Essay About First Story And Short Stories

Who Is Crazier? Compare/contrast Essay
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I picked two short stories that I would like to compare and contrast in this essay. The
first story is called “The Yellow Wall- Paper” and was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The
second story I chose is called “A Rose for Emily” and was written by William Faulkner. Both of
these stories are about women who have serious mental problems. These stories are similar in
that aspect, but there are also some differences. In this essay, I will compare and contrast these
two short stories and determine which one best illustrates insanity.
The first thing that I noticed about these stories was that they were purely fictional. I
also noticed that they both had a weird twist. “A Rose for Emily” is about a woman who kills
her lover and hides him in her home:
The man himself lay in the bed. For a long while we just stood there, looking down at
the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an
embrace, but now the long sleep that outlast love, that conquers even the grimace of
love, had cuckolded him.
In “The Yellow Wall-Paper” the woman starts out normal and gradually sinks into depression.
Her depression gets so bad that she begins to see objects in her wall paper:
We have been here two weeks, and I havent felt like writing before, since that first
day. I am sitting by the window now, up in this atrocious nursery, and there is nothing
to hinder my writing as much as I please, save lack of strength.
I dont feel as if it was worth while to turn my hand over for anything, and Im getting
dreadfully fretful and querulous. I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time. Of course I
dont when John is here, or anybody else, but when I am alone.
At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by
moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as
plain as can be. I didnt realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind,
that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman.
The weird twist in these stories not only captures your attention, but also makes the stories
memorable.
Although both stories are fictional, Charlotte Perkins Gilman did battle with depression
in her own life on more than one occasion. Ms. Gilman was treated for depression with what is
called the “rest cure.” This basically meant that you lived as much of a domestic and stress free
life as possible. You were limited to two hours of intellectual stimulation per day. She was told
by her doctors that she would never be allowed to write again. She listened to the doctors advice
for three months, but during that time she became worse. She said, ” I came so near the border
line of utter mental ruin that I could see over.” She knew what would really help her and it was
not what the doctor advised. Gilman obtained her normal life again and eventually got well. In
her story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” her character is also a writer and treated with the ” rest
cure.” Gilman wrote the story as a celebration of her own recovery and in many ways the story
reflected her own experiences. The Author of “A Rose for Emily” had no personal experience
with