The Yellow Wallpaper

692 Words3 Pages
After reading Melanie Smith's essay on the similarities of "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, I agreed too many points that Melanie Smith made towards the men and the main protagonists, but I have a different explanation to her points. Ms. Smith argued that both man in two stories loved their wife and some of the neglecting actions was caused by the standard of society during that time. I totally agree with Ms. Smith that society played an important role in influencing male to become more dominant as a way of increasing their power and ego because during that time of era it was a normal occurrence. But in my opinion, Ms. Smith was partially correct. "The Yellow Wallpaper" shows that the husband did not love his wife, but treated her as a trophy, evidence of his accomplishment as a man. Ms. Smith argued that both men in both stories love their wife, but in my opinion Ms. Smith was wrong. Brently Mallard, a character from "The Story of an Hour", was the only one of the two husbands who respected his wife. When he was reported dead, the wife fell into depression. That is a sign that he was close to her, enough to make an impact of her life and that if he were to disappear she would be greatly influenced. Her recovery left some pieces of over joy attitude. It wasn’t a joy that she is free from her husband, but joy that she can live her life without the burden of depression, fear, and sadness. "She knew she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death" (P. 62). She would start to weep not because of Brantly's dead hands but death itself. The way depression comes on a person is through the lost of will and when the person giving up his/her life goals and ambitions. In the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper", John was a man who did not cherish his wife as Ms. Smith interpreted. He ignored
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