Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” In her story The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses some literary devices to express the oppression of women. The dreadful wallpaper that Gilman paint in her story is a symbolic representation of her personal life were as she gets married her role is limited to that of a domestic servant as her husband exercises authority over her. In another story, Kate Chopin demonstrates the plight of a narrator who suffered inherent oppression in her marriage. However, both Gilman and Chopin in their short stories show how the male-dominated society used power to imprison, oppresses, silences, and encourages submissiveness among married women.
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The main character in this story, Louise, happens to be suffering from a heart condition. Her husband is away, and news came that her husband is dead in a train accident. One would be thinking that the wife would mourn the husband’s death after receiving the news. For a moment, Louise lets herself feel the pain and grieves for him, but then a feeling creeps up on her that she cannot explain, "Free! Body and soul free!”(180), as she heard her husband death. The grief of her husband has given her new insight into her life, and Louise understands that her marriage has limited her independence and freedom. The idea that both her body and soul are free indicates that she celebrates not his death, but her rebirth. Also, Chopin describes Louise of being able to attain, “A clear and exalted perception…”(180) to signify image of a religious or spiritual awakening. Louise attitude is symbolic of the freedom one gains from being purely individual and self-aware. The feeling which Louise gains from freeing her mind and soul from the confinement her marriage represent seems closer to the experience of reawakening. Looking through the eye of the critical lens, one can see how Louise story is a valuable lesson on how some cultures has always expected married women as
The main character in this story, Louise, happens to be suffering from a heart condition. Her husband is away, and news came that her husband is dead in a train accident. One would be thinking that the wife would mourn the husband’s death after receiving the news. For a moment, Louise lets herself feel the pain and grieves for him, but then a feeling creeps up on her that she cannot explain, "Free! Body and soul free!”(180), as she heard her husband death. The grief of her husband has given her new insight into her life, and Louise understands that her marriage has limited her independence and freedom. The idea that both her body and soul are free indicates that she celebrates not his death, but her rebirth. Also, Chopin describes Louise of being able to attain, “A clear and exalted perception…”(180) to signify image of a religious or spiritual awakening. Louise attitude is symbolic of the freedom one gains from being purely individual and self-aware. The feeling which Louise gains from freeing her mind and soul from the confinement her marriage represent seems closer to the experience of reawakening. Looking through the eye of the critical lens, one can see how Louise story is a valuable lesson on how some cultures has always expected married women as