Isolation In A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper

At some point, everyone has felt like they were being forced to conform to society. Through the actions of the main characters, both William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” display various ways in which the pressures of society can alter one’s perception of reality. The women portrayed in these stories have been forced into isolation by the ones they love most. In addition, all of their actions are faced with continuous, harsh judgment. The struggle to meet everyone else’s expectations pushes these women to the brink of insanity. According to Faulkner, Miss Emily’s father kept her isolated from society and any potential suitors. He most likely did this because he, like most dads, believed that …show more content…
Gilman uses the allegory of the woman trapped behind the bar-like wallpaper to show that the narrator feels trapped inside the house and in her own mind. Gilman also used the setting of “The Yellow Wallpaper” to further describe the loneliness that the narrator was facing: “It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village” (418). The location of the house she is moved to shows that the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” felt cut off from the rest of the …show more content…
John’s lack of compassion for his wife’s feelings and constant judgment on her depression appears to be one of the reasons that she goes off the deep end, so to speak. John does not see the narrator’s true state until the end of “The Yellow Wallpaper” where she tells him that “… [she’s] pulled off most of the paper, so [he] can’t put her back” (Gilman 428). Despite John’s supposed best efforts, his attempt to treat his wife this way pushed her into a deeper