The Yellow Wallpaper
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Throughout all of my years of schooling and every history class I have taken I have always learned about the history of a woman or group of women that have been oppressed. Women were frequently subject to the standards of men. For this essay, I will argue about the gender differences between John and his wife in the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” I will explain why Johns wife was not treated fairly because of the contrast between gender roles.
The narrator, Johns wife, feels she was expected to take on the stereotypical female role and cater to whatever needs her husband might present her with. She suffers with symptoms of depression. I believe it is only because John has been controlling her since they were wed. When Johns wife wrote, “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. Im sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition,” in essence stating that she used to be strong-willed but over time has become this passive woman.
Through the birth of their child, John took on a fatherly role. That is the reason he started to belittle his wife by calling her such names like “blessed little goose,” and doing things such as reading to her before bed. John assigned Mary to care for the baby and for Jennie to take care of the house. He thought of his wife as more of a child and a burden rather than his wife and patient. That alone is why she was kept upstairs in what used to be the “nursery” room.
Johns wife wrote, “Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able–to dress and entertain, and order things.” Every duty that she named in that statement was things that were restricted to the house. When she says “It does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way!” it shows that she has a perceived notion that she is only capable of doing a certain job. Women never had the offer to work in the city but were just expected to take care of the children and house. They had been conditioned by men to think that they were not skilled enough to work at higher status jobs.
In the late 19th century, the medical research was not as advanced as it is now. John thought isolation and rest was the best solution for his wifes recovery. He moved the family into a quiet country mansion for her recovery. John stayed gone during the better half of the day working with patients in the city. She was alone for most of the days to sit and “rest” as her husband prescribed, once again subject to the orders of a man. Johns wife knew that “rest” would not cure her completely. She believed that “congenial work, with excitement and change” would be good for her. Johns wife was fairly strong before she just gave in to his orders. John was not aware that by isolating her only made her that much more anxious. She wrote, “When I get really well, John says we will ask Cousin Henry and Julia down for a long visit; but he says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now.” Writing, without Johns permission, was the only freedom she had. She could express her thoughts and emotions while he was away in the city all day.
The wallpaper was symbolic of a blanket of imprisonment in a domestic realm. Because John confined his wife to the nursery room she started to imagine other women similar to herself that were confined in the wallpaper. She wrote, “I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design.” The figures in