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How Is The Yellow Wall-Paper Similar To The Story Of An Hour

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Going back in time to the 1890s, the way society acted was way different than it is now. The two stories, “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” by Charlotte Stetson, were both written in that period and show the differences in the way people lived. The point of view in “The Story of an Hour” was written in the third person while “The Yellow Wall Paper” was written in the first person. Even though The Story of an Hour isn’t narrated by Mrs. Mallard, it still mainly follows the journey of her life and not telling the readers every detail, helped heighten that shock factor at the end of the story when her husband came through the door alive. Yellow Wall-Paper may be in first person, but it is similar to Mrs. Mallard's …show more content…

She explains, “So I take phosphates or phosphites–whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (2). Jane is isolated with her disagreement about the type of treatment she has to follow. Her husband thinks the only way she can get healthy again is if she does nothing and stays in the house. He won’t listen to her thoughts about her well-being and how she wants to be free from boredom and the same routine day and night. With it being in first person, you’re able to see her turning manic while in isolation when she sees things in the yellow wallpaper. She believes change in her daily life, like working, would be beneficial for her and that following her husband's orders is doing no good for her mental health. As you can see, these women went through very similar situations when in their marriage with their husbands. The viewpoints show the impacts the women experienced in this time period and help create a sense of mystery on what is to happen

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Together the themes of manipulation and mental illness will trigger a series of events that change their lives. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the protagonist becomes increasingly obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom and seclusion from human contact. This was a cure that her husband John prescribed that proved detrimental to her mental health. As she spends more time alone in the room, she becomes fixated on the patterns and images, slowly becoming convinced there is a woman behind the wall that is trapped and that she must free, "The front pattern does move—and no wonder!

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Ammy Victorino January 5, 2023 English 12 Mrs.Hunt Feminist authors in the 1800s like Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman both wrote short stories, The Story of an Hour and Yellow Wallpaper. The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour reflect the realism of men's and women's relationships. These two stories reveal the problem of women's desire for freedom. Trying to fit into society's standards, the main characters deal with their inner conflicts. Desiree's Baby and The Story of an Hour both written by Kate Chopin have the similarity that the two short stories address include both of the women in the short stories happen to be young wives living in a male-dominated culture as well as being under the control of their husbands whom

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Since her husband, a physician of high standard, has prescribed a "rest cure" for her nervous condition, the protagonist is forced to suppress her creative urges and conform to societal expectations of a submissive and passive wife who is to remain still in a room with “the yellow wallpaper.” This suppression ultimately leads to her descent into madness as she struggles to reconcile her own desires with the expectations placed upon her. While the lady narrates the entire story, it is interesting to note that she is not in control of her own life and decisions. Rather, she is a victim of societal norms and gender roles that restrict her agency and

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She slowly starts to fear her Husband, she notes how there is an odd smell that accumulates in her room, and she always references the yellow wallpaper, in that it changes in certain ways. She began to comment on how some parts of the wallpaper was torn, then she progressed to how there were bouts of fungus growing on the walls until she begins to speak of how the pattern on the wallpaper shakes because of the “woman behind it.” “Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over,” this is when her sanity is clearly broken. She moves on from talking about her husband, the daylight, and the room itself to only speaking of the women and how she moves around. This clear descent into madness is a byproduct of how she is often dismissed by her husband and brother concerning her

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The male character, John represents characteristics of a typical male of his time, supressing his wife and disregarding any issues she conveyed. The short story portrays the deterioration of the female character’s mind. As the wallpaper crumbles away, so does the suppressing effect that male hierarchy imposes on women. This also leads to the narrator’s mind collapsing as she descends more into madness. The progression of the yellow wallpaper and the narrator, throughout the story, leads to a small win over John.

