Literacy and Technology: Skills for 21st Century Students

The Age of Technology

Students today live in an unconventional age in which technology has transformed the way we produce, distribute, and receive information. The concept of text has changed from traditional print materials to a variety of media, including television, film, and the Internet. The ability to share and access media on such a grand scale challenges our understanding of what it means to be literate. As globalization demands social and economic technologies more than ever before, it becomes clear that students need to be taught these new and emerging skills in order to meet the demands of the market. For 21st century students to adapt to this new Age of Technology, they must possess the literacy skills to process and analyze many different forms of media. The traditional educational system leaves little room for this type of instruction. Educators must adapt to this new climate and change perspectives if they are to reach their students, who bring to the classroom a host of skills that often remain unstimulated and unappreciated.

The New Millennials

Children who have grown up since the emergence of the World Wide Web and an assortment of digital technologies, including cell phones, text and instant messaging and video games, are now referred to as the New Millennials. This generation is special in that it is the first to be completely immersed in Information Communication Technology (ICT) for their entire lives.

Last year, Diane Hansford and Rachael Adlington (2008) of the University of New England compiled information on global teen Internet use to prove the results of this phenomenon. Currently, in Australia, approximately 90 percent of teenagers use the Internet daily or at least several times per week. In the United Kingdom, 75 percent of 9-19-year-olds have accessed the Internet at home, and 92 percent have accessed it at school. American teens get online just as often - 87 percent of 12-17-year-olds use the Internet daily or at least several times per week. As a result, the net-savvy adolescent knows that he is able to produce texts and publish online just as easily as any adult.

Many young people are avid online authors of multimodal texts. Because New Millennials are so adept at absorbing and responding to a consistent churn of new media technologies, they are able to store, analyze, and recreate media in powerful new ways. Also, many young people are excellent at multitasking when using the Internet and computer based programs. However, according to Hansford and Adlington (2008), in the school setting, "these same students may show reluctance to engage in paper-based authoring."

It is evident that a dissonance exists between the home and school worlds equally occupied by today's students. Because of the availability of digital technologies, today's teenagers bring a rich and new set of literacy practices to the classroom that is often disregarded by educators. It must be recognized that drawing from and building on students' prior knowledge and experiences will be paramount to student success.

Media Literacy

Media literacy has been defined as "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and effectively communicate in a variety of forms including print and nonprint texts." These "nonprint texts" have exploded into multiple forms of literacy including information literacy, visual literacy, and computer or digital literacy (Considine, 2009, 471-472). Media literacy has become vital to manipulating the technological landscape of the world today. It helps students develop their abilities to analyze and evaluate the multitude of information they are exposed to. Exposure to mass amounts of literature is not enough. Students need to be taught what to do with the information once they have it.

Literacy for the Future

There is mounting evidence for the importance of media literacy instruction for the futures of today's students, and educators would be wise to pay attention to it. For example, the 21st Century Workforce Commission suggested that “the current and future health of America’s 21st century economy depends directly on how broadly and deeply Americans reach a new level of literacy―‘21st-Century Literacy’” (Black). Furthermore, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development has written that developing media literacy skills deserves "widespread consideration in schools and community organizations as an essential part of becoming a well-educated citizen” (Considine, 2009, 474). Many New Millennials have lived through the ICT boom without access to modern technologies. While some students today are digitally literate, others need instruction. Most New Millennials are self-taught, but not well-taught. If given the proper tools and instruction, these students could excel in ways that students before never had the opportunity to.

The Educational System

The educational system today is failing 21st century students in a variety of ways. First of all, it generally avoids new technology in the classroom. Most New Millennials enter formal classrooms that are not prepared to take advantage of the technological skills they bring with them. Public schools have complicated filtering systems that prevent students from accessing sites like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, which allow them to utilize their online literacy as a means of social interaction.

Secondly, the system today fails because it employs digital immigrants to teach digital natives. A digital native is a New Millennial, essentially – one who has been immersed in ICT their entire life. A digital immigrant is a person of an older era, when modern technologies did not exist. This person has to be acclimated to the world of technology. Many times, these digital immigrants avoid new technology altogether. In the classroom, this is unfortunate, because many digital natives use a wide array of new technologies in their daily lives. They use instant messaging and chat, trade media, sometimes via peer-to-peer file sharing software, and establish their own online reputation and take part in evaluating the online reputation of their peers. They play games, read news and blogs and search for knowledge all across the Internet. All of these skills could be utilized as methods for literacy instruction.

The challenge for today's educators, mostly digital immigrants, is to continue to provide the richness of old curriculum alongside new and emerging content to prepare students for 21st century life. As Lotta C. Larson states, “It is imperative that today's preservice teachers know how to teach and facilitate the new literacies” (125).

Teaching 21st Century Digital Students

In 2007, the National School Boards Association argued that students utilize words, music, photographs, and videos to express themselves creatively online. They recommended that “school districts may want to re-examine their policies and practices and explore ways in which they could use social networking for educational purposes” (Considine, 2009, 475). Because New Millennials have been reared in a climate different from their teachers', it is important for teachers to find ways to connect with their students. Teachers today who utilize technology in the classroom are often the most memorable. The authors of the article, “Stories About Struggling Readers and Technology,” claim that “even professional reading teachers tended to treat technology as having almost magical effects on children” (Anderson, 2009).

