The Inevitable Outcome Of Fighting Social Norms

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

Throughout history, women have been expected to fit into a rigid gender stereotype. Women in the early 1900s would be expected to care for children, be able to do household duties and obey everything their husbands instructed. Those women that did not fit the stereotype were looked down upon by members of society and were often alienated. Edna, the protagonist of the novel, had to battle her inner conflict of not wanting to conform to society's standards throughout the novel. Over, and over again, she was reminded of the fact that she was different and that society did not approve of her way of thinking. In the novel The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the author uses the characters and their actions in society to express the oppression and expectations society had towards women.

Traditionally, men have held the power in society. Women have been treated as a second class of citizens with neither the legal rights nor the respect of their male counterparts. Culture has contributed to these gender roles by conditioning women to accept their subordinate status while encouraging young men to lead and control. Feminist criticism contends that literature either supports society’s patriarchal structure or provides social criticism in order to change this hierarchy. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts one women’s struggle against the traditional female role into which society attempts to force her and the societal reaction

In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman discusses the oppression men have towards women through the story of a nameless narrator during the 19th century. In the story, the unknown narrator, a woman, is telling her struggle for freedom and her fight to escape from the subordination in her marriage with a physician. In the story, the narrator suffers an illness that prevents her from doing things she likes such as writing. Throughout her illness, the narrator slowly becomes aware of her situation and then starts to fight to change her living condition with her husband. Through the use of two major symbols established throughout the text, Gilman brings awareness of women’s struggle to end their oppression by men and their fight to change the way society is dominated by men. In addition, the symbols used by Gilman underline the way women suffrage awareness slowly began to spread during the 19th century.

Feminism is considered an important aspect of “The Mark on the Wall” by Virginia Woolf and also “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Both short stories were set in the 1800s during the time where feminism was fought for since women were denied education, could not own their own property, and were expected to care for their husbands and children with complete disregard to themselves. The conventional 19th century norm had a rigid distinction between the “domestic” functions of the female and the “active” work of the male; this ensured women remained second class citizens. In “The Mark on the Wall,” the manly figure reveals the mark on the wall was in reality a snail. The woman doesn’t get up to see if the mark was really a snail, but instead, accepts what her husband says. The man character forces the woman to see reality the way he does, even if she doesn’t want to. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” gender division has the effect of keeping women in a childish state of ignorance and prevents their full development. John’s assumptions of his superiority lead him to misjudge, patronize, and dominate his wife, all in the name of “helping” her. The narrator is reduced to acting like a child, unable to stand up for herself without seeming unreasonable or disloyal. Woolf and Gilman use madness to define an essential part of the reality of women in the 1800s.

Kate Chopin’s the most well-known work The Awakening and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” both initially published in 1899, present astoundingly analogous stories of the role of women in society. Both texts are narrated from the point of view of a female protagonist who breaks away from the restraining conventions of a male-ruled society before eventually emancipating through separation from the thinking world, via suicide in The Awakening and insanity in “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” Some would argue that the narrators are unreliable and the stories are misrepresented simply because

Female Liberation in The Awakening and “The Yellow Wallpaper” Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow WallPaper,” both initially published in 1899, present strikingly similar stories of the plight of women in society. Both texts adopt a markedly feminist bias, narrated from the point of view of a female protagonist who wrests with the restrictive conventions of a misogynistic society before finally breaking free through separation from the thinking world, via suicide in The Awakening and insanity in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Some would argue that the women themselves are flawed, through either mental instability or rampant libido, and thus the stories are skewed through the eyes of an unreliable narrator. Yet what is significant is the realization that both women would rather forsake sanity and life than endure the shackles of subjugation, because separation from the conscious world is the only way to achieve complete liberation in an oppressive androcentric society.

Women’s Rights has been a point of contention for a very long time. Especially during the late 19th and 20th century, it was a seemingly unorthodox idea in a patriarchal society. This is what makes Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper a feminist piece still analyzed to this day. It was a story that was arguably ahead of its time, as was Gilman, with her utopian feminist ideals. She wrote the book with some introspection of her own postpartum depression. The Yellow Wallpaper has been deemed a classic feminist literature piece due to its layers of deeper meaning, achieved through Gilman’s use of symbolism, character, and setting, construed by many to represent the struggles faced by women in the late 19th century.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonist symbolizes the effect of the oppression of women in society in the Nineteenth Century. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the author reveals the narrator is torn between hate and love, but emotion is difficult to determine. The effects are produced by the use of complex themes used in the story, which assisted her oppression and reflected on her self-expression.

Topics of great social impact have been dealt with in many different ways and in many different mediums. Beginning with the first women’s movement in the 1850’s, the role of women in society has been constantly written about, protested, and debated. Two women writers who have had the most impact in the on-going women’s movement are Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper are two of feminist literature’s cornerstones and have become prolific parts of American literature. Themes of entrapment by social dictates, circumstance, and the desire for personal independence reside within each work and bond the two together.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story telling about a young woman who is eventually driven mad by the society. The narrator is apparently confused with the norm defining “true” and “good” woman constructed by society dominated by man. “The Awakening” addressed the social, scientific, and cultural landscape of the country and the undergoing of radical changes. Each of these stories addresses the issue of women’s rights and how they were treated in the late 19th century. “The Awakening” explores one woman's desire to find and live fully within her true self. Her devotion to that purpose caused friction between her friends and family, and also conflicts with the dominant values of her time.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story about a woman who has a mental illness but cannot heal due to her husband’s lack of belief. The story appears to take place during a time period where women were oppressed. Women were treated as second rate people in society during this time period. Charlotte Perkins Gilman very accurately portrays the thought process of the society during the time period in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written. Using the aspects of Feminist criticism, one can analyze “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman through the dialogue through both the male and female perspective, and through the symbol found in the story.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” women were often put in a position that is dominated by men. Men were always seen as the superior gender over women. At home, women were not respected in the family. The main voice of families in the 19th century was the father who everybody had to obey and respect. One detail in the story that develops this theme of being trapped or controlled is the house. One specific characteristic of the house that symbolizes her potential but also her struggle between the feeling of being trapped and also wanting to feel free and unrestricted is the window. The window not only represents the possibilities of living up to her full potential could endure, but now it also becomes a view to what she does not want to see. The woman

There is a certain ignorance required to see the world and matters in it in terms of “this or that;” either black or white, either wives and mothers or social exiles. In the nineteenth century, most everyone was blinded to any but two possibilities in respect to women 's role in society. In The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper, the two main characters are women who have begun to see a spectrum unimaginable to those around them. Unfortunately, because the world remains engrossed in black and white, any additional hues, Edna Pontellier and the narrator of the Yellow Wall paper, become lost - not only to society but also to themselves. Each supporting character in these novels represent a larger part of the effects of this limited

From the beginning of time, the world has arguably treated women as unequal to men in relationships, media, literature, and more. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” are no different. Though the authors of the two short stories are of different gender, both stories convey a similar message concerning women. “The Yellow Wallpaper” revolves around a woman suffering from temporary nervous depression. Against the woman’s better judgment, John, a physician and her husband, prescribes the rest cure, which forbids any activity or work, as treatment. Confined to one room, the woman becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper and eventually becomes what her husband strived to prevent.