Every story has two kinds of setting: the spatial and the temporal. Both are equally important to a reader’s understanding of a piece of literature. The physical location of characters can change the mood and the atmosphere of a story. The year in which the story is taking place can change the choices characters are able to make and the way society views the character’s actions. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner the time period and physical location confines characters and affects the outcome of the story. Gilman and Faulkner limit their characters in temporal and spatial setting to show the limitations of women in the physical, mental, and social aspects of life. First, Gilman …show more content…
Since she never married or had children, Emily feels trapped in her role as the town spinster ("A Rose for Emily"). The narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is diagnosed with a nervous condition, and that is the reason she has been confined to the room with the yellow wallpaper where she is forbidden to read, write, or even have visitors. Women during this time are seen as overly-dramatic and not as smart as men. Since her husband is also her doctor, the way her husband isolates her possibly leads to her condition worsening later in the story. According to Esposito, “In the late nineteenth century, "women's diseases" such as "hysteria" were often associated with actions or emotional responses that were seen as inappropriate for women.” As well, doctors in the nineteenth century knew little to nothing about mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. This means that although the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” may not have been mentally ill to begin with, her isolation caused her to mentally decline. As well, Emily’s emotional response to the death of her father and the passage of time causes her to be labeled as crazy by the citizens of the town. Eventually the isolation causes her to become mentally unstable enough to kill Homer. The limiting ideology of the time period causes Emily to actually develop a mental disorder. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” …show more content…
By being cut off from the world, Emily and the narrator are both lacking in physical and social interaction. Being female in the late nineteenth century adds to the lack of social standing. Women were treated as little more than child bearers and domestic servants. Many women were not allowed to work anywhere except for in the home. Many women were uneducated, and most were not given the opportunity to go to college. Socially, men were the most elite. For example, Emily’s father was pardoned of paying taxes, but after his death, the family was no longer seen as “the high and mighty Griersons,” and the town asked Emily to pay taxes again (Faulkner 779). This is reflected in “The Yellow Wallpaper” through the way the narrator’s husband is a doctor, and he simply locks his wife away as a form of treatment. The women were socially ridiculed for having emotional responses to life occurrences. “When isolation is forced, as in incarceration or ostracism, its victims can undergo enormous pain and stress,” (McClinton-Temple). These women were both forced into social isolation. Emily chose to lock herself away only after the rest of her community separated themselves from her when her father died, and Emily was not ready to let go of the past. The narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper” was forced into isolation by her husband after he treated her as if she was crazy for having