A Man Dominated World According To The Yellow Wall

876 Words4 Pages
During the time that Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper women were expected to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers and spend there lives at home. The story expresses the differences and hardships women went through. The Yellow Wallpaper is about a “middle-class wife driven mad by a patriarchy controlling her ‘for her own good’”(Lanser 415). But this is just a reflection of how society was. Women were trapped in a male-dominated world. In fact the reader never learns the woman’s name, meaning that this could be any woman at this time. The yellow wallpaper in the room the woman was locked in represents women being held back by men. The woman is being held in the room by her husband, John. Even though her husband is a physician, she disagrees with his ideas when he says that she needs to be in the room. She believes that change and excitement will be good for her. Even though she disagrees with John she knows that he has her best interest in mind. “It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so" (603). John believes that she is suffering from “a slight hysterical tendency.” At the time this story was written the word hysteria was used to describe a variety of symptoms men seemed to find in women. They believed that this was an emotional disturbance (597). So even though it seems that John has her best interest in mind, by John relaying of his own wisdom it leads him to misjudge, patronize, and dominate his wife. The relationship between John and the narrator is not necessarily a normal relationship between a husband and his wife. He refers to her as his “blessed little goose” and “little girl.” During this time men bossed around women like they were children so it’s interesting that he refers to her as a little girl. John finds her ideas and thoughts to be silly and foolish. "John laughs
Open Document