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The setting in the novel ‘One Flew Over the cuckoo’s Nest’ written by Ken Kesey in 1962 and the novella ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ penned by charlotte Perkins Gilman in the 1890 show similarities as both texts take place in sick rooms though they are set one hundred years apart. The setting of the texts lead readers to define sanity and insanity by looking at the characters influence on setting showing who is and who isn’t in power.

The time setting in a text such as ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ set in the 1890s reveal a lot about the society in America at the time. The narrative voice reveals that she is subjected to a ‘rest cure’, which is mostly identified with middle class women in Victorian America as they were expected to play the role of the Angel in the House, the ideal being submissive. A clear example of this is seen in the times the narrator speaks compared to the narrator’s husband, John. The narrator is seen as submissive when she writes “I wish he would let me go and make a visit”, here the narrator does not take any action to do something she wants, but it is assumed that she asks John for permission, as his response is recorded as “he said I wasn’t able to go”, this shows the narrators submissive behaviour further as she obeys what John has said, showing that he has control over her.

In addition to this, the time setting shows how women were treated as if they were irrational, the narrator brings this behaviour across to the reader when she says “I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time” here the narrator is portrayed by Gilman as a stereotypical women from a man’s perspective at the time. Due to this perceived irrational behaviour, John treats the narrator as a child who is too weak to look after herself, linked to her...

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... This is seen in Part 4 of the novel, when Bromden tore up the control panel and “let the momentum carry the panel through the screen and window” breaking free. This breaks the boundary that once stopped Bromden as he now believe in himself, the narrative voice expresses this through “I felt like I was flying. Free.” this shows that Bromden has achieved freedom by being outside of the ward, which allows him to make decisions for himself, without Nurse Ratched exercise her rules.

All forms of setting; time, physical and mindscapes helps the reader to understand Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ as they given an insight into the treatment of men and women during the times these texts were set. The works make an impact on the reader’s interpretation through the perception of the write conveying the setting on deeper levels.