Cultural Analysis Of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

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Recommended: Feminist interpretation in the yellow wallpaper

Caleb Hines

Professor Allen

English 101

December 7, 2014

Final Draft

Historical/ Cultural analysis: "Understanding Women 's Plight Towards Freedom/ Trapped Behind Society 's Yellow Prison" In Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's "The Yellow Wallpaper," the struggles of being a woman in the 1800 's are illustrated through elements such as restriction towards education, sexuality, and even individuality. The story was created to describe the pressure women felt before the 19th amendment was passed. Issues are also addressed by The Ballot Box and the National Citizen and Ballot Box 1876-1881, (TWSA) Toledo Woman Suffrage Association An Interpretation and Document Archive by Gaylynn Welch. The story shows the hardships of being a woman in the 1800 's and explains how women were "trapped" in their marriages and were not able to be free and enjoy the little things of every day life. For example, reading and writing were prohibited for women. Since, there was no social media, this was an everyday past time. So, women weren 't allowed to participate. Presently, this seems absurd, but back then it was accepted in society. Gilman portrays the hardships of womanhood in the 1800 's through the story of a mentally ill woman who was struggling with depression. We see the story through the wife 's first person
Later, when she tries to really talk to him as his equal the story describes him becoming very stern and upright. This was done to show she had overstepped her boundary and to show that women could not speak to their husbands as equals because they were not at the time. Similar to the African American who was lower than the status of a dog, but not as severe. Women were expected to cook, clean, raise a family, and pay taxes, even though they had no rights or representation (Ballot box

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