Kendra Hill
Professor Deanna Bradberry
ENG 246-95
6 April 2023
19th Century Women’s Literature and Today’s Society The remarkable short stories “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of An Hour” are two important works of literature that portray how women were treated in the 19th century. Both these stories show how women of this time were prevented from having any type of personal or artistic growth. Fortunately, this highly restricted lifestyle that women had in the 19th century has greatly decreased. However, every day, in every country in the world, women are still being challenged by discrimination and inequality. In a wide variety of countries in the world, women face some sort of job restriction and do not receive equal pay for equal
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During Gilman’s time, the man’s role was to be the thinker and the woman’s role was to be a dutiful wife who does not question her husband. The narrator of the short story says, “It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so.” The narrator assumes that her husband, John, knows everything. The narrator starts to question herself instead, her condition worsens as a result of her thinking John always knows best. Fixed gender roles like the ones in “The Yellow Wallpaper” are still in effect today. In today’s society, women are expected to dress in feminine ways and always act nurturing and polite. Men are expected to be strong and aggressive. Although fewer women are staying at home and more are going to college, the use of gender roles is still in effect to this day. Society declares that women pursue traditional nurturing professions, such as nurses or teachers. Furthermore, society also believes that traditionally men should pursue careers such as doctors or technicians. In today’s society, women are not being locked away in rooms for “treatment” like in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” yet a lot of the ways that women are shown to be inferior to men in this short story are still being applied …show more content…
During this time, this independence was only available to women through the death of a wealthy husband, leaving the woman with money and no need to remarry to survive. In the story, Mrs. Louise Mallard whispered to herself after hearing the news of her husband’s death, “Free! Body and soul free!” This story is very ironic because as soon as Mr. Mallard dies, Mrs. Mallard is just beginning to live. Mrs. Mallard was one of those women who played a role instead of doing what she pleased. Mrs. Mallard and Mr. Mallard’s relationship did not consist of genuine love, but instead of Mrs. Mallard’s obedience to her husband. Women in today’s society can still relate to being disregarded for their capabilities. Although women have indeed seen improvements, they are still seen as inferior in a lot of situations. In certain professions, women are still not receiving the same pay as men, even though they have the same responsibilities for their occupations. In “The Story of An Hour,” the women during this time were expected to stay home and do their domestic chores. There is still relevance to this today as women are usually caring for the children and doing household chores. Just like in “The Story of An Hour,” sexism is also present in today’s American
Women are expected to take care of their children, keep the house and do only as they are told. The author of this story suggests otherwise. The author implies that women can do a lot more and combined with men can contribute to
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper presents a number of forms of control that the narrator is confronted with throughout the story. The forms of control presented in this story serve to demonstrate the oppressive weight of the patriarchy experienced by women at the time The Yellow Wallpaper was written. Gilman displays patriarchal control in both physical and psychological forms. She also presents a narrator who has internalized these oppressive expectations and her descent into madness which allows her a glimpse at freedom.
Men treated women as second class citizens in society during the early 1900s. Even with the oppression of women in society in this time, many women have struggled to expand their roles, and acquire additional rights. From my perspective, the authors of these stories are indirectly trying to tell us how much oppression the women have been through during the time. “The Thing on the Doorstep” is a short story about a woman, Asenath, who is not in control of herself because her father, Ephraim, possesses her body after he is deceased. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story about a woman who suffers from mental illness.
The Unnamed Woman Up until the 1900’s woman had few rights, thus they relied heavily on men. Women could not vote, they could not own their own property, and very few worked. Women’s jobs were solely to care for children and take care of the home. Women during this time, typically accepted their roles in society and the economy ( “Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1909”).
The work is not yet complete, and is evident by looking at the domination of women throughout the centuries, specifically the 19th and 20th century, which was the height of the women’s rights movement. By analyzing two literary works from two different eras, “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the late 19th century and “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” written by Adrienne Rich in the mid-20th century, one can conclude that while there have been improvements to women’s rights, there is still discrimination prevalent. Although set in two different time periods, the main
In the nineteenth century, woman had no power over men in society. They were limited in their freedom, as their lives were controlled by their husbands. Some women did not mind this lifestyle, and remained obedient, while some rebelled and demanded their rights. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, are short stories that exposes the lifestyle women lived in the nineteenth century. The protagonists from both stories, Jane and Georgiana, similarly lived a male dominated lifestyle.
