Social Criticism in The Yellow-Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

In Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” John acts as the mirror through which women are viewed negatively in the society, a society in which women are not considered citizens. They are not supposed to be anywhere near the political or public environment. Instead, they should remain in their homes. This view has led to women creating women movements to fight for their place in the society.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is known as the first American writer who has feminist approach. Gilman criticises inequality between male and female during her life, hence it is mostly possible to see the traces of feminist approach in her works. She deals with the struggles and obstacles which women face in patriarchal society. Moreover, Gilman argues that marriages cause the subordination of women, because male is active, whereas female plays a domestic role in the marriage. Gilman also argues that the situation should change; therefore women are only able to accomplish full development of their identities. At this point, The Yellow Wallpaper is a crucial example that shows repressed woman’s awakening. It is a story of a woman who

This gothic horror tale of nineteenth century fiction, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892; during a time that women writers were starting to come out and write about key issues in their treatment. She craftily sets up or spins the story with a setting of isolation and a character who feels trapped, by a husband who chooses not to know her; yet does not listen to her and keeps her trapped on an island, all in her best interest. The tone is filled with desperation, sarcasm, anger, and shows that though she is mentally unstable there is intelligence behind her instability that is kept unseen. The main symbol is the wallpaper which is a constant bane to her.

Immediately in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” readers are able to tell that the protagonist feels trapped in the room, in which she is being placed. The female narrator also mentions to us that her husband “John is a physician, and perhaps –– (I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind –– perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (Stetson 1892, 129). That is to say, this statement clearly indicates that science triumphs over the fantasy of religion. Therefore, John intellectually dominates his wife as a result of this view and his gender. Throughout the story, readers are able to observe themes from “The Yellow Wallpaper,” such as powerlessness, patriarchy, and lack of independence. As a result, Gilman 's protagonist does not have a room of her own. Despite, the struggles that the narrator faces in the room, “it makes [her] think of English places that you read about” (Stetson 1892, 130). Basically, the narrator tries to make herself feel comfortable while she is in the room and she is also able to express herself on paper, although her husband, John insists that she should not. According to Gilman’s protagonist, “I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal¬––having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (Stetson 1892, 129). This statement explains that the narrator expresses a need for independence by removing herself from the

Women’s Rights has been a point of contention for a very long time. Especially during the late 19th and 20th century, it was a seemingly unorthodox idea in a patriarchal society. This is what makes Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper a feminist piece still analyzed to this day. It was a story that was arguably ahead of its time, as was Gilman, with her utopian feminist ideals. She wrote the book with some introspection of her own postpartum depression. The Yellow Wallpaper has been deemed a classic feminist literature piece due to its layers of deeper meaning, achieved through Gilman’s use of symbolism, character, and setting, construed by many to represent the struggles faced by women in the late 19th century.

Gender inequality is defined as a social process by which people are treated differently, under similar circumstances, on the basis of gender. Gender inequality is a huge barrier for the development of humans. Although, over the year’s women have made huge progress in gaining some equality, they are still discriminated against, especially in terms of education, health, politics and in the labour market. This as a result leads to a negative effect of the development of a women’s abilities as well as their freedom of choice. The story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, demonstrates the struggle of a women to free herself from the suppression from a man. For many years, women are being controlled and overshadowed by men

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a feminist writer who wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” in the 1890’s. During this time period the woman were expected to keep the house clean, care for their children, and listen to their husbands. The men were expected to work a job and be the head of a household. The story narrates a woman’s severe depression which she thinks is linked to the yellow wallpaper. Charlotte Gilman experienced depression in her life and it inspired her to write “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The short story is based on a woman, not given a name in the text, who is very dependent on her husband. The narrator plays a gender role

