Insanity in A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper
Many of the upper class women in the Victorian era were assumed to be weaker than men, prone to frailties and ‘female problems’ and unable to think for themselves, valuable only as marriage bait. The two women in Faulkner’s and Gilman’s stories are victims of such assumptions. Emily in “A Rose For Emily” and the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” are driven insane because they feel trapped by the men in their lives, and they retreat into their own worlds as an escape from reality, and finally rebel in the only ways they each can find.
Emily and ‘John’s wife,’ the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” who is never named, both feel stifled and suppressed by the men in authority over them. Emily, as a “slender figure in white...
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...he trap that society has placed them in.
Works Cited
Faulkner, William. “A Rose For Emily.” The Norton Introduction To Literature. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th Ed. New York, Norton, 1998. 1: 502-509.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Norton Introduction To Literature. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th Ed. New York, Norton, 1998. 2: 630-642.
In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, there is a constant theme of protection for Emily Grierson, because she was a woman living in the south after the civil war and the requirements that were placed on women enable to be honorable. That is to say that, women needed to be protected by the men of the community during that time in history and women’s actions were constantly under watch to see if a woman was honorable and worthy of protection or not. Within the story, there are many instances in which this is shown. Faulkner also shows the reader a gender split between the men and women and how they felt towards Emily.
...by the male dominant society. They are written during a time period when women were not viewed as important as men. The narrator form the yellow wallpaper is suffering from post-natal depression and has been recommended the rest cure by her husband and her brother, both physicians. Instead of curing her it worsened her condition. The protagonist did try to convince her husband about what she would prefer but she could not overcome the powerful authority figure. The narrator is restricted from working, writing, which leads to her obsession with the yellow wallpaper and suffocates her into madness. Similarly, in “A rose for Emily”, the protagonist is kept away from the outside world because her father makes her believe that she is better than the townspeople. Her father keeps her in the house as his possession which results in her obsession with Homer and insanity.
Of the various possible causes for drug abuse, peer pressure is one of the main reasons young people indulge in recreational drugs. In fact, according to David Sheff,
“A Rose for Emily’’ By William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman,” are two short stories that both associate qualities of differences and similarities. Both stories have several similarities in setting, symbolism and characterization. A major difference of both stories are the point of view they were written in, “A Rose for Emily” is written in third person and “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written in first person point of view. The two short stories are about the women being forced into isolation because of their gender and the beliefs of the men controlling their lives. Both female characters are overwhelmed with maintaining the image that is imposed by the men in high societies, but even more with the feeling of imprisonment and dealing with being mentally and emotionally ill. Although, the stories are similar they have their own twists.
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013. 549-51. Print.
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” are two short stories that incorporate multiple similarities and differences. Both stories’ main characters are females who are isolated from the world by male figures and are eventually driven to insanity. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the unidentified narrator moves to a secluded area with her husband and sister-in-law in hopes to overcome her illness. In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily’s father keeps Emily sheltered from the world and when he dies, she is left with nothing. Both stories have many similarities and differences pertaining to the setting, characterization, symbolism, and their isolation from the world by dominant male figures, which leads them to insanity.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily". The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Carl E. Bain. New
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Booth, Alison and Kelly J. Mays, eds. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York: Norton, 2010. 354-65. Print.
William Faulkner and Charlotte Gilman are two well known writers for intriguing novels of the 1800’s. Their two eccentric pieces, "A Rose for Emily" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" are equally alluring. These authors and their works have been well recognized, but also critized. The criticism focuses on the society that is portrayed in these novels. The modern readers of today’s society are resentful to this dramatic society. These two novels are full of tradition, rebellion and the oppression over women’s rights. Both of these novels share the misery of the culture, but there is some distinction between the two. "A Rose for Emily" is a social commentary while "The Yellow Wallpaper" is an informative novel about the writer herself. The authors outlook focus on the gloomy structure in society during that time frame and therefore, create down hearted, reckless characters that offer stimulation for women of all generations.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Introduction to Literature. By Carl E. Bain, Jerome Beaty, and J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1991: 69-76.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Norton Introduction To Literature. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th Ed. New York, Norton, 1998. 2: 630-642.
Gilman, Charlotte P. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. Eight ed. Vol. C. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2012. 790-804. Print.
Adolescences in particular can be easily influenced to abusing a drug or multiple drugs. I believe this happens because teens often lack education, live in an environment where drugs are readily available, are peer-pressured and the lack of proper growth of the frontal lobe. Many factors contribute to adolescences experimenting with drugs. As side from being a child, the adolescence stage is of great importance. Healthy habits and activities are supposed to be instilled within this stage of life. The adolescence stage can be very perplexing and what is made into a habit then is easily carried on into adulthood. Our genes act together with our environment to contribute to the addictive behaviors we are motivated to develop. If addiction is left untreated it can ultimately lead to de...
The facilitation of this model allows adult learners to be active and self-directed in their learning.
Teens have more pressure to be cool, and to be accepted that's what makes them rebel of do what mom or dad had always told them not to do. They may know that it is wrong but it is all about looking cool for that second, or being safe and listen to your parents. Actually, when you are faced with a situation that you know is wrong you don't think about what your parents will think until you have already completed it and there is no turning back. Then there comes the punishment. That makes the teen rebel more and do more things to be "cool" and doesn't care.