Feminist Reading of The Yellow Wallpaper - 2016 Words

A Feminist Reading of The Yellow Wallpaper In the late nineteenth century, after the American social and economic shift commonly referred to as the Industrial Revolution had changed the very fabric of American society, increased attention was paid to the psychological disorders that apparently had steamed up out of the new smokestacks and skyscrapers in urban populations (Bauer, 131). These disorders were presumed to have been born out of the exhaustion and wear and tear of industrial society (Bauer, 131-132). An obvious effect of these new disorders was a slew of physicians and psychiatrists advocating one sort of cure or another, although the rest cure popularized by the physician S. Weir Mitchell was the most†¦show more content†¦As a result, the illness of the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper ceased to represent an account of Gilmans own illness and became a representation of the illness that afflicted all women at the time: the illness of oppression. Before beginning to analyze The Yellow Wallpaper from a feminist viewpoint, one must consider first how women were perceived in late-nineteenth century America. A common knowledge of history reveals that they were legally and socially second class citizens, not even earning the right to vote until 1920. One of Gilmans chief complaints was that ...women had long been competing over men in a system of oppression that had its roots in a precapitalist culture. Only men could promise economic security in a world which would not employ women (Bauer, 132). In a world where men forced women to depend upon them in order to keep women in an inferior and powerless role, it is not surprising that so many women developed neurasthenia. In his short story Old Doc Rivers, William C. Williams explains neurasthenia as a label that arose where ...they never did discover what was the matter with the patient, perhaps because nothing really was the matter, only what happens to any person deprived of exercise, freedom, and the ability to think for ones self (Williams,Show MoreRelatedThe Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman Essay1208 Words   |  5 Pagesthat wallpaper as I did?† the woman behind the pattern was an image of herself. She has been the one â€Å"stooping and creeping.† The Yellow Wallpaper was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the story, three characters are introduced, Jane (the narrator), John, and Jennie. The Yellow Wallpaper is an ironic story that takes us inside the mind and emotions of a woman suffering a slow mental breakdown. The narrator begins to think that another woman is creeping around the room behind the wallpaper, attemptingRead MoreYellow Wallpaper Essay999 Words   |  4 PagesThe Yellow Wallpaper† Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Full name Charlotte Anna Perkins Stetson Gilman) American short story writer, essayist, novelist, and autobiographer. The following entry presents criticism of Gilman s short story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† (1892). The short story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† by nineteenth-century feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was first published in 1892 in New England Magazine. Gilman s story, based upon her own experience with a â€Å"rest cure† for mental illness, wasRead MoreA Critical Analysis Of The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1051 Words   |  5 Pages Patel 1 Aditi Patel 3/14/16 English 102 Esposito, Carmine. A Critical Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a famous social worker and a leading author of women’s issues. Charlotte Perkins Gilman s relating to views of women s rights and her demands for economic and social reform of gender inequities are very famous for the foundations of American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In critics GilmanRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper, By Harriet Beecher Stowe1603 Words   |  7 PagesThe Yellow Wallpaper is a feminist piece of literature that analyzed women’s struggle in the 1900s, such as medical diagnosis and women’s roles. Over the years, women struggled to attain independence and freedom. In order to achieve these liberties, they were females who paved the way and spoke out about these issues to secure equal rights for women. In addition, these powerful females used their vulnerability to challenge the male domination through their literary work. The Yellow Wallpaper is aRead MoreThe Struggle For Sanity By Charlott e Perkins Gilman1528 Words   |  7 Pages The Struggle for Sanity The Narrator, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Short Story, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† has been one of the most scrutinized pieces of literature. Critics have analyzed it from various perspectives including feminist, anti-feminist, psychological to clinical. Some even claim the narrator’s work as an early feminist indictment of Victorian patriarchy. The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story about the narrator’s life experience afflicted with a depressive episode since adolescenceRead More Understanding The Yellow Wallpaper1209 Words   |  5 PagesUnderstanding The Yellow Wallpaper      Ã‚   There are more reported cases of clinical depression in women than their are in men. There is also, generalized in western cultures, a stereotype that women are fragile and should be more dedicated to maintaining the home, doing feminine things, that they shouldnt work, and be discouraged from intellectual thinking. In the Victorian period (1837-1901) aside from womens suffragette movements the Victorian woman usually upheld this stereotype of a wellRead More Imprisonment of Women Exposed in The Yellow Wallpaper1439 Words   |  6 PagesImprisonment of Women Exposed in The Yellow Wallpaper When asked the question of why she chose to write The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman claimed that experiences in her own life dealing with a nervous condition, then termed melancholia, had prompted her to write the short story as a means to try and save other people from a similar fate. Although she may have suffered from a similar condition to the narrator of her illuminating short story, Gilmans story cannot be coinedRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman846 Words   |  4 PagesThe dignified journey of the admirable story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† created by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, gave the thought whether or not the outcome was influenced by female oppression and feminism. Female oppression and feminist encouraged a series of women to have the freedom to oppose for their equal rights. Signified events in the story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† resulted of inequality justice for women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman gave the reade r different literary analysis to join the unjustifiableRead MoreFeminist Perspective on Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper1274 Words   |  6 PagesThe Yellow Wallpaper, Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is comprised as an assortment of journal entries written in first person, by a woman who has been confined to a room by her physician husband who he believes suffers a temporary nervous depression, when she is actually suffering from postpartum depression. He prescribes her a â€Å"rest cure†. The woman remains anonymous throughout the story. She becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in the room, and engages in some outrageousRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman871 Words   |  4 PagesIn 1892, a short story by the name of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a well-known author and feminist of the late 19th century. The story was initially inspired by her personal experiences and the actions that followed after. Although the story was correlated to actual events, many of the scenes described in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† prove to be exaggerated in comparison to the author’s experience. Similarly, the author and narrator of the story (who goes by no name)