The Yellow Wallpaper Comparative Analysis
Dylan Carpenter
Mrs. Morton
Composition 2
25 February 2015
Comparative Analysis Essay
In Sweat, by Zora Neale Hurston, and The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, social norms of women and dynamics of authority in the family; greatly affected the actions and self-image of the main characters in both stories. The character, Delia Jones, in and the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper are both individuals that are greatly influenced by what their societies deemed as acceptable roles and behaviors for married women. However, they also challenged these notions in order to survive and overcome the hardships in their lives.
In Sweat, Delia worked as a washwoman in order to provide for her family. In the early 1900s, most women in this time …show more content…
As a woman who was perceived to be sick, her opinions and feelings were ignored and she was forced to follow the medical advice of her husband, a practicing physician. Modern medical practice placed much significance on the feelings and needs of the patient. However, during the time period that the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper lived in, the patient was seen as an inferior entity that was not as knowledgeable as the medical team that was treating them. The husband being a doctor was symbolic of authority that men often had over women. His position as a physician elevated him to a much higher level than his default position as a husband. Without actually paying attention to what he was prescribing and saying, those around him, including his wife, blindly followed. This significance of positions in society greatly influences the woman as she is less keen to challenge anything her husband says, regardless of how miserable she feels. Also challenging the common notion of her time that a woman, especially one who was suffering from a nervous depression, should not think too much. She describes in her writings her feelings when her husband approaches her room, “There comes John, and I must put this away, - he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman 747)2. While her husband didn’t want her to engage in high cognitive thinking, the woman secretly kept a journal and wrote her feelings and detailed descriptions of her thoughts. Her writings in her journal are symbolic of the freedom that she yearns to have. Unlike her life in which she is not allowed to socialize, go out or even choose what room she stays in. Instead of being allowed to let her creativity flow in her writing, she turned to the wallpaper as a way out of her mundane and stifling
Mrs. Morton
Composition 2
25 February 2015
Comparative Analysis Essay
In Sweat, by Zora Neale Hurston, and The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, social norms of women and dynamics of authority in the family; greatly affected the actions and self-image of the main characters in both stories. The character, Delia Jones, in and the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper are both individuals that are greatly influenced by what their societies deemed as acceptable roles and behaviors for married women. However, they also challenged these notions in order to survive and overcome the hardships in their lives.
In Sweat, Delia worked as a washwoman in order to provide for her family. In the early 1900s, most women in this time …show more content…
As a woman who was perceived to be sick, her opinions and feelings were ignored and she was forced to follow the medical advice of her husband, a practicing physician. Modern medical practice placed much significance on the feelings and needs of the patient. However, during the time period that the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper lived in, the patient was seen as an inferior entity that was not as knowledgeable as the medical team that was treating them. The husband being a doctor was symbolic of authority that men often had over women. His position as a physician elevated him to a much higher level than his default position as a husband. Without actually paying attention to what he was prescribing and saying, those around him, including his wife, blindly followed. This significance of positions in society greatly influences the woman as she is less keen to challenge anything her husband says, regardless of how miserable she feels. Also challenging the common notion of her time that a woman, especially one who was suffering from a nervous depression, should not think too much. She describes in her writings her feelings when her husband approaches her room, “There comes John, and I must put this away, - he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman 747)2. While her husband didn’t want her to engage in high cognitive thinking, the woman secretly kept a journal and wrote her feelings and detailed descriptions of her thoughts. Her writings in her journal are symbolic of the freedom that she yearns to have. Unlike her life in which she is not allowed to socialize, go out or even choose what room she stays in. Instead of being allowed to let her creativity flow in her writing, she turned to the wallpaper as a way out of her mundane and stifling