The Yellow Wall Paper
Essay title: The Yellow Wall Paper
Women according to Charlote Perkins Gilmore’s “The Yellow Wall Paper”
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 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 societys patriarchal structure or provides social criticism in order to change this hierarchy. The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts one womens
struggle against the traditional female role into which society attempts to force her and the societal reaction to this act.
From the beginning of this work, the woman is shown to have gone mad. We are given no insight into the past, and we do not know why she has been driven to the brink of insanity. The beautiful English place that the woman sees in her minds eye is the way men have traditionally wanted women to see their role in society. As the woman says, “It is quite alone standing well back from the road It makes me think of English places for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people. There is a delicious garden! I never saw such a garden large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them.” This lovely English countryside picture that this woman paints to the reader is a shallow view at the real likeness of her prison. The reality of things is that this lovely place is her small living space, and in it she is to function as every other good housewife should
The description of her cell, versus the reality of it, is a very good example of the restriction women had in those days. They were free to see things as they wanted, but there was no real chance at a woman changing her roles and place in society. This is mostly attributed to the small amount of freedom women had, and therefore they could not bring about a drastic change, because men were happy with the position women filled.
This creates a despair, of hopelessness and of downheartedness. The woman, on multiple occasions, wrote down, “And what can one do?” This lets the reader know that women as a whole were very oppressed in this time. They had a role, and had to stick to it. In fact, their roles were so minor that at one point, she writes, “He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.” In this, one may begin to realize that men had such a high ranking over women, that the small amount of freedom a woman had was basically dictated still by her husband.
Men often times did not know much about their wife, or care to sit down and talk with her. They did not take great care to know how she was doing, or why she was feeling the way she was. The woman says,”John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him.” The woman is showing a small amount of frustration towards her husband, because he does not concern himself with such small things.
The role of women in society was displayed quite clearly by the entrance of Johns sister. The woman writes,” There comes Johns sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing. She is a perfectionist and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which makes me sick!” Johns sister is representative of the typical woman. A woman who is pleased with her life, and wishes for no more. Johns wife, however, is rebelling on her place in society by writing. This is why she includes the statement; I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which makes me sick!
Women were quite noticeably looked down upon in years past. The quote from the woman’s writings states,” I got up softly and went to feel and see if the paper did move, and when I came back John was awake. What is it, little girl? he said. Don’t go walking about like that you’ll get cold” The inclusion of him saying little girl shows that no matter