Societal Pressures

In the short stories “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth humans are faced with conflicts caused by society and their immediate outside surroundings. These problems include societal pressures from others and inner fears. The problems faced by these people are related to possible problems children face at the service learning opportunity through Soccer Without Borders.

This week I continued taking the necessary steps to becoming certified to become a volunteer at Soccer Without Borders. On Tuesday night, I attended a mandatory prep session for all volunteers. At this prep session, the group discussed their fears, hopes and expectations for service. In addition, we discussed how it is important to go into service with an open mind. You cannot go to service with the mindset that you are here to help someone, as then you are acting as the superior. Rather, you should go with the mindset that “I am not okay because you are not ok.” This mindset will allow you to truly connect with the children. In addition to this, I learned more about many of the children I will be working with. Many of the children are refugees and not all will be able to speak fluent English. The societal problems the people in the literary works encountered are similar to potential problems these children can face.

The short story “The Birthmark” is about a brilliant scientist, Aylmer, who becomes obsessed with what he believes the single flaw his beautiful wife, Georgiana, has, a birthmark on her cheek. To Aylmer, this birthmark symbolizes what is wrong with his wife. Aylmer comes to spite this birthmark such a great amount, his wife learns to hate it as well. Georgiana expresses her desire to have it removed, and he explains with confidence he can do so, as he is a brilliant scientist. Through this, Aylmer characteristic of being a scientist and having a desire to be more powerful than nature can be seen. Ultimately, Aylmer does remove the birthmark, but Georgiana dies in the process. The conflict that Georgiana faces can be related to potential problems the children at service learning could face as they can be victims of unnecessary pressures from their peers because they may be different in some aspects.

In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator and her husband John, a physician, rent a large estate for the summer. The narrator has been suffering from “nervous depression”, and John, who is also her doctor, hopes this will help her. John withholds his wife from any real activity, but she keeps a journal secretively. As the summer goes on through the narrator’s writing it is observed she has become fixated on the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom. At first, she is intrigued by the wallpaper, but this turns to obsession as she seeks to discern its meaning. She comes to see the wallpaper as a woman trapped behind the main pattern trying to escape. By the end of the short story, the narrator has lost her sanity and convinced herself that she is one of the woman that has escaped from the wallpaper. The problem the narrator faces is similar to potential problems the refugee children can encounter because it shows how powerful societal pressures can be. Because many of the children come from a different culture and background they may feel the need to change their ways to fit in, but this is not true. It is important to keep in mind who you truly are, and I hope to show this to the children.

In the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” the speaker is wandering through the hills feeling lonely and down on himself. Suddenly he sees thousands of daffodils waving in the wind, and began to feel better. The speaker did not realize how truly amazing it was until later. Now the speaker thinks of the daffodils when he is feeling down and it turns to joy. The refugee children can face the problem of loneliness in different ways. They may miss their friends from home or be unable to connect with new peers. I hope to be the metaphor of the daffodils and bring joy to the children.

All the works read in class this weak represents problems in society the refugee children at service learning can potentially encounter. My hope for service learning is to help eliminate these conflicts for the children so they are comfortable in their new homes.