loses herself, as I would imagine Sophie to do after a lifetime of oppression. Jane saw a woman in the wall, and then became her. She took on that identity, and in her mind, then became free of ruling and imprisonment. All of my sympathy for any of the other characters in this work went solely to Jane. Her obvious mental instability made the story difficult for me to read- not because it’s what’s wrong with her, but what’s wrong with professional medical abuse, which especially back then was an ongoing problem in addition to today. I almost wonder if Gilman was trying to speak out facetiously through the story about how mistreatment of the mentally ill is a phenomenon that will continue to take place in the future. Furthermore, Jane was ill, and having been mistreated in her circumstance only made her existing condition and also the unpleasant topic for me worse. Looking at this story with Feminist theory in mind would be fitting, as her husband dismissed her voiced needs because he believed he knew what was best for her and she did not. I interpret this selection of the text as sexism; though I’m sure he loved her very much, he was still controlling and believed she couldn’t think for herself for she was a woman. Psychoanalytic Criticism may also be applied, as
I'm not completely sure how I feel about this story, but I'll try my best to articulate. I empathize for Gimpel, as he is worthy of pity, but I do dislike the common misogynistic theme throughout the tale. Elka, Gimpel's wife, is subject to a specific type of mockery that differs from Gimpel's in the way that she is a woman and not “gullible” as he is said to be. I still wonder what Bashevis's message was supposed to portray; that the world is unfair perhaps? That one cannot change others' perception of themselves because certain people will believe anything they want to? It's difficult to say, but the story itself does cover a range of ridicule and confusion. Additionally, I liked the ending- I feel like it tied the whole deal up pretty