During the past three years, as I have pursued my English degree in hopes of one day teaching literacy and technology, I have encountered several effective teaching techniques that have proven successful with New Millennials and other ICT children. For the remainder of this essay, I will outline some of these techniques.

Popular Culture

Today, small children learn to read with books by Dora the Explorer. Hotwheels and Barbie offer personalized web spaces and online chat rooms for children. Popular culture is finding its way into literature everywhere, and modern students love it. New Millennials and their younger siblings have grown up on television and films. It takes more than textbooks and lectures to grab their attention.

During Winter Quarter 2007, I took a course with Dr. Kathleen Davies at Ohio University – Chillicothe. The course was English Special Topics: Gender. On the first day of the class, I was surprised to see Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the syllabus. We watched a few episodes, read a book of literary criticism on the show, and did our own research on gender roles throughout the series. We also watched films like Pan's Labyrinth and Chocolate, following them up with research and peer-reviewed writing. The course was very engaging, as everyone in the class enjoyed reading and writing about entertainment that they had either already seen or would have likely watched on their own at some point in time. Since this was a freshman composition course, I felt the pop culture integration was extremely appropriate.

The following quarter, I took another Special Topics class with Dr. Davies, this time, Rebels. We viewed films like Rebel Without a Cause and Foxfire and read books such as 1984 and Into the Wild. The course concluded with presentations on students' favorite historical rebels or acts of rebellion. Students gave presentations on John Lennon, the Quakers, illegal piracy, animal rights and a variety of other subjects. Once again, pop culture integration proved highly successful, as all of the students were highly interested in the subject matter.

Multimodal Authoring

Students today utilize web sites like MySpace and Blogger to create their own online texts. These sites are used for creative expression, much like the journaling teens of yesteryear. Young people today write volumes on their blogs, using both text, graphics, movies and music to express themselves. Teachers can capitalize on these multimodal authors, who are efficient enough online to handle such a challenge.

I have taken many online classes with English professor Dr. Jan Schmittauer, also from Chillicothe, who utilizes online literature ladders to engage her students in multimodal authoring. A literature ladder is a tool to help teach various aspects of a certain topic. For example, a novel may be assigned. After the novel is read, the student participates in several “rungs” of the ladder, which elaborate on the book's components. The first rung might be a historical overview or a wiki entry, the second rung a character analysis, the third rung a personal reaction to the story written as a blog post, etc. The purpose is to engage the student through a variety of media while personalizing the content so that it means the most to them.

At the end of Dr. Schmittauer's Young Adult Literature class, I created a literature ladder myself. It is intended for a junior high to high school age audience and is to be utilized for teaching Red Scarf Girl, a novel about the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It incorporates multimodal activities that will encourage the students to make personal connections with the novel. It can be viewed here: http://redscarfgirlitladder.blogspot.com/.

Literacy Outside of the Box

Because new technologies are constantly emerging and the definition of literacy is changing daily, it is important that educators keep their minds open when determining the methods of instruction which they utilize to reach students. I have found that, sometimes, unconventional methods can be quite successful to develop literacy skills. For example, video games are often blamed for poor behavior in children. However, I can testify that, with proper instruction and management, video games can be a magnificent tool to teach literacy.

I have never been a gamer. Like every other kid I knew, I had a regular Nintendo, but I've just never had the patience for video games. Now, I have a five-year-old daughter, and she's already become more of a gamer than I ever was. About a year ago, she started expressing an interest in games, and since my husband and I already owned an XBox, we bought her “Lego Star Wars.” I watched in amazement as she picked up on the controls, how easily she understood the language of the game. It came natural to her. Now, the games are very 3-dimensional, and since I'm used to older, 2-D games, I have a hard time catching on. Gracie is usually giving me orders so that I can keep up with her on screen.

Now, a year later, Gracie has defeated dozens of video games all on her own. She's learned words like, “save,” “loading,” “exit,” “next,” because of the visual repetition. We most always read the stories on screen with her, and she often picks up on words all on her own. What's most important is that we are playing the games with her. If we accept gaming as a tool for literacy, we have to manage all aspects of the technology. I'm very cautious when I purchase games for Gracie. I do a lot of research to determine which games she will best benefit from, and which games promote the values I agree with. And when we crack open a new game, I always sit down with her as she starts playing it. Gracie appreciates this most of all; she wants someone to recognize her achievements as she plays. I think it's very important that we reward children for their gaming accomplishments, especially when they know they've put a lot of brain-power into the puzzles the games offer.

