Yellow By Don Lee Summary

Jin Wang was born in America but is also Chinese. He faces some difficulties with racism and stereotypes as he grows up. He just moved to a new school from San Francisco. The teacher introduces him to the class and says,” Class, I'd like us all to give a warm Mayflower Elementary welcome to your new friend and Classmate Jin Wang...He and his family recently moved to our neighborhood all the way from China!”(30). Jin has this look on his face of annoyance. Like, did she actually say this. She is too ignorant to ask so she just assumed that since he is Chinese, that he must be from China. He was born in America. This just shows how ignorant people are about other cultures. It makes it even harder to fit in if people don't even care where you're from and just make assumptions. Jin now experiences this first hand. He tries so hard to fit in and be normal. He goes as far as changing his hair to match the guys hair that Amelia likes. When he isn't noticed as much he wants to become someone else, someone who will fit in. He wakes up in the morning a new person, as he has transformed into someone he is not, he thinks to himself,”A new face deserved a new name. I decided to call myself...Danny”(198). He changed his race he didn't like his heritage and cultures so much

Danny faces complications trying to find his own identity. He is unsure of who he really is because he views himself through other people’s eyes. For instance, Danny tends to always explain how others identify him, “I'm a white boy among Mexicans, and a Mexican among white boys” (Peña 90). This is a problem because he does not have confidence in himself and with who he is. He feels the need to be accepted by others in order to accept himself. “Nobody paid him any attention anyway because he was Mexican. He roamed the school halls with his head down like a ghost. Drifted in and out of classrooms without a peep. Nobody even saw him as a real person. But down here, where everybody's skin is dark, everybody seems to be coming at him.” (Peña 16). This shows the amount of attention and care Danny gives into what others see him as and how they might feel about his race. Another conflict he encounters with his identity is not being a part of his father’s roots.

It is after this realization that one begins to see the young boy struggle with his racial identity.

“The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892, is a great example of early works pertaining to feminism and the disease of insanity. Charlotte Gilman’s own struggles as a woman, mother, and wife shine through in this short story capturing the haunting realism of a mental breakdown.The main character, much like Gilman herself, slips into bouts of depression after the birth of her child and is prescribed a ‘rest cure’ to relieve the young woman of her suffering. Any use of the mind or source of stimulus is strictly prohibited, including the narrator’s favorite hobby of writing. The woman’s husband, a physician, installs into his wife that the rest treatment is correct and will only due harm if not followed through. This type of treatment ultimately drives the woman insane, causing her to envision a woman crawling behind the yellow wallpaper of her room. Powerlessness and repression the main character is subject to creates an even more poignant message through the narrator’s mental breakdown. The ever present theme of subordination of women in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is advanced throughout the story by the literary devices of symbolism, imagery, and allegory.

When Jan Wong first arrived in China, she was filled with the complete belief that China’s totalitarianism way of government was the best way of governing, and that no other way would do. While natives smiled behind false expressions, she failed to realize the true extent of the miserable lives under the Maoist regime until she herself experienced the injustices faced by the Chinese citizens. In Red China Blues, author Jan Wong writes of her experiences during her life in China and after, and how her whole journey led to the realization of the harsh reality that Maoism really was. As Wong learned more and more about the truth behind the totalitarian government, her own experiences helped her to transform

In the 1950’s, women weren’t respected for doing anything besides being an outstanding wife and mother. Women and men weren’t on the same level when it came to rights in the eyes of the law. Also during this time, mental illnesses were not accurately researched, and since doctors weren’t fully aware of all the information about mental illnesses, patients did not always get the best treatment and were treated as freaks. In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, both of these elements are present. Gilman did a wonderful job portraying how women are not taken seriously and how lightly mental illnesses are taken. Gilman had, too, had firsthand experience with the physician in the story. Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's believes that there really was no difference in means of way of thinking between men or women is strongly. “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 happen during a time period where women were mistreated. Women were treated as second rate people in community during this time period. Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows the thought process of the community during the time period in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written. Using knowledge on equal rights between women and men, one can carefully study “The Yellow Wallpaper” by

