Depression In Gail Godwin's A Sorrowful Woman

Gail Godwin is widely known for her fourteen novels, two collections of short stories, two works of nonfiction, and two books of narrative journals. Godwin has been recognized for many honors including an award in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Book Award finalist honors, and five best-seller placements. Gail Godwin’s writings have explored many different forms and themes. Moreover, in “A Sorrowful Woman,” Godwin exposed true light upon the hardships accompanying mental illness. When analyzing “A Sorrowful Woman,” one can see how well Godwin employs different elements of fiction—specifically characterization, setting, and plot—to convey an overall awareness to the fact that depression can occur in any person’s life. …show more content…
By using this technique of characterization, Godwin enables any reader to put themselves or see themselves from any character’s point of view in the story. “One winter evening she looked at them: the husband durable, receptive, gentle; the child a tender golden three.” (P 1). The portrayal of the family provided in this sentence is simplistic, seemingly a portrayal of any ordinary family. Through using only pronouns in the short story, the reader is only able to connect a woman to “she” and a man to “he.” The pronouns allow the reader to visualize any person as one of the characters showing how mental illness has the capability of affecting each and every person in the world. The vague manner of character descriptions allow readers to see that depression is not an illness involving only one certain group of people, it can affect anyone, at any

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Gail Godwin's A Sorrowful Woman