Freedom of one’s own - Comparison

Young Kwon
2012 Apr. 3rd
Freedom of one’s own

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The yellow wallpaper," was published in 1892, two years before Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour." These two stories deal with the position of women in the late 1800's. This era is especially interesting to look at because women were treated as second-class citizens whose perception and role as a person were mostly determined by their husbands, men. As female writers under the pressure of society, these two writers put their efforts into accusing the society of late 1800’s of mistreatments towards women.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of an Hour” share many similarities, yet with some differences. Two stories have main married female protagonists dealing with their husbands. They both are tired of the oppression of their husbands and society and try their own way of standing up against them. The un-named character (narrator) of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Louise Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” seek for their own freedom. I will try to briefly compare these two stories and seek for similarities and differences while analyzing two character’s perception of freedom.
Woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator, is ill. For better understanding, she is the only one who thinks she is suffering from ‘nervous depression’. And her doctor husband and brother say she isn’t. John, the husband, decides that his wife needs convalescence in a quite and safe place out of his home. So John and her take a summer vacation to ‘a colonial mansion, a hereditary estate’. Narrator does not say a word about the decision, actually could not even think about doing so. “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency – what is one to do? ...Personally, I disagree with their ideas…but what is one to do?” (pg. 2345). For the good of her...