An Insanely Drastic Act of Rebellion
Revolutions have historically shaped the world that modern civilization currently reside in. However, in order to start a revolution, people need a strong cause to fight. Society can call this act insane at the moment, but heroic later on. In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, its young narrator Jane felt the confines of a patriarchal society, as she descended into moments of madness in her growing obsession with a wallpaper. Her husband, a physician, aided in trying to make her better by prescribing a rest cure, to which she had no voice in. In the same way, Gilman lived through a time where society had nothing to offer a woman, except a career in home-making and full obedience under their …show more content…
In the same way, Charlotte Perkins Gilman kept a journal for “private writing” that lets us know more about her life and her rebellion against the patriarchal society (Kessler 155). An article by Carol Kessler details this biography of Gilman, starting from her mother Mary Westcott, follows her 2 marriages, and to her suicide. From the beginning, Gilman was “a bright child” who despite a lack of proper education had a “fund of knowledge…gleaned from the wide reading” to gain the attention of her librarian father, who sadly decided to separate away from the family (Kessler 157). Prior to her first marriage with Charles Walter Stetson she a wrote a letter to him stating that “she did not desire to follow the precedent of centuries of women in choosing marriage over a profession” (Kessler 157). This foreshadows that Gilman was not the typical domesticated lady, she wanted more out of her life; and she would never surrender control to anyone. In 1980, she wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, which was “a brilliant expose not only of Mitchell’s rest-cure treatment but also of patriarchal marriage” (Kessler 159). Through the short story Gilman revealed her thoughts on the patriarchal dominated …show more content…
Just as Jane decided to rebel against her husband by continuing her pursuit of writing, Gilman defied society’s confining ideals on women through her writing. The narrator “[descends] into madness” in order to escape from the suffocating place she has in society; and to improve her health and well-being (Quawas 4). She returns as a heroine to her story by rendering her husband immobile in shock, representing her triumph over the patriarchal dominated society and medical world. In connecting both Jane and Gilman’s defiant stances, Quawas summarizes Gilman’s achievement in confronting insanity in The Yellow
Revolutions have historically shaped the world that modern civilization currently reside in. However, in order to start a revolution, people need a strong cause to fight. Society can call this act insane at the moment, but heroic later on. In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, its young narrator Jane felt the confines of a patriarchal society, as she descended into moments of madness in her growing obsession with a wallpaper. Her husband, a physician, aided in trying to make her better by prescribing a rest cure, to which she had no voice in. In the same way, Gilman lived through a time where society had nothing to offer a woman, except a career in home-making and full obedience under their …show more content…
In the same way, Charlotte Perkins Gilman kept a journal for “private writing” that lets us know more about her life and her rebellion against the patriarchal society (Kessler 155). An article by Carol Kessler details this biography of Gilman, starting from her mother Mary Westcott, follows her 2 marriages, and to her suicide. From the beginning, Gilman was “a bright child” who despite a lack of proper education had a “fund of knowledge…gleaned from the wide reading” to gain the attention of her librarian father, who sadly decided to separate away from the family (Kessler 157). Prior to her first marriage with Charles Walter Stetson she a wrote a letter to him stating that “she did not desire to follow the precedent of centuries of women in choosing marriage over a profession” (Kessler 157). This foreshadows that Gilman was not the typical domesticated lady, she wanted more out of her life; and she would never surrender control to anyone. In 1980, she wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, which was “a brilliant expose not only of Mitchell’s rest-cure treatment but also of patriarchal marriage” (Kessler 159). Through the short story Gilman revealed her thoughts on the patriarchal dominated …show more content…
Just as Jane decided to rebel against her husband by continuing her pursuit of writing, Gilman defied society’s confining ideals on women through her writing. The narrator “[descends] into madness” in order to escape from the suffocating place she has in society; and to improve her health and well-being (Quawas 4). She returns as a heroine to her story by rendering her husband immobile in shock, representing her triumph over the patriarchal dominated society and medical world. In connecting both Jane and Gilman’s defiant stances, Quawas summarizes Gilman’s achievement in confronting insanity in The Yellow