The Story Of An Hour And The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1058 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women's struggle for equal rights

“The desire to be a free person is very worthwhile. To be free means you are no longer the victim of fear, anger, craving, or suspicion” (Hanh). There are two women who share their thoughts and experiences with freedom through their writing: Kate Chopin in the “The Story of an Hour” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the “The Yellow Wallpaper”. During the time period in which these short stories occured, women were often looked down upon. In creating these works of literature, these female authors were breaking the stereotype and speaking out against the norm. In each of these story stories a theme of the women in the relationship having a strong desire to become free exists. At the end of the stories, each woman in their own way became free …show more content…

This unique treatment abides by rules of isolation from people and any from of creativity. The wife secretly wrote in her journal “Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able,—to dress and entertain, and order things” (Chopin 649). The wife was being deprived from everything that she knew and loved; her creativity and even her own newly-born child. The wife goes through a roller-coaster of emotions throughout the story in what her thoughts and beliefs are. In the beginning on the story, the reader could question whether she was really that sick. Her husband, John, restricted her to one room in the house with a ugly mustard yellow wallpaper, which the wife hated. As the days continued, the hatred turn into a weird fascination, which turned into a madness that engulfed the narrator. Since the narrator was restricted only to her room, she didn’t have the luxury of society judging her and her actions; nevertheless, her behavior, if broadcasted to the public, would be harshly criticized. Readers can infer that the wife viewed herself as a confused woman who justed wanted to live a little. She always believe that if she was allowed to express her creative side maybe she would start to feel …show more content…

In the time period in which these works of literature were published, the Progressive Era, was a time of change and speaking out about the problems and finding solutions to those problems. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman took full advantage and choose to discuss the important issue of women’s rights. These stories took a stand for women and maybe even inspired women during this time to also take a stand. Another similarity that lies within the stories is the main character experiences so type of illness. In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition. Do to this heart condition, her friends and family members often look down upon her and view her as a weak individual. Chopin writes that “great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death” (1). There is great debate among readers weather it was Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition that played a role in her pasting when she saw that in fact her husband was still alive. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” it is apparent that the wife experiences a difficult time and that maybe she possessed some mental illness. Today, readers can conclude that the wife suffered from postpartum depression, which had not been discovered. As the story progresses, the wife’s insanity progresses with it and by the end

Show More
Related

  • The Narrator of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Short Story, The Yellow Wallpaper

    565 Words  | 2 Pages

    The narrator is trying to get better from her illness but her husband “He laughs at me so about this wallpaper” (515). He puts her down and her insecurities do not make it any better. She is treated like a child. John says to his wife “What is it little girl” (518)? Since he is taking care of her she must obey him “There comes John, and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word”. The narrator thinks John is the reason why she cannot get better because he wants her to stay in a room instead of communicating with the world and working outside the house.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper

    Read More

  • Control in The Yellow Wallpaper

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story about control. In the time frame in which the story was written, the 1800’s, women were looked upon as having no effect on society other than bearing children, maintaining a clean house, and food on the table etc. etc. There was really no means for self expression as a woman, when men not only dominated society but the world. The story was written at a time when men held the jobs, knowledge, and society above their shoulders. The narrator on, "The Yellow Wallpaper" in being oppressed by her husband, John, even though many readers believe this story is about a woman who loses her mind, it is actually about a woman’s struggle to regain, something which she never had before, control of her life.

    Read More

  • Comparing "Story of an hour "vs "The Yellow Wall Paper"

    347 Words  | 1 Pages

    Both “The Story of an Hour” and Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” display women discovering freedom from society’s standards during the setting’s time period. In “The Story of an Hour,” Louise locks herself in her room after discovering that her husband has died and at that point in the story she finds herself more confident in herself. She exclaims, “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 83). After she believed her husband died she finally had reason to take initiative in life and did not have to live a life were nothing was expected of her. She found freedom in locked quarters. Just as John’s wife did in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” As the wife’s sickness progressed, her anxiety over the yellow wallpaper increased. The patterns developed within the walls showed the image of a woman creeping along, and as the shadows of the bars from the window cast across the woman. This can symbolize how she is like the shadow, imprisoned in her room and mansion. As time moved forward, the wife fully identifies with the image in the wall, and by the end of the story she locks herself in her room and frees the woman behind the bars by pealing off most of the wallpaper.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    An Analysis of Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper

    Read More

  • Essay On Differences Between The Yellow Wallpaper And The Story Of An Hour

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, women have had to continuously fight for their rights and equality in society. Women have fought to separate themselves from their controlling husbands, fought to become independently accepted and have fought to create their own destiny. Within their short stories, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin address this search for freedom and independence. Chopin’s publication of “The Story of an Hour” in 1894 was not far behind Gilman’s publication of “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892. During this time period, women were starting to fight for more social rights and social equality. Both stories analyze the social standards of this time and the oppression of women by men.

