“A Sorrowful Woman”
Author: Gail Godwin
By: Adrean Rogers & Iqra Khan
About the Author
Gail Godwin
• Gail Godwin, a brilliant author of many short stories and great
novels was born in Birmingham, Alabama.
• Godwin earned her two degrees in journalism and a Ph.D in English
from the University of North Carolina and University of Iowa.
• She has received enormous grants from different foundations, such
as; the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim
Foundation, and the American Institute for the Arts and Letters.
• She has been nominated for National Book Awards and has had
several national best sellers. She has published; A Mother and
Two Daughters (1981), Glass People (1971), The Finishing
School (1985), Evensong (1999) and other bestsellers. Godwin
has received tremendous recogonization for her short stories and
novels.
Elements of Fiction
•Plot
•Character
•Setting
•Point of view
•Symbolism
•Theme
•Style, Tone, and Irony
PLOT
• Definition: the author selections and
•
•
arrangements if incidents in a story to shape the
actions and give the story a particular focus.
Example- Plot includes not just what happens,
but also how and why things happen.
In “A Sorrowful Woman” the story was
centered around the idea of marriage and
motherhood.
Character
• Definition: is a person presented in a
dramatic or a narrative work
• Example-
– An protagonists is the hero or heroine who
engages the readers
– An antagonist is the character who stands
directly oppose to the protagonist.
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Character
• In the “A Sorrowful Woman” the characters are:
• 1) Husband- main character, sympathetic, loving, caring, and
understanding father. Who devoted his time and effort to
please his wife by taking care of her and his child while she
was in her depressing state.
– Examples
•
•
•
• Chores• Paying bills
• Roles- mother and father role
2) Unnamed Wife (Mother) - the story presents a portrait of a
woman who was trapped in a depressive state of being a
mother and wife. She was diagnosed with a serious illness of
depression, which later caused to commit suicide.
3) Child- a toddler, who is a loving and understanding (“its all
alright, Mommy”)
4) The Girl- helped around the house and took care of the
child. The woman said, “The girl upsets me.” Therefore he
fires her. The girl said,” I love the little boy, what will become
of him now?”
Setting
• Time –
– The story starts off with one winter evening
and ends with first sign of spring.
• Place– The setting had taken place at the house.
• Social environment that frames characters
– Family
Point of view
• Definition: refers to who tells the story
and how it is told.
– First- person narrative- uses “I”
– Second- person narrative – uses “you”
– Third- Person- uses “he, she, or they”
• In “A Sorrowful Woman” the point of
view in this story is in third person.
Symbolism
• Definition: Person, object, image, word, or
event that evokes a range of addition
meaning beyond and usually more
abstract then it literary significance.
• In “A Sorrowful Woman” to one, a
Marriage and motherhood symbolizes
a happy ever after ending. However,
the story, which the author
emphasizes that marriage and
motherhood does not always end up
as a happy ending.
Theme
• Definition: central meaning or dominate
idea in the literary work
• In “A Sorrowful Woman” the stories
theme of marriage and motherhood
is that the unnamed wife was
depress that she felt as if she was
being suffocated with the roles of
being a mother and wife.
Style
• Definition: unique manner in which a
writer arrange words to achieve particular
effects.
• In “A Sorrowful Woman” no complicated
sentence structure was used in this
story.
Tone
• Definition- the author implicitly attitude toward
the reader or people, place, and events in a
work as revived by the elements of the authors
style.
• Sad or happy
• Private or public
• Serious or ironic
• Angry or affectionate
• In “A Sorrowful Woman” the author presumed
that the unnamed woman (wife) had a
happy and beautiful life before she had a
child. Therefore this story portrays the
happiness and sadness of the story.
Irony
• Definition: literary device that uses contradictory
statements or situations to reveal a reality different
from what appears to be true.
– Verbal Irony- a figure of speech that occurs when a
person says one thing but means the opposite.
• The author uses verbal irony in the story when the
narrator uses the three phrases, which states that the
husband understands his wife, however, he does not
understand his wife at all. This shows verbal irony
because by him saying he understands is a form of
composure that causes a problem rather than a solution.
– Situational Irony- exist when there is an incongruity
between what is expect to happen and what actual
happens due to forces beyond human comprehensions or
control (suicide).
• The reader never expected that the unnamed woman
(wife) would commit suicide because of her being
depress about her life.