TASK 1: WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Short story is one of the components in literature. Hansen (2019) defined short story as a
brief fictional narrative that is shorter than a novel and usually consists only a few characters.
Instead of creating a masterpiece, short story is also wrote to instill joyful feelings. It existed since
19th century and still relevant in the midst of our globalization era. However, there is a slight
changes between short story during 19th and 21st century. Anna (2011) stated the changes in
short story is reformed to create a better version to be read. Despite of the changes, short story
is still a literature that draws upon and departs from tradition to understand the present. Hence,
in order to understand the similarities and differences between 19th and 21st century, it will be
highlighted through ‘The Revolt of “Mother” by Mary E Wilkins Freeman (1890)’ and ‘A Haunted
House by Virginia Woolf (2015)’.
Both of these short stories were written by female authors. Freeman through her story
portrayed the gender inequality happening during late 1800s in America. She revealed that
woman was always oppressed by the man and assumed to be weak. However, she created the
“mother’s” character to show that woman can make a difference and stand up for themselves.
She wants to prove that woman is strong despite of their personality. Meanwhile, Woolf was trying
to portray the treasures of life which are joy and love via stream of consciousness and irony.
James (1890) defined this term as a method of narration to express in words the flow of
characters’ thoughts and feelings in their minds. Joy and love can be seen through the characters’
word; treasure. Irony on the other hand can be seen through the title itself. It makes us think the
house was an evil place but it ends up with a lot of good things happened in the house.

2.0 BRIEF SUMMARY

‘The Revolt of “Mother”’ focuses on a mother, Sarah who takes a stand against her
authoritarian husband. Most of mothers during late 1800s was brought up to be subservient to
men. It was a culture in America at that moment assuming women are less intelligent, weaker
and less important. Hence, Sarah as the “mother” is the one who starts to demand and stand for
her rights, a house her husband had promised.
‘A Haunted House’ is a story about a lady overhears to a dead couple (the ghosts) going
back to their house looking for a treasure they believe is buried inside the house. The hidden
treasure they are looking for is actually an emotional feeling of joy and love which is safely buried
by the living couple.

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3.0 GENRE
The differences between these short stories can be seen through their genres. ‘The Revolt
of “Mother”’ is focusing on feminist genre. Thompson (2018) stated feminist genre literature as a
material written by a woman or man addressing attitudes towards women in society and the
attempt to break down gender-specific misconceptions. This type of genre is born from the need
to express injustice and to make change. In this short story, Sarah stands up for her rights and
determined to get what she is promised. With the motivation to improve her living conditions and
stabilize her daughter’s future marriage, she bravely converted the new built barn into their new
house. Her husband at the end gives in and follows Sarah’s wishes.
Meanwhile, the genre of ‘A Haunted House’ is fantasy. Even though the title looks like a
horror genre, it is actually a fantasy genre about a ghost couple and a living couple staying in the
same house. The writer also states that the story can also be a love story because of the phrase
‘the light in the heart’. The ghosts are looking for their missing love and say it is safe buried inside
the living couple.
It is clearly shown that the genres have changed from time to time. During 19th, the genre
is focusing on equalities and freedom, while during 21st, the type of genres expand to love, fantasy
and so on.

4.0 MEDIUM OF PRESENTATION

‘The Revolt of “Mother”’ was published in a book while ‘A Haunted House’ was presented
via e-book. People nowadays is giving excuses like they are too tired to read a book and not
enough of time to read or bring book along (Lambordi, 2019). Hence, it is a good solution to
publish stories via internet medium such as e-book, blog, Facebook and so on. This will help to
improve people’s interest to read as they can just use the smartphones. Frank (2013) also agreed
that e-book is the new world of reading which targeted to increase reading population. Even
though the first copy of The Revolt of “Mother”’ was presented into a book, now it is also available
in pdf version and it was adapted into a movie too.

