The Yellow Wallpaper Women

In the short stories, “Cat in the Rain” and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” both short stories describes the life of two women and their relationship with the people, specifically men, around them. In the “Cat in the Rain” it describes an American wife who develops an attraction to the hotel’s padrone as she wanders out to save a cat in the rain, while her husband, George, stays up stairs in the hotel room. On the contrary, “The Yellow Wallpaper” tells a story about a female who is trapped in a nursery as a solution her husband, John, proposes for her “disease.” In both short stories, the relationship between the female and the male characters are unhealthy and destructive since both the male counterparts are ignorant and dismissive of the female’s
opinions and thoughts. In the “Cat in the Rain,” the relationship between the American wife and her husband, George, is unhealthy, since George is dismissive and cold towards her. Adding on, heir relationship is dull and lacks a form of proper communication. When the American wife tells George about her interest in saving the cat in the rain, George is uninterested in what she is doing and he seems more fixated in his book. Towards the end, when the American wife returns from trying to save the cat in the rain, she lists all the things she wants to do, but in response George says, “Oh, shut up and get something to read,” (Hemingway 2). George also “was not listening. He was reading his book” (Hemingway 2). From the start to the end, George is more focused on his reading than his wife. He is completely dismissive about her ideas and even tells her to stop voicing her opinion out. Their unhealthy relationship is seen even clearer, as the American wife finds an attraction towards the hotel’s padrone. It states, “The padrone made her feel very small and at the same time really important” (Hemingway pg 2). In a way, the padrone is the opposite of George. The padrone represents the qualities that George lacks. When the American wife first meets the padrone, she explains her desire of wanting the cat in the rain. Unlike George, the padrone shows interest in what the American wife was doing, as he sends the maid to fetch an umbrella for the American wife, and brings up a cat to her in the end of the story. He made her feel important since he was giving her attention, which was something not common for her when she is with George. The padrone was able to communicate with her through his actions, while George stayed stationary in his room. Even though the padrone and the American wife exchange only a few words, his actions towards her provided the American wife the attention she desired. The American wife’s interest and attraction towards the padrone further supports the idea that her relationship with George is unhealthy.
Similarly, in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator, who is never given a name, is also in an unhealthy relationship with her husband, John.
Just like George, John is dismissive towards his wife. John uses his authority as a doctor and husband to talk down to the narrator and traps her in the nursery. The narrator states, “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him.” (Steton 649). This illustrates how John is unwilling to understand the narrator’s condition and how he is acting ignorant to her situation. John also does very little to show that he cares for the narrator. He is constantly going to town and leaves his sick wife for his sister, Jennie, to take care of. The narrator also states, “ I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit...But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able…” (Steton 651). This clearly show how dismissive John is towards the narrator. He completely shuts her idea up and believes that he knows how to cure her. John neglects the narrator’s proposals and fails to listen to what she has to say. Just like the American wife and George, John and the narrator also lacks proper communication for a healthy
relationship.
Unlike the Padrone in the “Cat in the Rain,” who represents the qualities that George lacks, the girl in the wallpaper in “The Yellow Wallpaper” represents a reflection of the narrator. The hallucination of the girl in the wallpaper suggests that their relationship is unhealthy because the narrator builds a connection with the girl in the wallpaper. Because John always neglect the narrator’s opinions and thoughts, she was unable to have someone understand and communicate effectively with. However, when she starts to hallucinate about the girl in the wallpaper, the narrator finally finds someone that was able to communicate and empathize with her. The narrator wants to be freed, therefore she desperately tears the wallpaper because she wants to free the girl, just like how she wants to be freed from the nursery. When she tears off the wallpaper the narrator states, “I quite enjoy the room, now it is bare again.” (Steton 655). The narrator starts to “enjoy the room” because she was able to tear off some of the wallpaper and free the girl. The narrator feels like she is able to be in power since she is able to free the girl, and ultimately she “frees” herself when John walks in and faints. This shows the unhealthiness in the narrator and John’s relationship because the narrator only starts to hallucinate about the girl in the wallpaper when John starts to ignore and dismiss her opinions about her own sickness. Because John communicates with the narrator using the authority as a doctor and a husband, he neglects the narrator’s presences and causes her to suffer more since he was physically and figuratively trapping her inside. In both the “Cat in the Rain” and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the relationship between the husband and wife is unhealthy.
In both stories, the husbands were ignorant and dismissive towards the wife and develops a sense of dominance. Both George and John prevent their wives from speaking their opinions, and ultimately enforcing a controlling and demanding demeanor. Their neglectance and controlling presence creates a unhealthy relationships since both their wives create a relationship with someone else to express themselves. In the “Cat in the Rain” the American wife develops an attraction towards the hotel’s padrone because she was unable to receive the attention from George. Similarly, the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” develops a relationship with the girl in the wallpaper because John was unable to listen and understand what she was going
through. Overall, in both short stories, the relationship between the females and males are unhealthy because of the dismissive and controlling attitude the male characters possess. In the “Cat in the Rain” and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” both husbands ignore their wives opinions, therefore cutting off proper communication between them. By neglecting and enforcing a controlling attitude towards their wives, the wives are unable to effectively convey their thoughts and feelings. This is destructive in a relationship as the wives start to stray away from their husbands. In the “Cat in the Rain,” the American wife turns to the padrone and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator turns to the girl in the wallpaper to receive the attention and communication that lacks in their relationship with their husbands. Both relationships are unhealthy because of the dismissive and controlling attitudes from the husbands that prevents proper communication and understanding needed in a healthy relationship.