John's Struggle In The Yellow Wallpaper
The text the Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Gilman reveals a woman's struggle in a male centric society during the 19th century. After reading the text, it became evident that the story was a feminist text, that describes how the condescending demoralizing attitude of the doctor, belittles the narrators thoughts and the severity of her illness. John is a textbook example of a dominating spouse, he is a husband that essentially has absolute control over his wife. At the start of the story, the narrator talks about how she finds it a little bit weird that such a big house was so cheap so describes it as being "queer", she later goes on and says that "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage" (Pg 24). This line indicates
that John does not really have much respect for her opinion, and brushes it off as it was a joke. This fits perfectly with the societal norms during the time period; the opinion that men are much smarter then women, and their thoughts are not to be considered or respected in a decision making process. The narrator later in the story expresses her desire to think independently, "I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus-but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad" (Pg 25). This statement shows her desire to have to luxury of free will, and the ability to think independently, but she submits to John, because he diminishes her desires and confidence by always disagreeing or bashing her thoughts. Throughout the entire story the narrator feels trapped, much like a women might have felt trapped in the 19th century, and leads her to the point of insanity;where she rips the wallpaper down f to help a women escape, only to realize that the women that she was trying to help escape was her self. I believe as a whole the story was written to show the physical and mental hardships that a women faced during the time period. Gilman talks about how the narrator felt trapped, and I believe that what she meant by that is, for women to ever be truly free in society we must remove gender roles, and create an environment where men and women are perceived as equals, and not one being superior to the other.
that John does not really have much respect for her opinion, and brushes it off as it was a joke. This fits perfectly with the societal norms during the time period; the opinion that men are much smarter then women, and their thoughts are not to be considered or respected in a decision making process. The narrator later in the story expresses her desire to think independently, "I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus-but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad" (Pg 25). This statement shows her desire to have to luxury of free will, and the ability to think independently, but she submits to John, because he diminishes her desires and confidence by always disagreeing or bashing her thoughts. Throughout the entire story the narrator feels trapped, much like a women might have felt trapped in the 19th century, and leads her to the point of insanity;where she rips the wallpaper down f to help a women escape, only to realize that the women that she was trying to help escape was her self. I believe as a whole the story was written to show the physical and mental hardships that a women faced during the time period. Gilman talks about how the narrator felt trapped, and I believe that what she meant by that is, for women to ever be truly free in society we must remove gender roles, and create an environment where men and women are perceived as equals, and not one being superior to the other.