The Role Of Oppression In Short Stories

Women have been faced with oppression almost all their lives. Society, spouses and families play a huge role in oppressing women, making them society’s puppets. Authors of the 20th century like Charlotte Gilman and Joyce Oats, were able to break the silence, and voice their opinions and concerns in short stories like “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Gilman, and “Where are you now, where are you going” by Joyce oats.
Joyce Oats and Charlotte Gilman created short stories depicting how women living in a patriarchal society can cause mental breakdowns, and psychological problems. Oppression can lead to a mental breakdown where reality becomes distorted. In both short stories, even though the technique of the oppression differs, the final results are the same. Male figures oppress women to a point where a confusion between reality and fantasy is seen. Oppression through the lives and stories of Joyce Oats and Charlotte Perkins Gilman will be examined thoroughly, and the types of oppression will be discussed.
In the short stories “Where are you going, where have you been?” and “The yellow wallpaper,” both Joyce Carol Oates and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, portrayed female characters that are oppressed and are unable to distinguish reality from fantasy. Each author had an artistic technique in portraying oppression.
Her confidence is only shaken when a man tries to oppress her in a sexual way. It is then when Connie realizes that she was not as strong as she thought she was. Due to the panic, Connie started to confuse reality from fantasy. Arnold Friend, takes advantage of Connie’s naïve personality, and tries to control her by threatening her. Joyce Oats describes oppression here as a form of sexual oppression, where woman are constantly being sexually assaulted because society has portrayed and symbolized women as sexual