The Yellow Wallpaper Submissive

The Submissive and the Dominant

Charlotte Perkins Gilman once said “This is the woman 's century, the first chance for the mother of the world to rise to her full place . . . and the world waits while she powders her nose” (Davis 179). Gilman came to be known as a notable feminist, but she was much more than a feminist; Gilman was an American author, social reformer and a lecturer (Davis 179). Gilman’s work “The Yellow Wallpaper” show her strong views on feminism and show traditional gender norms formed the traditional role that women played in the 19th century. Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” which was a short story published in 1892 (“Charlotte Perkins Gilman” 110). “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written in first person and it is seen through

The narrator describes John as a dominant man who knows best for everyone, especially his wife because he is a physician. Because John is the strong man, so his wife must be weak and submissive. What is seen in the text is perceived as a “traditional” marriage, for example, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that [in marriage]” (Gilman 111). This depicts women who are submissive and have no authority in the marriage this resembles the theme of the subordinate of marriage. Because John is the dominating man the wife just wants to please her husband so she remains submissive. The wife is seen as less than her husband and it is seen through the way he addresses his wife, he addresses her as his daughter by calling “darling” or “little girl” (Gilman 118-119). One can interpret that John treats her as a child because she seems to be unfit to take care of her child and because she claims she’s sick. In addition, the wife is considered and seen as an object; for example, she doesn’t even have a name she is referred as “the wife” (Gilman 110-126). When the text is taken into perspective, this is a very feminist piece because of the struggle that the wife goes through to find out who she is. What the story depicted is the struggle for women to break from their traditional gender norms and from the dominance that is asserted over them and representation of this is when the wife says “I’ve got out at last, said I, in spite of you and Jane… you can’t put me back” (Gilman 126). What is interpreted from this text is that the wife has been trying to break free from all the dominance that has been asserted over her and now she finally has and she will not go back and be