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The Yellow Wallpaper, Woman's Journey from Subservience to Freedom

In: English and Literature

Submitted By imaginit62
Words 2110
Pages 9
Alex Moraga
Professor Dreiling
English 102
21, June 2014 Opinion Essay Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “ The Yellow Wallpaper” A Woman’s Journey from Subservience to Freedom
Are male and female minds created equal? Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows us the ideals towards women, held by society in the late 1800’s. Her story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, written in the first person point of view, takes us on a journey through the mind of the narrator. The narrator secretly writes in a diary and as we read through her diary entries, we are able to see that during this time in history, women were seen as weak, meek and humble. They were expected to be subservient to men and unequal to their male counterparts in all aspects. Men are seen as being superior to women and godlike. As we read the diary we are looking into her mind, we see how she thinks and how she is expected to think. We meet her as a subservient woman who obeys and believes in her husband. By the end of the journey she has freed herself mentally and shows us that men can be weak. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is a story of a woman’s mental journey to freedom. From the very beginning of the story the narrator gives us insight into her mind. In today’s times we would view her ability to wonder and question as creative. During these times, her inquisitive mind was seen as an illness. The narrator and her husband are off to a summer getaway. The summer getaway was really a “cure” prescribed for the narrator due to her supposed nervous disorder. It is very normal to wonder and speculate what the getaway home will look like. “A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity—but that would be asking too much of fate!” (473) In this sentence the narrator is merely speculating on what the summer home will look

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