The Yellow Wallpaper Critical Lens Analysis

Critical Lens Essay #2

In the 19th century women begun to rise up against gender roles and social expectations that have had oppressed women throughout history, women yearned to be just as equal as men. Authors like Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a feminist author during the 19th century, would create characters and stories that would get her message across as shown in one of Gilman’s most famous stories “The Yellow Wallpaper” which touches upon a woman’s mental and physical health as well as the main character’s oppression which holded her back for a long time. The main character from “The Yellow Wallpaper” expresses throughout the story how she wishes to break free from all that is holding her back and live the life she has always wanted. “How wrong it it for a woman to expect the man to create a world she wants, rather than create it herself” (Anaϊs Nin)

While in her way to “recovery” in the mansion she climbs up Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in a negative way until she reaches the top which drove her to madness. While she goes up the ladder, she continues to build her own world inside the room where the yellow wallpaper is located and when she finally finishes her own world and breaks free instead of letting her husband build her the world she wants. As said before, Gilman used her writing abilities to expose her readers to controversial topics in that era, women were leaving in a man’s world, therefore she spread awareness and encourage their readers of what a woman really wants, her ideas are projected into her characters and their development throughout the story just like the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” that represented women all around the world. Gilman spoke for all oppressed women whenever she wrote stories that her readers could feel a connection with, she was also an example of how woman can build their own world themselves without the need of a man. Malala Yousafzai once