Oppression Of Self Esteem In Literature

Improved Essays
Pickering, James H. Fiction 100: An Anthology ofSHORT Fiction. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Does self-esteem come from within or from the outside? Three stories from the anthology The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman have a common thread of physiological oppressions. Psychological oppression is validated by poor self-esteem of the main characters, the manipulation of the main characters by the oppressor and by the oppressor themselves.
I do not think it is by coincidence that all three of the main characters that have these self-esteem problem are women. I think the majority of women have self-image problems compared to males. Elisa in the beginning
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All three women of all different ages were manipulated by men. Elisa is manipulated by her husband Henry, He talks down to her a lot as if she is not an intelligent grown women that she is. Elisa due to not having big responsibilities like children is obsessed with gardening and taking care of the chrysanthemums .She loves gardening so much and has a talent for it but her husband does not even give her two seconds of his time to see what she does in their garden. “Oh, those are chrysanthemums, giant whites and yellows. I raise them every year, bigger than anybody around here." Nor does he ever make her feel sexy or good about herself so that is why she is scene flirting so much with Tinker the other man. There is a time when she does dress up for her husband and is feeling good and when he sees her dressed up he instantly makes a rude remark and makes her feel unattractive again. “You look strong enough to break a calf over your knee, happy enough to eat it like a watermelon.” Emily was controlled by her father, he would tell her that no man will ever love her or will they ever be good enough in his eyes. The father does not say these cruel words because he deep down does not want his daughter happy although it may seem that way. It’s not that at all, he tells Emily these awful things because he wants her to stay home with him forever. And take care of him and do the chores and house work. So if he gets into her mind and tells her that no one is good enough for her she is not going to have the urge to go out into the town and find a man.It’s rather sad but yet intelligent on his part. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” husband molds her thoughts by telling her she is crazy and hallucinating all the time. “Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.” Not only does he verbally

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