The Yellow Wallpaper As A Piece Of Feminist Friction Research Paper Samples

Feminism includes different ideals and steps, aimed at achieving and defending rights and equality. This is typically the perspective that Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper” assumes. In the Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman shows the struggles the female face when seeking for freedom in the male dominated society. In view that Gilman’s work vividly talks from the feminist point of view, it should be considered primarily a piece of feminist fiction instead of labeling it as Gothic Horror, Realism, or Romanticism.
Initially, the Yellow Wallpaper portrays the husband as dominating spouse on thought. This is a typical explanation of what exists in society where man/husband assumes an absolute control in marriage. The author describes men in the society as people who see women’s ideas and thoughts immature, thus do not take them seriously. For instance, Gilman states that the husband laughs at the narrator who they are supposed to help each other in marriage (Gilman 1). Even though the author wants to show what happens in reality, the author importantly intends to express the need to liberate women and grant them the respect they deserve. The narrator demonstrates that women can equally be strong. For instance, when the narrator takes control over her thoughts, her role becomes stronger which portray her potential as a better leader (Allen 78). This presents a clear feministic perspective assumed by the novel. The author seeks to demonstrate the need for women to be given chance to express their thoughts. The scholar also demonstrates that women are likely to achieve better than they do in oppression or than their male counterparts (Whitson 39).
Furthermore, the author throughout the story shows dialogue as an aid to feminist balance. The Yellow Wallpaper describes the dialogue as a tool to break through the norms of the society. For instance, the narrator chooses to write the article in spite of the challenges the women face in the society, which eventually gets her freedom (Stetson 4). The Yellow Wallpaper presents depression as a sign of lack of expression in the society. For example, the narrator feels depressed and ill that she decides to author this book as a means of activism to empower women. (Gilman 5). She feels that women get exhausted when they fail to have a dialogue with their husbands. The novel also explains that societal pressure on women is attributable to lack of adequate dialogue, a perspective that is promoted by chauvinistic attitudes. For instance, the attitude assumed by the society makes the narrator feel ungrateful and of no value; however, she does not lose hope (Felski 48).
The Yellow Wallpaper criticizes the treatment women receive in the society. The novel describes the treatment women receive as scorn and insanity (Gilman 3). The advocacy for equal right is clear when author describes the environments of the female. The description makes the woman surrounding worse than the environment in prison aims at telling the society where they have placed the woman. The author describes the wallpaper to have changed the room to a heavy bedstead with barred windows and door as the gate (Gilman 3) Though feels need for change, husband refuses to change the environment for the wish of further imprisonment. This clearly qualifies Gilman’s work as a piece that mainly focuses on advocating the need of eliminating gender bias in contrast to advocating for love, reality, and gothic horror (Madsen 27).
In conclusion, the Yellow Wallpaper is more concerned with the negative side of women’s life. In this respect, this piece of literature mainly focuses on how to liberate women from this bondage. Although some aspects of romance, reality and gothic horror are feature in the novel, the pertinent story in the Yellow Wallpaper assumes feminist form of literature.

Works Cited

Allen, Judith A. The Feminism of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Sexualities, Histories, Progressivism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. Print.
Felski, Rita. Literature After Feminism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Print.
Gilman, Cltarlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wall-Paper. 9th edition. N.p., 1982. Print.
Madsen, Deborah L. Feminist Theory and Literary Practice. London: Pluto Press, 2000. Internet resource.
Whitson, Kathy J. Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2004. Print.