The Yellow Wallpaper Comparative Essay

For centuries, fiction has not looked kindly upon marriages. Marriages have long been the breeding ground for stories of tumultuous relationships, abuse, and even gender inequality. Two stories in particular, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston discuss these topics in more detail. Although the stories of a mentally ill wife of a doctor and a working African American woman in the early 20th century would not appear to be similar on the surface, they share a common pattern found within the characters’ marriages. Although Delia from “Sweat” and the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” take on very different gender roles in their respective marriages, both still experience similar patterns of abuse and suffer similarly from the societal influences of gender. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” there is an apparent imbalance of power in the marriage between John and the unnamed narrator in which John seems to control the narrator psychologically. One of the earliest indications of this imbalance is the fact that John is also the narrator’s …show more content…
One European tradition is to favor those with heavier shapes since it represents wealth and ample access to food. Sykes, in particular, has adopted this philosophy and, according to some of the townsfolk, has always “been crazy ‘bout fat women” (1024) and “’bominates uh skinny ‘oman” (1026). Delia is skinny and muscly because she’s had to work so much; therefore, in Sykes’s mind, she is a representation of the working class and the poor. Sykes uses her frame to insult her and belittle her. Similarly to the way that the narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper” is of a lower standing, Sykes also sees Delia as of a lower status. Because of the societal perceptions and expectations of women, both characters are seen as either less capable or less worthy than their