The Yellow Wallpaper And Cathedral Analysis

In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the reader is given two similar marriages in a different time period. The marriage in “Cathedral”, the narrator and his wife, who are both unnamed, and the marriage in “The Yellow Wallpaper” between the narrator and her husband John shows similar qualities in how inequality can play an affect, resulting in a disaster between the two. Both husbands share the lack of respect and equally for women, especially to their wives. In “Cathedral", the husband is outraged and extremely jealous by the friendship between his wife and her friend who is blind. Robert, the blind man, was “no one [he] knew” and “[him] being blind bothered [him]”. The husband is nervous by …show more content…
In “Cathedral”, the imagery being portrayed is very light, as if it didn't exist. Readers have to carefully read the material in order to obtain a sense of imagery. With that being said, the narrator questions himself, “How could I even begin to describe [a cathedral]?” The narrator has only seen cathedrals on “late night television”; therefore, he only has a mental image of what it looks like. The narrator is extremely frustrated trying to draw a Cathedral when Robert asks him, but he just cannot do it. Being frustrated, Robert insisted to help him, by placing his hand over the narrator’s so they can draw the Cathedral together. This particular scene allows the readers to have a visual image through the choice of words the author uses. On the other hand, “The Yellow Wallpaper” uses more detail to capture the readers attention. The author uses strong imagery, giving the reader a visual interpretation of conflict that arises between the narrator and her husband, John. The narrator undergoes a mental breakdown when she is convinced that the yellow wallpaper in her bathroom is playing tricks on her. She is determined that a woman is trapped behind the wallpaper, but little does she know that the woman behind the wallpaper is herself. With her bed being very heavy and chained to the floor, it sets the readers up for another example of imagery. Some people argue that the relations between chains and a bed can represent a sexual manner, but in this case it represents the torment John is giving her without her