In the works, The Scarlet Letter, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Civil Disobedience”, the individual is subordinated by their society due to many restrictions present in their religion, government, and from unequal gender roles. This confinement causes the individual to take action in order to break free from these bonds through various forms of self-expression in their search for independence and to create their own identity. Though some may say that conformity of the individual was only trying to better the society by creating unity, this opposingly only did damage as the individual lost their identity, causing them to become even more isolated. Comparatively, the individuals in the works are exposed to confinement by their society due to the
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In “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau urges his fellow Americans to question the government and to not allow politicians to think and act for them. He expresses the idea that the government should have the consent of the governed, thus allowing for what is morally right to be more important than what is the law. This is seen when he says, “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislation?” (Thoreau) As an individual, you must not let someone else think for you for that takes away your freedom, ultimately erasing your humanity. The government creates men who are robots; doing what others tell them to do instead of thinking for themselves. The metaphor of men as “not as men mainly, but as machines” (Thoreau) is used by Thoreau in order to show how through strictly following the government, one loses their sense of self and becomes a shell of oneself. Significantly, Thoreau makes it apparent to the reader that we must look within ourselves to help lead us on the correct life path and must not rely on the principles and theories of others to help us. Additionally, Dimmesdale 's role in The Scarlet Letter can be seen as a representation of how government confined the individual being that their society’s principles and laws were made to hide the reality of …show more content…
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the female narrator is extremely troubled by her husband’s suppression of her imagination and is ultimately isolated because of the subordination. The author’s use of setting, displaying a dreary and malicious description of the house and the wallpaper, mirrors her emotional position. This is seen when she describes the room saying, “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.” (Gilman) Falling deeper into her isolation, the narrator’s disgust towards the wallpaper increases, reflecting the disgust she feels for her husband, who has locked her up in this prison disguised as a home. She faces overwhelming restriction as she is not allowed to leave the confines of the house, thus her only escape is through her imagination of the wallpaper having a mind of its own. “And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.” (Gilman) The descriptions of the wallpaper, seen when she says, “At night in any kind of light… it becomes bars,” (Gilman) show how confining it is for the symbolic woman behind it and shows how the narrator is being trapped by the “bars” in her marriage. “. In The Scarlet Letter Hester’s pregnancy is seen as an act of infidelity, and she is seen as a disgrace to the women in the
In “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau urges his fellow Americans to question the government and to not allow politicians to think and act for them. He expresses the idea that the government should have the consent of the governed, thus allowing for what is morally right to be more important than what is the law. This is seen when he says, “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislation?” (Thoreau) As an individual, you must not let someone else think for you for that takes away your freedom, ultimately erasing your humanity. The government creates men who are robots; doing what others tell them to do instead of thinking for themselves. The metaphor of men as “not as men mainly, but as machines” (Thoreau) is used by Thoreau in order to show how through strictly following the government, one loses their sense of self and becomes a shell of oneself. Significantly, Thoreau makes it apparent to the reader that we must look within ourselves to help lead us on the correct life path and must not rely on the principles and theories of others to help us. Additionally, Dimmesdale 's role in The Scarlet Letter can be seen as a representation of how government confined the individual being that their society’s principles and laws were made to hide the reality of …show more content…
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the female narrator is extremely troubled by her husband’s suppression of her imagination and is ultimately isolated because of the subordination. The author’s use of setting, displaying a dreary and malicious description of the house and the wallpaper, mirrors her emotional position. This is seen when she describes the room saying, “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.” (Gilman) Falling deeper into her isolation, the narrator’s disgust towards the wallpaper increases, reflecting the disgust she feels for her husband, who has locked her up in this prison disguised as a home. She faces overwhelming restriction as she is not allowed to leave the confines of the house, thus her only escape is through her imagination of the wallpaper having a mind of its own. “And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.” (Gilman) The descriptions of the wallpaper, seen when she says, “At night in any kind of light… it becomes bars,” (Gilman) show how confining it is for the symbolic woman behind it and shows how the narrator is being trapped by the “bars” in her marriage. “. In The Scarlet Letter Hester’s pregnancy is seen as an act of infidelity, and she is seen as a disgrace to the women in the