A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner and The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

In the stories “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, talk about how two women are experiencing the same emotional situations they have to endure. Both of these stories express the emotional and physical trials the characters have to endure on an everyday basis. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” it shows a woman who is oppressed and is suffering from depression and loneliness. In “A Rose for Emily” it is showing the struggle of maintaining a tradition and struggling with depression. Both of the stories resemble uncontrollable changes and the struggles of acceptance the characters face during those changes.
In William Faulkner’s story Emily Grierson starts out as an imaginative, optimistic young lady who transforms into this murderous, secretive old woman. Faulkner views the society in his story as having a traditional and unbending mental attitude. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman creates this female character who supposedly has postpartum depression. Unlike in Faulkner’s story, Gilman deals with the society in a different way. In her novel one of the main factors is that the women’s rights were over ruled by oppression. The stories show the different emotions both characters face while being in a secluded area for a long period of time. In Gilman’s story she talks about a woman who is struggling with postpartum depression. The woman’s husband is a medical doctor and he wants to “fix” her sickness. He believes she can change by being in a secluded area. This means that he is going to take his wife somewhere quiet and secluded from the world to avoid any mental stress from the world. In the beginning of the story in part one the narrator says, “Alive, Miss ...

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...s story he writes about how earlier in Emily’s life she refuses to let the town’s people in her house even though there is a strong odor that is coming from her property. In this section her father has just passed away and was abandoned by a man who she wanted to marry. This section she becomes very depressed. In section three it talks about how Emily is starting to come down with an illness after all of the depressing events she had to endure. In sections four and five Faulkner describes how there is fear throughout the towns people is that of which Emily is going to possibly poison herself. A while later she then she passes away. In section five is when the truth is revealed to the public about her sickness. Faulkner uses the view point of an unnamed town member while he uses a third person perspective to show the general corrosion of the southern town’s people.