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Compare and Contrast "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "No Name Woman"

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Compare and Contrast "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "No Name Woman"
Compare and Contrast “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “No Name Woman”
“The Yellow Wallpaper” tells the story of the narrator’s personal battle with after-birth depression and the disastrous rest cure treatment she received. Living during the restrictive Victorian period, the narrator experienced firsthand the frustrating limitations placed on women in her era, many of whom were victimized by society’s complete misunderstanding of postpartum depression and other psychological infirmities. On the other hand, “No Name Woman” tells the story of Maxine Hong Kingston’s recall of the events of her aunt's life in the vague world of her Chinese roots. The story is of her aunt who was persecuted for having an illegitimate child as a result of an affair as told by her mother. She develops the events into an inquiry story in order for her to determine her missing Chinese personality and help her understand her culture better. These two stories are written from different perspectives and backgrounds which make them contrast in some ways. The two stories, however, possess themes that emphasize similar issues which make them comparable.
The Yellow Wallpaper” was written around the same time period as “No name Woman;” nonetheless, each story gives a representation of two different perspectives in different countries. “The Yellow Wallpaper;” a short story was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the late nineteenth century. The events in “The Yellow Wallpaper” take place in a home in America, essentially in a bedroom inside the house. The narrator is a mentally ill young woman,

and the descriptions of the story are told from the perspective of the narrator- focal pointing on her thinking, feelings, and perceptions. Information learned or seen in the story is clarified through the narrator’s shifting consciousness, and since the narrator goes mad over the course of the story, her perception of reality varies with that of the other characters. The narrator is in a state of



Cited: Gilman, Perkins Charlotte. “The yellow Wallpaper.” The Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature. Mary K. Deshazer. New York: Longman, 2001. 264-274. Kingston, Hong Maxine. “No Name Woman.” The Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature. Mary K. Deshazer. New York: Longman, 2001. 308-315. The Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature. Wake Forrest University. New York: Longman, 2001. 264-274, 308-315.

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