The Depiction of Women in "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Chrysanthemums," by John Steinbeck
Identical twins have the same genes that make both of them look, think, and feel the same. Their likes and dislikes are the same; for instance, when one likes yellow, the other will like yellow. However, their fortunes are different; for instance, when one dies, the other will not die. Similarly, in literature, different authors have created a twin character in different eras. It is as if a second twin sister was born forty years after the first one was born. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman ( 1892) and "The Chrysanthemums," written by John Steinbeck (1938), both stories are similar in characterization and setting. They differ, however, in their points of view and the symbolism. Each actual symbol is different, but its meaning is the same. Although they differ in many different ways, both show that being trapped inside an isolated house and having a limited life under a husband's control leads to a miserable ending of a woman's life.
While Gilman uses a lonely, big house where her main character stays for three months, Steinbeck creates a small farmhouse where Elisa lives and works. This definitely addresses their loneliness and isolation. Elisa works in her flower garden in which she plants chrysanthemums bigger than anyone does in the Salinas Valley. She works alone in her small garden that is surrounded with a "wire fence" to protect from "cattle and dogs and chickens" (Steinbeck 503). She lives in a small farmhouse that is far away from other houses, which makes her feel as if she is isolated from her society. Steinbeck sets the Salinas Valley as if it is also isola...
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...eir messages of the stories are the same. So now, just think about why they have many similar thoughts toward women.
Works Cited
Charter, Ann, and Samuel Charters, eds. Literature and its Writers: A Compact Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2003.
Steinbeck, John. "The Chrysanthemums." Literature and its Writers: A Compact Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 3 rd ed.Ed. Ann Charter and SamuelCharter. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2003. 502 - 510.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Literature and its Writers: A Compact Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 3 rd ed. Ed. Ann Charter and Samuel Charter. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2003. 182- 193.
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Gubar, Susan. "A Feminist Reading of Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." Charters and Charters 564- 566.
'The Yellow Wallpaper';, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and 'The Story of an Hour';, by Kate Chopin, are alike in that both of the women in the stories were controlled by their husbands which caused them to feel an intense desire for freedom. Both stories were also written from a feminist point of view. However, the women in the stories had different life changes and different responses to their own freedom as a result of that change.
Both stories were written in different years, but both are written about women in the same era. When women went against the norm during the era the stories were written in they were often looked down on. Especially, Emily, who never married and because she was never married she was constantly judged by the women and men in her city. During that time, it was odd for women not to be married. Emily eventually found someone, but it was known that he was a homosexual.
Elisa's unhappiness in her role as the wife of a cattle farmer is clear in her gardening. Through the authors detailed diction it is clear that gardening is her way of freeing herself from her suffocating environment. “The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy” which is “over-eager” and “over-powerful” (Steinbeck 460). The intensity with which she gardens, “terrier fingers destroy[ing] such pests before they could get started” suggests more than simply a deep interest, but a form of escape completely submerging her self into the task (Steinbeck 460). It is possible that some...
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Norton Introduction To Literature. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th Ed. New York, Norton, 1998. 2: 630-642.
In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” John Steinbeck uses symbolism to reflect the characteristics of his main character Elisa Allen. Elisa, a married woman uncovers her deeply smothered femininity in an inconspicuous sense. Her life in the valley had become limited to housewife duties and the only sustenance that seemed to exist could merely be found in her chrysanthemum garden. Not until she becomes encountered with a remote tinker-man out and about seeking for work, does she begin to reach many of the internal emotions that had long inhibited her femininity. The tinker subtlety engages an interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemum garden that encourages Elisa to react radically. When Elisa realizes that there are other ways to live she attempts to lift the lid off of the Salinas Valley, but unfortunately the tinker’s insincere actions resort Elisa back to her old self and leaves Elisa without any optimism for her hollow breakthrough. Steinbeck’s somber details of the setting, strong description of the chrysanthemums and meaningful illustration of the red flower-pot reveal the distant, natural, ambitions Elisa Allen desired to attain.
Charters, Ann & Samuel. Literature and its Writers. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 137-147. Print.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Booth, Alison and Kelly J. Mays, eds. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York: Norton, 2010. 354-65. Print.
Both stories show feminism of the woman trying to become free of the male dominance. Unfortunately, the woman are not successful at becoming free. In the end, the two women’s lives are drastically
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The Story and Its Writer. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 462-473. Print.
In a female oppressive story about a woman driven from postpartum depression to insanity, Charlotte Gilman uses great elements of literature in her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Her use of feminism and realism demonstrates how woman's thoughts and opinions were considered in the early 1900?s.
"Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-paper"—Writing Women." EDSITEment: The Best of the Humanities on the Web. Web. 05 Mar. 2011.
Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, a 2011 book. Print. The. Gilman, Charlotte.
------. "The Writing of 'The Yellow Wallpaper': A Double Palimpsest." Studies in American Fiction. 17 (1989): 193-201.
Although both protagonists in the stories go through a psychological disorder that turns their lives upside down, they find ways to feel content once again. In Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a nervous wife, an overprotective husband, and a large, damp room covered in musty wallpaper all play important roles in driving the wife insane. Gilman's masterful use of not only the setting, both time and place, but also of first person point of view, allows the reader to process the woman's growing insanity. The narrator develops a very intimate relationship with the yellow wallpaper throughout the story, as it is her constant companion. Her initial reaction to it is a feeling of hatred; she dislikes the color and despises the pattern, but does not attribute anything peculiar to it. Two weeks into their stay she begins to project a sort of personality onto the paper, so she studies the pattern more closely, noticing for the first time “a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design” (Gilman). At this point, her madness is vague, but becoming more defined, because although the figure that she sees behind the pattern has no solid shape, she dwells on it and
Gilman, Charlotte P. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The story and its writer: An introduction to short fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 340-351.