The Topic Of Gender Inequality

Essay, Pages 3 (625 words)

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For many centuries, the role of women in society tended to change for the worse or better condition. Female representatives were limited in the right to vote, get an education, or work. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the feminist representatives, who, through the writings, described the issue of the female's role and rights oppression in society, and the heroine's desire to overcome such difficulties.

A short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Stetson) and published in the New England Magazine in 1982.

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It is written in the first person, where one woman is suffering from mental illness due to the husband`s attitude to her desires and thoughts. From the opening lines, the reader can examine that the story is going to be about the depression condition of the main heroine since she has no possibility to realize her potential. Her brother and husband consider her sick and recommend to take more rest and do nothing, for the sake of recovery, instead of finding a useful and interesting activity (Perkins Stetson 647-648).

This passage briefly introduces the reader to the narrator’s mind, which will be described in more details later.

The selected passage begins with a description of the area, where the characters of the story are located, namely the colonial mansion. The narrator expresses her attitude and thoughts about this place, and at the same time notes that her husband is making fun of it, reinforcing the story with such a phrase as “but one expects that in marriage” (Perkins Stetson 647).

It demonstrates that the woman in ' The Yellow Wallpaper' is aware that her issue lies in the overwhelming attitude of the surrounding men. On the one hand, awareness of the problem`s source should contribute to its solving. On the other hand, the acquisition of rights and freedoms by women of past centuries was challenging, based on their social status, defined by representatives of the male sex. The author draws the attention of readers to the topic of gender inequality without any understatement by the passage, which begins the short story.

One more significant point of the chosen passage is a demonstration of women's opposition to male opinion. The narrator believes that any interesting activity can positively affect a person’s well-being, in this case, her moral integrity (Perkins Stetson 648). Already having an image of the topic of the story, a reader can assume that there appears a chance to solve the issue associated with the oppression of women's rights. This part of the selected passage builds the idea about the main character as a confident and strong female but does not give a complete picture of 'The Yellow Wallpaper's' ending. In history, there are women, who have achieved the rights, freedoms, and success in activities that only men have been engaged in before. The chosen story was a significant contribution to the literary and social fields of the nineteenth century, showing the consequences of oppressing women in society, which had negative consequences for their psychological state. Despite the fact that “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written many years ago, the topic of gender inequality is still relevant at present.

Concluding the consideration of the chosen passage from the short story, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, it is worth saying that in addition to studying the facts about the restriction of women’s rights, it is essential to examine the source of such a problem. If earlier women could rule states, like Elizabeth I of England or Catherine II, why ordinary women were so limited in their actions?