Essay On Women In Story Of An Hour, Sweat, And The Yellow Wallpaper

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The characters in the short stories; “Story of an Hour,” “Sweat,” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” felt an overwhelming sense of oppression which lead them to a feeling of desperation to gain their own individual freedom. They took extreme measures to gain more independence by sacrificing their dignity, mental stability and their lives. The concept of being "free" in the sense of not being bound by a one’s husband is a repeated theme in these stories. The female characters loved and adored their husbands but were torn between satisfying their own individual aspirations and their husband's expectations.The women portrayed in these short stories are all torn between striving to appease the societal expectations of being a traditional wife and …show more content…

She discusses her desire to escape her forlorn reality in the means of using her journal but is obligated to abandon her thoughts and ideas to view her husbands as superior. Her journal was the only object that gave her comfort and a feeling of individuality but both her husband and caretaker forbid her to use. As shown by her defensive language about her journal she says "...no person touches this paper but me..."(Gilman 97) The other stories incorporate how men's societal expectations affected women's roles in and outside of the house. She uses her journal as a means to escape her reality and environment where fo so long she has felt oppressed and trapped due to her husband’s extreme and harsh control over her. The narrator furthers this view about men superiority with how her husband treats her, "Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose..." (Gilman 93). This quote not only shows how men were led to believe that women were incapable of intellect and depth, but how women actually thought they were less than

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