Insanity and Madness in A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper. The short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is about two main characters that are having a difficult time adjusting to the many changes taking place around them. In the midst of these changes, they face the struggles of depression, love and rejection from men. Because of being victims of male dominance restrain them from living normal, everyday lives. Such problems become so overbearing that each woman ends up in their own delusional world which in turn, leads to their isolation and insanity. "A Rose for Emily," basically serves to tell the life story of Miss Emily Grierson, a member of one of the respected families in the town of Jefferson. However, Emily has a strict father who allows her very little freedom growing up, and he looks …show more content…
The point of view is different in both short stories, “A Rose for Emily,” is written in third person whereas “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written in first person. In addition to that, “The Yellow Wallpaper” the author portrays herself in the story with all the struggles she went through. Also the underlying messages between both stories are different. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the validation of a woman's voice and lack of self-expression becomes a central theme in the story. This is seen when the husband cannot fully understand his wife's condition, forbidding her to go outside or to keep a diary. In “A Rose for Emily” the theme of the story is death over powering a woman despite her refusal to accept it and is the constant struggle between the past and the present. Emily cannot let go of the past, especially the attitudes and customs of her father's generation. Emily is sleeping with Homer's dead body symbolizes Emily's inability to let go of the past and embrace the new ideas of the next