Yellow Wallpaper Comparison

1530 Words7 Pages
Compare and Contrast of the Story of an Hour and the Yellow Wall Paper In this essay I will be comparing the two short stories “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin, is centered around a woman by the name Louise Mallard and her reaction after being informed of her husbands “death”, On the other hand “The Yellow Wallpaper” Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is about Jane, A young, newly married mother who at the time is undergoing care because of her depression. Although both essays have their similarities and differences I will be focusing mainly on the themes of Freedom, Isolation and Oppression. I will also be focusing on how the themes appear within both short stories and do a…show more content…
We achieve “freedom from” when we realize that we are more valuable than society’s values. The second type of freedom is “Freedom to”, it emerges after we achieve “Freedom from” society’s grip and not following society’s values but making our own. The third kind of freedom is “Freedom to be”. “Freedom to be” emerges when we are more conscious. We need to be the ones that move our own life’s not letting others do that for us. It’s not just about doing whatever we want but about having the freedom to be whom we were meant to be. We see the theme of freedom in “The Story of an Hour” after reading Louise Mallard’s reaction when her sister tells Louise of her husband’s tragic “death” we see that Mrs. Mallard’s was “possessed” by the concept of freedom. We really understand what is happening when she says under her breath: "free, free, free!”. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the theme of freedom corresponds with Jane feeling that she does not have any freedom in her life. Jane feels controlled by her environment and her husband because she couldn’t even pick the room she wanted to live in. We can infer she has no freedom…show more content…
Oppression is defined as “unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power”. Oppression has been classified into 12 types these being: sexism, heterosexism, cisgenderism, classism, racism, colorism, ableism, lookism, sizeism, ageism, nativism, colonialism. Yet the type of oppression which is seen in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” is sexism. Sexism is defined as a discrimination based on a person’s gender. In sexism people from one gender look at the people from the other gender as inferiors. Sexism can refer to either the belief of the person doing the discriminating or their words and behavior. Dr. Rick Nauret did an article titled “Negative Effects of Sexism” In this article he explains how sexism affects women in a negative way for example he states that “the abuse extends to eyewitnesses. In other words, the actions of one sexist man can affect how female bystanders feel and behave toward men in general.” Reading Dr Nauret’s article a person can conclude that sexism can affect a woman’s point of view, just one action could mark her for life. In an experiment mentioned in the article two women named Stephenie Chaudoir and Diane Quinn, did an experiment on 114 women showing them videos and reactions of men towards women. The experiment analyses showed that women were more likely to think about themselves in terms of their gender group identity thus feeling
Show More
Related

  • Story Of An Hour And The Yellow Wallpaper Comparison Essay

    976 Words  | 4 Pages

    contrast the plots in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”. I will examine the similarities of the protagonists on their pursuit to physical and emotional freedom, and the setting of which each story takes place. For example, Mrs. Mallard feels restrained in her marriage, but senses freedom in her brief becoming of a widow, and the narrator in the yellow wallpaper feels trapped in a mansion where she is forced to recover, but feels free when the yellow wallpaper is torn away. Both women

    Read More

More about Yellow Wallpaper Comparison

Open Document