The Subordination of Women in Marriage in the Yellow Wallpaper

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Nene Odugunwa Intro to Gender and Sexuality Professor Jeff Zamostny 4th March 2013. The Subordination of Women in Marriage in The Yellow Wallpaper. In the story The Yellow Wallpaper, the main character is the narrator in the story. The Yellow Wallpaper was written late in the nineteenth century in 1892 in California by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story takes place in a large summer home that might possibly be an asylum but the story takes place mainly in one bedroom within the house. This story The Yellow Wallpaper, is a mise en abyme meaning that is it a story within a story. The story centers on a young wife and mother who recently has symptoms of depression and anxiety. She does not believe anything is wrong with her, but her physician who is also her husband diagnoses her with neurasthenia and she is prescribed with rest cure. She is forbidden to engage in any form of activity especially writing. Women are treated as lower ranks but their husbands. The story depicts the position of women within the institution of marriage especially in a marriage with a well-established background. In the nineteenth century, wives only had one thing to do and that was to take care of the house and the family. Wives are seen as second class citizens, women are seen as people that had childish behavior and ignorant. John is the physician and the husband, but his superiority over his wife makes him misjudge his wife and dominate his wife all in the name of helping her. John does not let his wife have any say in her life; he takes her away from her baby and the people around her. But the narrator believes that her baby and the people around her can make her better but because her husband believes otherwise and he dominates her, she is ignored. Since the narrator is not allowed to have any say in her life, she decides to talk to herself using her mind, because
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