Sissy vs "The American Boy"

Sissy is a unique story unlike any of our previous readings, that challenges the our previous concept of the “American boy” and the “American girl.” Kellogg uses Sissy to merge the division between the roles of boys and girls in early literature. Sissy engaged in activities that were previously reserved solely for women of the time period and represents a hybrid character that strays from the norm of 19th century literature. He possessed a girl's taste and delicacy and skill combined with a boy's physical strength and hardihood" (Kellogg 546). This idea is a complete contrast to the bold and adventurous characters we see in Tom Sawyer and Ragged Dick. Sissy would never accompany Dick on a night of whiskey drinking at The Old Bowery Theatre or go along with Tom in deceiving Aunt Polly.

In both Tom Sawyer and Sissy, our protagonist was raised without the presence of a fatherly figure, but each character handles this adversity differently. Sissy was focused on pleasing his mother and maintaining a close and loving relationship with her. On the contrary mischievous Tom views his motherly figure, Aunt Polly, as the disciplinarian and tries his hardest to defy her authority.

Throughout the story others accept Sissy for who he is even though he is so far from a typical boy in many respects. Kellogg uses language that illustrates Sissy as a kindhearted, gentle boy that is accepted by others despite his differences. This story conveys an underlying message encouraging people to be open to others rather than reject them for their differences.

Short Stories

I definitely have enjoyed reading these short stories much more than the longer pieces we have read previously. Not only because of the short length but also because they are more open to the reader’s interpretation. I have to take a new approach when reading these short stories as opposed to a longer text. When reading stories like these I am forced to pay close attention to every word, being so brief, the author uses every word for a reason and if you do not pay close enough attention to the language you could easily misinterpret what is actually going on. On the other hand, In lengthier novels there is a greater amount of description and I am able to speed through the text skimming over some words while still maintaining a clear understanding of what is actually happening in the story.

In Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby, I was forced to examine the author’s every word carefully to understand what was actually going on in each short story. Lines like this one from The Yellow Wallpaper “I would not say this to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper." (Gilman 505) This quote is consistent with the idea we discussed in class that the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper was actually dead the entire story and narrating the story as a ghost. “I lie here on this great immovable bed—it is nailed down” (509) This quotation leads us to believe that she is already dead or buried alive in a coffin maybe and is another supporting example of how subtle and careful word choices in short stories can completely change the meaning of the text to something deeper.