Charlotte Gilman Women As Other Analysis

In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, author Charlotte Perkins Gilman provides an outlook on some of the hardships that women of the nineteenth century went through as a result of having nervous conditions, while Simone de Beauvoir’s, “Woman as Other”, supports Gillman’s perspective. The way society perceives a man showing affection towards a woman is a very subtle yet valid form of oppression. De Beauvoir’s argument regarding oppression and fixed gender roles support Gilman’s overarching claims because of the dependence the narrator has for her husband John. Although women were more progressive by the turn of the twentieth century, women were still regarded as inferior to men in marriage. Gilman uses a secluded room to illustrate how John’s …show more content…
She explains that women do not have a sense of leadership or solidarity to be able to compete with “The One” and are contempt with being in second place to men. Since John identifies himself as being more intelligent and rational, he thinks he knows more than his wife about her own conditions, which exemplifies why she never defends herself against him. Gilman states “…but really you are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color, your appetite is better, I feel really much easier about you” (Gilman 666). John comes off as arrogant because he never takes his wife seriously, he continues to tell her she is getting better which illustrates how he dictates the way she feels and does not take her feelings and thoughts into …show more content…
In addition, De Beauvoir’s ideas of complicity and lack of independence support Gillman’s claims. John’s wife feels as though it is not her place to question her husband or go against anything he says, assuming he knows better. In addition, her conformity puts her in a position where she is almost helpless, feeling like a burden to John because of her condition. Gilman states “It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so” (Gilman 666). If John was not overconfident, he might have been able to help his wife’s condition. Not only that, but if the narrator was not so conforming to Johns wishes and demands, assuming he was always right, she would have been able to stand up for herself. De Beauvoir supports this when she states “When man makes of woman the “Other,” he may, then, expect her to manifest deep-seated tendencies toward complicity” (De Beauvoir 805). Sometimes women are compliant with being the other, since these roles are considered assigned or fixed already. Women are expected to prove their existence and if they do not, they are seen as the other with no regards and inferior to men. It was not socially acceptable for women to express themselves or be in control of their own