ipl-logo

Girl By Jamaica Kincaid And The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1038 Words5 Pages

Throughout history, women have had to fight for their rights and equality in society. There are many joys of womanhood, such as the natural connection from woman to woman, the strength and power, and the innate feeling of love. Despite this, there are certainly multiple negatives to being a woman. The female experience is unique, and can be extremely difficult at times. Ever since the beginning of time, women have always been told how to behave, how to feel, and just how to live in general. In the prose “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, both pieces of literature show the themes of womanhood, and how the two stories can be connected.
In the poem “Girl”, Kincaid beautifully portrays …show more content…

In both stories, a person with higher authority is trying to control the main character. In “Girl”, the mother frequently slut-shames her daughter, and tells her how to become a good housewife, while in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the main character slowly descends into madness, as her husband does not get her the proper help she needs for her mental health. “this is how you iron your father’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease; this is how you iron your father’s khaki pants so that they don’t have a crease” (Kincaid). In this line, Kincaid represents the expectation of women to serve their husbands and fathers. This is also shown in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, when the main character feels as if she has to hide her true self to please her husband. “I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color, your appetite is better, I feel really much easier about you." "I don't weigh a bit more," said I,” (Gilman 652). The woman’s husband thinks she is getting better just because of her appearance, but continues to ignore her mind’s health. Once again, this is a very negative aspect of womanhood that women throughout history have experienced. “this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man, and if this doesn’t work there are other ways” (Kincaid). The mother is telling the daughter ways to deal with men in her life, which, unfortunately, is a reality for most women. Hostility from men is something every woman will deal with at least once in her life. This is also shown in “The Yellow Wallpaper” when the husband ignores the main character’s needs, and does not get her proper medical

Show More
Related

Essay Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper And The Revolt Mother

725 Words | 3 Pages

Mother is a solid mother, who is willing to take risk for her children. While on the other hand the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, isn’t emotionally stable enough to even tend to her

Read More

How Can The Yellow Wallpaper Be Viewed By The Declaration Of Sentiments?

1100 Words | 5 Pages

At the conclusion of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the complete detriment of the narrator’s mind caused by the mental, emotional, and physical entrapment her husband placed upon her justifies the Declaration of Sentiments’ claim that many injustices faced by women are precipitated by the domineering nature of men. In discussing the many injustices faced by women, the Declaration of Sentiments manifests that, “in the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband,

Read More

Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper 'And Jury Of Her Peers'

994 Words | 4 Pages

The respective protagonists were also driven into madness by their husbands and a lack of support from their friends. With the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” her husband as well as her husband’s sister were simply ignorant to her pleas for help. Minnie Wright, on the other hand, suffered from a mentally and physically abusive relationship and a lack of support from any friends at all. Despite the commonplace of men in powerful positions in each story, they are both considered feminist works as women are given a larger role and have better ideas than

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Gender Analysis

416 Words | 2 Pages

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Gilman creates a comparison of power between the narrator and her husband through the use of sexism. The narrator, after the Fourth of July, remarks, “John says if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall,” (3). Through this, she presents John’s ultimatum in a way that makes him look as if he is domineering. She implies that she has no say, and that he has the final decision on any of the actions that happen in order to heal her illness of depression. He is simply the dominant one in the relationship, a male with the power to control whatever happens to her.

Read More

Examples Of Ambiguity In The Yellow Wallpaper

728 Words | 3 Pages

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's renowned short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a haunting and powerful portrayal of the injustice and oppression faced by women in the 19th century. Through her masterful use of ambiguity and horror, Gilman creates a chilling tale that reflects the societal constraints placed upon women and the detrimental effects of gender inequality. One of the ways Gilman employs ambiguity in "The Yellow Wallpaper" is through the narrator's mental state. The story is written in a first-person narrative, and the reader experiences the events through the perspective of the unnamed female protagonist.

Read More

Postpartum Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper

2019 Words | 9 Pages

Throughout the story, Gilman illustrates different kinds of female identity and critiques the roles that women were forced into at the time. She uses imagery to both illustrate the setting that the narrator is in but also how this affects Jane, and her use of symbolism is meant to highlight the narrator’s struggles through various objects. Her serious yet innocent tone throughout the tale also highlights how the narrator is affected by her identity and experiences as a woman. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses imagery, symbolism, and tone to shows how the gender roles of her time negatively impact women’s mental health. First of all, Gilman shows how the narrator is trapped in both her physical place as well as her mental state through the use of vivid imagery showing the house, room, and wallpaper.

