At the turn of the twentieth century, Charlotte Perkins Gillman and William Faulkner authored The Yellow Wallpaper and As I Lay Dying, respectively. Gillman’s book published in 1892 speaks to mental illness and the malpractice of doctors due to inadequate knowledge, as well as, treatments for mental health. As I Lay Dying, published in 1930, is Faulkner’s whimsical tale of a misfortunate family’s journey to bury their mother in her hometown. Both authors create a developed female character which presents a culturally more harsh standard of living for women of that time. Readers can infer that Gillman’s protagonist and Dewey Dell, one of Faulkner’s minor characters, lived under similar cultural standards; however, readers can also see that these …show more content…
As Gillman begins The Yellow Wallpaper readers are given pretense that the protagonist is sick, but her husband and brother, both physicians, believe she isn’t sick; to make her feel better thought they prescribe phosphates and no “work”. Hence the protagonist is not to physically exert herself by being the woman of the household nor is she to mentally strain herself by partaking in writing. However, as readers, we know that the protagonist doesn’t adhere to either of the stipulations set forth by her husband or brother. The predominant dictation she violates is indirectly applied as she mentally applies herself to write the journal that the reader absorbs, moreover the protagonist also physically exercises. “John is kept out of town by serious case, and Jennie is good and lets me alone when I want her to. So I walk a little in the garden or down that lovely lane, sit on the porch under the roses, and lie down up here a good deal” (Baym and Levine 490) Gilman’s protagonist listens to the patriarchal figures in her life, but essentially does what she thinks is best for herself. In opposition to Gilman 's writing, Faulkner’s character, Dewey Dell, is a slave to the men in her life; specifically two men in particular Lafe and MacGowan. Dewey Dell is bound to Lafe because of the pregnancy now they have to scurry around quietly to about, but …show more content…
A deeper look into the authors provides a clarity into why their heroines acted differently. As a feminist, it only makes sense that Gilman’s protagonist embodied her belief of a strong and independent woman. Meanwhile, as part of the authoritative patriarchy, Faulkner’s heroine could be nothing less than an objectified character in need of a man in her life helping sort her issues, as Faulkner writes, “He could do so much for me if he just would. He could do everything for me” (19). Therefore a woman’s role in society is, although culturally set, is ambiguous and meant to be defined by the individual and his or her own
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, The Yellow Wallpaper we are introduced to characters that can be argued to be representational of society in the 19th century. The narrator, wife to a seemingly prominent doctor, gives us a vision into the alienation and loss of reality due to her lack of labor. I also contend however that this alienation can also be attributed to her infantilization by her husband, which she willingly accepts. "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage" (1). The narrator here realizes her place among the order of society and even notes that it is to be expected. She is aware of her understanding that things between she and her husband are not equal not only because he is a doctor but because he is a man, and her husband.
Quawas tells how there is a “sharp contrast between male and female nature.” Quawas reveals that Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s true purpose is to fight for women’s rights and equality, instead of being seen as just an object to nurture the children and do the chores at home. Quawas suggests that since Charlotte Perkins Gilman cares so deeply about presenting the deeply hurtful ways women can be treated like because she lived through the era of the women being the stay-at-home-smiling-trophy-wives and got to witness the incline of women’s rights movements and the empowerment of women. Quawas says that “The Yellow Wallpaper is a particularly interesting and rich example of her audacious and defiant writing.” she says this because The Yellow Wallpaper explores the feminine rebellion against the “rest cure”. Though the narrator’s doctor husband believes in the “rest cure”, the narrator steadily makes efforts to express herself in private, such as through her journal entries. Historically the author of the yellow wallpaper went through the oppression of women and the rise of empowerment of women. She got to witness both, which allows for the inference of women empowerment being hidden throughout the yellow
In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper, the two main characters exhibit behavior that some readers may consider unusual or even totally crazy. These two women are having a difficult time adjusting to the many changes taking place around them. In the midst of these changes, they face the struggles of being women such as post partum depression and love and rejection from men. Such problems become so overbearing that each woman ends up in their own delusional world which in turn, leads to their isolation and insanity. Gender issues, love, hate, insanity and isolation, are thematic connections in both stories and are important components of how each woman functions throughout the story and how each character fares in the end.
