The men’s inability to empathize with women’s situations and their ignorance to the women’s values cause female characters from both stories to lose important aspects of their lives and personalities, resulting in a deterioration of their states of mind. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Jane’s husband John, in a poor attempt to “cure” her, restricts her freedom and puts her on a “scheduled prescription for each hour of the day” and “hardly lets [her] stir without special direction” (Gilman 75). Despite Jane’s protests, John forbids her from performing any activities as part of his “cure” and continuously tries to help her heal by taking away her freedom, exhibiting a fundamental misunderstanding and unwillingness to listen to her feminine opinions. Jane also admits that she “did write for a while
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This oppression is extremely detrimental to the protagonists of both stories and slowly chips away at their unique personalities, ultimately carving them to fit the whims of their domineering husbands. If left in isolation, women in Jane’s situation would be forced to endure endless oppression until they reach their breaking points, eventually losing their sanity. However, as Glaspell demonstrates, this destructive subjugation can also unite those who understand and empathize with each other, evoking the resolve to defy social expectations and do what one believes is right. Both stories demonstrate the potency of ignorance as a driver of prejudice and how the resulting negative consequences can be detrimental to both the oppressor and the oppressed. Woman in almost every culture have been the victims of subjugation throughout most of history, and this shared experience that connects half of the human race became the inspiration for short stories such as “A Jury of Her Peers”
This oppression is extremely detrimental to the protagonists of both stories and slowly chips away at their unique personalities, ultimately carving them to fit the whims of their domineering husbands. If left in isolation, women in Jane’s situation would be forced to endure endless oppression until they reach their breaking points, eventually losing their sanity. However, as Glaspell demonstrates, this destructive subjugation can also unite those who understand and empathize with each other, evoking the resolve to defy social expectations and do what one believes is right. Both stories demonstrate the potency of ignorance as a driver of prejudice and how the resulting negative consequences can be detrimental to both the oppressor and the oppressed. Woman in almost every culture have been the victims of subjugation throughout most of history, and this shared experience that connects half of the human race became the inspiration for short stories such as “A Jury of Her Peers”