Essay On The Unfair Treatment Of Women In The Yellow Wallpaper
The short story “The Yellow Wall-paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman should be published in the Atlantic Monthly to heighten the awareness of the unfair treatment of women. In this short story the narrator’s husband John tries to control her. It actually all starts when John believes that his wife is not sick and he thinks that moving to a summer house for the summer will help his wife get better. The narrator does not agree with her husband but goes along with him because he is “a physician of high standing and one’s own husband” (p.792). John also “hates to have [her] write a word” (p. 793), he has got her so scared that she feels like she to hide her journal; that she “must put it away” (p. 793) when John coms in. He controls her so much that she says
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he does not “let [her] stir with out special instruction” (p. 793) and when she does try to do something on her own he scolds her “ Don’t go walking about like that you’ll get a cold” (p. 798). This controlling attitude even encases how he thinks his wife should be feeling, “uoi are gaining flesh, and color and your appetite is better, I fell really much easier about you” (p. 798). She triers to tell him that she does not feel any better but he ignores her feelings and says that “she shall be as sick as she pleases”(p. 798). He basically implies that she is choosing to be sick. He controls every aspect of her life, “[he] makes her lie down for an hour after each meal”, while John thinks that this is great for her she states that it is “a very bad habit, I am convinced, for you see I don’t sleep” (p.799). He forces her to do things that he thinks we will make her better and she does everything he says because “one expects that in marriage” (p. 792). She should be able to decided what is good and what is not good for her, having this story published might help other women realize that being in a marriage where your husband tells you when to sleep and when not to sleep might not be such a great marriage. Not only does he control her but he has very little respect for her by treating her like a child.
He takes all of her control away, hires Jennie to look over her and talks down to her. When she does something that he does not approve of he instead of saying darling or dear like he usually says he adds “little” into the sentence. For example when she decides to take a walk alone, he does not like that, he says `”What is it little girl?” and when she disagrees with his assessment of how she is doing he says “Bless her little hear” (p.798). The narrator also has “a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me “ (p.793). He thinks that she is not even adult enough to take her own prescriptions which he “has [her] cod liver oil and lots if other tonics and things” (p. 797). He has treated her so much like a child that he does not even value her opinion. The narrator does not like the room her husband has picked and she wants one down on a lower level with roses, “but John would not hear of it” (p.793). By publishing this story it might show women that it is not fair that they should be treated like “little” girls, they deserve to have the same rights and treatment as their husbands
do. Publishing this story could be beneficial for all the women of the community and even some doctors. The women might realize that this is not the way a wife should live, not being able to make her own decisions. A husband and a wife should make the decisions together and no matter who has an opinion, that opinion should be hear by the other. This story could also help to change the treatments that doctors prescribed, because in the end of this story the narrator does not get better but instead she gets worse. If she had been allowed to wonder outside for a stroll or even been allowed to scribble in her notebook it could have helped her stay sane. By taking away all control and even the control of her imagination the narrator had to look for a way out, she had to gain back a little control and in the end thats exactly what she does. She gained the control by taking down all of “The Yellow Wall-paper” and “in spite of [her husband] and Jane” (p. 803).
Works Cited Page
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed.Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. New York: W.W Norton and Company, 2012. 792-803. Print.
he does not “let [her] stir with out special instruction” (p. 793) and when she does try to do something on her own he scolds her “ Don’t go walking about like that you’ll get a cold” (p. 798). This controlling attitude even encases how he thinks his wife should be feeling, “uoi are gaining flesh, and color and your appetite is better, I fell really much easier about you” (p. 798). She triers to tell him that she does not feel any better but he ignores her feelings and says that “she shall be as sick as she pleases”(p. 798). He basically implies that she is choosing to be sick. He controls every aspect of her life, “[he] makes her lie down for an hour after each meal”, while John thinks that this is great for her she states that it is “a very bad habit, I am convinced, for you see I don’t sleep” (p.799). He forces her to do things that he thinks we will make her better and she does everything he says because “one expects that in marriage” (p. 792). She should be able to decided what is good and what is not good for her, having this story published might help other women realize that being in a marriage where your husband tells you when to sleep and when not to sleep might not be such a great marriage. Not only does he control her but he has very little respect for her by treating her like a child.
He takes all of her control away, hires Jennie to look over her and talks down to her. When she does something that he does not approve of he instead of saying darling or dear like he usually says he adds “little” into the sentence. For example when she decides to take a walk alone, he does not like that, he says `”What is it little girl?” and when she disagrees with his assessment of how she is doing he says “Bless her little hear” (p.798). The narrator also has “a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me “ (p.793). He thinks that she is not even adult enough to take her own prescriptions which he “has [her] cod liver oil and lots if other tonics and things” (p. 797). He has treated her so much like a child that he does not even value her opinion. The narrator does not like the room her husband has picked and she wants one down on a lower level with roses, “but John would not hear of it” (p.793). By publishing this story it might show women that it is not fair that they should be treated like “little” girls, they deserve to have the same rights and treatment as their husbands
do. Publishing this story could be beneficial for all the women of the community and even some doctors. The women might realize that this is not the way a wife should live, not being able to make her own decisions. A husband and a wife should make the decisions together and no matter who has an opinion, that opinion should be hear by the other. This story could also help to change the treatments that doctors prescribed, because in the end of this story the narrator does not get better but instead she gets worse. If she had been allowed to wonder outside for a stroll or even been allowed to scribble in her notebook it could have helped her stay sane. By taking away all control and even the control of her imagination the narrator had to look for a way out, she had to gain back a little control and in the end thats exactly what she does. She gained the control by taking down all of “The Yellow Wall-paper” and “in spite of [her husband] and Jane” (p. 803).
Works Cited Page
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed.Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. New York: W.W Norton and Company, 2012. 792-803. Print.