A Crisis of Individual Identity: The Authoritarian Consciousness in Domestic Sphere and the Workplace in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman and The Art of Asking your Boss for a Raise by Georges Perec
In this study, the home and the workplace are both social settings where there is a hierarchy of roles in the domestic and corporate environments. These settings define the socio-economic considerations that support the nature of this hierarchy and the interdependence of these roles in society. This aspect of the domestic and workplace environments defines the development of "authoritarian consciousness" as part of this temporal process in the writings of Gillman and Perec ‘s social constructs. In both The Art And Craft Of Approaching …show more content…
In a similar characterization of Gillman's story, Perec () creates an anonymous narrator that is exposed to the hierarchical abuses of the boss within the workplace. In both places, the domestic sphere and the workplace define the similar structures of pyramidal authority that erode the individual identity of the narrator. Perec’s narrator defines the underlying aspects of bureaucratic processes that prevent him from getting raise on his own merit, but on the whims of the bosses and their impersonal computer-generated …show more content…
This patriarchal construct defines the woman’s lack of individuality within the home, since her husband has control over all aspects of interior design and governance in domestic matters. This psychologically disturbing aspect of the authoritarian consciousness defines the female narrator’s struggle to retain her own identity amidst the continual hierarchical presence of John’s patriarchal power. This aspect of authoritarian consciousness is also of the employee narrative of Perec’s literary observance of the effects of computerized questions that he must effectively answer in order to get a raise in the company. In this hierarchical and authoritarian corporate culture, the narrator loses himself in the quest to become more like the bosses: “[The company ] that provides your meagre means of subsistence...that is your sole horizon...to which you owe everything...to which you feel proud to belong...where you eat your heart out” (Pelec 34). This commentary on the internal mindset of the male narrator is not dissimilar from the female narrator of Gilman’s description of the neurotic state of the individual and the loss of personal identity. Certainly, these are psychological facets of the authoritarian consciousness that devolve the psychological well being of the individual through the interlocking aspects of domestic and
In this study, the home and the workplace are both social settings where there is a hierarchy of roles in the domestic and corporate environments. These settings define the socio-economic considerations that support the nature of this hierarchy and the interdependence of these roles in society. This aspect of the domestic and workplace environments defines the development of "authoritarian consciousness" as part of this temporal process in the writings of Gillman and Perec ‘s social constructs. In both The Art And Craft Of Approaching …show more content…
In a similar characterization of Gillman's story, Perec () creates an anonymous narrator that is exposed to the hierarchical abuses of the boss within the workplace. In both places, the domestic sphere and the workplace define the similar structures of pyramidal authority that erode the individual identity of the narrator. Perec’s narrator defines the underlying aspects of bureaucratic processes that prevent him from getting raise on his own merit, but on the whims of the bosses and their impersonal computer-generated …show more content…
This patriarchal construct defines the woman’s lack of individuality within the home, since her husband has control over all aspects of interior design and governance in domestic matters. This psychologically disturbing aspect of the authoritarian consciousness defines the female narrator’s struggle to retain her own identity amidst the continual hierarchical presence of John’s patriarchal power. This aspect of authoritarian consciousness is also of the employee narrative of Perec’s literary observance of the effects of computerized questions that he must effectively answer in order to get a raise in the company. In this hierarchical and authoritarian corporate culture, the narrator loses himself in the quest to become more like the bosses: “[The company ] that provides your meagre means of subsistence...that is your sole horizon...to which you owe everything...to which you feel proud to belong...where you eat your heart out” (Pelec 34). This commentary on the internal mindset of the male narrator is not dissimilar from the female narrator of Gilman’s description of the neurotic state of the individual and the loss of personal identity. Certainly, these are psychological facets of the authoritarian consciousness that devolve the psychological well being of the individual through the interlocking aspects of domestic and