As Gracie's literacy began developing through gaming, my husband Nick had the opportunity to spread the technology to our community. A librarian at the Garnet A. Wilson Public Library in Waverly, Nick was keenly aware of the large population of teens coming to the library, especially for technological resources like Internet use. Assuming that there would be teens in the community who would appreciate gaming at the library, he introduced Game Night. The library invested in a Wii, and Nick donated his old PS2. For nearly a year now, Nick has been hosting the event each Thursday night, and faithfully, twelve to fifteen children, teens and adults show up. One evening, after one of the initial Game Nights, Nick told me about a boy who had come to the event. At some point, he became bored with the games. “Let's go upstairs and look at some books!” he exclaimed. Nick said he thought, “Mission accomplished.” Since, Nick has payed particular attention to the Young Adult selection at the library, beefing it up with graphic novels and anime as well as Honor List books. And everything is getting checked out.

Conclusion

Every individual has a unique design, a unique way of absorbing information. We must expand literacy media to encapsulate all types of learners and to offer a variety of ways to learn. The New Millennials and even younger generations will inherit the future, which will be filled with a vast array of technologies. New methods of teaching and learning are now required to meet the educational needs of every individual. By paying attention to new technologies and widening the definition of literacy, educators can successfully reach their 21st century students, who are patiently waiting for someone to take advantage of the vast array of technological skills they bring to the table.

References

Anderson, R. & Balajthy, E. (2009). Stories about struggling readers and technology. The Reading Teacher, 62(6), 540-542. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Black, R. (2009). English-language learners, fan communities, and 21st century skills. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(8), 688-697. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Considine, D., Horton, J. & Moorman, G. (2009). Teaching and reading the Millennial generation through media literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(6), 471-481. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Hansford, D. & Adlington, R. (2008). Digital spaces and young people's online authoring: Challenges for teachers. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 32(1), 55-68. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Larson, L. (2008). Electronic reading workshop: Beyond books with new literacies and instructional technologies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(2), 121-131. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

What is Literature?

The editors of The Norton Introduction to Literature Portable Edition make it clear in the anthology's introduction that the concept of literature is subjective and personal to the reader, and is ever-changing. They cite the Oxford English Dictionary's definition of literature as “writing which has claim to consideration on the ground of beauty of form or emotional effect (4)”. I believe this is true – literature's form makes it a work of art, and it is certainly an outlet for human emotion. We enjoy comedies, tragedies, romantic poetry, and all sorts of literature that feeds our emotions. I would add two elements to this definition. One is that literature is timeless and can be enjoyed for eternity. The themes and lessons learned in literature are relevant to people of any era. The other is that literature speaks the truth about humanity. It employs a message or lesson that is learned from analyzing human behavior. Literature is based on the human experience, and therefore, we learn about ourselves by reading about others. The selections in the Norton anthology adhere to all of these elements. I feel that the literary canon for this class was adequate, and that the pieces of fiction, poetry and drama we analyzed were indeed important pieces of literature that should be taught in the classroom. In this essay, I will provide examples of works we studied to explain what I believe literature to consist of.

First, I classify literature as an art form, the author, an artist. Just like painting, photography or sculpture, there is a structured form to literature. Fiction has its characters, setting and plot; poetry is identified by its meter and rhyme scheme; and drama utilizes tone, sets and imagery to convey a message. Literature can be appreciated for its adherence to such timeless techniques. When an author utilizes the appropriate literary devices in his work, he proves that he understands the art of literature, and his work becomes a part of an ever-growing compendium of valuable literature that others can learn from.

While structured forms increase the appreciation for literature, sometimes, a challenge to those forms can make literature exciting. For example, in “Sonnet,” poet Billy Collins pokes fun at traditional forms by seemingly ignoring them. At first glance, it seems as though Collins' goal was to upset the sonnet form with his poem, but upon further inspection it is evident that he, too, has remained loyal to many of the rules for its form. First and most noticeable, Collins strays from the traditional sonnet rule of rhyme. While “Sonnet” defies the proper rules for a poem of its type, Collins still includes a discussion of the rules in his writing. “But hang on here wile we make the turn,” he writes, referring to the predictable change-of-pace on the ninth line of a sonnet (553). Collins doesn't want to be restrained by the rules of the art he creates. His poem is an attempt to break the mold, to prove that it is acceptable to try new techniques in writing. However, the fact that he still employs many of the sonnet's requirements proves that he still respects the structure that accompanies poetic form.

Next, I contend that literature speaks the truth about humanity. Because literature is based on the human experience, it can be read by other humans in similar or entirely different situations. Lessons can be learned from the outcomes in each tale. It is for this reason that much of literature revolves around culture and history. Since old adages tell us that “history repeats itself” and “there are no new ideas,” often times, themes in literature are recycled. Human beings share a variety of experiences, but each individual has a different perspective. Therefore, literature allows many accounts to be given regarding the same types of experiences or events in history. One example of such “recycled” ideas is the death of the American Dream. In this class, we studied Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller's play about Willy Loman, a man obsessed with the promise of the American Dream. Willy is fixated on the superficial qualities of attractiveness and thinks that one must be likeable to share in the Dream. His disillusionment leads to his own psychological downfall, as he realizes the disparity between the Dream and his own life. This isn't the first time I've been exposed to this theme in a literature class. Just last quarter, I studied The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's take on the the death of the Dream. Written twenty years before Death of a Salesman, the story is narrated by Nick Caraway, a young man fascinated by the glitz and glamor of the Jazz Age. The tale is symbolic of 1920s America in general, a time when the American Dream disintegrated into a fervor of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Both Loman and Caraway inherited their world views from a desire for money and pleasure that surpassed more noble goals. This is a theme that is recurring throughout much of literature. When we see a theme repeat itself in literature, it is evident that it is a theme that affects all of humanity.

