Victims of Male Dominance in a Rose for Emily and the Yellow Wallpaper
Victims of Male Dominance
The trails and tribulations of life can cause a person to go down a road they could have never imagined. Some people are able to rise above the issues that come their way and while others become consumed by their problems. In a male dominated society, the issues of women are often pushed to the side and they are left to deal with them alone. Therefore, some women become abused by their thoughts and problems due to the fact that they do not have the ability to tackle them alone. It becomes an internal and external battle for the scorned woman to please herself, husband (or father) and the society at the same time. In the short stories, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, readers become aquatinted with two women from different walks of life that become victims of their circumstances and develop undiagnosed mental illnesses due to male dominance, leading to their unfortunate downfall. Both of these female main characters appear to want to love the men that held the most power in their lives, but couldn’t fight the weight of this male dominance. In a desperate attempt to balance their feelings of love and hate for these significant men, their apparent failure causes an undeniable breakdown.
In William Faulkner’s, “A Rose For Emily”, family meant everything to Emily. Nobody was more important in Emily’s life than her father. Coming from a prominent and wealthy family from the South, Emily’s family was glorified in her neighborhood. From an early age, Emily had been pressured to uphold the “hereditary obligation” (p.391) of her aristocratic family name. For many young women, their father is the first man they love. Therefore, his opinions and views is what counts the most to them. If your father doesn’t like a person, then his daughter should feel the same way; it was that simple. Girls want to believe that their father always has their best interest at heart, which cause them to
The trails and tribulations of life can cause a person to go down a road they could have never imagined. Some people are able to rise above the issues that come their way and while others become consumed by their problems. In a male dominated society, the issues of women are often pushed to the side and they are left to deal with them alone. Therefore, some women become abused by their thoughts and problems due to the fact that they do not have the ability to tackle them alone. It becomes an internal and external battle for the scorned woman to please herself, husband (or father) and the society at the same time. In the short stories, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, readers become aquatinted with two women from different walks of life that become victims of their circumstances and develop undiagnosed mental illnesses due to male dominance, leading to their unfortunate downfall. Both of these female main characters appear to want to love the men that held the most power in their lives, but couldn’t fight the weight of this male dominance. In a desperate attempt to balance their feelings of love and hate for these significant men, their apparent failure causes an undeniable breakdown.
In William Faulkner’s, “A Rose For Emily”, family meant everything to Emily. Nobody was more important in Emily’s life than her father. Coming from a prominent and wealthy family from the South, Emily’s family was glorified in her neighborhood. From an early age, Emily had been pressured to uphold the “hereditary obligation” (p.391) of her aristocratic family name. For many young women, their father is the first man they love. Therefore, his opinions and views is what counts the most to them. If your father doesn’t like a person, then his daughter should feel the same way; it was that simple. Girls want to believe that their father always has their best interest at heart, which cause them to