Power and Gender Roles During the early 19th century and prior, women were hyper-sexualized as mediocre and suppressed by the male population. Men demanded authority by defining female roles and responsibilities in society. Although all women of time paid the price for male egotistical behaviors, mainly the middle and sometimes upper class were affected. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s critically acclaimed story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, first published in the New England Magazine, in January 1892, is a narrative study of Gilman's own nervousness (Smith). The story analyzes the injustices women faced at the hands of their husbands. The main character is diagnosed with postpartum depression, a type of depression that develops in some women after birthing a baby; and she is put on the resting cure for the summer. Gilman, like the narrator of her story, sought medical help from the famous neurologist, Dr. Weir Mitchell but receive no useful help. Gilman writes of the woman trapped by her husband’s commands when he locks her in a room, forbidden to raise her children because of her “extreme condition” (Gilman 792). The unnamed protagonist remains locked in the room upstairs for weeks, progressively getting worse because she is forced to take prescribed medicine every hour of each day (Gilman 794). She begins to scrutinize the aging and repulsive yellow wallpaper of her room and grows clinically insane as each day passes way. Gilman uses this story to critique the position of women within the institution of marriage, especially as practiced by the respectable classes of the period. Throughout the era in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” was first published, readers were overwhelmed by Gilman’s descriptive writing style, even adding it to the lis... ... middle of paper ... ...orever continue but male suppression has dramatically declined over time. Charlotte Gilman, among other female writers, poets, and artists of the time deserve a commemoration because their works have greatly contributed to the rise of women’s strength and power. Soon, equality will prevail, and there shall truly be justice for all. Works Cited Gilbert, Kelly. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper"" Gilman, "Yellow Wallpaper" Florida Gulf Coast University, 27 July 1998. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. 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. Smith, Pat. "Freeing the Woman behind the Wallpaper: The Symbolic Meaning of the Yellow Wallpaper." Bergen Community College Homepage. Bergen, 15 Nov. 2006. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" Ed. Catherine Lavender; The College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, Fall Semester, Oct. 1997. (25 Jan 1999) http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/whyyw.html
Gilman, Charlotte P. "The Yellow Wallpaper." In An Introduction to Literature, Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, and William E. Cain, 420. New York: Person Longman, 2006.
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After reading such works as “The Yellow Wallpaper” or “A Jury of Her Peers,” one might believe that female characters around the turn to the 20th century were helpless to the men surrounding them. Yet upon close examination of these stories, that is evidently untrue. Although they may be somewhat skewed in the eyes of modern readers, the women in those stories have clearly achieved small victories over their male counterparts. While the oppression of women is a prevalent theme in works around the turn of the century, the triumph of women over men is not: any established feminine success is a “backwards victory.” A comparison of female characters in “The
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Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, "The Yellow Wallpaper" The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Second Edition. Gen. Ed. Paul Lauter. D. C. Heath and Co., Lexington, MA: 1994.
Wagner-Martin, Linda. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. 981- 982.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper?" The Yellow Wallpaper. Ed. Dale M. Bauer. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. 348-349.
Thomas, Deborah. The Changing Role of Womanhood: From True Woman to New Woman in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper". July 27, 1998. http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman.htm (accessed January 27, 2014).
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories. Mineola: Dover, 1997. Print.
Gilman Perkins, Charlotte. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Language of Literature: American Literature Evanston: McDougall, Littell. 2002. 765-768
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wall-paper.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013.1669-1681. Print.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." 1892. The New England Magazine. Reprinted in "Lives & Moments - An Introduction to Short Fiction" by Hans Ostrom. Hold, Orlando, FL
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." 1892. The New England Magazine. Reprinted in "Lives & Moments - An Introduction to Short Fiction" by Hans Ostrom. Hold, Orlando, FL 1991.