An individual 's perspective can dominate their perception of events. This becomes evident when a story has been recollected by numerous spectators. Gathering the same story from multiple perspectives can be very challenging or very simple. It can cause a true story to fall victim of distortion or it can simply cause the true story to become more clear. This dilemma had been portrayed by numerous individuals including, William Faulkner in his novel, “As I Lay Dying” or the film “Rashomon”, directed by Akira Kurosawa. “As I Lay Dying” and “Rashomon” both contain multiple perspectives, telling their accounts of the same story, however in “Rashomon” the truth only becomes more concealed as the movie goes on, while in “As I Lay Dying”, the truth
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper”, is a first-person narrative written in the style of a journal. It takes place during the nineteenth century and depicts the narrator’s time in a temporary home her husband has taken her to in hopes of providing a place to rest and recover from her “nervous depression”. Throughout the story, the narrator’s “nervous condition” worsens. She begins to obsess over the yellow wallpaper in her room to the point of insanity. She imagines a woman trapped within the patterns of the paper and spends her time watching and trying to free her. Gilman uses various literary elements throughout this piece, such as irony and symbolism, to portray it’s central themes of restrictive social norms
“There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!” The late 19th century hosted a hardship for women in our society. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman expressed a form of patriarchy within the story. Gilman never addressed the woman in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” by a name, demonstrating her deficiency of individual identity. The author crafted for the narrator to hold an insignificant role in civilization and to live by the direction of man. Representing a hierarchy between men and women in the 19th century, the wallpaper submerged the concentration of the woman and began compelling her into a more profound insanity.
In William Faulkner’s acclaimed novel, As I Lay Dying, three very different female characters: Dewy, Cora and Addie, show us the misogynistic culture and lack of opportunities for women in this place and time. Set in the fictional town of Yoknapatawpha, Mississippi in the 1920s, the novel shows that women’s basic role in life during was to bear children. They are shamed for having any sexual desires that seem to accompany any of the mention of the female anatomy and sexuality. Traditionally, the role of a woman in Southern society was to have the children, tend the house (cook, clean, take care of children) and cater to her husband's needs. This was justified as a trade for her husband’s financial security.
Stetson’s character in The Yellow Wallpaper comes to want more of what her character potentially is. She did not feel self-fulfilled in her domestic role of wife and mother. This contrasted to her sister-in-law Jennie, who is described as a “perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession.” (p.650) While Stetson’s character happily gives up her domestic functions to Jennie, she is initially passive in her attempt to secure the satisfaction of self-fulfillment: “I did write for a while…. but it does exhaust me a good deal – having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition.” (p. 648). Secretly writing in her journal proves to be arduous for the protagonist. Her character, mentally weak and fragile and with no desirable means to be self-fulfilled, succumbs to everything her physician/husband says because “what is one to do?” (p. 638) She is pressured to agree to a “rest cure” for her nervous disorder, although she intuitively knows that this treatment stands in the...
The unnamed narrator finds herself trapped within a large room lined with yellow wallpaper and hidden away from all visitors by her husband-physician John. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a summer spent in the large ancestral hall to find healing through rest turns into the manic changes of her mind. The overbearing nature of her husband inspires a program designed to make her better; ironically, her mind takes a turn for the worse when she believes the wallpaper has come to life. In Janice Haney-Peritz’s “Monumental Feminism and Literature’s Ancestral House: Another Look at ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ ”, she tells that until 1973, Gilman’s story was not seen with a feminist outlook. “The Yellow Wallpaper” was misunderstood and unappreciated when it was published. The patriarchal attitudes of men in this era often left women feeling they had no voice and were trapped in their situations. Although originally interpreted as a horror of insanity, this initial perspective misses the broad, provocative feminist movement that Gilman supported. With the changes in perspective, over time this work has come to have a voice for women and the husband-wife relationship through the theme of feminism.