Because literature reflects themes that affect all human beings, it is timeless. A story written centuries ago can mean just as much for a modern reader as it did for an ancestral one. For example, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was written in the 19^th century, but it speaks volumes about gender roles even still today. In this fictional short story, the narrator is confined to an upstairs nursery in a plantation home by her husband, who also serves as her doctor. Her husband attempts to keep her from other people in order to treat her post-partum depression. However, the pattern on the ugly, yellow wallpaper in the room feeds the narrator's understimulated mind. At the story's climax, the narrator helps an imaginary woman escape from imaginary bars that have appeared in the wallpaper. Women of any era who have felt the pressure of male dominance can rejoice alongside the narrator as she rips the suffocating paper from the walls.

Literature is an art form. It speaks the truth about humanity. It is timeless. The editors of the Norton anthology also conclude that literature is ever-changing. I think it is vital to recognize this. The definition of literature has changed since written language was developed. Now, literature is expanding to encapsulate not only printed materials but staged performances, film, television, video games and more. I hope that now and in the years to come, educators focus on expanding their literary canons to include a variety of media to teach both tried-and-true traditional as well as new literature.

Works Cited

Collins, Billy. “Sonnet.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 553.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 316-327.

“Introduction.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 1-10.

Miller, Arthur. “Death of a Salesman.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 923-993.

Analysis: Dorothy Parker's “A Certain Lady”

Dorothy Parker's poem, “A Certain Lady,” is told through the voice of a woman who serves as a sometime-companion for a man she is deeply in love with. It is difficult to determine if the speaker is Parker herself, or another woman entirely. Regardless, the woman reciting the words is well aware of her position as a comforter, a shoulder to lean on. She knows that the man she loves is not really dedicated to her and her alone, and that her love for him is lost. Through this essay, I will utilize Option One and analyze the speaker's view of her predicament. This woman continually fails to connect with the man she loves for a host of probable reasons. He may be unaware of her true emotions, and she may have been too passive in her attempts to prove them. Alternatively, the woman may have a love interest outside of her relationship with the man that keeps her satisfied. Most likely, the speaker has failed to develop a romance with the man for fear of risking their friendship.

It is difficult to hide one's emotions, but the woman in this poem does just that. “Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head,” she says. She drinks his “rushing words with eager lips,” and paints her mouth a “fragrant red” (1-3). It seems to me that she knows this man well and often meets with him, dressed to impress and ready to gobble up the words he has to offer. She knows she is skilled at the art of listening and attending his needs, as she refers to her “tutored finger-tips” with which she traces his brows (4). This woman is deeply infatuated with the man. She pours herself into him while he, a boastful character, speaks only of himself. When he tells her about all the things he loves, she says, “Oh, I can laugh and marvel, rapturous-eyed” (6). She seems completely fascinated by the man. However, he is unaware of the “thousand little deaths” her heart has died since they began these meetings (8). Every time they depart, and she fails to acquire her rightful place on his arm, her heart breaks, and she dies a little on the inside.

Parker defines a “certain” type of lady in this poem, one who knows her place in the world. In other words, this woman lets the man make all of the decisions and advances. She says, “And you believe, so well I know my part / That I am gay as morning, light as snow” (10). She presents herself to be quite capable of carrying on this type of open relationship. To the eye, she appears happy and unburdened. However, in the next two lines, she admits the difficulty she finds in maintaining this arrangement: “And all the straining things within my heart / You'll never know” (11-12). These lines also prove that the woman doesn't necessarily expect her arrangement to change. She knows the man will never know about her internal emotions, and he's not the type to ask her how she's feeling.

Actually, when this man comes to meet the speaker, he bestows upon her tales of other women: “And you bring tales of fresh adventurings / Of ladies delicately indiscreet / Of lingering hands, and gently whispered things” (14-16). This must be incredibly hurtful for the woman, who despite knowing that this man is involved with other women when he's away from her, maintains her loyalty to his friendship. Her loyalty could, in fact, be sending the wrong signal to this man, further encouraging him to share his romantic tales with her. She says, “And you are pleased with me, and strive anew / To sing me sagas of your late delights” (17-18). Because she is such a marvel listener, and seems to enjoy the stories the man brings to her, he never learns that she desires to be one of those delicate ladies he speaks of. In the very next line, she stresses the confusion that exists in their relationship: “Thus do you want me – marveling, gay and true / Nor do you see my staring eyes of nights” (19-20). She isn't sure that the man knows her intentions, therefore, how can she expect him to reciprocate her feelings?