Specifically looking at John's removal of Charlotte's writing, we see the most degrading limitation act imposed on her. According to the men of the time, writing gave women identity and the act of writing was seen as a way of defying the men. Dr. Askin Yildirim explains in The Women Question that women were to be "domestic, nurturing and docile…a woman was literally the servant of her children and husband…" (Yildirim 2). This evidence supporting the gender roles in the Victorian era shows how men were limiting women to the home to prevent their involvement outside of household duties. Female jobs consisted of cooking, cleaning, and mothering. The ideology of the men

During the early 1800’s, the rights of men were still deemed more important than the rights of women. This issue was finally brought into discussion in the late 1800’s, where women now started to fight for their rights. This time period also brought around the start of feminism. The fact that Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a feminine story to make a statement about men controlling women is shown through three main points: what the woman sees in the yellow wallpaper, how the husband treats the woman, and also through the narrator herself.

The injustice in society between gender is shown through the relationship between the narrator and John, her husband. In the story, John never once called her by her name, sometimes “a blessed little goose” or some other animal name, like an adult looking down at a minority. This is a discrimination towards women and clearly represents how unfairly women were treated during those times. They were looked down upon, treated as below human, equalling animals. John expects nothing more

Insanity manifests itself within society in two unsettling scenarios: one being when the true darkness lurking in the inner recesses of one’s mind takes control, and the other being when society attempts to oppress certain peculiar individuals by ascribing mental instability upon the public’s perception of them. Throughout Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," it is rather ambiguous to which of these two nightmarish scenarios the narrator is enduring. From the beginning of the story, the narrator contends that a mental affliction is plaguing her, and later cites this as the primary reasoning behind the decision for her and her husband John, a well respected physician, to move into a seemingly calm colonial mansion for the summer. Once inside, she cannot help but feel uneasy; both intrigued and repulsed by the mysterious yellow wallpaper encompassing her new sleeping quarters. As this once harmless curiosity deteriorates into full blown obsession, our protagonist begins to perceive the ominous wallpaper as the cruel prison to a helpless, enigmatic woman, and by the story’s climax, she attempts to liberate the woman by stripping every last sliver of wallpaper from the room. Externally, it would appear that the narrator has devolved into utter madness by the conclusion, but upon closer examination, it is evident that her mind has in fact attained a newfound sense of clarity. All along, it was her husband, John, that had been her true epicenter of

Her passion is to write and by doing so we are able to follow her on a

It is very seldom that mere ordinary people live a life free of sorrow. For most of us, we experience patterns of sadness and psychological torment but in Charlotte-Perkins Gilman’s, The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is not simply suffering from a simple round of depression. Shortly after entering the world of motherhood, it was apparent that she was not feeling the way a new mother should. While suffering from what is now known to be postpartum depression, the narrator goes through a series of perceptional changes during the course of the story. Albeit initially starting with a disgust for the yellow wallpaper, she eventually builds an overwhelming fascination for its intricacies that leads to an escalating dissociation from day-to-day reality. In a mix of confusion, denial, and delirium, she moves to uncover more of what the ironic wallpaper has to hide. One will often begin to explore why they feel the way they do upon suffering from depression. Especially when what should bring great joy is amounting to nothing more than psychological hardship and internal struggle.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story about a woman who has a mental illness but cannot heal due to her husband’s lack of belief. The story appears to take place during a time period where women were oppressed. Women were treated as second rate people in society during this time period. Charlotte Perkins Gilman very accurately portrays the thought process of the society during the time period in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written. Using the aspects of Feminist criticism, one can analyze “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman through the dialogue through both the male and female perspective, and through the symbol found in the story.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a famous social worker and a leading author of women’s issues. Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's relating to views of women 's rights and her demands for economic and social reform of gender inequities are very famous for the foundations of American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In critics Gilman ignored by people of color in the United States and attitudes towards non-northern European immigrants (Ceplair, non-fiction, 7). “Gilman developed controversial conception of womanhood”, by Deborah M. De Simone in “Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the feminization of education”. Gilman’s relation to reading deserves more attention than it has received (“The reading habit and The yellow wallpaper”). Her work about Women and Economics was considered her highest achievement by critics.