    Read More

  • Setting And Oppression In The Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you at any point been secured a dim wardrobe? You grab about attempting to feel the doorknob, stressing to see a thin light emission originating from underneath the entryway. As the obscurity expends you, you feel as though you will choke. There is a vibe of powerlessness and misery. Forlornness, caused by persecution, resembles a similar haziness that surpasses its casualty. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in "The Yellow Wallpaper," describes the account of a youthful mother who goes to a mid-year home to "rest" from her apprehensive condition. Her room is an old nursery secured with terrible, yellow backdrop. The additional time she burns through alone, the more she winds up plainly fixated on the backdrop's examples. She starts to envision a lady in jail in the paper. At last, she loses her rational soundness and trusts that she is the lady in the backdrop, attempting to get away. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the author utilizes setting and imagery to recommend that detaining persecution causes a kind of depression (in ladies) that can prompt a lethal type of madness.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    457 Words  | 1 Pages

    “There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!” The late 19th century hosted a hardship for women in our society. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman expressed a form of patriarchy within the story. Gilman never addressed the woman in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” by a name, demonstrating her deficiency of individual identity. The author crafted for the narrator to hold an insignificant role in civilization and to live by the direction of man. Representing a hierarchy between men and women in the 19th century, the wallpaper submerged the concentration of the woman and began compelling her into a more profound insanity.

    Read More

  • Internal Struggles in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Yellow Wallpaper” tells the story of a woman who is trapped in a room covered in yellow wallpaper. The story is one that is perplexing in that the narrator is arguably both the protagonist as well as the antagonist. In the story, the woman, who is the main character, struggles with herself indirectly which results in her descent into madness. The main conflicts transpires between the narrator and her husband John who uses his power as a highly recognize male physician to control his wife by placing limitations on her, forcing her to behave as a sick woman. Hence he forced himself as the superior in their marriage and relationship being the sole decision make. Therefore it can be said what occurred externally resulted in the central conflict of” “The Yellow Wallpaper being internal. The narrator uses the wallpaper as a symbol of authenticy. Hence she internalizes her frustrations rather then openly discussing them.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper And Story Of An Hour Compare And Contrast Essay

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex. Through history women have fought for equal rights and freedom. They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers of children. Only with the push of the Equal Rights Amendment have women had a strong hold on the workplace alongside men. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension comes from men, society, in general, and within a woman herself. Two interesting short stories, “The Yellow Wall-paper" and “The Story of an Hour," focus on a woman’s fix near the turn of the 19th century. This era is especially interesting

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wall Paper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    The “Yellow Wall Paper “ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a chilling study and experiment of mental disorder in nineteenth century. This is a story of a miserable wife, a young woman in anguish, stress surrounding her in the walls of her bedroom and under the control of her husband doctor, who had given her the treatment of isolation and rest. This short story vividly reflects both a woman in torment and oppression as well as a woman struggling for self expression.

    Read More

  • The Story Of The Hour And The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s “The Story of the Hour” and Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is viewed from a woman’s perspective of the nineteenth century. They showed the issues on how they were confined to the house. That they were to be stay at home wives and let the husband earn the household income. These stories are both written by American women and how their marriage was brought about. Their husbands were very controlling and treated them more like children instead of their wives. In the nineteenth century their behavior was considered normal at the time. In “The Story of the Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” both women explore their issues on wanting to be free of the control of their husband.

    Read More

  • Insanity in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a nervous wife, an overprotective husband, and a large, dank room covered in musty wallpaper all play important parts in driving the wife insane. The husband's smothering attention, combined with the isolated environment, incites the nervous nature of the wife, causing her to plunge into insanity to the point she sees herself in the wallpaper. The author's masterful use of not only the setting (of both time and place), but also of first person point of view, allows the reader to participate in the woman's growing insanity.

    Read More

  • The Story of an Hour

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    I read a story, after I finished reading it my mind was still reeling over what I had just read. Stories like this are quite impressive magnificent; they draw the reader into the story and leave them with a strong impact. How we interpret a text is in itself impressive, as every person is different, every interpretation is too. As I read “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, I could not help but notice that Kate Chopin uses the window to symbolize the future that Mrs. Mallard has been pinning for all her life. Chopin also uses Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition as a symbol of Mrs. Mallard’s marriage. The short story is consequentially the story of an oppressed woman who had to confine herself to the social norms of marriage. Through Formalism Criticism, we will explore the various symbols that Chopin uses to describe how Mrs. Mallard yearns for freedom, and through the Feminist Criticism, we will explore how the institution of marriage oppresses our heroin.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper in 1890 about her experience in a psychiatric hospital. The doctor she had prescribed her “the rest cure” to get over her condition (Beekman). Gilman included the name of the sanitarium she stayed at in the piece as well which was named after the doctor that “treated” her. The short story was a more exaggerated version of her month long stay at Weir Mitchell and is about a woman whose name is never revealed and she slowly goes insane under the watch of her doctor husband and his sister (The Yellow Wallpaper 745). Many elements of fiction were utilized by Gilman in this piece to emphasize the theme freedom and confinement. Three of the most important elements are symbolism, setting and character.

    Read More

More about The Story Of An Hour And The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Open Document