The woman in the poem eventually chalks up her loss to being a less appealing woman than the others he pursues: “And when, in search of novelty, you stray” (21). Upon their departure, so that she doesn't seem as desperate as she feels inside, she kisses him “blithely” on the lips and says, “And what goes on, my love, while you're away / You'll never know” (22-24). The author leaves these last lines ambiguous. Perhaps the speaker is saying that because the man has never expressed an interest in her personal emotions, he will never find out how she truly feels. When they go their separate ways, he continues to pursue other women, but she thinks about him and patiently awaits their next meeting.

Another interpretation of this ending could be that the woman isn't a fool at all, and that when they are separate, she, too, seeks out more novel options. The fact that she kisses him “blithely” - lightly, carelessly, a feather-kiss – means that she is trying to appear less passionate about the man. Perhaps she, too, has other love interests on the side. This is very unlikely, though, given her strong affections for the man throughout the rest of the poem.

She may kiss him “blithely” to pretend that she's not quite so romantic about him, or to show that she doesn't care about his disregard for her. The cynical tone of the poem coincides with her actions. This woman is trying to pretend to be something she's not for the sake of preserving what relationship they have. This relationship is very painful for her, but she endures it because she treasures the friendship she has with the man. Her fear of losing the only intimacy they have keeps her coming back time and time again.


Work Cited
Parker, Dorothy. “A Certain Lady.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 438.

Setting and Plot in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story that explores the submissive role of women in marriage as well as the need for self-expression. The setting of the tale, which is told through the narrator's private journal, contributes to the narrator's internal conflicts, as it prevents her from escaping them. Set in the late 19th century, the narrator is suffering from post-partum depression following the birth of her child. She is cared for by her husband, John, who is also conveniently her doctor. Through her journal, she documents the controlling nature of her husband, who keeps her isolated from the world so that her condition will improve. However, her disconnection from the real world only drives her closer to insanity.

In the story's time period, it was typical for women to be treated like children by their husbands. The narrator exhibits this each time she confronts John about the approach to her medical treatment. In response, he calls her “little girl” (322), or “his blessed little goose” (318). One time in particular, the narrator says, “And dear John gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me upstairs and laid me on the bed, and read to me till it tired my head” (321). This is certainly how one would treat their child, not their wife. This is further demonstrated when John insists the narrator stay in the upstairs nursery.

In this era it was also expected for women to obey their husbands without question. Although she desires to keep a journal to help relieve some of her stress, she knows her husband forbids it: “There comes John, and I must put this away – he hates to have me write a word” (317). She is cautious of her emotions around her husband, being careful to not show emotions around him or anyone else. “I take pains to control myself – before him, at least,” she says, “and that makes me very tired” (317).

Since scientific and medical knowledge was limited in the 19th century, and John is a medical authority, the narrator doesn't dare question her husband's medical advice, although she admits to disagreeing with his ideas. “So I take phosphates or phosphites – whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to 'work' until I am well again,” she says (316). It is obvious that she doesn't have much faith in any of these treatments, but is still expected to follow not only the doctor's – but her husband's – orders.

The room containing the yellow wallpaper, where John insists the narrator stay to rest, causes her to lose her sanity. It is a large upstairs room, which John boasts as being big and airy. First a nursery, then a playroom and gymnasium, the room reminds the narrator of all of the things she cannot have. Because it was a nursery and playroom, it is a constant reminder that she cannot be with her newborn baby. The fact that it was a gymnasium reminds her of fun, entertaining activities that she cannot participate in.

There are two windows in the room. One looks to the garden and derelict greenhouses and the other to the bay and a private wharf. These views only remind the narrator of the places she cannot go. Also, she describes the house as “A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate,” which leads the reader to believe it is in the south, perhaps on a plantation (316). The story also takes place during the Fourth of July. This information proves that the narrator is trapped inside during the beautiful summer months in a gorgeous area of the country, when getting outside for some excitement would seem to be particularly therapeutic. Furthermore, she claims the house is nearly three miles from town. Getting outside from time to time wouldn't have burdened the narrator or anyone else, but John insisted she stay inside and rest.

The room itself has bars on the window, which were probably initially installed to keep children safe. The narrator, though, sees them as the gates of her prison. While she is disgusted by the horrible yellow wallpaper, the pattern on it is the most mentally stimulating thing in the room. Therefore, it is not surprising when her focus on it turns into an obsession. The setting of the story directly contributes to the plot action, which develops as the narrator watches the wallpaper come to life. As the narrator perceives the wallpaper to become more and more bizarre, she becomes further and further detached from reality.

First, the narrator sees no design in the wallpaper. It was “one of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin,” with “lame uncertain curves” (317). She is mostly annoyed by the pattern and the fact that John won't let her tear down the paper. He thinks the fact that it irks her will do her some good. Later on, though, she starts to notice a pattern of a “broken neck and two bulbous eyes” emerging in the print. “I never saw so much expression in an inanimate thing before...” she now says (319). As the story progresses, she begins to see a sub-pattern in the wallpaper. “I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure,” she says, “that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design” (319). The narrator actually admits to becoming more child-like in her obsession with the wallpaper: “I used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of blank walls and plain furniture than most children could find in a toy-store” (319). She becomes the child John has created.

