The Yellow Wallpaper

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The Yellow Wallpaper
Passage 4 comes from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 work called ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’ Gilman was a prominent feminist writer towards the close of the nineteenth century and none of her works better presents her convictions than this short story. Having had a loveless childhood and a short-lived marriage that ended in divorce, the story has a form of resemblance to her real-life situation. In this passage, the agitation that nobody should “get that woman out at night but me” signifies just how badly she wanted to be part of liberating women from a paternalistic society dominated by men. This excerpt adequately represents the theme of women oppression and male dominance that floods the short story, from where it is lifted.
It is during one summer when the narrator starts writing this story, two weeks after moving into a colonial mansion situated on a hereditary estate. The author uses first-person narration, occasionally littered with short conversations. Gilman has been able to draw the reader into the story through vivid descriptions of the surroundings. There is a conflict between the narrator and an unfair social system that favors men over women and her loving and caring husband who believes he does what is right for his wife which is in disagreement with the wife’s convictions. For instance, she disagrees with the doctor’s recommendation for rest as the appropriate cure for her nervous condition and goes on to use writing as a distraction even though the husband forbids any mind stimulating activities.

Her nights are sleepless, and she finds herself staring at the wall until she starts making out things from the patterns on the wall. One particular thing she sees on the wall is the image of a woman behind bars on the yellow wallpaper and it is her plan to get her out and free her. It is worth noting that this pattern that symbolizes women subordination shakes only when the woman behind it shakes it meaning that liberation from male dominance is an active process by the oppressed. The narrator clearly depicts her powerless position in the way she is not allowed to make a single decision. She is barred from involving her mind in any way, something which though well-intentioned by her husband John, she finds more harming.
The narrator’s freedom is curtailed and her voice drowned by the husband’s domineering presence, given the social superiority of John first as a respected physician and second as a husband. She is not allowed to engage in any activity until she gets well, which is the reason why she writes in hiding. Eventually, she loses it and starts crawling like a mad person, having escaped from bars. The narrator may be having a nervous condition, but she is still intelligent and careful enough to avoid unnecessary confrontations with the husband and her housekeeper. In this passage, Gilman successfully brings to the fore the struggle for the liberation of women who are considered second-rate citizens and a largely patriarchal society.
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FUNCTION OF SETTINGS IN “TO ROOM NINETEEN” AND “HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS”
Ernest Hemingway does not actively describe the setting of his short story but rather brings it out during the dialogue. The location is at a train station between Barcelona and Madrid during and it all takes place in a single hot day and the historical time is believed to be in the 1920’s when the piece was published. On one side of the station, there are hills across Ebro valley that are described as long and white and the land is brown and dry, while the other side, there are fields of grain, mountains with trees and a river. The station is situated between two lines of rails symbolizing the dilemma, the American and the girl were faced with, that is, whether or not to have the simple operation. This simple procedure is not mentioned expressly, but it is believed to be an abortion. The American opines that having the abortion will bring happiness but Jig, the girl, is hesitant about the subject and this may well be represented by the two sides of the station, that of vegetation and life in sharp contrast with that of drought and barrenness.
‘To Room Nineteen’ represents London in the 1960’s, a time when women were still under male subjugation and social conservatism was the order of the day. Like Hemingway’s story, it also tells the story of a man and a woman, but the duration exceeds a single day because it happens over a course of years. Susan and Mathew lived in different flats before marrying and moving to the fashionable west end of London, the South Kensington. After two years, the couple moves to Richmond and this happens when they get pregnant with the first child and it is here where most of the story occurs. From the bedroom of the Richmond house, there is an attractive view and a river which represented the serenity surrounding their early days of marriage. In a time when marriages around them were collapsing, they remained together, for their intelligence was the glue that held them together. Susan now overburdened with family responsibility and neglect sets on a path of reflection and goes to Victoria where she rents a room daily to be alone and takes a walking holiday to the mountains of Wales. Her solitude escapades lead her to the dingy Fred’s hotel where she makes a habit of visiting thrice a week and therein eventually commits suicide. When Susan finds comfort in retreating to be alone in filthy hotels while leaving a well furnished and beautiful house it depicts how their beautiful marriage has deteriorated. The marriage that started as a perfect union and a cause for envy among peers is shattered. In this short story, the setting does not entirely communicate symbolism as it is the case in the ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ story and the main conflict is between Susan and the unfair social system that places pressure on women.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper.