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Sandra

The document summarizes the short story "Breathing Method" by Stephen King. It tells the story of a woman named Sandra Stanfield in the 1930s who becomes pregnant out of wedlock, defying social stigma. She seeks help from a physicist who created a breathing technique for childbirth. Even after a terrible accident risks her pregnancy, Sandra remains determined to be a mother. The story explores the difficulties faced by unmarried pregnant women in the early 20th century through Sandra's sympathetic portrayal.

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169 views3 pages

Sandra

The document summarizes the short story "Breathing Method" by Stephen King. It tells the story of a woman named Sandra Stanfield in the 1930s who becomes pregnant out of wedlock, defying social stigma. She seeks help from a physicist who created a breathing technique for childbirth. Even after a terrible accident risks her pregnancy, Sandra remains determined to be a mother. The story explores the difficulties faced by unmarried pregnant women in the early 20th century through Sandra's sympathetic portrayal.

Uploaded by

Anonymous OP6R1ZS
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Breathing Method tells the story of a middle-aged lawyer who is invited by a colleague

to join a distinguished club. It is a club of successful professionals, where they come together to

play cards, have a few drinks and tell each other stories. Before Christmas, there is a custom to

tell a story about the extraordinary and the moment this novel takes place, a very old doctor

decides to tell a story about how he attended a rather sinister birth. It is the shortest story of this

collection one that comes closest to a horror story. The atmosphere created for this story is

excellent, presents a young lawyer who begins to move among the most exclusive circles but

leaving a paranormal and quite sinister air; what at first sight looks like a simple club is

something much gloomier. The story begins in an exclusive gentlemen's club where the only

price to be a member is to tell stories. A man begins to tell a tale of a woman who in 1903 was

determined to give birth to an illegitimate child, regardless of financial problems and social

disapproval.

The story surrounding the "breathing method" in question occurred in the 1930s when a

woman decides to give birth to an illegitimate child, despite the social stigma of the time.

Concerned, she seeks the help of physicist Dr. Emlyn McCarron, who formulated the theory

that helps pregnant women to give birth best with a breathing technique. The two approach, and

McCarron realizes that the woman is even determined to be a mother, even after a terrible

accident puts the pregnancy at risk.

The female characters in Stephen King's fiction have received considerable critical

attention. However, a textual and historical analysis of the female character Sandra Stanfield in

the breathing method shows them in a more constructive light. Such an analysis reveals them

sympathetic portrayals of the situation of pregnant women at the turn of the twentieth century.

An historical contextualization of the characters is essential in any reading of Stephen King, but
is particularly important for his female characters. The starting point is the event that occurred

to Dr. Emlyn McCarron, author of `The Method of Breathing ', an aid book for laboring

breathing. The doctor attended the birth of an illegitimate child when his mother is accidentally

decapitated on the way to hospital.

An historical and textual analysis also reveals a noticeable shift in the characterization

of women from his early novel to his later novels. Usually, it was female characters who were

made object to the narrator's desires, but since the story is told from a female perspective, the

roles are reversed. The reader entirely needs to rely on his or her imagination to form a vivid

image of the beautiful woman, while this was not the case when reading Sandra Stanfield

portrayal. Interesting about the passages are the narrator's use of pronouns. Stephen king shift

from female pronouns as her and she, to male pronouns e.g. he or him.

The distinction between the male and the female gender is also noticeable in little details

such as a shift in pronouns. Moreover, throughout the progression of the collection of short

stories, the female characters become more detailed through the story of Sandra Stanfield, a

woman about to give birth who is willing to go beyond life and death so long as her son can be

born safe and sound. The layered or mosaic-like approach to her characterization is a departure

from Stephen King's earlier style, but the resultant character is engaging and intricately detailed.

Furthermore, the character of Sandra Sanfield is rooted in mythic tradition also, which serves

this aesthetic choice well. In the novella, Breathing Method by Stephen King's there is a cast of

characters that are expected to live a certain way according to what is expected out of their

society. Sandra Stanfield is a woman who represents the feminine ideal. She is what all women

in her society should be like. She is not married, but is pregnant. In the beginning of the novel,

Sandra Stanfield is a character who fits in with the society, but is unhappy with it. In fact, when
she decides to break away from what the society expects of her and becomes independent, she

shows that she is intimidated by being a single mother.

In conclusion, it is pertinent to say that the method of breathing is a story that comes

closest to his classic horror stories. Although the supernatural here does less the function of

terrorizing than that of amplifying the drama of a story that explores the tenacious obsession

with which a woman faces maternity, in the worst imaginable conditions. The writer treats the

old traditionalistic prejudices of American puritan society, under which a helpless woman like

this must fight to survive and defend her right to be herself.

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