The Yellow Wallpaper And The Chrysanthemums Analysis

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The female characters from “The Yellow Wallpaper” & “The Chrysanthemums” experience oppression, frustration, and change. While Elisa Allen’s story happens on a ranch in the Salinas Valley. The Narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper” is taken from her house to a desolated mansion in attempt to cure her “temporary nervous depression” (992). Elisa Allen is a thirty-five year old woman, who loves gardening, and rarely embraces her femininity. She is married to Henry Allen who is a business man, he is kind to her but he does not seem to truly have a connection with Elisa. The Narrator on the other hand, is a young woman who is often being oppressed by her husband, and is left in isolation due to her condition. She does believe that if she were given …show more content…
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a much known feminist piece of literature because it touches on how women were and are still expected to be less than a man. The Narrator’s way of thinking is very self-deprecating, it seems like she even makes excuses for the condescending way that John is to her. Even if under different names, gender inequality is always easy to spot. “The Yellow Wallpaper” portrayed gender inequality with a women’s submission to marriage. “The Chrysanthemums” plainly talks about it having Elisa saying that she wishes that women had the freedom man have to …show more content…
Self-expression is the other main theme from “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Gilman touches on it because for a person who has anxiety and is already struggling, putting a reign in the way they express is just torture for them. At the beginning of the story
The Narrator also thinks that if she had more freedom that would make her condition better but because her husband is a physician she has to listen to him and do as he says.
Lastly there are two different underlying themes in these stories, Elisa is sexually frustrated partly her fault because she doesn’t really try to spark things up with her husband, and Henry himself seems oblivious to Elisa’s attempt at seducing him by the end of the story. Sexual fulfillment is very important since it is human nature, it relieves stress, and would help create a better bond with an individual. When it comes to fulfillment, Gilman discusses how cruel the “resting cure” is and how it does not fulfill its purpose of curing anxiety but actually worsens it. We see how The Narrator tries and tries to tell her husband that isolating her might not be the best idea but he does not listen to her and ends with an insane wife because of his medical

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