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Importance of women in society
What are the male and female roles defined in the short story the yellow wallpaper by charlotte perkins gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
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Recommended: Importance of women in society
“Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.” -Evelyn Cunningham
Feminism is an idea based on the assumption that women have the same human, political and social rights as men, furthermore, that women should have the same opportunities as men in their personal choices regarding careers, politics and expression (Reference.com). A feminist text states the author’s agenda for women in society as they relate to oppression by a patriarchal power structure and the subsequent formation of social ‘standards’ and ‘protocols’. It points out deficiencies in society regarding equal opportunity, and the author will make certain the reader will be aware of this motive (Bahar). In a work of fiction, the main character, or heroine, personifies the social struggle against male domination. Unfortunately, feminism is said to have too many negative connotations and thus it seems the term, and therefore the movement, is restricted by the glass ceiling, of which it aims to fight (Ferguson). Numerous works which we explored throughout the semester possess characteristics of feminist works, in particular, the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, written by Flannery O’Connor. These are both considered feminist texts because they aim to portray women as stronger, more independent subjects, and to defy the norms that have been created by men in the past. The feministic ideas that are touched upon help to strengthen the works as well as critique modern society.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” tells a story about a woman’s struggles against male-centric thinking and societal ‘norms’. Feminist allusions are abundant throughout this s...
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...y 36.3 (2011): 733-757. Literary Reference Center. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 1912. Making Literature Matter:
An Anthology For Readers and Writers. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 954-968. Print.
Hinely, Susan. “Charlotte Wilson, the “Woman Question”, and the Meanings of Anarchist Socialism in Late Victorian Radicalism.” International Review of Social History 57.1 (2012): 3-36. ProQuest Military Collection; ProQuest Research Library; ProQuest Social Science Journals. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.” 1955. Making Literature Matter:
An Anthology For Readers and Writers. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 1283-1296. Print.
“Reference.com - A Free Online Encyclopedia & Information Reference.” Reference.com. Web. 8 Apr. 2012. .
Wideman, John Edgar. “Our Time.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 9th ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky, Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 657-694. Print.
Bausch, Richard, and R. V. Cassill. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. 7th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print.
An Anthology For Readers and Writers. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 1283-1296. Print.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
American Literature. 6th Edition. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003. 783-791
The protagonist of Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the visual representation of all the things women have to endure for their freedom of thought. The protagonist is locked away in, what seems to be a psychological prison of her husband’s design. It is clear that the story is from a feminist view. This feminist approach is made clear by: the characterization of John, the writing and thoughts of the protagonist, and the environment that they are place in. If combined, these elements describe the psychological imprisonment of women, and the power that was held by men.
Throughout time and literature, the male supremacy and oppression of women have been the topic of many literary debates and creative writings. Feminist theorists are and have always been on a perpetual literary high; women writers such as Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar in 1979 and Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892 wrote about the oppression of women and the liberation that they were adamant about receiving. This spark for freedom in a patriarchal society drove Charlotte Perkins Gilman to write her infamous short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” In writing this story, Gilman depicts an oppressed woman taken from society and condemned to an oppressive treatment that paralyses her as a human; the distributer of this treatment is the capitalist patriarchy.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print. The.
Abrams, M.H., et al. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. 2 Vols. New York: Norton, 1993.
McMichael, G., et. al., (1993) Concise Anthology of American Literature- 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" Women's Studies. 12 (1986): 113-128.
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 to this act.
Evans, Robert C., Anne C. Little, and Barbara Wiedemann. Short Fiction: A Critical Companion. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill, 1997. 265-270.
Abrams, M. H., et al., The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1986.
The Bedford Introduction to Literature 4th ed. of the book. Boston: St. Louis St. Martin’s Press, 1996. 883-89.