Isolation in “a Rose for Emily” and “the Yellow Wallpaper”

In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator’s husband has rented an old mansion in the country for the summer. John is relying on this getaway as time for his wife’s nervous condition to resolve itself with rest and medicines. As the story unfolds for the readers, it becomes apparent her husband, John, is dominating, and controlling. She feels somewhat doomed that she is unable to change her circumstances and she ends up as a victim, thus confirming the dominance of men over women during that period. Between the narrator’s controlling husband and the deterioration of her mind, she snaps and becomes completely delusional.

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.

In “A Rose for Emily” she grows up with her father who was very controlling over Emily’s life. He controlled all aspects of her life such as any men who were interested in Emily were sent away by her father. This kept Emily isolated from everyone in the town and she never left her house. According to Watkins “The Structure of ‘A Rose For Emily, “The inviolability of Miss Emily’s isolation is maintained in the central division, part three, which no outsider enters her home.” In “The Yellow Wallpaper” it is shown that the female narrator is desolate and is put in an attic room away from everyone. It is also revealed that she is not treated fairly or well taken care of when her husband who is a physician does not help her get better. From “Gender in The Yellow Wallpaper” Carmen Esposito says “However, her husband never

“The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Rose For Emily” both have insanity when they stay in a

“A Rose for Emily” by and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by are stories that contain similarities and differences. Both of the stories are about how a woman changes from depression to insanity. a rose for Emily is a story about a woman who is immensely influenced by her father. Emily starts to decline mentally after her father's death and lives a solitary life trapped in her house. In the yellow wallpaper the husband of Gilman’s narrator is a cruel man who pushes her into insanity. The narrator in Gilman’s story is a delusional woman trapped to her bedroom. These two stories both have many similarities in the setting, symbolism, character, etc . There's also differences in the two stories, for example the point of view. "a Rose for Emily" is in

Charlotte Perkins Gilman perfectly portrays a narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” that has to hide her ideas and creativity to satisfy her husband. Female oppression was common in the time the story was written. The role of a woman was to cook, clean and attend to the children and listen to the head of the household which was the husband. The narrator herself believes she should be a great help to John, her husband, but becomes a burden to him. Her intellectuality is taken away every time John negates her feelings about her condition. She is pushed to hiding her emotions and opinions because they are not valued because of oppression. She can’t express herself openly leading to the repression of emotions. It leads to a battle within her causing

The short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner, have a lot in common regarding the main characters. Each narrative focuses on the lifestyle and behavior of a bizarre woman who has been kept away for a certain period of time. One could argue that these women were not initially deranged, though something must have occurred to send them on such a downward spiral. The main characters in each account, Jane and Miss Emily, endure situations in their lives which prove to be crucial in the development of their mental illness, and being isolated gradually causes their illness to escalate.

The origin of patriarchal control was defined by the productivity that men are stronger than women, so they acquired an ability to hunt in order to support the society. Indeed, these had improved the status of men. To date, patriarchal control is prevalent and still a profound issue that women live to be obedient and serve men, especially in late nineteenth century American society in which women cannot have their autonomy. In William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, both of them are elaborating the women under patriarchy either father or husband, moreover, revealing the tragedy form under this authority. In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner depicts a young woman that was rigorous controlled by her father. After her father’s demise, she was still manipulated by this invisible power. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman portrays a woman who was kept by her husband in a room with yellow wallpaper where she feel revulsion to stay in. Eventually, lose her mind. Both stories have their victims, obviously, the female characters are the victims of the patriarchal control. In both stories, Emily and Jane was approaching tragedy step by step, because the devastated of social, sexual/physical, and psychological oppression came from the patriarchal control.

Stephanie Rasch Mrs. English 1020 8 February 2016 Comparing and Contrasting a Rose for Emily and Yellow Wallpaper Reading a story about doom and gloom or better yet, a story with gothic elements leaves most readers feeling a bit depressed once they are finished. It may be because the story uncovers memories that the reader had once forgotten, or it could simply be a sense of empathy for the character; this stands true for the captivating writing by William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”. Faulkner is not alone in is his writing style, Charlotte Perkins Gilman also allows readers to feel these same things in her story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Many upper class women during the Victorian era were seen as inferior than men, and unable to think for

The epistolary short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, explores the effect of repression, isolation, and lack of stimuli on a woman suffering from mental illness. The narrator, Jane, originally suffering from postpartum depression is forced by her controlling physician husband into a repressive environment that prohibits emotional expression and intellectual stimulation. Jane’s only relief is in her necessarily secret diary entries which are both the readers only insights into the events of the story and Jane’s only source of emotional expression. The expressive nature of how the story is told interestingly contrasts with the oppressiveness of what Jane actually experiences. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” Jane’s ability to honestly express her thoughts and feelings in her hidden diary directly contrasts the extreme repression and internalization of emotions that defines her current life; this contrast throughout the story reveals a correlation between the increase in Jane’s knowledge of herself as well as the repression in her life and the worsening of her mental health.

A rose for Emily being her father was a well-respected man the town cherished, he felt no man had virtuous enough for her daughter thus allowing her to grow up being alone. As for The Yellow wallpaper, she was married but was very much miserable in her marriage, she was never allowed to do things she found amusing to her nor had any freedom. At least for Emily after her father passed she was free do things and go places has she pleases, but still was able to hold painting lessons for the kids in the town. Emily was able to do something she enjoyed rather than being alienated from everyone, but only by her choice. The women in the yellow wallpaper was so stuck in these four walls, she began to hallucinate someone being trapped in the wall. Also trying to escape she felt the pain and agony the women felt in the wall, so she made her mission to help her escape. Not realizing it was herself that wanted to be free from the mental illness, medication, and controlling husband and

The stories “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Rose for Emily” both have similarities, such as the lead characters are women and they are both plagued with illness of the mind. The two stories are both insights into the world of old and it helps shed a light on how women were treated, especially the ones who had mental illnesses. ”The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Rose for Emily” have similar female leads, they are similar because they are both been undermined by men, they both suffer from mental illness, and they both failed by family and friends who didn’t step in.

Smith’s interpretation of “A Rose for Emily,” concentrates on Emily’s character in order for the reader to understand her inability to cope with change. Smith mentions that although the townspeople denied it, Emily could have possibly been suffering from a mental illness. Smith emphasizes the town’s denial by quoting Judge Stevens response: “Dammit sir… will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad? ” Instead of the Judge acknowledging that the smell was in fact unbearable, he decides to play a compassionate role to avoid the manner. Although the townspeople knew that Emily’s actions were insane, they did nothing to prevent her from continuing living in a delusional fantasy. Moreover, Smith supports this claim by mentioning that even

In stories such as Hills Like White Elephants written by Ernest Hemingway, Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner and The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman these authors presented their work in such a way that makes the stories all carry a strong male lead who influence how the women live. They made the females of their stories depend on the males in some way and give a lack of communication between the characters. The women in the stories also have inner conflicts that affect them and those they are around creating tension.

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.