Read More

How The Yellow Wallpaper Controlled Women

871 Words | 4 Pages

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story written in 1892. The story is centered around a woman who faces societal expectations, and how men controlled women’s decisions simply because men were superior at the time. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman demonstrates how the lack of self-determination can have a negative impact on mental health by showing how men controlled women’s decisions through the use of narration and imagery. Initially, the protagonist is portrayed as a woman who suffers from postpartum depression or a “nervous condition.”

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Synthesis Essay

1703 Words | 7 Pages

Don’t Depend on Others The story of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is based on the 19th century era where men and women’s roles were strictly defined than any other time in history. This story illustrates attitudes in the 19th century towards women’s health both physically and mentally. The narrator was diagnosed with depression by her doctor who is also known as her husband and, as a form of treatment, she was treated with the “rest cure” a common treatment which most women in the 19th century was treated with. Since her husband has treated her with the rest-cure, it means she must stay in the room for months and is forbidden from any activity.

Read More

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Inferiority In Marriage In The Yellow Wallpaper

388 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman utilizes women inferiority in marriage in order to demonstrate the gender separation between women and men, thus divulging women being confined in a puerile mentality. The story conveys the idea of representing women as inferior to men; by having the concept of a “domestic” woman and an “active working” man. Gilman manipulates the scenery in order to reveal the hidden actions of men’s denial towards women’s equality. Men limit women by having women live inside a box thus effecting their mentality state. The narrator views marriage in a certain way which allows for her opinions to be disregarded.

Read More

The Cruelty Of Women In The Yellow Wallpaper

452 Words | 2 Pages

Treatment of women in the 1900s was a really cruel time in history for women, and some short stories that are based on cruelty of women are “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is about this women that is really sick and her husband is a doctor and doesn 't believe she is sick, so until she gets better she has to stay inside and can not express her feeling to him so she writes her feelings down in a journal. To begin, In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” In the beginning of the story she was expressing her feelings and saying how her husband is a doctor and believes that she is not sick and won 't take her into the doctor to get treated.

Read More

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Portrayal Of Victorian Women

774 Words | 4 Pages

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” critiques Victorian womanhood in several ways throughout the text. Victorian women were expected to be pure, dainty, and perfectly angelic. They were also expected to be perfect mothers, wives, and hostesses at all times. If a woman were to express too much emotion, she would be called hysterical. Hysteria was considered a medical condition which rendered a woman incapable of reason or generally thinking like an adult.

Read More

What Is Feminism In The Yellow Wallpaper

1155 Words | 5 Pages

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a first-person written feminist short story that critiques and condemns the nineteenth-century American male attitude towards women and their physical as well as mental health issues. In the short story, Perkins Gilman juxtaposes universal gender perspectives of women with hysterical tendencies using the effects of gradually accumulating levels of solitary confinement; a haunted house, nursery, and the yellow wallpaper to highlight the American culture of inherited oblivious misogyny and promote the equality of sexes. The narrator and her husband, John, embody the general man and woman of the nineteenth century. John, like the narrator’s brother and most men, is “a physician of high

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Gender Inequality Analysis

1091 Words | 5 Pages

She identified the yellow wallpaper as a metaphor for women’s discourse. The narrator’s underlying feelings of confusion, depression, and frustration was covered by the yellow wallpaper which she rips from the walls at the very end to reveal “what is elsewhere kept hidden and embodies patterns that the patriarchal order ignores, suppresses, fears as grotesque or fails to perceive at all” (35). The yellow wallpaper is interpreted as the conflict of gender inequality and the struggles of women in a patriarchal society. The imagery reflects on how women feel toward sexual inequality and the situation with

Read More

A Thousand Splendid Suns Analysis

1952 Words | 8 Pages

The dual narration of these characters demonstrate the juxtaposition of Mariam who is scorned and isolated by society and is aware of the social stigma for being an illegitimate child, or “harami”, (which is the Farsi term for ‘bastard’) and Laila, a well educated and strong-willed girl who rejects the social norms and values of a women in their society. However, their lives come to a halt, when forced to marry the abusive antagonist Rasheed whose violence is endorsed by societal customs and the law of the land. Conversely, The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a semi-autobiographical short story published in 1892. Exploring the idea of a women’s right to express themselves, that were hindered

Read More

Feminism In The Yellow Wallpaper

810 Words | 4 Pages

The yellow wallpaper is not just the dreadful décor the narrator is stuck within the story but the most important symbol in the story. It symbolizes how women were not allowed to change or free to make their own decisions. The narrator once said that the wallpaper "sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it" (Gilman). She felt like the wallpaper stuck and not able to succumb to change she demonstrates this as well when she says "The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out" (Gilman). The narrator herself became the women she saw in the wallpaper that she felt trapped in a life without change which manifested itself into the wallpaper further increasing the symbolism and importance of yellow wallpaper.

Read More

More about Girl By Jamaica Kincaid And The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Related Topics

Open Document