A Rose for Emily the Yellow Wallpaper - 5184 Words

The protagonists in both â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner and in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman experience struggles within their society throughout their respective stories. Although the stories are very different, the struggles for each protagonist stem from the perception and expectations of women in society during the time each story was written. The protagonist in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† struggles throughout the story due to her controlling husband and a woman’s role in society during this time. Her husband John is a physician and it is clear they are upper-middle class as they are able to afford a summer house and have help to cater to their needs. Even if the main character was not suffering from what†¦show more content†¦Since she allowed no creative outlets, nor the ability to make decisions for herself, her obsession with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom becomes increasingly severe. The narrator begins to use the wallpaper to facilitate her creativity and give herself some purpose. The oppressive situation her husband forces her into seems to drive her further and further into insanity until she becomes one with the ‘woman’ behind the wallpaper. â€Å"I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard! It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please!† (Gilman, 1899, p. 9) The narrator’s inability to control her own life due to her husband’s continuous controlling ways seems to increase her insanity to the point of no return. This directly represents a woman’s struggle in society during the time the story was written. It was expected of a woman to adhere to every wish of her husband, whether or not he was correct. â€Å"A Rose for Emily† shows the struggle of Emily Grierson and her inability to accept the changing times due to a father who controlled her into only knowing and understanding his ideal of a southern woman. Emily is representative of old southern values and though the townspeople had begun to evolve with the changing times, Emily refused to conform. The role Emily held in society was both a blessing and a curse for her. Out of respect for whom she was and what she represented, she wasShow MoreRelatedA Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper1723 Words   |  7 PagesThe stories, â€Å"A Rose for Emily† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† both display how external dominance, isolation, and judgment from the outside world may cause one to lose their right mind. In both stories, the main characters begin to sink into further isolation from the outside world, leaving reality in the past. The point of view of each story is told from a firsthand account of the events that occur. In â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† the story is told from an outsider’s point of view, someone who has watchedRead MoreIsolation in â€Å"a Rose for Emily† and â€Å"the Yellow Wallpaper†1222 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two well written short stories that entail both similarities and differences. Both short stories were written in the late 1800’s early 1900’s and depict the era when women were viewed less important than men. The protagonist in each story is a woman, who is confined in solitary due to the men in their lives. The narrator in â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is the mutual voice of the townspeople of Jefferson, whileRead MoreComparison and Contrast of the Yellow Wallpaper and the Rose for Emily1078 Words   |  5 PagesParis Cla ypool Eng 120 Essay 1 06/12/2010 A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper â€Å"A Rose for Emily’’ By William Faulkner and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman,† are two short stories that both incorporate qualities of similarities and difference. Both of the short stories are about how and why these women changed for lunacy. These women are forced into solitude because of the fact that they are women. Emily’s fatherRead More Essay on Escape in A Rose For Emily and Yellow Wallpaper735 Words   |  3 PagesEscape from Reality in A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper In the Victorian era, women were thought to be weaker than men, thus prone to frailty and female problems. They were unable to think for themselves and only valuable as marriage material. The women in Faulkners A Rose for Emily and Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper are driven insane because they feel pigeonholed by the men in their lives. They retreat into their own respective worlds as an escape from reality, and finally rebelRead MoreCompare And Contrast A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper937 Words   |  4 Pageshas shifted dramatically from those in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the short stories â€Å"A Rose for Emily† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† the protagonists experience gender stereotyping and live in a society where there are certain expectations of women all the while they suffer from mistreatment due to the lack of understanding of their mental illness. In â€Å"A Rose for Emily† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† William Faulkner and Charlotte Perkins Gilman challenge the role of women and the stigma of mentalRead More Insanity and Madness in A Rose For Emily and Yellow Wallpaper965 Words   |  4 PagesInsanity in A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper    The women in Faulkners and Gilmans stories are victims of male over-protectiveness.   The men that rule their lives trap Emily in A Rose For Emily and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper. Each character must retreat into their own world as an escape from reality. Emily is destroyed by her fathers over-protectiveness. He prevents her from courting anyone as none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such (82)Read MoreComparison between The Yellow Wallpaper and A Rose for Emily969 Words   |  4 Pagesstories, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner, both female protagonists, experience a time of seclusion leading to self- realization. Hence, both of these pieces of literature illustrate the troubles of women in a male-dominated society. As a result, both characters experience oppression by overbearing male influences and are physically and emotionally isolated. â€Å"A Rose for Emily† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† take place inRead MoreControl and Manipulation in A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper600 Words   |  3 Pages In William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper, the two main characters exhibit behavior that some readers may consider unusual or even totally crazy. These two women are having a difficult time adjusting to the many changes taking place around them. In the midst of these changes, they face the struggles of being women such as post partum depression and love and rejection from men. Such problems become so overbearing that each woman ends up in theirRead MoreWhat Is The Similarities Between The Yellow Wallpaper And A Rose For Emily1184 Words   |  5 Pages Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, The Yellow Wallpaper and William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily are two psychological short stories that followed the lives of two v ery misunderstood women. Each story had many similarities, which showed the inequalities that women had faced in the early 20th century. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, The Yellow Wallpaper and William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily  are two disparate works that explore, and show the ultimate struggles that a woman faced in the time period that theyRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper, And William Faulkner s A Rose For Emily1340 Words   |  6 Pagesinternal struggle women goes through are Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† and William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily.† The two protagonist from these short stories, the unnamed narrator and Emily, display symptoms of â€Å"hysteria† because they experience conflicts between their individual desires and social influences that either repress their feelings or displace their feelings. The unnamed narrator in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† symbolizes the majority of women by showing what they endured in