“The Yellow Wallpaper:” a Symbol for Women As the narrator presents a dangerous and startling view into the world of depression, Charlotte Perkins Gilman introduces a completely revitalized way of storytelling using the classic elements of fiction. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” combines a multitude of story elements that cannot be replicated. Her vast use of adjectives and horrifying descriptions of the wallpaper bring together a story that is both frightening and intensely well told. Using the story’s few characters and remote setting, Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents the wallpaper as both a representation of the narrator and the story’s theme, as well as a symbol for her descent into the abyss of insanity. As the story opens, the suspiciously unnamed narrator and her husband, John, temporarily move into a new home (226).
"The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts a woman in isolation, struggling to cope with mental illness, which has been diagnosed by her husband, a physician. Going beyond this surface level, the reader sees the narrator as a developing feminist, struggling with the societal values of the time. As a woman writer in the late nineteenth century, Gilman herself felt the adverse effects of the male-centric society, and consequently, placed many allusions to her own personal struggles as a feminist in her writing. Throughout the story, the narrator undergoes a psychological journey that correlates with the advancement of her mental condition. The restrictions which society places on her as a woman have a worsening effect on her until illness progresses into hysteria. The narrator makes comments and observations that demonstrate her will to overcome the oppression of the male dominant society. The conflict between her views and those of the society can be seen in the way she interacts physically, mentally, and emotionally with the three most prominent aspects of her life: her husband, John, the yellow wallpaper in her room, and her illness, "temporary nervous depression." In the end, her illness becomes a method of coping with the injustices forced upon her as a woman. As the reader delves into the narrative, a progression can be seen from the normality the narrator displays early in the passage, to the insanity she demonstrates near the conclusion.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman presents the behavior of society of the time. The protagonist is suppressed by her husband, John, and her brother, though they both mean well. The way she is treated by her husband and her brother is not outwardly “mean” because they never deal with her in anger, but the way that they suppress her by not letting her express her feelings or do what she wants, is still abuse. Even though, the way that they are treating her is wrong, it does not seem wrong because they both act gentle and kind towards her and make her think that they really do care about her. Throughout the story, the protagonist states her intentions to herself, but then does not act upon them because of her husband. This is further shown when she speaks of her husband and her brother, who "is also of higher standing," (Gilman 317) showing the high ranking of men in society. They keep her from doing the things she wants because they believe it is best for her to rest. She disagrees. "Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good" (Gilman 317). On p...
In The Yellow Wallpaper, the husband is superior to the wife, Mary. The audience is able to see the psychological effects of oppression through Mary, a person suffering from a nervous disorder. Mary recognizes that she must be active in society in order to heal, but her husband, and physician, will not allow it: “... And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends that there is really nothing the matter... What is one to do?” (YWP 1). Mary sees herself as not being able to do anything but what her husband, John, allows her to. John is overly concerned about what society will think of him instead of his wife’s serious condition. Mary tends show passiveness regarding her illness, but she does show little actions of revolt. She writes and thinks about her sickness, both of which her husband has specifically told her not to do. The imperative imagery of the wallpaper changes in appearance for Mary throughout the short story. At first she describes the color as “repellent, almost revolting” until it eventually grows on her and she regards it as a mystery that is waiting for her to solve (YWP 2). This realistic imagery is important because it shows the serious progression of Mary’s mental state. She ultimately thinks of herself as part of the wallpaper and lets it envelop her. Gilman’s use of the realism themes imagery and the portrayal of life as it is provides an explanation of the dysfunctional social settings people
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story told from the first person point of view of a doctor's wife who has nervous condition. The first person standpoint gives the reader access only to the woman’s thoughts, and thus, is limited. The limited viewpoint of this story helps the reader to experience a feeling of isolation, just as the wife feels throughout the story. The point of view is also limited in that the story takes places in the present, and as a result the wife has no benefit of hindsight, and is never able to actually see that the men in her life are part of the reason she never gets well. This paper will discuss how Gilman’s choice of point of view helps communicate the central theme of the story- that women of the time were viewed as being subordinate to men. Also, the paper will discuss how ignoring oneself and one’s desires is self-destructive, as seen throughout the story as the woman’s condition worsens while she is in isolation, in the room with the yellow wallpaper, and her at the same time as her thoughts are being oppressed by her husband and brother.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman tells the story of married white upper-class women who is striving to overcome her nervous depression with the aide of her domineering husband, John. To display her discomfort, Gilman relays, “If