The Sculptors Funeral

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Time and space share a relationship that can be both socially and culturally defined. The relationship between time and space can be viewed in various aspects. When you hear the word “time”, what do you immediately think? “True, we register the passage of time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and so on using a single, objective scale” (Nealon & Giroux 109). In most cases, time is either used as an advantage or disadvantage to. For example, when a student is taking an exam and the professor says “you have twenty more minutes”, the student may feel that they have to rush to finish in time, whether on the other hand, some students may not need that much time to finish. Time can either fly by us before…show more content…
Merrick and Laird both stood out to the people that attended the sculptor’s funeral because both gentlemen were educated with careers, while the others were just ordinary townspeople. The education that these two men held, gave them power, which made them unique in comparison to these other individuals. “Harvey Merrick and I went to school together, back East. We were dead in earnest, and we wanted you all to be proud of us some day. We meant to be great men” (Cather 707). In other words, since Merrick and Laird both went to school together and especially because it was in the East, gives them more authority and superiority over others because of their advanced education. Both men wished to be great men, and by great men, they mean pursuing their educational goals and becoming successful. Time and space both play a major role in this portion of the story. The time in history the story took place as well as the location. The townspeople in Kansas were working on farms and growing crops for a living, while Merrick and Laird chose to get an education and break the stereotypical farm life the rest of people were content in living. The townspeople that appeared at Harvey’s funeral said negative things about him because he had an education and could think outside of the box unlike…show more content…
In this story, the two main characters, John, and his wife face obstacles between each other. Because John’s wife has a medical condition, he treats her like a child and does not give her any sense of freedom. John’s wife is trapped in a room with yellow wallpaper that may symbolize a prison due to the yellow stripes on the wallpaper. “In fact, our perception of time seems to have a lot more to do with how we’re spending it” (Nealon & Giroux 109-110). In this situation, John’s wife spends her time indoors all day in this one room and because of this, the concept of time seems to not exist. She stays home and takes care of the baby, while John works outside of the house and makes money to support the family. This is important during this time period because mothers were expected to stay home and take care of the children while the father goes off to work. The space in this part of the story is emphasized because the room symbolizes her trapped inside of her thoughts while simultaneously being trapped in the room. Since she is stuck inside all day in this one room, she takes the time to think about what it would be like to be outside and capture her own freedom. She says, “I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try” (Gilman 496). In this quote, it is

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