The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilmans (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

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“The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Male and female relationships have been subjected to scrutiny as history can tell. Gender roles have been the center of focus and discussion in the society especially their contribution to political, cultural, educational and socioeconomic areas. Traditionally, man was accepted not only viewed as the one who had the authoritative position in the family, protector, breadwinner, and the head of the family. Man had the power to define the roles of a woman within the household and society. Man defined and limited the woman’s roles as protecting the household, bearing and taking care of children, being submissive to men, valuing and maintaining her physical attractiveness. Man was seen as the norm in the society while the woman was viewed as the “other.” During the 19th Century, the woman lacked distinguishable traits that were necessary for her completion as an entity. Traditionally, the woman was considered as“gentle, self-sacrificing, timid, yielding, and intuitive” as part of the norm (Das 144). What was considered a norm during those days made women to suffer and endure a lot of difficult something that made feminists to emerge and fight for the rights of women in the society.
Gilman highlighted that the position of woman in the society needed to be understood. They questioned the norm that men had in the society of viewing the woman as a vessel and carrier to their posterity. The early feminists had argued that for one to understand the role of women in the society, one had to understand the historical, cultural, and social norms imbedded by man in the society. They further argued that men viewed the woman from self-constructed paradigms and the women looked at themselves from the same paradigm (Boutaghou).
Personal Autobiography
The “Yellow Paper” depicts an autobiographical life of Gilman. The story clearly exemplifies the suffocating nature of a woman’s life during the late 19th Century and the 20th Century having gone through it. She used her experience to expose the emotional and psychological feelings that a woman endures having been rejected from the society that was strictly structured along male dominance. It was her intention to expose the plight that women of her period associated with “hysteria” were going through under the infamous ‘Rest Cure’ treatment by Dr. Silas Weird Mitchell.
Status of women
In addition, this text depicts the status of women during Gilman’s period. Their roles were succinctly defined by man and this subjected and relegated women to follow certain strict codes of conduct, behavior, ideologies and thoughts as well as denying them the freedom of self-expression not only to the outside society but also within the marriages. Gilman starts the story by first calling for help from other women, she says that the oppression of women in the society was like a colonial mansion that is being inherited from generation to next generation and was exercised in full by the inheritors. This statement introduces Gilman’s purpose of documenting the story. In this statement, she means that women have been poorly treated for many years because of the behaviors and attitudes of treating women unfairly had been taught and passed down from one generation to another (Gallulo).
Still in the story, Gilman explains how she is obsessed with fighting against the oppression of women and says that she had hope that the fight will end good. She farther shows how there are some oddness in the manner in women are treated in the society. She questions if the rights of women were respected, why should they continue being oppressed and why should it continue? Gilman continues to show how the opposition those women were subjected to and how she has tried her best to fight for the rights of women despite the opposition she is getting from the society. She explains how she is doing her part to fight oppression despite the opposition she was facing (Bak). At the end of the introduction to her story, she wishes that there was appositive society with less opposition. John tells her that in her condition she is not supposed to be thinking about anything but only her condition this made her feel bad.
On the other hand, the text juxtaposes closely with Gilman’s painful autobiographical reality by using the first person narrative voice underscore her feminist voice. The choice of using the first person narration clearly shows and gives first hand insights into the trappings of the woman’s dilemma during the 19th Century. It also dramatizes the sufferings that women struggled with in the male-dominated society. This is significantly illustrated in the story where John insists on keeping the narrator in a room. John’s insistence to confine her in a room prohibits the narrator of the story from practicing her writing, engaging in any social affairs and his watch on every aspect of her time reflects his determination of controlling her (Gallulo).
Image of women
The first narration also reveals the inner consciousness of the narrator, feelings, thoughts, and perceptions about the male dominated world around her. The story is about a woman who is subjected to a prison-like confinement by the male figures in her society and from her marriage. The narrator is not allowed to participate in the decision making of her treatment. The male decides and expects her to respect and follow the rules. The nursery room in “The Yellow Paper” is patterned where the narrator finds herself restricted to a room that an authoritative male figure is watching her (Bak).
Women had to bear with gender inequal...