Depression in the 1800s

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman written in the 1890s both reflect gender roles of this time, specifically women’s roles. In these stories both of the women are oppressed by their marriages, and by the end of the stories both wish to be rid of their husbands. Also, in both of these stories these women experience mental illnesses, mainly depression. These illnesses were looked at as something minor during this time, was it because psychologists were uneducated, or because as women their mental stability did not really matter? These stories connect so well because of their work to bring to the surface the reality of gender roles in the 1800s. Even though these stories were fictional their ideas were very real. By comparing how men and women were treated during this time, and how they are treated more equally now, it shows that with time American has come a long way.

brain, or sending patients to institutions, doctor prescribed pills to try and treat mental conditions. In addition mental health patients were no longer being institutionalized due to the poor conditions in mental institutions (History of Mental Illness”)

In the short stories “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper”” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonists experience mental illness, loneliness, feelings of being in control of their lives, and feelings of being insane. Both main characters struggle against male domination and control. The two stories take place in the late 1800’s - early 1900’s, a time where men’s place in society was superior to that of women. Each story was written from a different perspective and life experiences. “A Rose for Emily” was written by a man and told in third personal narration, while “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by a female and told in first person.

The structure of the text, particularly evident in the author’s interactions with her husband, reveals the binary opposition between the façade of a middle-class woman living under the societal parameters of the Cult of Domesticity and the underlying suffering and dehumanization intrinsic to marriage and womanhood during the nineteenth century. While readers recognize the story for its troubling description of the way in which the yellow wallpaper morphs into a representation of the narrator’s insanity, the most interesting and telling component of the story lies apart from the wallpaper. “The Yellow Wallpaper” outwardly tells the story of a woman struggling with post-partum depression, but Charlotte Perkins Gilman snakes expressions of the true inequality faced within the daily lives of nineteenth century women throughout the story. Although the climax certainly surrounds the narrator’s overpowering obsession with the yellow wallpaper that covers the room to which her husband banished her for the summer, the moments that do not specifically concern the wallpaper or the narrator’s mania divulge a deeper and more powerful understanding of the torturous meaning of womanhood.

In 1929 the stock market crashes due to an unstable economy, over speculation and Government policies. Many people think that the stock crash was to blame for the Great Depression but that is not correct. Both the crash and depression were the result of problems with the economy that were still underneath society 's minds. The depression affected people in a series of ways: poverty is spreading causing farm distress, unemployment, health, family stresses and unfortunately, discrimination increases. America tended to blame Hoover for the depression and all the problems. When the 1932 election came people weren’t very fond of Hoover, but Roosevelt on the other hand introduced Happy Days and everyone loved that idea.

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two well written short stories that entail both similarities and differences. Both short stories were written in the late 1800’s early 1900’s and depict the era when women were viewed less important than men. The protagonist in each story is a woman, who is confined in solitary due to the men in their lives. The narrator in “A Rose for Emily” is the mutual voice of the townspeople of Jefferson, while Emily Grierson is the main character in the story that undergoes a sequence of bad events. The unnamed, female narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is also the main character whose journal we read. This difference in tense gives each story a

The Great Depression was a time of tragedy and despair. There are several factors, which have contributed to the health of the nation during the Great Depression. While there were setbacks, there were also improvements during this time. Disabling diseases were more common in low-income families. However, cures for diseases were also found. Studies have found that the life expectancy increased during and after the great depression.

This annotated bibliography is designed to give the readers comprehensive understand of how the theme of feminism is manifested in William Faulkner short story A Rose for Emily. The information gathered about the story was mainly taken from scholarly journals and credible internet sources. The information gathered on the primary text gives and in-depth and critical look on the topic feminism. Through ongoing secondary research literary critics have a wide interpretations of the primary sources. In relation to the topic feminism, literary critics say that feminism can be seen in the story. Issues that literary critics emphases on are the reason behind the feminism theme. Some say it is because of the author personality, while others say it is just the writer expressing what he sees around him during the time that the story was written. These interpretation by literary critics have influenced me not only to look at the words in story but also to look at the author. Further research on the author would be useful, which will give me a full understand of who he is and what was going on when the story was written.

The Great Depression wasn't the first depression this country has ever seen, but by far it was the worst and longest economic decline in history. The Depression officially began on October 29, 1929, which is known as Black Tuesday today; the ripple effect started after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Wall Street was the banking district in New York where the New York City Stock Exchange (NYSE) was located (Wroble 14). The Depression lasted for a lengthy ten years. While Franklin D. Roosevelt was running to become the 32nd president of the United States, he promised to have all the solutions on how to handle the Depression and get America back to its former beauty. When Franklin became president on March 4, 1933, he immediately put all his ideas together and called them The First and Second New Deals, both programs helped repair and restore the nation in economic and emotional ways.

The women in Faulkner's and Gilman's stories are victims of male over-protectiveness.  The men that rule their lives trap Emily in "A Rose For Emily" and the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper". Each character must retreat into their own world as an escape from reality.

Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, any sensible reader will feel disturbed in at

A suspenseful tale of tradition versus change is told with the help of literary elements in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily. Foreshadowing and symbolism develop Emily’s tragic fate in a way the reader is exposed to how deeply death and sociatal change have effected Miss Emily. Faulkner displays how effective these elements are for a short story to truly have an impact on the

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story about a new mother attempting to overcome her diagnosis of depression by being cooped up in a room without normal human interaction as prescribed by a top-rated male psychologist. The gender role expected of the nineteeth century woman was not ideal to the main character. The story goes on to critique the treatment plan set forth by her husband and psychologist. This in turn critiques the entire belief system in the nineteeth century that women should not be working outside the home. Gilman reveals in “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’?” that the story parallels one of

“A Rose for Emily” is a Southern Gothic short story written by William Faulkner. The main character, Miss Emily Grierson, has a story and personality that can be analyzed from many different viewpoints. Focusing more on the psychological perspective, Miss Emily is very erratic and idiosyncratic in behavior. She isolates herself in her home and locks up her house to prevent anyone from coming in. Her home hides many secrets, but the one that stands out the most is the corpse of Homer Barron, Miss Emily’s lover. For years, Miss Emily has lived and slept with the corpse, which was unknown for many years by all the townspeople. After this is discovered, Miss Emily’s mental health and stability became the main topic of interest to both the townspeople and the readers of this story.