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Free Labor, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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Free Labor, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Throughout time, the world and the events that have taken place in the world, have been shaped by their past. This is the very same thing that happens with literature because literature is shaped by the past events and actions caused by people from the past and in return, literature will shape the events and actions of people in the future. To cause these impacts on history, authors write various pieces to shed light on enormous issues in America that many people will turn a blind eye to. These authors challenge and help change the status quo with their works so that they can ensure freedom and rights to those who deserve them. Through the analysis of Free Labor, a protest poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper; The Yellow Wallpaper, a short …show more content…
In the time period from 1855 to 1925, many types of people, including African Americans and women, lack the basic human rights we know today. The authors of these groups fought for rights in their works. The short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and published in 1892. Gilman wanted better treatment for women and thought that people should be more concerned with women’s issues. Gilman’s wrote The Yellow Wallpaper to put emphasize on the treatment for postpartum depression for women in her time period. Those who suffered from postpartum depression would be kept away from all creative expression and would be required to stay at home. Patients were allowed to have only two hours of mental stimulation a day. Gilman was a patient herself and said that she almost went crazy. Her story depicts the effects on women when they use the treatment and was meant to be used to open the eyes of the public to end this procedure. In Gilman’s story, she talks about a woman who starts to become crazy after spending long periods of time in her room. The woman in the story starts to see things in her wallpaper and becomes so deranged that she believes there is a woman living in the wallpaper. Gilman later sent a copy of this work to the doctor who put her on the treatment. The doctor read the story and it later caused him and society to stop using the treatment. Gilman had reached parts of her goal by ending a horrifically unmonitored treatment for women and caused the world to look into women’s issues. Her work successfully impacted society and made it change for the

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