Throughout the history of society, specifically during the years prior to the era of feminism, people have place women as the weaker gender. In literature , there have been many instances where women have been outshined and neglected by men because their works or contribution s are deemed to be inferior and noncompliant in the eyes of men. Men are seen as “autocratic ruler” of a household and thus they feel it’s their responsibility to constantly overlook and protect women due to their inferiority that society has placed on them, as a result, men feel superior to women. Nevertheless, men are not mindful of the effects and outcomes of their patriarchal domination on women: depression, losing touch of reality, isolation, and worst of all, losing their sanity. An example in literature that displays this type of structure of society where women can become victims of patriarchal conditions takes place in the short stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Yellowpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Both women, the main character Emily Grierson from Faulkner’s story and the narrator from Gilman’s story, though they have different circumstances, are similar in a unique way as they are both held back by the male figures in their households within the patriarchal society, and as a result, they lose touch within each of their societies and are forced to insanity. Feminists have described patriarchy as a system of oppression to women. Second-wave feminists, who
People can easily influence our behavior and impact our ideas to do what is socially acceptable. This makes it difficult for individuals to express their emotions or do what they desire. In many ways, this is similar to how women of the past dealt with a society that did not favor their ambition, and ultimately, saw them as inferior. Because of this, women had unwillingly accepted their gender role which caused mental anguish that led to hysterical behaviors. Two works of literature that display this internal struggle women goes through are Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” The two protagonist from these short stories, the unnamed narrator and Emily, display symptoms of “hysteria” because they experience conflicts between their individual desires and social influences that either repress their feelings or displace their feelings.
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman written in the 1890s both reflect gender roles of this time, specifically women’s roles. In these stories both of the women are oppressed by their marriages, and by the end of the stories both wish to be rid of their husbands. Also, in both of these stories these women experience mental illnesses, mainly depression. These illnesses were looked at as something minor during this time, was it because psychologists were uneducated, or because as women their mental stability did not really matter? These stories connect so well because of their work to bring to the surface the reality of gender roles in the 1800s. Even though these stories were fictional their ideas were very real. By comparing how men and women were treated during this time, and how they are treated more equally now, it shows that with time American has come a long way.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” to show how women undergo oppression by gender roles. Gilman does so by taking the reader through the terrors of one woman’s changes in mental state. The narrator in this story becomes so oppressed by her husband that she actually goes insane. The act of oppression is very obvious within the story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and shows how it changes one’s life forever.
Throughout the history of American Literature there has been a common theme of male oppression. Especially towards the end of the 19th century, before the first wave of feminism, women were faced with an unshakeable social prison. Husband, home and children were the only life they knew, many encouraged not to work. That being said, many female writers at the time, including Emily Dickinson and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, were determined to examine the mind behind the American woman, through the lens of mental illness and personal experience.
The human mind is a fragile thing. It can be both strengthen and broken down easily. Actions and even words can be the thing to kill a person mentally. Physically harming or locking away a person can lead to mental and bodily withdrawal. Harming a person with words can leave lasting effects and always stay within a person's psyche. Oppressing and locking away a person's true nature or desires can cause someone to act in way that he or she has never behaved before. When done by a loved one, it can affect a person even more. In William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” and Susan Glaspell's “Trifles”, two different women are kept mentally and physically locked away by a person who is supposed to love and protect them. Though Emily and Mrs. Wright
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Emily Dickenson’s “I’m Ceded—I’ve Stopped Being Theirs” are both narratives that tell the stories of two mentally unstable women; the works show two ways women in their situations were viewed at the time. One’s issues were cast under the rug and ignored to be bottled up for an explosion later on in the story; the other’s experiences led her to claim independence from those around her who held her back. While each of these female authors creates a protagonist who is followed by a shadow of male oppression, the ways in which they react to it differ.
In the short stories “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper”” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonists experience mental illness, loneliness, feelings of being in control of their lives, and feelings of being insane. Both main characters struggle against male domination and control. The two stories take place in the late 1800’s - early 1900’s, a time where men’s place in society was superior to that of women. Each story was written from a different perspective and life experiences. “A Rose for Emily” was written by a man and told in third personal narration, while “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by a female and told in first person.
