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Christa Burkes

Ms. Jacobs

English 132

November 21, 2017

Feminism.

In the Traditional marriage the males are the head of everything in their wives life. The role of a

husband is to lead and to have a strong arm, the role of the wife is to be submissive to his wishes.

In the Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gillman she illuminates the roles in

marriage and how Jane took back her feminist role. Through the feminist approach Gillman

shows how even with oppression Jane breaks free of her overpowering husband bond.

In the Norton's Introduction To Literature Guide feminism is defined as the advocacy of

women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. John is an example of a dominating

spouse, a husband who have absolute control over his wife. He treats her as she is inferior to

him, Later on in the story when Jane takes control of her own thoughts Johns role as a strong,

protective husband and leader is reversed, and he becomes much like a woman himself Now

why should that man have fainted? . John seeing his wife in a state of madness he faints much

like the stereotypical shocked woman. Jane has reversed the traditional roles of husband and

wife Johns shock at this reversal further shows his need to control his wife, to be seen as a

woman by society.

Helping the expression of the authors feminist views are the thoughts and dialogue of Jane. Her

desire to express her thoughts and ideas by reading and writing breaks through even societys
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toughest barriers. Toward the end of the story Jane took back her voice that her husband John

silenced by putting her in the nursery. Gillman writes I've pulled off most of the paper, so you

can't put me back ! this quote symbolizes a power switch and how she freed herself from her

husband. The wallpaper symbolizes her struggle with her husband's tight grip on her.

Gender roles have changed throughout time. Gender roles are the behaviors, attitudes,

values and other things that a particular culture considers appropriate for males and females. For

the women's rights movements and other movements, gender roles have changed drastically over

time. These traditional gender roles apply to married life and marriage in general, which is why it

is so important to study. Gender roles, in effect, play a major role in the quality of a marriage and

how people want their ideal marriage to be. In the Scholarly article Living It Out by Sarojini

Nadar and Cheryl Potgieter they discuss how Formenism creates and maintain feminism.

Formenism is the belief in the inherent superiority of men over women. This approach is

prevalent in the short story The Yellow Wallpaper because her husband John was superior over

literally everything even her life was in his hands. On page 144 of Liberated Through

Submission the authors write Formenism is the system of Natural Order that does not harm

women and indeed better their lives. The idea of Formenism supports the idea that women

should be submissive to their husbands and in the end will better their lives . In the story John

insisted that Jane was isolated and that she was confined to a space where there was nothing.

With John being a Physician and the head of the house he exercised his power by demanding her

to solitary in hopes to cure her.

In conclusion Gillman speaks of imprisonment and the psychological struggles of the

women in this time period where men ruled completely over their women. In the end the control
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that her husand had over never made her better it made her worst in this situation that she was

never cured of what he diagnosed her with.