Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper -- Yellow Wallpaper essays

Gender Roles in The icteric Wallpaper In Charlotte Perkins Gilmans short accounting The Yellow Wallpaper, the indorser is treated to an intimate portrait of developing insanity. At the same time, the storys first person narrator provides insight into the social attitudes of the storys late Victorian time period. The story sets up a sense of gradually increasing distrust between the narrator and her husband, John, a doctor, which suggests that gender roles were strictly defined however, as the story is near one representation of the time period, the examination of other sources is necessary to better understand the nature of American attitudes in the late 1800s. Specifically, this essay will give out the representation of womens roles in The Yellow Wallpaper alongside two other texts produced during this time period, in the effort to discover whether Gilmans depiction of women accurately reflects the society that produced it. The Yellow Wallpaper features an unnamed female na rrator who serves to exemplify the expectations placed upon women of the time period. As we are told early on, she is suffering from a nervous condition (Gilman 1). age we are not told the specific nature of this condition, we do discover that the cure prescribed by John, the narrators husband and doctor, entails taking phosphates or phosphites--whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise while reason work is absolutely forbidden until she is well again (Gilman 1). This poses a particular problem for the narrator, due to her desire to write, which she continues to do in spite of them, and causes her to hide her report to avoid facing heavy opposition (Gilman 1). The treatment to which t... ...Mitchell, seems all the more plausible. After all, her socially-defined role as the dutiful wife and mother was being agonistic by her inability to withstand the treatment foisted upon her by a man trained to disregard his patients feelings. As a woman, she had no soc ially sanctioned federal agency to respond to the problems she faced. Rather than wonder, as John does throughout the story, why his wife is becoming increasingly deranged, readers of this story should only wonder why, given the mores of the time period, there werent far more stories like it. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. English hundred and one Homepage. August 1999 . Mitchell, S. Weir. The Evolution of the Rest Treatment. English 101 Course Packet. Chico Mr Kopy, 1999. Power, Susan. The Ugly-Girl Papers. English 101 Course Packet. Chico Mr Kopy, 1999.