Many stories back then consisted of women being dominated over their husbands just because they are female and are considered the ones responsible to maintain the housework. The men who were considered dominant in this era, had the ability to control everything in terms of what the woman could and could not do. Along with that, it was expected that women were to be submissive to their husbands, or male figures in charge of their lives at the time. But in these three different stories, the outcomes of the woman all result in a significant impact to their lives in rather negative ways. In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, The Story of an Hour, and Desiree’s Baby both by Kate Chopin, the reader experiences the reinforced and subvert gender norms present in the women with male figures who are dominant and have control over their lives.
American literature is great source for understanding how society defines gender roles and what drives the power struggles between men and women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, deals with the limitations imposed on women by the political and social institutions of her time. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, a short story by Ernest Hemingway, illustrate the difficulties men faced during the early days of feminism between the first and second world wars. American playwright Tennessee Williams’ famous play “A Streetcar Named Desire” tells a story of how the tensions of life and unconditional submission one women made her a victim of her own destiny. The conflicts between men and women described in these works of American literature are directly caused by the societal roles assigned to the genders.
Throughout history, women have been held to the many limitations that society has thrust upon them due to their gender. They were often viewed as being delicate and fragile beings that needed to have a husband to depend on and were not expected to share their views on things not pertaining to their wifely duties. Even in recent times, gender inequality prevails in almost any situation to the point where women are still, in some cases, not taken seriously as human beings. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, gender inequality is evident when the narrator is shown to be virtually powerless through the numerous restrictions forced upon her by her husband, John. These restrictions include what she can think about and who she can and
Short Fictions are a short narrative story with fewer description and characters which has at least one overall theme. These short fictions have been around since the 17th century meant to have meaning towards a plot or actions of fictional characters. Every story has a beginning, middle, and end to it, but due to short fictions only having fewer than 1,500 words it can be hard to truly understand the overall message it tries to send to the readers. I myself feel that confused after reading a short fiction, and miss the point of the story because I am not an active reader. Though after having discussions in class, and making close observation of the details included in the stories my understanding of meaning has changed a lot from the first time I have read them. Short Fictions like “Butterflies” by Patricia Grace, and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner can be misinterpreted at first, but by analyzing each story the overall message can be revealed.
In society, women were looked upon to be under the patriarchal control of men. People such as Donald Hall, writer of the book on Literary and Cultural Theory, explains his views on how “women have been denied social power and the right to various forms of self-expression (Hall 202).” Writers such as Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, (authors of the “Awakening”/”The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow-Wallpaper” respectively), have taken these patriarchal views and have incorporated them into various stories that portray the oppression that women face in these communities. Ultimately, their sole purpose of expressing such matters are to help identify how the patriarchal control of men evidently impacts how women can express themselves as individuals.
Authors who highlighted gender discrimination like Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, May Swenson, Anne Saxton and Maya Angelou, all expressed women’s outlandish position in a patriarchal society. However, today’s society invalidates most of the claims made by these authors because people, advocate for women’s rights, and no longer tolerate patriarchy as a moral belief. In a patriarchal society, women, “had no chance of learning grammar...or reading”(Woolf 1), and gained little to no education due to people forbidding women from attending school. In today’s society, women and men, attend school and obtain the same education. Patriarchal society also stereotyped women, only looking at women as a housewife who “got..the clothes to mend,...the floor to mop,...[and] garden to weed”(Woman Work 2,3,8) rather than a doctor, lawyer or police officer.
Throughout this course, Feminism has made its appearance in several works. The profound effects of patriarchy in the late 1800 's to the mid 1900 's allow society to view the oppression of women as being a social norm. Many of these early works, whether it may be a novella, a play, or a poem, depict women as being inferior to men. These works exemplify the power of words, but more so the power of action, where it takes only one woman to break through traditional gender roles and to counteract the patriarchal stigma of its time period. The importance of feminism in these works show that the female protagonists are often underestimated and devalued. This is a major component of history that is explored throughout this course, and the
During the nineteenth century, many women were pressured to fit into their societal roles. Both Charlotte Perkins Gilman and William Faulkner wrote stories inspired by those nineteenth-century social issues. Although “The Yellow Wall-paper” and “A Rose for Emily” speak about nineteenth-century social issues, they each focus on different social situations. Throughout the two stories, the main characters, the narrator, and Emily, are controlled by the expectations that were placed on them, the values that were instilled in their environments, the controlling people in their lives and the social obligations they were forced to follow. Because of the pressure to conform to their controlling environments, the narrator and Emily seem to go against their societies and accept different forms of madness.