Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper And A Jury Of Her Peers

The fight for equality for minorities dates back to the beginning of mankind. Women, in particular, fight for fairness even in today’s society. This ever-lasting battle can be seen in both “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell. Gilman’s story revolves around a woman who has postpartum depression. Her husband, who is also her physician, uses isolation to try and heal his wife’s “nervous disease.” Glaspell’s story, on the other hand, describes the murder of a man, with his wife being the prime suspect. This story is clearly about a battle of the sexes, where women ultimately win. Although these stories have many differences, both authors examine deep themes by using various literary

The story takes place in a rural Midwestern town in United States in the 1800’s, the idea of relationships being prevalent throughout the story. There are three main couples that around which the story revolves: County Sheriff Henry Peters and Mrs. Peters, local farmer Lewis Hale and Martha Hale, and another farmer Mr. Wright and Minnie Wright. Mr. Hale is making potato deliveries one day, and he decides to stop by the Wright’s house to use the telephone. Mrs. Wright greets Mr. Hale, and throughout conversation, John asks if he can see John. Mrs. Wright says no, “Cause he’s dead” in the room above (Glaspell n. pag.). Her statement launches an investigation about Mr. Wright’s cause of death. Glaspell, like Gilman, uses irony throughout this story to develop the plot and the main characters. For example, Mr. Peters and Mr. Hale think that they will ascertain the cause of death while their wives will talk about “trifles” in the kitchen. “‘Oh, well’,” [says] Mrs. Hale's husband, with good-natured superiority, “‘women are used to worrying over trifles’” (Glaspell n. pag.). Looking around the house, Mr. Peter’s mentions “‘Nothing here but kitchen things,” he [says], with a little laugh for the insignificance of kitchen things” (Glaspell n. pag.). In the end, however, it is the women, not the men, who solve the case because they

The narrator suffers from hallucinations, bizarre behavior, and inability to sleep or eat, all of which are symptoms of postpartum depression. John’s plan to deal with the narrator’s illness consists of complete bed rest and the narrator not seeing her child. He also says that the narrator is not allowed to write in her journal, which she blatantly ignores. “There comes John, and I must put this away, --he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman n.pag.). The narrator uses the journal as an escape from her husband’s abuse. When the narrator suggests changing the wallpaper, her husband calls her his “blessed little goose” and changes the subject (Gilman n.pag.). This, along with John repeatedly calling the narrator little girl, implies that he thinks of the narrator as his child more than his wife. Furthermore, many times throughout the story, the narrator says “personally,” which “suggests that the following idea can be ignored as a mere opinion” (Ford, n.pag.). The room where the narrator stays also represents the theme of female oppression. The narrator thinks that the room she sleeps in is normal, but the reader can infer that the room used to house a mentally insane person. The bed is nailed down, the windows are barred shut, and the wallpaper is chipped. This