As a result of her husbands control, the woman develops and obsessive attachment to the wallpaper which masks the walls of her bedroom. Gilman composed the short story to make determined statements about feminism and individuality to oppose the male authority that ruled over her during her lifetime. Gilman does this by describing the narrators decent into madness, which is caused by many factors, all being linked to her husband. It’s immediately apparent in “The Yellow Wallpaper” that the woman allows herself to be inferior to men, in particular her husband, John. This ultimately leaves the reader with many questions about 19th century male-female relationships and perhaps insanity.
John is a physician and believes that his wife is only suffering from a “temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency” (70) and due to this condition she should obtain plenty of rest, air and exercise but absolutely no work. The narrator is a writer that is forbidden to write because her husband believes that any form of society or stimulus could cause her condition to deteriorate further. As the story continue you beginning to understand the relationship between the narrator and her husband John. John seems to be very controlling and throughout the story berates his wife, while treating her like a small child that needs caring for. Every attempt that is made by the narrator to express her concerns is met with opposition or disregard.
It is obvious Brick does not appreciate the devotion of Maggie. He is in a state of denial about life (and his possible sexual orientation and attraction to Skipper) and has degraded Maggie since the beginning of the relationship. He also expresses how amazed he is that
Daniel Tran Instructor: Kelly Murray ENG 102-03 Oct 16th, 2013 Critical Essay #1: Short Fiction Thesis Essay Both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck discuss about the love, sex, marriage and the relationship between wife and husband. The author of the Storm conveys to the readers that marriage is traditional but normal sexual practice could be accepting. In “The Chrysanthemums”, Steinbeck displays women lacks of ability and power as men in that period of time. Throughout the readings, I recognize similarities between “the Storm” and “the Chrysanthemums” in themes of desire for change, the important of sexual fulfillment, and inequality of gender. In “The Storm”, Chopin expresses her opinion and idea to speak for marriage women’s sexual desire in the late1800’s.
There is plenty of evidence in the poem to support that the narrator in ‘Cousin Kate’ was a victim of the double standards between men and women which were rife in the middle of the 19th century. This view in shown in the quote: “Chose you and cast me by.” The use of language in ‘chose’ and ‘cast’ are important as these are the verbs in the sentence, therefore the actions being taken out by the Lord, showing his power as he is the one ultimately making the decisions on which girl he chooses and the women have no say in the matter. This shows the contrast between the power of the narrator, the woman, and the power of the Lord, the man, as the narrator must accept the fact she has been ‘cast by’ and that her future is effectively in the Lord’s hands on whether he wants her or not and there is nothing she can do about it. This shows her helplessness and the fact she has zero power or choice in what happens to her or her future and everything is up to the man, therefore displaying the double standards in how men had all power. The view that ‘Cousin Kate’ shows the double standards between men and women during the 19th century in the quote “The neighbours… call me an outcast thing.” The fact the neighbours call the narrator an ‘outcast thing’ yet there is no mention of what they call the Lord shows how even though the Lord has done exactly the same thing as the narrator, he is not seen as an outcast because there were different expectations for women than men and in the Victorian age, women were definitely not expected to have sex before marriage and this was greatly frowned upon in society, yet for men this was different entirely and they were not completely judged for having sex before marriage as women were, further displaying the double standards shown in this time.
Duffy displays a woman’s experience about the spirited irony of the joke about a man who becomes a woman, finding the monthly ‘period’ a painful trial worthy of ‘one week in bed’ and ‘two doctors in’. This highlights how Duffy feels men are not capable to cope with the traumas and pain women deal with without the need of extreme outbreaks which she moves between ironic comedy, pathos and heated eroticism with a natural ease. Mrs Tiresias displays a happy experience with its own body. However, Duffy shows the transformation of husband to female companion carried with it the same conventional restrictions where he is wearing a dress which showed where ‘the shocking V of [his] shirt were breasts’ whilst still a male. This suggests how women sometimes experience men to be senile and insensitive towards their emotions, when they need them to be protective and watchful yet they can be cowards.
This is odd as the object of her affections is her husband,whom has no feelings towards her. He is undeserving of her love,as Emilia could be offering all this love to one whom actually deserves it. This is a good character trait in Emilia. Due to her not getting the love she wants from husband, she develops the belief that women should be able cheat on there husbands. Subsequently they had a rocky relationship,even though
Story of an Hour and Yellow Wallpaper It was the norm of the society in the nineteenth century to have women dependent on the males. Women were most often than not, regulated by their spouses, and were expected to do nothing but make life, and living, an easy experience for their husbands; in return, the women of that era, were loved, protected, and cared for by their husbands. It was while ensuring that these norms of the society were maintained, that both women in the short stories, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, were destroyed by death and madness respectively. In the two stories, both women were trapped in a situation in which they would have preferred not to be in, with the husband and the expectation of the society being the cause of their imprisonment. However, it should be understood that in neither of the situations were the husband’s actions intentionally done; instead, they too were living up to society’s expectations in order to maintain social order.
A door that once kept her shut-off from the outside world, not shuts out society’s view of women and their place in the world. “Iv got out at last...in spite of you!” (70). The narrator of 'The Yellow Wallpaper' has been driven into psychological madness through the imprisonment of male dominance. Gilman's use of symbolism to portray patriarchal dominance, through locked doors and bared windows, has been an effective way to communicate the suffering and trapped feeling of women during the 19th century. While many women would be to afraid to question their role in society and in marriage, Gilman has created a strong female protagonist who overcomes her husbands authoritative
Duhaime 1 Christina Duhaime Mr. Miller Advanced American Literature 02 April 2007 Sexism in The Awakening by Kate Chopin “She could not have told you why she was crying, such experiences as the foregoing were not uncommon in her married life. They seemed never before to have weighed much against the abundance of her husband’s kindness and the uniform devotion which had come to be tacit and self understood.” (49). In the late 19th century, it was very common for women to be looked down upon and underestimated. Society at this time was very male dominate; the man was the provider and the caretaker. The woman was but a wife and a mother, just another piece of valuable property owned by the man.