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

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Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s disturbing short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” can be viewed as impetus for the points expressed in the Declaration of Sentiments, authored by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848, a half-century before the publishing of Gilman’s short story. In other words, the narrator’s plight reflects the injustices highlighted in the Declaration of Sentiments as well as the mandate to address these injustices in light of the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are “inalienable rights,” the basic principles upon which the United States was founded. Three points from the Declaration of Sentiments which directly correlate with the conditions under which the narrator of “The Yellow …show more content…

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, …show more content…

To further describe the superiority of men over women, the Declaration of Sentiments proclaims that, “He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and God” (Sentiments 2). In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator’s actions are completely controlled by her husband, leaving her with no availability to recover the way she feels is right. While describing John’s directions towards her, the narrator reveals, “I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more” (Gilman 2). Although the narrator does not agree with the actions assigned to her, she is primed by societal expectations to believe that she should be more grateful to her husband. In this way, her life no longer belongs to her conscience or her God, but to her husband. John’s constant command over the narrator’s actions and restriction of her ideas proves that she is undeniably deprived of the inalienable right of “life” (Declaration of

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