Compare And Contrast The Yellow Wallpaper And Sweat

I think that the first person point of view for the story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and the third person point of view for the story "Sweat" match well with each story. In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the narrator has a mental illness, and so the first person narration flows really nicely with this notion. The readers get an inside look at the narrator's thought process and ideas, which I think would be harder to convey and comprehend if the narration were to be in third person. This completely contrasts the beginning of the story "Sweat" the readers are immediately introduced to the setting and characters, whereas in "The Yellow Wallpaper" we never even really learn the narrator's name.

Also the setting in "Sweat" takes place

in multiple places, so the third person narration allows us to learn about how most of the men in Delia Jones' town dislike her husband, Syke, disapproving of his womanizing ways, and the men even discuss hanging him. This completely contrasts with "The Yellow Wallpaper" seeing as most of the story takes place in one room. We don't really get an outside perspective on the narrator's husband, so we have to read in to the details to determine his character. Interestingly, in the first person narration we learn that the narrator husband's name is John, but again we never know the narrator's name, which I believe shows an underlying message about how society places strict gender roles and expresses the importance of men and belittles women in comparison.

Both books explore the depths of gender roles and social constructs, but they are executed in different ways.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story we learn about how a woman who clearly shows signs of mental illness and not receiving the proper treatment she needs, fall under the commands of her husband. Gilman goes deep into the narrator's train of thought, showing how because her husband orders her to behave a certain way, she lies about feeling better. A similar message is brought up in Zora Neale Hurston's story, but way the message is presented is widely different due to narration. Hurston's story shows Delia Jones defending herself with an iron skillet against her husband, and also shows us how the men in that town dislike Syke Jones. But it also shows how even though the vast majority of the town hates Syke, he still gets away with doing whatever he pleases. This again shows how much power men hold over women and even though society can deem certain actions as immoral, men are still allowed to get away with their actions because of the gender roles set in place. I think that because this story is in third person point of view, we don't receive any bias descriptions of characters. We know that it is not an exaggeration that most of the town disapprove and are disgusted with Syke Jones' actions because it is presented in a non-bias third person point of view. Similarly, because "The Yellow Wallpaper" is written in first person narration, we grasp the raw and true emotions that the narrator

feels.