The story climaxes when the narrator notices a difference in the wallpaper during the day and at night. At night, the shape she's been focusing on becomes a woman trapped behind bars, but “by daylight she is subdued, quiet.” “I fancy it is the pattern that keeps her so still,” the narrator writes. “It is so puzzling. It keeps me quiet by the hour” (323). She assumes that the pattern is keeping the woman prisoner by day, until, one day, while looking out the window, she sees the woman “creeping” around the garden. She knows it is the woman in the wallpaper, because she says “she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight” (325). However, the narrator goes on to admit her similarity with the woman, admitting that she, too, creeps around in the daytime: “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once” (325).

As the narrator becomes more mentally unstable, she realizes that she must “free” the woman trapped in the wallpaper at night. When she begins tearing down the wallpaper, her character begins to merge with that of the woman she sees trapped: “I pulled and she shook, I shook and she pulled, and before morning we had peeled off yards of that paper” (326). She further characterizes this figment of her imagination by working with her to tear down the bars. When the paper is torn down, the narrator looks out the window and remarks, “...there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did?” (327) At this point, she has become the woman in the wallpaper, as she directly refers to herself as the woman who escaped. But although the other women are “creeping” on the lawn, she suddenly finds the confinement of the room more comfortable, and begins crawling around the perimeter with her shoulder to the “smooch” on the wall. When her husband faints after seeing her mental state, she continues “creeping” around the room, crawling right over top of him each time she passes.

Setting is the literary device which drives Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The confinement of the narrator to the upstairs room explores the roles of women in marriage and society, as well as the importance of self-expression and social interaction. The yellow wallpaper in the room feeds the narrator's understimulated mind. She is rarely permitted visits with other people and is not even allowed to keep a private journal. She enters the story with many negative feelings regarding her husband's treatment of her, and the yellow wallpaper gives her something to focus on while pondering her situation. All the while, she becomes more obsessed, more manic, and more desperate for an escape.


Work Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 316-327.

Shakespeare and Collins: Ironic Sonnets

There comes a time when every great artist questions the integrity of the work he's producing. Even literary masters like William Shakespeare and Billy Collins have found the need to question the rigid rules that accompany many art forms. In Shakespeare's “My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun” and Collins' “Sonnet,” the authors defy such rules to prove that, perhaps, they are meant to be broken. Life is not always as predictable as poetry dictates, and these authors want to be sure that their readers are aware of that.

In the sonnet, “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun,” Shakespeare speaks about only one thing – his flawed lover. His words reflect romantic sonnets of the time, but simultaneously poke fun at them. The true purpose of the poem is not for Shakespeare to explain how undesirable his mistress is, but rather to cast an ironic voice towards the type of writing he, too, is well-known for.

He uses romantic imagery such as eyes like the sun (“My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”), ruby red lips (“Coral is far more red than her lip's red”), rosy cheeks (“I have seen roses damasked, red and white / But no such roses see I in her cheeks”), perfume, delight (In some perfumes there is more delight / Than the breath with which my mistress reeks”), and pleasure (“I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / Music hath a far more pleasing sound”). However, he parodies these words with true life imagery of the woman he loves, a woman who is nothing that traditional poets write about. He confesses his love for this woman although she doesn't fit the typical mold for a beauty in a romantic poem.

This sonnet by Shakespeare was very rare for his time. It was very original in the fact that it depicted real love, as told through the eyes of a real lover. As Shakespeare admits his mistress' flaws, he realizes that they are what make her human. At the end of the sonnet, he writes: “I grant I never saw a goddess go / My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.” He means that he is unfamiliar with the goddesses of traditional romantic poetry, but knows that his own lover is real and tangible.

“Sonnet” by Collins parallels Shakespeare's piece by, once again, poking fun at traditional poetry. Collins, however, doesn't parody subject matter, rather, he points out the stiff structure of the sonnet itself. At first glance, it seems as though Collins' goal was to upset the sonnet form with his poem, but upon further inspection it is evident that he, too, has remained loyal to many of the rules for its form.

First and most noticeable, Collins strays from the traditional sonnet rule of rhyme. Although the poem has fourteen lines and is split into two sections, there is no noticeable rhyme pattern. The poem also mentions “iambic bongos,” a reference to the traditional meter of sonnets, iambic pentameter, although Collins himself doesn't stick to the rule.

While “Sonnet” defies the proper rules for a poem of its type, Collins still includes a discussion of the rules in his writing. “But hang on here wile we make the turn,” he writes, referring to the predictable change-of-pace on the ninth line of a sonnet. “Sonnet” makes this “turn,” as well; the first eight lines speak negatively about a sonnet's strict rules, while the ninth line ushers in a resolution to the problem.

