Feminist Criticism In The Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

While reading the short story The Yellow Wallpaper , by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, I became fascinated with a feminist interpretation, where the narrator’s “decent into madness” (Quawas 42) entails a greater understanding of the industrializing and domestic late 19th century. Thus, I’ve chosen to examine (mostly summarize) three scholarly articles that highlight the key features being deliberated. The following are features, or more so questions, that are being examined in order for the narrator to achieve her independence and liberation: 1) how the domestic view of women affects American culture , 2) how the garden, which coherently has a relationship with women, acts as a place of confinement that the narrator needs to escape from, 3) how the narrator acts feline -like to “gain dominance over patriarchy by taking control of her environment” (Golden 17).
A New Woman’s Journey to Insanity: Descent and Return in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Rula Quawas, in this article, explores the “New Woman”, which is depicted as emerging middle class women of “rising entrepreneurs of the North [joined] together with the southern [traditional] lady”, living in a new dimension of American culture. Quawas describes this new dimension as a time where American women began breaking away from domestic constraints. A prime example she uses is Charlotte P. Gilman, …show more content…
He uses many interesting articles to support his thesis, critique the validity of the articles he uses, and understand that there is room for comparisons and differing opinions.
Marking Her Territory: Feline Behaviour in “The Yellow