5.0 THEME
Letourneau (2014) defined theme as the main idea of a literary work to give readers better
understanding. The Revolt of “Mother”’ focuses on the repression of women in a male-dominated
society. America’ society in late 1800s expected women to keep house, cook and doing the house
chores. Sarah’s husband breaks his promise to build her a new house and he also ignores her
question. This can be seen in this line, ‘I wish you’d go into the house, mother, an’ tend to your

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own affairs,’ the old man said then.’ It clearly shown the husband probably thinks Sarah will listen
to him as he has power as the hose’s leader. Moreover, the theme of self-assertion is also
portrayed in this story. In achieving her goal, Sarah uses the tactic of remain silent but firm self-
assertion. She moves her family into the new barn built by husband instead of a new house. Her
husband finally accedes to her wishes and he knows he cannot live without his wife.
As for ‘A Haunted House’, love is shown through the ghostly lovers. The theme of love is
introduced when it is revealed that the ghost couple discovering their treasure which is their loving
moments they shared in the home, particularly the bedroom. At the end of the story, they say that
their treasure is safe because the living couple also lovely to each other.

6.0 TONE
The Revolt of “Mother”’ shows the tone of curious and defensive. Curiosity can be seen
through Sarah’s character when she non-stop asking her husband about the cellar and the born.
The short story also has a lot of questions asked by Sarah. Defensive is introduced when Sarah
knows her husband breaking the promise, so she courageously being firm for her rights. She
strictly stands up for her rights to get a new house as promised 40 years ago. Finally, the rights
is hers.

The tone for ‘A Haunted House’ is playful and lighthearted. Even though it is a ghost story,
readers can realize that the ghosts who are conducting a search pose no threat to the living
couple. It was written as a scary story at first but as we read in depth, it was actually presenting
a playful tone.

6.0 CLOSURE
Based on the comparison between 19th and 21st century short stories, it can be concluded
that there are some similarities and differences between both. The similarity is the need of the
authors to write the short stories. Freeman needs the world to know the gender inequality
happened during late 1800s in America and she as a feminist created a character that shows the
power of a woman. Woolf on the other hand wants to proof that joy and love is the most valuable
treasure in life, even the dead seeks for. Both of the short stories consist of themes, tones and
the way the presented their stories. The differences are the element in each literary devices
mentioned before. ‘The Revolt of “Mother”’ reveals the themes of domination of man over woman
and self-assertion of a woman using curious and defensive tone while ‘A Haunted House’ shows
the theme of love via playful and lighthearted tone. In addition, the story is published in a book in
19th century while in 21st century, it is presented in e-book. As a conclusion, no matter how old or

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latest the literature is, it is still relevant to be read and it functions as an entertainment and a
lesson for people.
(1370 words)

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REFERENCES

Anna, P. (2011) Aspects in Literature Learning. Nottingham: Karlray Publication.

Frank, M. (2013) The New Evolution of Book: E-book. California: Pearson Ptd.
Freeman, M. E. (1890). The Revolt of 'Mother' . New York: Harper's Bazaar.
Hansen, A. J. (2019, February 6). Short Story: Quick Facts. Retrieved from Literature:
https://www.britannica.com/art/short-story
James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology. Ontaria: Pearson Workpress.
Letourneau, S. (2014, November 17). What is Theme and Why is it Important? Retrieved from
https://diymfa.com/writing/theme-important
Lombardi, E. (2019, January 11). Why We Don't Read: The 7 Poorest Excuses with Easy Fixes
for Each. Retrieved from ThoughtCo.: https://www.thoughtco.com/why-people-dont-read-
738494
Thompson, L. (2018). American Feminist Literature: Definition and Characteristics. Retrieved
from Study.Com: https://study.com/academy/lesson/american-feminist-literature-
definition-characteristics-quiz.html
Woolf, V. (2015, November 29). A Haunted House and Other Short Stories. Retrieved from
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91h/index.html