The Influence of Masculine Gender Roles in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Masculinity has changed and evolved since the beginning of human creation. Males have had to adhere to the social norms of their time to survive without undue persecution. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a shift in the way men could attain manhood. It was no longer easy for a man to enter into manhood with straightforward expectations and rituals. The state of manhood became difficult to obtain because of its precarious nature. During the same period, the industrial revolution was in full bloom giving birth to mass information outlets like newspapers, magazines, and advertisement: media. This set a prevailing state where boys and men alike could gain material on how to become or be men

Charlotte Perkins Gilman in, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” tells the story of a woman suffering from postpartum depression and her solitary inactive treatment in a yellow wallpapered room. Gilman herself experienced postpartum depression in her life and experienced the even more depressing treatment with it. She lived during the late nineteenth century where women were mostly confined around the, “domestic circle,” and could not participate in technical or intellectual activities outside the household hindering any development. She uses this short story as a social and political commentary to speak out against the status quo of women's gender oppression through her use of setting, development of characters, and symbolism of the woman trapped in the

The yellow wallpaper involves a narrator’s battle with depression. Moving to a colonial mansion for the summer, the narrator experiences the limitations and frustrations a regular woman could go through during the 19th century. In Charlotte Gillman’s story, women are depicted as being under the control of their husbands, giving the husband full of authority on his wife’s life. In The Yellow Wallpaper the wife tells us “so I take phosphates, and air and exercise and I am absolutely

Postpartum depression is a common illness that is recognized more now days than it was in the past. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper with intentions of exposing the reality of postpartum depression. Being a feminist during her time she relayed the message through her writing. This type of illness was overlooked and not considered serious back then. The Yellow Wallpaper sums up the emotional struggle caused while suffering through this illness. The female character in the story shows signs and symptoms of postpartum depression such as: hallucinations, confused emotions, and poor physical well-being.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story written by the American feminist and author Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story was first published in January 1892 in the New England Magazine and is credited with being one of the first books to talk about mental health issues within females. In 1887, Gilman after battling with depression for a number of years decided to see Silas Weir Mitchell, a well respected physician at the time. Writing it off as another female feigning illness Mitchell prescribed her with the treatment that was all the rage this century called the “rest cure”. Normally prescribed to women, the “rest cure” put the patient in a sort of solitary confinement; prohibiting any type of unnecessary human contact. Following the doctor’s

In a male dominated society, women had little choice when it came to the path of life they would trek upon until death. From the first words of the doctor when they announce, “it’s a girl”, amidst cries of the baby and the relief of the mother, the path a woman shall take has already been predetermined. Chalotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a harrowing short story about a woman diagnosed with post-partum depression and her gradual slip into insanity when she is prescribed the rest-cure, a discredited treatment that only allows two hours of productivity each day. Gilman, the author, not only integrates stupendous aspects of gothic literature into her story but she also depicts a deeper, hidden message about the 19th century attitudes towards women from the words written in the journal of the unreliable narrator. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a woman born on July 3, 1860 during an extremely turbulent decade with numerous upheavals in society. After Gilman’s father left the family in 1859, Gilman grew up with the sole care of her cold mother and this childhood shaped her into an ambitious, independent woman. Holding onto her strong dreams and goals, Gilman hesitantly married Charles Walter Stetson, an artist. However, she began suffering from severe bouts of depression and was diagnosed with post-partum depression

“The Yellow Wall Paper” is the story about a journey of a woman who is suffering from a nervous breakdown, descending into madness through her “rest cure” treatment. The woman is not allowed to read, write or to see her newborn baby. Charlotte Perkins Gilman captures the essence of this journey into madness by using the first person narration. The story plot’s is by taking the reader through the horrors of one woman’s neurosis to make strong statements about the oppression faced by women in their marriage roles. The narrator’s mental condition is characterized by her meeting with the wallpaper in her room. In addition to the story’s plot, the use of symbolism and irony throughout her story also show how males dominate during her time.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a staple of late nineteenth-century feminism, as well as a psychological horror that views the relationship between husband and wife as domestic and active, which kept women as second class citizens. The patriarchy was adamant about keeping women at childlike states, which would only keep them from further progressing as intelligent people who are capable of facilitating relationships with their artistic careers. Men were capable of keeping their wives downtrodden by denying them the freedom of self-expression, such as John to the narrator Gilman presents throughout her story. The narrator is constantly told not to do anything that would make her illness worse, while simultaneously not being believed to be ill at all by her physician husband, John.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a psychological horror tale with existential views which was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and originally published in the New England Magazine in 1892. Charlotte was considered a journalist who was an advocate of woman’s rights (Bio.com). During the time period when this short story was written Gilman was focused on political inequality and the unequal status of woman in their marriages. This social issue led to her writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” which was concerned with gender roles and the subjugation of women in the domestic sphere. This could also be considered the theme of the world.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is a fiction told in first person point of view by Jane. Jane and her physician-husband John rent a colonial mansion for the summer to treat Jane’s “temporary nervous depression.” Jane placed in a room she despised, especially the yellow

Violence against women has been a part of the social and cultural account nearly since there has been a society and culture to describe. It is a condition that has received extensive consideration from an assortment of points of view. The author 's primary reason in composing The Yellow Wallpaper is to denounce a particular medicinal treatment as well as the misogynistic standards and resulting sexual legislative issues that make such a treatment conceivable. Common couple violence, which John has done to his wife in a concealed form of bullying, has made the narrator depressed for quite a long time, resulting for her to go frantic. Communication which is occasionally done within the relationship of John and the narrator

The Yellow Wallpaper is a marvelous fiction piece that does not have a concrete ending, leaving the reader's freedom to create a suitable denouement. The novella begins with a woman who is suffering from postpartum depression. She endures thoughts and experiences that may be out of touch from reality due to her altered brain chemistry. Her husband plays an important role in the novella by conveying oppression through his actions.

The most surprising thing that I have learned from these readings about masculinities in the past was that the image of manliness through a bigger more muscular body has only been around fro about 115 years, and it only surfaced because of a change in the culture of the middle class. In “Remaking Manhood Through Race And “Civilization” Gail Bederman explains that the decline of self employed middle class men contributed to a new image of what it meant to be manly. Bederman said, “Under these changing conditions, manly self-denial grew increasingly unprofitable. No longer would the dream of manly independent entrepreneurship be achievable for most middle-class men. In this context, Victorian codes of manly self-restraint began to seem less relevant. Increasingly, middle-class men were attracted to new ideals-ideals at odds with older codes of manliness” (12-13).

The image of the Old West as been depicted by Eastern writers shows a certain demand for male audiences. During the early 20th century, the emergence and necessity of American masculinity was driven in part by the industrialized Eastern frontier. Because of the newly industrialized world, audiences believed that the Western frontier could potentially regain and re-establish a diminishing manhood. This manhood, with respect to Western literature, was a construction of dominant, sexual physique as well as assertive intuition and action. This new establishment—in the form of virility—would be expressed in a more adventurous life with assertive patriotism. The loss of the Western frontier culture was depicted by these Easterner writers as a departure of American exceptionalism. The Eastern front and its modern, industrialized being became too much for the decaying Western world to withstand.

Masculine societies, such as the United States, are hence driven by competition, accomplishment and material success – a value system