The Yellow Wallpaper is a story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that examines the gender roles that denied women freedom of self and expression. The narrator, a middle-class married woman, struggles to find her sense of worth under the supervision of her husband John, a high-end physician, and his sister Jennie. Her struggle to find her sense of self stems from her being confined to the house unable to do anything independently. This short story shines light upon the narrator's mental and emotional state of deterioration.
The narrator believes that she is sick, but her husband believes she is going through a nervous depression. As a result of her being sick, he moves them both to a secluded mansion and confines her to the upstairs nursery room that is covered with, dull, yellow wallpaper. While in the state of confinement, the narrator is forbidden to work in any form. Before she became sick, she used to write and her husband made her stop that too, although she sneaks and writes behind his back. Being confined is what John believes will help his wife get better. He believes that the time away from work will allow her to fully rest and take her mind off of everything else. While he meant good, he subconsciously added fuel to the burning fire. This is where the gender roles come into play.
For a long time, as far back as I can remember being taught, women were seen as subordinate to men. This subordination stemmed from the male being seen as inferior or strong in nature. They were seen as strong in the sense of a protector and being able to carry the weight of his family on his back. The women were viewed as domestic in nature. They were to make sure home was being taken care of while the man did the hard manual labor. In this story, the gender roles come into play as John spearheads his wif...
