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women's role in the yellow wallpaper
women's role in the yellow wallpaper
women in the era of the yellow wallpaper
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in Hartford Connecticut. She was a celebrated essayist and public speaker, she became an important early figure in American feminism. Although Gilman’s father frequently left the family for long periods during her childhood and ultimately divorced his wife, he directed Gilman’s early education, emphasizing study in science and history (4). She studied commercial art at Rhode Island School of Design where she met her husband, an artist named Walter Stetson. After the birth of her daughter, Katherine, she experienced a severe depression. They later divorced and she then married her cousin, George Houghton Gilman, he died around the time rest cure her doctor prescribed became the basis of her most famous story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Gilman discovered she had inoperable breast cancer. After finishing her autobiography, she killed herself with chloroform in Pasadena, California. A review of the articles shows that the first one, Feminist Criticism ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, and the Politics of Color in America” praises contemporary feminism and its role in changing the study and the interpretation of literature. Lanser explains that in the time that feminism was rising, academic woman had discovered that “literature is greatly political and compassed by patriarchy ideology.” Lanser argues that books like “The Yellow Wallpaper were lost in time because of the ideology which determined the works’ content to be disturbing or offensive (417). For example, the editor of the Atlantic Monthly rejected “The Yellow wallpaper” because “I could not forgive himself if he made others miserable as I have made himself (417).” “How we were taught to read” Lanser says, is why a reader canno... ... middle of paper ... ...he impression that Gilman was “trying to drive people crazy,” But rather the intension that the author had set out to give her readers. I would have to agree with Seuss that the wallpaper was a form of language, it was how she was able to express how she was feeling. Works Cited Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski and Scott Darga. Vol. 117. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. p40-181. Lanser, Susan (1989). "Feminist Criticism ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, and the Politics of Color in America". Feminist Studies 15 (3): 415–441 Suess, Barbara A. "The Writing's On The Wall" Symbolic Orders In 'The Yellow Wallpaper'." Women's Studies 32.1 (2003): 79. Humanities International Complete. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. Scott, Heidi. "Crazed Nature: Ecology In The Yellow Wall-Paper." Explicator 67.3 (2009): 198. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
At the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” she was considered a prominent feminist writer. This piece of background information allows the readers to see Gilman’s views on women’s rights and roles in the 18th century; “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggests that women in the 18th century were suppressed into society’s marital gender roles. Gilman uses the setting and figurative language, such as symbolism, imagery, and metaphors to convey the theme across.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author of the short story The Yellow Wall-Paper, wrote a story with a focus on mental illness; while doing so she began a feminist revolution in the late 19th century. The narrator, Jane, is attempting to break free from society’s patriarchal ideals and begins to carve a path for women of the future. While the narrator of the story may not have fully escaped, her efforts mark an act of martyrdom for women’s rights and freedom during this era.
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. 1629-1631. Print.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'" Women's Studies 12:2 (1986): 113-128.
In literature, women are often depicted as weak, compliant, and inferior to men. The nineteenth century was a time period where women were repressed and controlled by their husband and other male figures. Charlotte Gilman, wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper," showing her disagreement with the limitations that society placed on women during the nineteenth century. According to Edsitement, the story is based on an event in Gilman’s life. Gilman suffered from depression, and she went to see a physician name, Silas Weir Mitchell. He prescribed the rest cure, which then drove her into insanity. She then rebelled against his advice, and moved to California to continue writing. She then wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper,” which is inflated version of her experience. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the main character is going through depression and she is being oppressed by her husband and she represents the oppression that many women in society face. Gilman illustrates this effect through the use of symbols such as the yellow wallpaper, the nursery room, and the barred windows.
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.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was originally read and interpreted as a horror story but from the authors perspective, it was an accurate representation of the troubles most women of her time period went through. It's also considered the The text is most commonly viewed from a feminist and a psychoanalytical perspective which brings to light the apparent symbolism within the story as well as digging beneath the wallpaper and understanding the purpose behind the story.
Wohlpart, Jim. American Literature Research and Analysis Web Site. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper.”” 1997. Florida Gulf Coast University
The yellow wallpaper itself is one of the largest symbols in the story. It can be interpreted to symbolize many things about the narrator. The wallpaper symbolizes the mental block mean attempted to place on women during the 1800s. The color yellow is often associated with sickness or weakness, and the narrator’s mysterious illness is an example of the male oppression on the narrator. The wallpaper in fact makes the narrator more “sick” as the story progresses. The yellow wallpaper, of which the writer declares, “I never saw a worse paper in my life,” is a symbol of the mental screen that men attempted to enforce upon women. Gilman writes, “The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing” this is a symbolic metaphor for restrictions placed on women. The author is saying subliminally that the denial of equality for women by men is a “hideous” act, and that when men do seem to grant women some measure of that equality, it is often “unreliable.” The use of the words “infuriating” and “torturing” are also descriptions of the feelings of women in 19th century society.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Images of Woman in American Popular Culture. Ed. Angela G. Dorenkamp, et al. Port Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1995. 78-89.
Traditionally, men have held the power in society. Women have been treated as a second class of citizens with neither the legal rights nor the respect of their male counterparts. Culture has contributed to these gender roles by conditioning women to accept their subordinate status while encouraging young men to lead and control. Feminist criticism contends that literature either supports society’s patriarchal structure or provides social criticism in order to change this hierarchy. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts one women’s struggle against the traditional female role into which society attempts to force her and the societal reaction to this act.
Evidence of Gilman's life experiences can be seen all throughout the story. The main character in the story, a slightly neurotic woman, is married to a prominent physician. This husband refuses to believe anything is wrong with his wife's health simply because her physical health is intact. Thus, he prescribes for his wife nothing more than relaxation and cessation of her writings. This character clearly correlates to the doctor who "treated" Gilman for her nervous breakdown. The description of the room and the wallpaper is clearly crucial to the story as a whole. The room itself is described as large and airy, with windows facing towards a "delicious garden." The wallpaper does not fit the room at all. It is a repulsive, pale yellow color. The description of the wallpaper seems to function metaphorically. The wallpaper becomes much more detailed and much more of a fixture in the main characters life as the story progresses. The wallpaper essentially takes on a life of its own. This progression seems to represent mental illness itself. As mental illness progresses, it becomes much more whole and enveloping. Gilman attempts to represent the depth of mental illness through the wallpaper. For example, the woman in the story comes to the conclusion that there is a woman in the wallpaper behind the pattern.
"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.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" Women's Studies. 12 (1986): 113-128.
Feminist and socialist issues are imperative for progressive thinking and actions in today’s society. These issues were particularly new and diverse within the 19th and 20th century, when men were more in control of woman and women were required to fulfill specific roles. Most notably, writer, Charlotte Perkins Gilman became very active on these issues personally and incorporated them in her stories. One story in particular is The Yellow Wallpaper, where she brilliantly associates real life depictions alongside fiction to illustrate a misguided, repressed woman who has been overpowered physically and emotionally most notably with her medical diagnosis of the “rest cure” conferred by her husband.