The Sorrowful Woman is a complex story of a grim lady who defies most stereotypical roles that society has envisioned that one must follow. The wife who is also a mother of a child, simply cannot fulfill her marital and motherly duties. Throughout the story the reader may come to a realization that the protagonist is suffering from a type chronic depression. The reader may come to this conclusion based on three instances that occurred within the lines of the literary prose. The protagonist may suffer from a form of chronic depression called Persistent depressive disorder (Dysthymia), because of her negative views towards her family, her isolation, and her attempt to take her own life. Upon reading the first two sentences, one could come to a conclusion that the resentment of her family stems from something deeper, rather than her true feelings for her family. In the second sentence of the short story The Sorrowful Woman, the protagonist feels that the sight of her family maker her, “sad and sick” (Godwin 39). According to Timothy Rogge from the Family Medical Psychiatry Center in Kirkland, Washington; “People with PDD will often take a negative or discouraging view of themselves, their future, other people, and life events” ("Persistent Depressive Disorder"). This is regularly seen throughout The…show more content… It seems that her unruly resentment of her family pushed her into isolation. After the incident with her child; where she hit him, she locked herself in her own room. She later separated herself all together from her family and the outside world (Godwin 40,42). This in part may be more or less from the fear of what she’ll do rather than what will happen to her, so in turn she blocks out the entire world, including her family. As the story progresses, the constant isolation leads to a host of other problems for the