The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman is about a woman that is a writer having an illness that is given a cure all prescription from her doctor which is also her husband. As a doctor he tells her that she just needs to rest. According to doctors back in earlier times they would say that rest could cure majority of the different illnesses. With the doctors orders she does not defy what he tells her to do. She is to only obey her husband due to the androcentric society of that time where men are the most powerful and women just stick to job of staying at home. She knows there is more to the illness that rest alone cannot cure but she will not be listened to. John, her husband is able predict what is wrong with her but is mislead due to old fashion
ways to listen to his only diagnosis. Her husband leaves her in their home for months while occasionally checking on her. As she continues to get worse her husband for the last time he goes to visit and checks on her he is disturbed by the horrific scene of blood every where in the room she is locked up in while she is steady pacing the room in circles.
She has paced the room so many times you can see where the floor has gotten worn down along with scratches on the walls. Not being able write and talk to other humans is driving her insane. She becomes so dehumanized throughout the long periods without human interaction she beings to see a woman in the yellow wallpaper. She soon discovers that the woman in the wallpaper is her. The symbolic representation of the woman in the wallpaper is to show that she herself is trapped and needs to be free. Misogyny and Anthrocentrism is still part of many people’s thoughts of women today. In today’s Tyler Perry movie, “Madea’s Family Reunion” the main character is a victim of domestic violence and is afraid to leave her fiancé. She and her soon to be husband live a comfortable life with nice things and a high status but behind closed doors he becomes a hurtful man. No matter what she does the littlest things may set him off. In his eyes a woman should cater to her man without questions or talking
back. I saw a comparison between these two stories with the similar dehumanization of women through androcentrism and misogyny. Both women are “trained” to listen to their husbands and to stay beneath the husbands. In The Yellow Wallpaper there is an instance where the woman tries to get her husband to let her leave the house but he isn’t too concerned so he brushes it off and keeps her there. Ultimately he is shutting down and voice of reason she is trying to have because he feels that if she was more active and had social interaction she would become worse when in fact she would become better. But, her words mean nothing to her husband. In Madea’s Family Reunion the lady tries to sneak out during the middle of the night but he catches her and pulls her to the balcony and threatens the throw her over because she can’t leave. Both men in each story over power their significant other thinking it is for their benefit but it truly destroys them as a human and leaves them in such a vulnerable stage from all the hatred.