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One of the emotions the narrator undergoes is intimidation toward her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” it says, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression -- a slight hysterical tendency--what is one to do?” The narrator is a woman and has no say about her own medical condition, due to the fact that she is a female, but her husband can say and tell her whatever he wants to about her condition and that intimidates her. He can have complete control over the narrator because he is more educated than her and he has a higher standing in society than women did. Another example of the narrator’s intimidation for the husband is in “The Yellow Wallpaper” it says, “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes.

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In, “The Story of an Hour, “Mrs. Mallard is over come with joy at the thought of living the rest of her days for herself and herself alone” (Chopin, p15). Knowing that each day from that point on would be spend by herself, and with no one else unless she allowed that person in. She seems to be excited to start this new life as an individual being, with no one other than herself in complete control of her life. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” longs for that same sort of freedom. Throughout the story, she stares at this horrific looking yellow wallpaper in the room she feels imprisoned in.

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In the final scene of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the text shifts to a dialogue, rather than the previous diary entry writing style, and the narrator is seen circling the nursery and identifying with the woman within the wallpaper (591). With the switch in narrative format, the reader can understand that a significant shift has occurred, and it seems logical that with this shift, the narrator has fully slipped into madness. Additionally, because the previous narrative format was composed of diary entries, the narrator was able to mentally process and describe her lifestyle. But, with her descent into madness, she loses mental clarity. Although the last scene of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written from a first-person perspective, which is consistent with the diary entries, the combination of the shift to dialogue and the narrator’s actions suggest that the narrator has lost her grip on reality.

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The dominant point of view in the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” Is told by a first person. She tells her story from a closed room, so that she can receive the “rest cure” treatment for her nervous condition and depression. She is the major character in the story. She writes in her journal everyday about her situation. The first person focuses on her owns thoughts and feelings hoping she can overcome her mental state.

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"The Story of an Hour ' ' by Kate Chopin and "The Yellow Wallpaper ' ' by Charlottle Perkins Gilman are short stories about women in the late 1800 's. In "The Story of an Hour" the woman is living in the city, her husband has gone off to work, she has a heart condition, and she has believed he was dead. The husband appears and she dies because her chance at freedom is lost. While "The Yellow Wallpaper" is in a country house on vacation. She is forced to play sick and is told she must rest by her husband and doctor. As a result she moves into madness believing the wallpaper has come alive.

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There are many critics who talk about the patriarchal discourse and women’s discourse that is in the story. For example, the articles “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Paula Treichler and “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Women’s Discourse” by Karen Ford both argue that the story is concerned with the “conflict between patriarchal language and women’s discourse” (Treichler 62). In the 19th century, patriarchy was very common in society. Men treated women like slaves because men were the more powerful ones in society. Men usually told women what to do and they had to listen to them, just like how the husband treated the narrator in the story which I believe can be a reason why she goes insane.

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Both “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” display how a woman’s aspirations were denied. The protagonists in both stories, journey to find freedom. In “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard felt as if she was trapped. When Mrs. Mallard is told of her husband’s death, she is grief-stricken, “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment”

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The woman in The Yellow Wallpaper has emotional problems because society had told women to be quiet in such an abusive relationship. When the woman looked at the wallpaper, she started to see things that weren’t real. Most women in today’s society do not have to go through such hardships like being a man's property, or being forced to stay inside a confined

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Throughout the story, Jane completely disagrees with John’s prognosis and form of treatment. This is shown when Jane says, “So I take phosphates or phosphites - whichever it is, and tonics and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas.” (page ) As the story continues Jane makes suggestions to John about what she thinks would improve her health.

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The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story full of imaginative symbolism and descriptive settings. However, without the narrator’s unique point of view and how it affects her perception of her environment, the story would fail to inform the reader of the narrator’s emotional plummet. The gothic function of the short story is to allow the reader to be with the narrator as she gradually loses her sanity and the point of view of the narrator is key in ensuring the reader has an understanding of the narrator’s emotional and mental state throughout the story. It’s clear from the beginning of the story that the narrator’s point of view greatly differs from that of her husband’s and other family in her life.

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