Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper And The Metamorphosis

Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Franz Kafka's " The Metamorphosis" have an abundance of similarities. Throughout both stories the main characters slowly begin to lose their sanity. However, as their minds are deteriorating, they find a new freedom within their selves. However, Gilman shows this through constant evolving diction in 1st person, and Kafka does this through a 3rd person narrative. Similarly, both of the authors critiqued beliefs through their allegories and stood up to the social norms of their societies. Many years after the authors passed away, we recognized that the ideas in their writing was years ahead of their time.
In both stories, we see main characters’ experience life changing alterations to their old selves, which causes them to push away from not only society, but also their families. In the end they develop a
The woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" has a deteriorating mental state. While her husband and her move into an old house out in the country, she is infatuated by the yellow wall paper in her room. As John brushes off her comments about the bothersome wallpaper, she finds liberty in tearing at the wallpaper. Brandner proves this stating, “Unlike patriarchal society, the narrator believes she can at least “find out” or conquer the wallpaper, the symbol for patriarchal society. The narrator becomes independent of John and frees herself, which is symbolized by ripping off the wallpaper” (Brandner, 48). Similar to the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" Gregor, in "The Metamorphosis" watches as his life slowly falls apart without any control over it. The night before Gregor's death, the author reveals his true emotions, “He felt relatively comfortable. It is true that his entire body was aching, but the pain seemed to be slowly getting weaker and weaker and would finally disappear altogether.” The audience discovers that