Collins, like Shakespeare, doesn't want to be restrained by the rules of the art he creates. His poem is an attempt to break the mold, to prove that it is acceptable to try new techniques in writing. However, the fact that he still employs many of the sonnet's requirements proves that he still respects the structure that accompanies poetic form. Shakespeare employs a similar technique by using romantic words to describe the undesirableness of his mistress. Both of these authors use irony to deliver their message. By doing so, they are capable of both criticizing and praising the rules of poetry at the same time.


Works Cited
Collins, Billy. “Sonnet.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 553.
Shakespeare, William. “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 552-553.

Monster and Gender

For decades, International Relations theories have circulated in a primarily male-dominated arena, and it wasn't until the late 1980s that women began contributing a feminine voice to IR debates. The second wave of feminism had ended and the third was beginning, and women were determined to have their opinions included in IR. The recognition of women in IR, feminists argued, required more than simply adding feminist issues to the mix of preexisting conditions in the international arena. According to Cynthia Weber, feminists “stressed that feminist questions change the very terms in which IR was approached, understood, and studied” (82). This was a challenge for IR scholars who had built their theories around the concept of man, the state and war – the term “man” intended to represent a gender-free individual. However, as feminist issues were applied to IR, it became evident that there were not simply issues relevant to “man,” but issues relevant to men and women separately as well as together.

As feminist views were incorporated into IR, many scholars, like Adam Jones, determined that the feminist agenda was narrowly focused on only issues pertaining to women, and that it blamed men as the primary source of womens' hardships. In regards to war and peace, Jones says, “the plight of embodied women is front and centre throughout, while the attention paid to the male/masculine realm amounts to little more than lip-service” (88). There is no doubt that feminism has received a negative backlash for all of the reasons Jones outlines.

To be sure that men weren't being short-changed by the elevation of women, Jones recommended that the notion of feminism in IR be rebranded to discuss gender in IR, therefore calling attention to masculine as well as feminine issues. Jones introduced the myth, “gender is a variable,” claiming that gender is a characteristic of identity that can be placed as desired or necessary. As gender debates amount to little more than pieces being moved on a chess board, it is easy to believe that gender is a variable that can be placed where necessary. Defining gender as a neutral variable that brings the voices of both sexes to the IR table is a tantalizing option. But is gender something that can be divorced from the way an individual perceives the world? Or is it a constant variable that can be used to manipulate the world?

The 2003 film, Monster, is based on the true story of the United States' first convicted female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, and pushes Jones' myth to the limit, questioning whether gender is inherent, unavoidable, and a part of our undeniable identity, or if it is a tool that can be used and withdrawn when either gender elects to use that variable to their advantage. Wuornos challenged traditional gender roles at every turn, working as a prostitute, being involved in a lesbian relationship, and eventually morphing into a man-killing “monster.” Wuornos admitted to killing six men between 1989 and 1990, and she was executed for her crimes in 2002. She was unrepentant in her admission of the acts, as if the victims deserved to pay for what she claimed to be a life of male-dominated oppression. The legal system decided that Wuornos had, in fact, used her gender to seek revenge for the injustices she'd felt. As a prostitute, she seduced men into desiring her sexual services, and then, just before she delivered, she murdered them. At first glance, it certainly seems that gender can be a variable. But the film depicts Wuornos as more than just a murderous prostitute. Flashbacks show that Wuornos turned to killing as a result of the constant oppression she'd endured because of her gender since she was a small child. While she may have used her gender to her advantage while seeking murderous justice, she had previously failed to escape the confinement of her gender time and time again. This is what drove Wuornos to her monstrous crimes.

Although the film doesn't attempt to justify Wuornos' actions, it does depict her as a flawed, loving, and hopeful character. It becomes easy to sympathize with her even though her crimes are so outrageous. The film begins with Wuornos' narration as she reminisces about letting boys look at her breasts for money and acceptance. She was raped by a family friend at age 8, and when she told her father about it, he beat her. She was pregnant by the age of 13, and by the time she was old enough to care for herself, all she knew was sex. She kept searching for the right man to take her away from her miserable life, exchanging sexual favors for attention. When the men started refusing her attention and paying her money instead, she accepted prostitution as a way of life. At one point in the film, Wuornos makes up her mind to change her lifestyle, to get a job, and to clean up her act. She is ridiculed for her ignorance at every turn, and even a police officer propositions her for a sex act, telling her, “Once a prostitute, always a prostitute.” Wuornos claimed self-defense in the first murder; she said the man raped and brutalized her beforehand. But while the film generates some sympathy for Wuornos and her unfortunate life, it still depicts the brutality of the murders and the calculating attitude with which she carried them out. By the third murder, she was carefully planning the engagements and keeping newspaper clippings about the murders as mementos.

