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Discrimination against women
Gender discrimination refection 1
Discrimination against women
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According to the Webster’s Dictionary, feminism is defined as “… women should have political, economic, and social rights equal to those of men.” Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows that feminism was not acceptable before the mid-nineteen hundreds and sometimes is not accepted today. While the main character, who is unnamed throughout the story, is a prisoner of the yellow wallpaper and a prisoner of society itself, she fights to keep her sanity. In the end, one finds out that she has lost that battle but that is not what the story represents. This story clearly states how unequal women are to men and shows that through the “repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow [wallpaper]. “ The main character’s husband takes her away to the hereditary estate. He chose this spot because there is nobody around and “[the wife] was to have perfect rest and all the air [she] could get.” John thinks that this house will be the best for her because he is a highly sought out physician and knows how to diagnose her so-called disease by shoving her in a room. Most women had this disease if they were not acting like a stay-at-home mom that does all the house chores and cooks. Anything a woman would do that the husband or society, at the time, did not think was women-like then one was considered to have this depression disorder. What happened to this narrator was very common in the older society but not to this extent. The question is who truly is to blame for her becoming hysterical? Is it society, John, or just the wallpaper in general? Once they arrive in the house, the main character is basically locked away in the nursery for the rest of the story. This nursery had everything moved out of it besides the bars on the window and th... ... middle of paper ... ...spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper and you can’t put me back!” With the remaining pieces on the wall, it shows “there are still advances to be made in terms of true social and economic equality…” The ending of the book shows that women are getting closer to equal opportunities as men, but it is still a work in progress. Works Cited Ames, William. The Poet's Forum. 2009. http://www.poetsforum.com/papers/232_3.html (accessed January 31, 2014). Gilman, Charlotte. "The Yellow Wallpaper." In An Introduction to Literature, by Sylvan Barnet, William Burto and William E Cain, 419-430. New York: Person Longman, 2006. Guralnik, David B. Webster's New World Dictionary. Montevideo: William Collins, 1976. Treichler, Paula A. "Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in "The Yellow Wallpaper"." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, 1984: 61-77.
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.
Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. “A Feminist Reading of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” The Story and Its Writer. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. Print.
...e his wife tearing the yellow paper like manic and creeping over him to tear the yellow wallpaper symbolizes the power now Jane has over her husband shifting the traditional gender roles even though it temporary .The tearing of the yellow wallpaper symbolizes Jane’s traditional gender role of being an obedient wife was a imprison to her l health .Jane felt trapped without a voice and not being able to do anything but to obey reflects her imprisonment to the woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper and the need to be free. In which in her own way she escapes her traditional gender role by letting the woman out and taking control of her husband when she locks the door and he faints.
Gillman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems Plays, and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 604-616.
Gilman, Charlotte. "The Yellow Wall-Paper." Literature and the Writing Process. Eds. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 1996. 105-115.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Literature for Composition: Reading and Writing Arguments about Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, and William E. Cain. 8th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 765-75. Print.
Shumaker, Conrad. "Too Terribly Good to Be Printed: Charlotte Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper'." reprinted in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Vol. 37. Ed. Paula Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1991. 194-198.
Advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men, Charlotte Perkins Gilman speaks to the “female condition” in her 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by writing about the life of a woman and what caused her to lose her sanity. The narrator goes crazy due partially to her prescribed role as a woman in 1892 being severely limited. One example is her being forbidden by her husband to “work” which includes working and writing. This restricts her from begin able to express how she truly feels. While she is forbidden to work her husband on the other hand is still able to do his job as a physician. This makes the narrator inferior to her husband and males in general. The narrator is unable to be who she wants, do what she wants, and say what she wants without her husband’s permission. This causes the narrator to feel trapped and have no way out, except through the yellow wallpaper in the bedroom.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman brings to light the inequalities of patriarchal society and marital inequality in the 19th century via her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” First published in 1892, “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written and takes place in a time when marriage was acceptably unequal and gender roles were clearly defined. Now it is regarded as a literary masterpiece in feminist ideology. The story was written as a series of journal entries from the perspective of the narrator, a young woman who has been diagnosed with a temporary nervous depression by her husband, John, who is a physician. The couple moves into a rented house for the summer and her husband orders her to strict bed rest. Isolated in a room that is covered in “hideous” yellow wallpaper and with bars on the windows, she becomes increasingly obsessed with the paper and slips further down the rabbit hole of psychosis (Gillman 13). On the surface, the story may seem that it is simply about a woman suffering from mental illness and a loving husband trying his best to take care of her. Digging deeper, it becomes clear that her husband is controlling every aspect of her life including her freedom, creativity, and sanity; disregarding her as a subordinate - far less than equal.
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” we are walked through the journal of a women who has been diagnosed, by her husband, with what he believes is merely, “temporary nervous depression” (Gilman 216). Since the protagonist’s husband, John, believes the only way she will get better is through moderate exercise, and lots of rest, they rent a house where she can have tranquility and rest until she is better (Gilman 216). At first glance “The Yellow Wallpaper” seems like a simple story of a women trying to get better in a house that she doesn’t particularly like. However, through further analysis it can be seen that through the use of symbolism Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a critique on the role of women in nineteenth-century American society.
Ford, Karen. “The Yellow Wallpaper and Women’s Discourse.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 4.2 (1985): 309-14. JSTOR. Web. 6 April 2011.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading And Writing. 7th ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2004. 590-600.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The Story and Its Writer. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 462-473. Print.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" motivated the female mind of creativity and mental strength through a patriarchal order of created gender roles and male power during the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. While John represented characteristics of a typical male of his time, the yellow wallpaper represented a controlling patriarchal society; a sin of inequality that a righteous traitor needed to challenge and win. As the wallpaper deteriorates, so does the suppressing effect that male hierarchy imposed on women. Male belief in their own hierarchy was not deteriorating. Females began to think out of line, be aware of their suppression, and fight patriarchal rule. The progression of the yellow wallpaper and the narrator, through out the story, leads to a small win over John. This clearly represents and motivates the first steps of a feminist movement into the twentieth century.
The female perspective of today has changed quite a bit. For one thing the role of the female in society has changed drastically since 1892. The women of today compete for the same jobs that men do and this causes them to take care of themselves and fight for themselves. For another thing the role of the male has changed since the book was written. Since women today are a part of the working community, men are forced to reckon with the reality that women are as capable and stable as men. "I've got out at last," said I "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the[1]" paper, so you can't put me back!"... The end is the only time that John and Jennie get a peek of the disturbed narrator's imagination. She finally expressed herself without regard to her husband's wisdom or the fact that he is a doctor. The modern day viewer's perspective of the story is one of disgust or sickened compassion. The reader would read the beginning and think the narrator is a normal person who is controlled by her husband. As the reader continues a feeling of dislike or even hatred towards the husband for disregarding her opinions and feelings. I think a woman of today, if she were in the same position as the narrator, would have at the very least gotten a second opinion. Of course since medicine has advanced drastically since The Yellow Wall-Paper was published, it leads me to believe that this situation would have never gotten so severe.