Gender Roles In The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Yellow Wallpaper" tells the story of a woman living in the nineteenth century who suffers from postpartum depression. The true meaning implicit in Charlotte's story goes beyond a simple psychological speculation. The story consists of a series of cleverly constructed short paragraphs, in which the author illustrates, through the unnamed protagonist's experiences, the possible outcome of women's acceptance of men's supposed intellectual superiority. The rigid social norms of the nineteenth century, characterized by oppression and discrimination against women, are supposedly among the causes of the protagonist's depression. However, it is her husband's tyrannical attitude what ultimately

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short-story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It was first published in 1892. This short-story is written in the first-person point of view. This helps show a collection of journal entries by a woman who is oppressed, suffering from what we now know as post-partum depression and denied a chance to express herself by her physician husband. This condition frustrates her health in the end, becoming psychotic and paranoid about any human contact, even delusional. She is locked in a solitary room for most of the story. She is only accompanied by old, peeling, yellow wallpaper. At the end of the story, the narrator talks about her freedom, further indicating the position of women at that time. This analysis of the short story focuses on the theme of gender brought forth in the story as well as the position Jane takes in furthering this theme.

John attempts to control even her inner life, her writing. She says that "he hates to have me write a word" (482). He says the writing is not good for people who are sick. He tells her that it will slow down her healing. Writing is the only thing that’s keeping her sane, but she is unable to do it freely. She has to hide her words so John does not find them. This shows that John has mental control as well as physical control.

Gender roles seem to be as old as time and have undergone constant, but sometime subtle, revisions throughout generations. Gender roles can be defined as the expectations for the behaviors, duties and attitudes of male and female members of a society, by that society. The story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a great example of this. There are clear divisions between genders. The story takes place in the late nineteenth century where a rigid distinction between the domestic role of women and the active working role of men exists (“Sparknotes”). The protagonist and female antagonists of the story exemplify the women of their time; trapped in a submissive, controlled, and isolated domestic sphere, where they are treated

In the second part of the sentence, it seems as though the woman doesn't want to believe what her husband is telling her thus setting the stage for her rebellion. All her husband wants her to do is rest and sleep: he even suppresses her creative talent by not allowing her to write. She is in constant fear of being caught by her husband; "I must put this away, -he hates to have me write a word." It seems as though John is being more of a father than a husband and because of this, she feels that she should be a "good girl" and appreciate what he is doing for her even though she knows that his diagnosis is killing her. "He takes all care from me, and I feel so basely ungrateful not to value it more...He took me in his arms and called me blessed little goose..." This is a clear indication of someone trying to run another person's life. By him not allowing her to write he is causing her depression to worsen. If she had been "allowed" to come and go as she pleased, her depression may have lifted: "I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve, the press of ideas and rest me." Her husband is suppressing the one major outlet that will help her get better in her seclusion, "writing." By absolutely forbidding her to work until she is well again he is imprisoning her and causing her depression. John has made her a prisoner not only in their home but also in

Men often times did not know much about their wife, or care to sit down and talk with her. They did not take great care to know how she was doing, or why she was feeling the way she was. The woman says, “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him.” The woman is showing a small amount of frustration towards her husband, because he does not concern himself with such “small things”.

John attempts to control even her inner life, her writing. She says that "he hates to have me write a word" (482). He says the writing is not good for people who are sick. He tells her that it will slow down her healing. Writing is the only thing that’s keeping her sane, but she is unable to do it freely. She has to hide her words so John does not find them. This shows that John has mental control as well as physical control.

Most women in America nowadays are lucky enough to consider themselves to be an independent individual, but females were not always guaranteed their freedoms. Throughout the early 1900’s, authors would characterize husbands to be controlling figures. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins demonstrates just how possessive the husband is to his wife in their marriage. This short story shows just how miserable the woman is to be in a marriage with John because John, thinks it would be best that his wife is isolated to get over her postpartum depression.“The Yellow Wallpaper” demonstrates how a male dominated society leads to the woman not being their own individual by using characterization, narrator perspective, and conflict between women and society.

She feels as if John is turning her whole family against her and her emotions. John never listens to anything his wife has to say to him. This is an example of how women feel their opinion or voice never mattered in the 1890’s.

To begin with, back in the late 1800’s women weren’t necessarily treated equally as men were. They were taught and told that they could not accomplish anything, to give up and surrender themselves to their husbands. It was so corrupt that even their thoughts would be kept to themselves because they were so afraid of their husbands to hear them.QUOTE. In this quote the narrator was ignored and told to stay in bed, regardless of what she thinks because like I said in this time period their opinions didn’t count. Men were over powered, they were the only gender to attend school and work in jobs. The narrator feels the struggle for all the women of where she lives, she notices that women can do just as much as men but the law permits women from doing anything at besides cooking and cleaning, even to fight to break the chain of control. Women were just tools; this is when the yellow wallpaper comes into play because it also symbolizes the mental

The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is about a mentally ill woman named Jane. She lives during a time when women did not have much they could do. The men dominated everything and were to make the decisions for the women. The man’s primary role was to be the provider, while the woman’s primary role was to be the housekeeper and caretaker. During this time period, women would have to ask their husbands, fathers, or even brothers if they could do something.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The short story was first published in January 1892, in The New England Magazine. Many readers first thought of this story as gothic fiction but would later be recognized as a feminist short story when the feminist movement arose in the early 1900’s. It is understandable to see why many readers would of first thought “the Yellow Wallpaper,” to be a gothic text or horror story; in the story a woman is put in a room and is isolated from the outside world as she slowly loses her mind or see’s ghosts in the walls. As the feminist movement started, many readers would relate the short story to male oppression, due to the fact the narrator’s husband made all the decisions

Women were supposed to stay home and take care of the family while the men of the family brought in the money for the family. This caused the stereotype that “women are meant to stay at home/kitchen” to be created. The Yellow Wallpaper was written in such a time (1892) thus the gender roles of men and women are clearly defined. The story gives us a glimpse at how life was back then and allows us to see how these standards affected women during that time period.

Women are often described as they are less than men. In the 19th century women were dominated by men and treated unequal, this made them feel lonely and isolated. Seeing that the 19th century society is different from today, because women were not permitted to work, they could not vote and even worst they could not have a word in anything. The short story "The Yellow Wallpaper” and also the narrator represent the impact of abuse of women in society. The narrator of the “Yellow Wallpaper” suffers from depression and her husband John is a physician. John as her husband and physician makes all decisions for her; this really bothers her, “but the narrator admits: if a physician of high standing,

“The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman offers the chance to view life through the eyes of a woman in the 19th century. The story portrays the inequality and injustice women had to endure from their husbands all the way up to society, as well as only being able to voice their opinions through writing or in silence. The conventional woman during this time-period was dependent, submissive, domestic, and far frailer than a man. Men in contrast, were far more dominant, independent, controlling, ambitious and active.