“Madwomen” Live under the Patriarchy’s Places
Virginia Woolf said that a woman must have a room of her own and enough money. However, in The Yellow Wallpaper and A Rose for Emily, the two female protagonists have single rooms but these rooms not completely belong to them. They still live the rooms under the control of patriarchy for a long time, which make them lose themselves and twist their mentality. They have no choice to use an anomalous or extreme way to revenge male unequal behavior and they finally become “madwomen” in other people’s eyes. “Madwomen” lacks care and equal treatment so they not only need a concrete room, but also need a spiritual single room. At the beginning, the two female protagonists in The Yellow Wallpaper and A Rose for Emily live under the patriarchy’s places for a long time. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is nameless. Her husband thinks she suffers from nervous breakdown and wants to takes “good” care of the narrator. Thus, he decides her to accept rest cure and live in an ancient colonial mansion. The narrator expresses that “I do not like their room a bit”. Without hearing the narrator’s thoughts, her husband subjectively arrange her room on her account. The narrator willingly obeys her husband and to live in the nursery at the top of the house. This room seems like a
…show more content…
The realistic oppressions drive women to the verge of despair and madness. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the nameless narrator image there is also a woman who is bind in the yellow wallpaper and she has a responsibility to help this woman. Therefore, she peels off the yellow wallpaper to struggle injustice. In the end, she continues to creep over her fainted husband. The narrator feels her become the strong female hero and she do liberate herself from oppression and regain her freedom, but her strange behaviors also become a complete crazy and will be sent to the mental