Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper And The Lady's Hands Are Cold

Among the three works under scrutiny in the paper herein, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is arguably the one that best illustrates the theme of gender inequality. In “The Yellow wallpaper”, the author uses the imaginative story to portray how a woman is considered lesser than a man in the marriage institution by placing her in fragile and weak positions in the society. We could see she was dependent on her husband completely. In the summer, she moved into the house that she does not like she said, "a haunted house", and "something queer about it." But she still moved into the house that

These authors convey their messages through the theme, historical background and symbolism. The key symbol is the yellow wallpaper that drives the unnamed narrator. The symbolism of the yellow wallpaper is used to show the decline of the narrator's mental well-being as the story progresses, how she views herself, and how the people around her 2 view her. “These elements represent the scrutiny society makes of the lives of women, and especially of creative women and of women who are not obedient to their husbands.” ( Barry,11)

In the “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, there are many of literary techniques that illustrates the theme to express the story. Irony, imagery and symbolism are some literary devices that is presented among the story.  “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story about a woman who has a mental illness but cannot heal due to her husband’s lack of acceptance and how she struggles to express her own thoughts and feelings. The story appears to take place during a time where women were oppressed. Women were treated as if they were under one’s thumb in society during this period which is approximately the 19th century.

In these two stories you see both women breaking out of the standards of society. The woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is shown trying to break free of the belittlement and insanity. In these two stories they are both trying to escape their husband’s control. The se two stories take place in the mid to late 1800’s.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin are great examples of feminist works of literature. Both short stories portray women who are trapped in one sense or another---although, “The Yellow Wallpaper” depicts a more literal portrayal of this. There were several similarities and differences in both of the stories in the way the women are both feeling trapped, then are both get a sense of freedom from their entrapment, and also both short stories leave us with questions. Both, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Story of an Hour” portray women who feel trapped and also both have an illness, although they are different afflictions. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator (who is never mentioned by name) is, in a sense, trapped in a room because of her nervous depression and describes her husband, also her physician, as being “very careful and loving, and hardly lets [her] stir without direction” (Gilman 474).

She has been trained to trust in her husband blindly and sees no other way. He calls her “little girl” (352) and “little goose” (349) and states “She will be as sick as she pleases!” (352) whenever she tries to express her issues. Instead of fighting for what she thinks will make her better she accepts it and keeps pushing her feelings aside, while he treats her like a child. We get an instant feel for her problem in the first page when she says, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that” (pg 346). A woman shouldn’t expect her husband to laugh at her concerns. Even after briefly writing about her condition she remembers her husband telling her the very worst thing she can do is think about it and follows his instructions. This is when she begins to focus on the house instead of her problems and the obsession with the wallpaper starts. She has nothing else to think about alone in the home; they don’t even allow her to write, which she has to do in secret.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonist symbolizes the effect of the oppression of women in society in the Nineteenth Century. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the author reveals the narrator is torn between hate and love, but emotion is difficult to determine. The effects are produced by the use of complex themes used in the story, which assisted her oppression and reflected on her self-expression.

“I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus- but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.” This quote gives a good example and proves that her husband keeps her contained from society and has manipulated her to think that society will make her illness

He will not let her speak about her condition, see her newborn son, go outside, or even move down from the upstairs room. At first, narrator protests this isolation and says that excitement and activity would do her good, but John undermines her and insists on rest. Although John means best for his wife and wants her health to improve he does not understand that he is quickly progressing her neurosis. John tells her she must rest, which means that she is not allowed to write in her journal, but taking this away means taking away her self-expression. She is forced her to keep her thoughts bottled up in her mind.

The story begins with the woman explaining to us that her husband is physician and he is treating her. She partly blames her not improving state on him “perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see he does not believe I am sick!” (647) and she feels as though she cannot argue with him about her illness, “And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one-but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?”. (648) Even her own “brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing.” (648) agrees she is fine.

Jane a young wife of a physician narrates Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. She embodies an oppressed woman who is subjected to isolation. The author uses the yellow wallpaper that surrounds Jane as symbolism to her inner struggle of oppression and her desire for freedom. The woman who resides in the wallpaper is Jane herself. As the story unfolds Jane realizes she is the only one who can set herself free.

People who try to overcome their mental illness alone generally become more unstable, and her husband only made her condition worse. On the first page of the short story, the reader becomes aware of the narrator’s “temporary nervous depression.” Her husband and brother, both physicians, believe that is the case and not something else. This is one problem already.

The author utilizes the yellow wallpaper as a symbol of the repression of women in a male-centric society. Jane immediately notices something is off with

Throughout history and cultures today, women have been beaten, verbally abused, and taught to believe they have no purpose in life other than pleasing a man. Charlotte Perkins Gillam uses her short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a weapon to help break down the walls surrounding women, society has put up. This story depicts the life of a young woman struggling with postpartum depression, whose serious illness is overlooked, by her physician husband, because of her gender. Gillman 's writing expresses the feelings of isolation, disregarded, and unworthiness the main character Jane feels regularly. This analysis will dive into the daily struggles women face through oppression, neglect, and physical distinction; by investigating each section

The theme of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is how the narrator compares her psychological ways to marriage, and also to how women in her time was treated. During the time this story was wrote women were looked at very differently than men were. Women at this time were looked at as not being able to do the activities men done, and were treated more childlike. There was a big gender division during this time and women did not have much say at all. This is a great example for those who suffer from this type of illnesses today we do not think much