Familial Conflict in the Short Stories "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Responsibility"

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Many different conflicts arise in one household but it is also common in the short stories, The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and in Responsibility written by Russell Smith. In both short stories there are challenges that characters need to face due to the fact that family relationships are the cause. In the Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is the protagonist she is a woman that is apparently suffering from nervous depression. In the short story responsibility, the son James is the protagonist, there are many differences between him and his mother they share a usual relationship where the child rebels against the parents’ wishes.

In The yellow wallpaper the narrator is also the protagonist and her husband share a relationship that is a little off; the fact is that they are husband and wife, but they do not act so. There are many examples that show this. And many conflicts arise because of the relationship they share. The story is based around the fact that the protagonist is suffering from nervous depression and her husband is the physician, there are many things that he does not know because of the lack of communication in this relationship this is a challenge for the protagonist .She believes that she is sick and her husband John fails to see that the protagonist states that, “he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but the temporary nervous depression- a slight nervous tendency-what is one to do?” (Gilman, 55) this is the start to the fact that there is no communication she fails to say anything, but she does want, to get better but she states “personally I be...

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... that families can never be perfect and that there is always conflict in the households. In Responsibility James eventually “knew he wasn’t nice, he wasn’t a nice person, because all he wanted to do was to get out, get the hell out of there” he wanted what was best for him. There is nothing wrong but with the challenges at home he was ready for more for himself. In the Yellow wallpaper, eventually the narrator went insane being locked up in a room because her husband told her to, she states in the story, “I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try.” (Gilman, 69) This proves without communication in a relationship there can be hard times ahead

In both stories the family relationships are a main cause to many of the small issues that turn out bigger than needed.

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