Has slavery ended? Freedom is still hard to fight for, especially born as a woman. Despite living in an intense progressive society where morality has a blurred line, it is still hard for some individuals to achieve true freedom. Freedom has always been believed to be a natural right everyone deserves, but it contradicts the laws and regulation that oppressed women faced in the 1850’s. The women of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin involved the two main characters being affected by female societal status leading to ironic deaths due to three factors: lack of identity, sickness/disease, and clumsy husbands. The Yellow Wallpaper is about a woman who is getting ‘rest care’ treatment
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Both protagonists have locked themselves in a room with another character begging them to come out. In Story of an Hour, Josephine cries out in concern: “What are you doing Louise? You are making yourself ill, for heavens sakes open the door! ” (Chopin 1) And which Mrs. Mallard denies her claims of making herself ill, wanting to stay in isolation. In The Yellow Wallpaper, John is crying out to his wife to open the door and produces a startling reaction: “It is no use, you cannot open it! How he does call and pound! Now he’s crying for an axe. It would be a shame to break down this beautiful door! (Stetson 9)” The irony in here is that John is the one who trapped her inside the room in the first place, but once he realizes her mental state is worsening, he would do whatever it takes to get her out. Therefore, an interesting theme of breaking down walls occurs in both of these characters. Perhaps throughout their whole lives, they always felt like they were trapped inside a room filled with walls and barriers that restricted freedom under the society and dynamic marriage possessed; walls of lack of identity, sickness, and failing …show more content…
Although, Louise Mallard’s relationship was confirmed to be loving, it does not mean that there were negative behavioral factors that could have gone on behind closed doors, and not the ones she knew about herself as well. Since both short stories were written only a couple of years apart, you could conjecture that the 19th century’s oblivious dynamic of marriage is a shameful and tragic matter due to the fact that it has lead to a loss of a healthy life for the women. As the Yellow Wallpaper protagonist did her best to stay positive throughout John’s mentally unhealthy advice, despite himself being a doctor, John was the main source of her mental state deteriorating. It is tragic for both parties, believing and taking advice from the wrong person but only because they feel loved by each
Both protagonists have locked themselves in a room with another character begging them to come out. In Story of an Hour, Josephine cries out in concern: “What are you doing Louise? You are making yourself ill, for heavens sakes open the door! ” (Chopin 1) And which Mrs. Mallard denies her claims of making herself ill, wanting to stay in isolation. In The Yellow Wallpaper, John is crying out to his wife to open the door and produces a startling reaction: “It is no use, you cannot open it! How he does call and pound! Now he’s crying for an axe. It would be a shame to break down this beautiful door! (Stetson 9)” The irony in here is that John is the one who trapped her inside the room in the first place, but once he realizes her mental state is worsening, he would do whatever it takes to get her out. Therefore, an interesting theme of breaking down walls occurs in both of these characters. Perhaps throughout their whole lives, they always felt like they were trapped inside a room filled with walls and barriers that restricted freedom under the society and dynamic marriage possessed; walls of lack of identity, sickness, and failing …show more content…
Although, Louise Mallard’s relationship was confirmed to be loving, it does not mean that there were negative behavioral factors that could have gone on behind closed doors, and not the ones she knew about herself as well. Since both short stories were written only a couple of years apart, you could conjecture that the 19th century’s oblivious dynamic of marriage is a shameful and tragic matter due to the fact that it has lead to a loss of a healthy life for the women. As the Yellow Wallpaper protagonist did her best to stay positive throughout John’s mentally unhealthy advice, despite himself being a doctor, John was the main source of her mental state deteriorating. It is tragic for both parties, believing and taking advice from the wrong person but only because they feel loved by each