William Faulkner is well-known for writing “A Rose for Emily,” a story about a woman named Emily who is isolated from society and believes killing Homer Barren is the only way she will not be lonely anymore. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” about a woman isolated from society while she struggles with postpartum depression. She is away for so long that she starts seeing a woman in the wallpaper. The two stories have multiple similarities; both the women find companions in out-of-the-ordinary people, are social outcasts, and are isolated because of patriarchal figures in their life. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Emily in “A Rose for Emily” both find companions in odd ways. The narrator sees a lady in the walls …show more content…
The woman locked in the room had just had a baby and was struggling with postpartum depression. Her husband, a doctor, believes locking her in the room is best for her and the family. The narrator tries to talk to her husband about her psyche, but he pushes that away and exclaims, “I beg you for my sake and for our child’s sake, as well as for your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind!” (Gilman 255). She feels she is not getting better by being locked away in the room, her body may look better, but her depression symptoms have not decreased. Even speaking her mind with her husband, he believes he knows better with all of his training and ignores what she is trying to tell him. Likewise, Emily was a social outcast in her town. She suffers from abandonment issues. Faulkner writes, “After her father’s death, she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all” (528). Her father was oppressive, and Emily longed for a sense of belonging to other people. She wants to feel important to someone, and the only way for her to do this is to kill Homer and have him with her until she passes away. These characters are pushed away by society as a cause of mental health