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setting and symbolism in the yellow wallpaper
setting and symbolism in the yellow wallpaper
setting and symbolism in the yellow wallpaper
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In the short stories Hell-Heaven by Jhumpa Lahiri and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman both stories convey similar theme. Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, tells a story of a mentally unstable wife, while Lahiri’s short story, Hell-Heaven, informs us about a mother and daughters story from the perspective of her daughter. The characters from both stories come from different cultures but one thing they both have in common is their roles. They marry with the purpose of serving for household duties such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, and taking care of children if they have any. Also lets not forget another job they have is keeping the husband satisfied and happy! In both stories the marriages are in a way similar to one another because they are not one bit satisfied in the situation they are in due to their husbands.
In The Yellow Book the wife is in a confined room with “barred windows and there are rings and things in the walls,” to what happens to seem like a crazy asylum where she is kept because of her controlling husband John, who is a physician and her consultant. In this short story, the unknown wife is kept from going out or doing what she wants to do, which is writing. Like any other wife her only wish is to do one thing, which is to keep her husband happy. “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!” She has a husband who says who she has “a slight hysterical tendency,” which she believes differently but since her husband is a physician of a high standing all she can do is nod and agree. Even though she thinks he is wrong, nothing she says can change his mind. In Hell-Heaven Boudi, the mother, is involved in an arranged marriage...
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... if you were unstable was to keep your man happy and perform all the household duties to keep him, the husband, “satisfied.” No culture could switch the roles of a man or woman because they no matter where you came from they all seem to be the same.
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Gender roles seem to be as old as time and have undergone constant, but sometime subtle, revisions throughout generations. Gender roles can be defined as the expectations for the behaviors, duties and attitudes of male and female members of a society, by that society. The story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a great example of this. There are clear divisions between genders. The story takes place in the late nineteenth century where a rigid distinction between the domestic role of women and the active working role of men exists (“Sparknotes”). The protagonist and female antagonists of the story exemplify the women of their time; trapped in a submissive, controlled, and isolated domestic sphere, where they are treated as fragile and unstable children while the men dominate the public working sphere.
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In a world dominated by technology, reading novels has become dull. Instead of immersing into books, we choose to listen to Justin Bieber’s new songs and to scroll through Instagram posts. We have come to completely neglect the simple pleasures of flipping through pages and getting to finally finish a story. Sherman Alexie and Stephan King’s essays attempt to revive this interest in books that has long been lost. They remind us of the important role that reading plays in our daily lives. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” for instance, demonstrates how being literate saved the narrator from the oppressive nature of society. The author explains that even though he was capable of reading complex books at an astonishingly young
Being able to have an equal partner and feel heard is not only an important thing to have in a marriage but is an important thing for one’s health. Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her story “The Yellow Wallpaper” to discuss and emphasize the harmful effects this can have on women. With a captivating plot Gilman keeps the reader interested, and with powerful symbolism and themes teaches the reader the importance of a woman’s status in her
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