Monster speaks volumes about what is typical and what is deviant regarding gender roles in modern United States society. First, it proves that a society based on gender and class hierarchies has no sympathy for abused girls who grow up to be prostitutes. The legal system determined Wuornos to be not only guilty but deserving of the death penalty. Second, it reaffirms – and then challenges – the typical roles of dominant males and submissive females. It depicts how males work to keep females “in their place.” Wuornos' story is not typical of every woman's, but it is an extreme case of the male-dominated oppression many women encounter at some point in their lives. When Wuornos finally decided to act on the anger raging within her, she took on a more dominant role, and at last used her gender as a variable, luring men into a deadly trap. Third, the movie joins a long line of films depicting lesbians as dangerous. Wuornos becomes involved with a woman just as she begins her murderous rampage. Her disgust for men prevents her from having sexual relations with them outside of prostitution, so she becomes involved with Selby Wall who teaches her how it feels to be loved and then eventually gives her up for her crimes. But Wuornos is not the strategic, psychological killer that is portrayed in films like Basic Instinct. She kills with a gun, providing some distance between it and her victims, because she knows her physical presence is incapable of creating fear in the men. All of these gender variables which Wuornos embodies are characteristics of her identity, regardless of how deviant they are considered by others. Wuornos knows that no one has experienced what she has, and she doesn't feel guilty about her crimes. If gender is a variable, it is a qualitative and quantitative factor, but Wuornos deviated from typical gender roles so frequently that it would be a difficult variable to examine. While many of Wuornos' characteristics could be considered deviant, the film sheds light on the motivations behind her actions – motivations that certainly invoke sympathy from the audience.

Wuornos' story proves that classifying gender as a variable isn't as simple as Jones and other IR scholars would like it to be. Gender issues are constantly evolving to reflect the change taking place in male and female identities world wide. By calling gender a variable, Jones is attempting to reach a gender-free solution for IR, but because he deems women as incapable of balanced reasoning, his analysis is biased from the beginning. As Weber suggests, IR scholars like Jones “fear that their own privileged perspectives on international politics and their own centralized questions might be displaced – if not replaced – by feminist ones”(90). By calling gender a variable, Jones is attempting to put feminism in its place, making it tow the line alongside masculine issues. He is holding the feminists to the classical standards of international theory, but gender issues today deal with topics classical theory didn't think to recognize. From prostitution to homosexuality to the serial murder of men, Wuornos proved that women could not be held to typical gender roles in today's modern society.

Feminist V. Spike Peterson claims that gender is not a variable, but a world view: “Feminist scholarship, both deconstructive and reconstructive, takes seriously the following two insights: first, that gender is socially constructed, producing subjective identities through which we see and know the world, and second, that the world is pervasively shaped by gendered meanings” (89). This statement suggests that gender is not something that can be removed from the way an individual has been shaped nor from the way they view the world around them. Gender is inherent; it comes with the territory of being reared in a world comprised of engendered social norms. Jones suggests that for the betterment of IR, males and females alike must be able to stand outside of their gender to evaluate the world. Monster proves that this is an impossible feat to accomplish. The film is based on Wuornos' true story, a murderous rampage fueled by her depressing view of the world. A female who had been sexually violated her entire life, Wuornos found it impossible to escape the oppression of her gender. She simply could not divorce a lifetime of experience from the urge to taste justice.

Jones talks about issues affecting primarily men that could be brought to the IR table alongside feminist issues, one of which is the issue of men as victims of murder. In Monster, however, Wuornos' victims are undeveloped and the story is told from her point of view. No case is necessary for the victims; the brutal murders speak for themselves, and Wuornos was both convicted and executed thereafter. If the film weren't based on a true story, though, it is doubtful that the outcome would have been the same. It successfully creates sympathy for Wuornos, and if the circumstances had been different, testimonials on behalf of the victims might have been necessary. If the tables were turned, Jones would have appreciated the opportunity for testimonies to be given against one of the United States' first female serial killers. Neither the prosecution nor the defense in this case could successfully stand outside of their gender to determine Wuornos' guilt or innocence.

Monster puts Jones' theory that gender is a variable to the ultimate test. Wuornos, by finally electing to use her gender to lure men into a deadly revenge scheme, proves that gender can be a variable, but not that it always is. There were many times in her life when she wanted nothing more than to escape the confinement of her gender, but failed in her attempts to do so. Instead, Monster proves that gender is both a world view and a characteristic of one's personal identity, something which cannot be separated from the issues that women are likely to bring to the table during IR debates.

As depicted in the film, Wuornos supported her own death sentence. She lacked remorse regarding the murders and thought death to be the only way to escape her oppression. It is imperative that gender issues like those that Wuornos suffered are not ignored in the political arena. IR scholars like Jones who attempt to keep women in their place are only increasing the negative psychological impact that women endure while trying to find equality. Jones' notion of gender in IR as opposed to narrowly-focused feminism is admirable, especially by those who feel the feminist agenda has, indeed, been too concerned with single-gender issues. However, his arguments beg the question as to whether men feel that they are losing a piece of the proverbial pie to women's social elevation. This power struggle must be abandoned for gender progress to be made in the world. Feminist nor masculine issues can be ignored when proposed in IR. Instead, IR scholars must be willing to take on a simultaneous feminine and masculine world view, as gender is not a variable, but instead a component of the identities of the individuals composing the world as we know it.

Works Cited
Monster. Dir. Patty Jenkins. Perf. Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci. 2003. DVD. Media 8 Entertainment, 2004.
Weber, Cynthia.International Relations Theory: A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005.