Essay Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper And The Story Of An Hour
Gabe Kloster
Literature
Professor Fitzpatrick
10.28.13
The Yellow Wallpaper & The Story of An Hour
For the purpose of this paper I was asked to compare two short stories that have similar meanings. The two stories I chose were “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892), and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (1894). I chose to pick these two stories because both the authors use a variety of literary techniques, including situational irony and symbolism to portray what it was like for women in their era. They both deal with severe contrast between societal roles that men and women occupy in the 19th century. The two stories are very similar in the sense that they are trying to represent how women were repressed …show more content…
The word hysteria was used in the 19th century to acknowledge woman’s problems without examining the underlying issues. Men were seen as a so-called rational being who knew what was best. One can see this in both the stories. In the “Yellow Wallpaper” one can see that the narrator is going through postpartum depression. The narrator of “Yellow Wallpaper” was married to a doctor named John who basically shuts her out from the outside world keeping her in a bedroom and refraining her from any physical activity; she is even worried about writing in her journal because she does not want John to find out how she feels. She states, “If a physician of high standing, and one s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?”(226). One can see that she has no control and is forced to believe his accusations even if she knows they are not true. Furthermore, her husband cannot understand the reasons for her condition due to the fact that he is not a woman and does not understand what its like to have a baby. Only a woman can understand what its like to go through postpartum depression. John just looks at her depression as something insignificant and silly. He prescribes medications that he thinks she needs for something she does not have. This just goes to show how women were not looked at as rational
Literature
Professor Fitzpatrick
10.28.13
The Yellow Wallpaper & The Story of An Hour
For the purpose of this paper I was asked to compare two short stories that have similar meanings. The two stories I chose were “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892), and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (1894). I chose to pick these two stories because both the authors use a variety of literary techniques, including situational irony and symbolism to portray what it was like for women in their era. They both deal with severe contrast between societal roles that men and women occupy in the 19th century. The two stories are very similar in the sense that they are trying to represent how women were repressed …show more content…
The word hysteria was used in the 19th century to acknowledge woman’s problems without examining the underlying issues. Men were seen as a so-called rational being who knew what was best. One can see this in both the stories. In the “Yellow Wallpaper” one can see that the narrator is going through postpartum depression. The narrator of “Yellow Wallpaper” was married to a doctor named John who basically shuts her out from the outside world keeping her in a bedroom and refraining her from any physical activity; she is even worried about writing in her journal because she does not want John to find out how she feels. She states, “If a physician of high standing, and one s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?”(226). One can see that she has no control and is forced to believe his accusations even if she knows they are not true. Furthermore, her husband cannot understand the reasons for her condition due to the fact that he is not a woman and does not understand what its like to have a baby. Only a woman can understand what its like to go through postpartum depression. John just looks at her depression as something insignificant and silly. He prescribes medications that he thinks she needs for something she does not have. This just goes to show how women were not looked at as rational