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” she discusses some of the issues found in 19th century society such as women’s oppression and the treatment of mental illness. Many authors throughout history have written stories that mimic their own lives and we see this in the story. We see Gilman in the story portrayed as Jane, a mentally unstable housewife who cannot escape her husband’s oppression or her own mind. Gilman reveals a life of depression and women’s oppression through her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860, in the city of Hartford, CT. She would later move to California. She would end her own life in 1935, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She fought for women’s rights and was an advocate of socialism. She wrote novels, poetry and short stories. She was a woman who was educated; her writing reflected her knowledge, relating to her strong thoughts on woman’s rights and independence and how women of Victorian times suffered from this lack of rights. In her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman conveys her views on feminism and how women are treated through characters who represent this treatment. The characters she uses help the reader really get drawn into her story;

On January 20, 1935 a little Polish girl named Sylvia Perlmutter came to life in Lodz Poland. At the young age of four this girl of great faith, courage, and honesty

All throughout history there has been a stigma around mental illness and feminism. “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the 1900’s. “The Yellow Wallpaper” has many hidden truths within the story. The story was an embellished version her own struggle with what was most likely post-partum depression. As the story progresses, one can see that she is not receiving proper treatment for her depression and thus it is getting worse. Gilman uses the wallpaper and what she sees in it to symbolize her desire to escape her depression and the controlling nature of the patriarchal society of the twentieth century. The story shows an inside look into the thoughts and feelings of a person with a mental illness such as depression. Gilman also uses symbolism to showcase how the male figures in her life had control over her well-being more than she did. Both her husband and doctor hindered her from healing by not listening to her when she expressed what she felt would help her. She does not clearly say that she feels overwhelmed by the patriarchal society of the 1900’s; however, one can infer this by her wording and actions throughout the course of the story. Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses “The Yellow Wallpaper” to reveal the truths of a woman’s everyday struggles in a patriarchal society and also the deeper struggles of a woman with depression.

treats her like a child and just like a child she is kept in this

Danny’s jaded perception of his identity is a result of American society’s injustices. From a young age, Don lee reveals that Danny struggled with typical generational differences with family relationships, mortified by Korean culture as he demands that his parents “Speak English!” and refuses

One special memory that shaped my life was loving the color yellow. This may seem peculiar for a little girl to prefer yellow instead of pink though my story will soon become clear. Topaz is the stone that coincides with my birth month, I learned of this when I was about four years old. Children occasionally cling to items or ideas, claiming them as their own, I chose yellow. The movie Mary Poppins, a popular movie in the 60's and 70's, helped to reinforce the popularity of the color yellow when my brother and I were sick.

with a rest cure. The doctor in the story is much like the doctor that

The perception of the Other in literature can take on several forms and on one line of thought it is considered to be “an individual who is perceived by the group as not belonging; as being different in some fundamental way” (The City University of New York). The group sees itself as the standard and judges those who do not meet that standard. The Other is almost always seen as a lesser or inferior being and is treated accordingly. They are perceived as lacking essential characteristics possessed by the group. For an example, Charlotte Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” portrays a woman narrator as being the Other. The gender division, an important component of the late nineteenth-century society, is exemplified in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” much more significantly than in the typical “American” literary work. It attempts to shed light on the fierce alter egos and divided selves of the dominant tradition. However, the narrator seems to contradict the traditional feminine roles and becomes hysterical as her way of revolting. Gilman effectively uses the narrator’s intuition, obedience, and secret rebellion to challenge the authority John embodies as a husband and physician. This also engages the basic issue of late nineteenth-century assumptions about men and women. In this aspect, this essay aims to explore in detail the gender otherness present within the story and how this contrasts the central idea of what it is to essentially be “American”.