What Is The Criticism Of The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a piece written in 1800s. That was the time period when women were considered inferior to men. The patriarchal society of that time did not allow women to live their life the way they wanted to live. Women were forced to do the things that they did not want to do. They did not have rights to speak and put up their argument in the society. All of the important decisions in the family, society and country as a whole used to be made my men alone. Female participation was considered unimportant. The society was designed in such a way that the women’s place was considered in the kitchen. They were forced to follow the rules and regulations made by the males. Females were treated like the bird in

In the article she writes the people at that time did not want to publish her piece because they felt miserable by reading the story. She writes, “Horace Scudder, the editor of The Atlantic Monthly who in a letter to Gilman claimed to have been made so miserable by the story that he had no other choice than to reject it for publication” (Peritz, 113). She also adds that Gilman’s first husband found the story completely horrifying. Men in the positions did not agree to publish her story as it was very feminist. It was not published until 1973. Peritz also describes Gilman as a nineteenth century woman who was brave enough to write a feminist story of male and female relationship. She writes, “As a memorial, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is used to remind contemporary readers of the enduring import of the feminist struggle against patriarchal domination” (Peritz, 114). This piece by Gilman basically describes how women felt and how they were treated at that time period. The story also shows the desire of women to be free from all the discrimination and suppression that they had to suffer. The article also talks about the place where narrator was living and its significance before the narrator draws her attention to the wallpaper. The article shows the significance of the wallpaper and relates it with the gender

She writes that both of the texts are feminist and at the same time one ends the story in madness while the other has a happy ending. She thinks “The Yellow Wallpaper” depends on race and class specific account of the patriarchal society. Nadkarni writes, “The story charts the narrator 's growing madness and preoccupation with the wallpaper of her sickroom and ends with her identification with the woman she sees "crawling" (55) behind the "bars" (52) of the prison- like pattern” (219). Gilman trying to free the woman trapped in the wallpaper made her go crazy and she ends up her madness by tearing the wallpaper. This clearly states that women at that had to suffer a lot due to male dominance. Mostly Gilman talks about her desire to not stay at that house and wanting to free herself from all the restrictions. Thus this story is all about the woman’s struggle against patriarchal society that constricts them. The narrator in the story tries to have the feeling of freedom by peeling off the wallpaper from the wall and accepting herself to be free. Even though the narrator peels the wallpaper, it’s just in her subconscious she is able to free herself from the cruel society. In the actual reality her husband finds her crawling in the ground. Nadkarni writes, “the problem of creating a feminist self is a potentially maddening process of freeing that self” (219). Gilman presents the narrator as a