Authors, especially female authors, have long used their writing to emphasize and analyze the feminist issues that characterize society, both in the past and the present. Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Susan Glaspell wrote narratives that best examined feminist movements through the unreliable minds of their characters. In all three stories, “The Story of an Hour”, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and “A Jury of Her Peers”, the authors use characterization, symbolism, and foreshadowing to describe the characters’ apparent psychosis or unreasonable behavior to shed light on the social issues that characterized the late 19th century and early 20th century. Penning many stories that demonstrate her opinions on the social issues of the era,
Later in the story a mysterious sensation fills and enlightens her, she soon realizes that the feeling that overtook her was freedom. That all stops when she comes to see Mr. Mallard is alive and well, and Mrs. Mallard dies. Mrs. Mallard’s emotions of impotence, jubilation, and dread convey the message that women of 19th-century marriages were mistreated. Louise Mallard would devote her time to Brentley Mallard’s needs. Mrs. Mallard felt as if she was held captive and limited to her freedoms.
Eventually, we realize that the woman in the wallpaper is the narrator. Throughout the story, the narrator 's mental state continues to deteriorate. Being both the narrator 's husband and physician, John assumes that he knows what’s best for his wife. However, in this essay, I will argue that Gilman portrays John as an antagonist or “villain” in her story because, through his actions, he is the main reason for his wife 's descent into insanity which proves that he didn’t know what was best for his wife after all.
Nonetheless, although the writer does not cite the contemporary situation of women in the story, the protagonist exclamations of ?free! Body and Soul!? are strongly suggestive of the historical context ("The Story of An Hour" 1). The writer depicts the sorrow of women in marriage and the feeling of oppression by men in marriage. The feeling of celebration and happiness in Mrs. Mallard, after learning the demise of her husband, demonstrates how women felt about marriage. The happiness of independence gained after becoming widowed outweighs the sadness of being left by their
Women have been receiving the short end of the stick for years and many authors have been expressing this concern through fictional writing for centuries. The three pieces of fiction: Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl,” all convey the idea that women must act a certain way within society and the realism of the issue with gender inequality in the theme. For this specific piece, Kincaid was inspired by her own experience with her mother growing up and the unfair treatment she came into contact with in society while receiving her education. Chopin also was inspired by personal experiences when writing this piece. She lost her father at a young age and after many
Women. Women’s involvement in the working world have contributed to many items that would be missing from the world today; if they had not been allowed to work.. Women have struggled with sexism in the workplace since before they were even given the chance to try to work. They were taught from a young age that their job was to provide children, cook, and clean for their husbands, while the husband worked and provided the money. What men did not know however was that women were capable of so much more(Jewell, Hannah).
Growing up as a woman has been quite difficult in this generation, however, growing up around thirty years ago must have been more difficult. Back in the 1900’s, women had different social norms to deal with in society. Women had to stay at home, be housewives, do the laundry, and cook while men went out and worked to obtain money for their family. In Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, she tells the struggles that women went through back in the 1990 's and the social norms that women had to go through. Chopin addresses many instances of symbolism to portray the feeling Mrs. Mallard has about her own thoughts and experiences with or without a man in her life.
This shows a balance between gender roles, as well as the embracing progressive changes within culture and society. In the story “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin, a third-person omniscient narrator, relates how Mrs. Louise Mallard, the protagonist, experiences the euphoria of freedom rather than the grief of loneliness after hearing about her husband’s death. Later, when Mrs. Mallard discovers that her husband, Mr. Brently Mallard, still lives, she realizes that all her aspiration for freedom has gone. The shock and disappointment kills Mrs. Mallard.
She identified the yellow wallpaper as a metaphor for women’s discourse. The narrator’s underlying feelings of confusion, depression, and frustration was covered by the yellow wallpaper which she rips from the walls at the very end to reveal “what is elsewhere kept hidden and embodies patterns that the patriarchal order ignores, suppresses, fears as grotesque or fails to perceive at all” (35). The yellow wallpaper is interpreted as the conflict of gender inequality and the struggles of women in a patriarchal society. The imagery reflects on how women feel toward sexual inequality and the situation with