The Way of Women’s Resistances to Patriarchy in “the Yellow Wallpaper”
The way of women’s resistances to patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is on the surface a mysterious story about a woman suffering from depression to mad, but actually, it reveals the oppression of women from their patriarchal families. In the late 19th century, women couldn’t enjoy the freedom they do today, and most of them suffered from hysteria. The narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a typical example of those women who live with low social status. In my opinion, the reason resulting in her lower social situation is the narrator’s retreat from the reality, and the narrator must break the tradition of patriarchy if she wants more rights and free. In this story, the narrator’s economic dependence on her husband made her live in a low position in the family and struggle with the oppression from her husband. These oppressions and constraints leaded her to mentally ill. To avoid becoming the servant of the man, the narrator decided to challenge the patriarchy, and finally she broke the tradition and released her true self. The image of the narrator created by Gilman leads most women to express their discontents to the man-dominant society.
Deborah Thomas describes in “The Changing Role of Womanhood”, “prior to the twentieth century, men assigned and defined women’s roles”, and they “perpetrated an ideological prison that subjected and silenced women”(1). “I”, as the nameless narrator of the story, provides a vivid example of oppressed women who struggled in low position of the society. At the beginning of the story, “I” was taken to “a haunt house” which is “standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village”(Gilman 87). The room of “I”, “a big, airy room” with “barred windows”, was described like a prison (Gilman 89). These images are enough to illustrate that “I” was confined. In addition, the attitude of the character’s husband also showed the low social position of women. Interestingly,
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is on the surface a mysterious story about a woman suffering from depression to mad, but actually, it reveals the oppression of women from their patriarchal families. In the late 19th century, women couldn’t enjoy the freedom they do today, and most of them suffered from hysteria. The narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a typical example of those women who live with low social status. In my opinion, the reason resulting in her lower social situation is the narrator’s retreat from the reality, and the narrator must break the tradition of patriarchy if she wants more rights and free. In this story, the narrator’s economic dependence on her husband made her live in a low position in the family and struggle with the oppression from her husband. These oppressions and constraints leaded her to mentally ill. To avoid becoming the servant of the man, the narrator decided to challenge the patriarchy, and finally she broke the tradition and released her true self. The image of the narrator created by Gilman leads most women to express their discontents to the man-dominant society.
Deborah Thomas describes in “The Changing Role of Womanhood”, “prior to the twentieth century, men assigned and defined women’s roles”, and they “perpetrated an ideological prison that subjected and silenced women”(1). “I”, as the nameless narrator of the story, provides a vivid example of oppressed women who struggled in low position of the society. At the beginning of the story, “I” was taken to “a haunt house” which is “standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village”(Gilman 87). The room of “I”, “a big, airy room” with “barred windows”, was described like a prison (Gilman 89). These images are enough to illustrate that “I” was confined. In addition, the attitude of the character’s husband also showed the low social position of women. Interestingly,
Cited: Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” American Gothic Tales. Ed.Joyce Carol Oates. US: 1996. 87-102. Print. Hochman, Barbara. “The Reading Habit and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”. American Literature 74.1 (2002): 89-110. Print. Simone, Deborah M. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Feminization of Education”. The Women in Literature and Life Assembly. Volume 4 (1995): 13-17 Thomas, Deborah. “The Changing Role of Womanhood: From True Woman to New Woman in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”. 27 July 1998. 23 Nov. 2012 <http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman.htm>