Argumentative Essay on Perkin's "The Yellow Wallpaper" about Feminism
Sofia Hanna
AnnotatedBibliography-Jones.docxJones 2
Sucely Jones
Prof. XXXXXXX
Composition II
02 May 2021
Research Question: How does Charlotte Perkin’s story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” address feminism?
Thesis statement: Charlotte Perkin’s story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” addresses feminism by presenting discrepancies in medication between men and women for mental health, husband not listening to the wife’s views and feelings, and wife is forced to stay in a room without asking her choice and freedom.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. Virago Press, 1981.
“The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Perkins in 1981, is a story about a woman who suffers from mental illness after giving birth to her child. Her doctor prescribes her the rest cure, that is she should take rest all the time and do not need to work anything. She is forced to stay in a room, her voice is not heard, and her feelings that develop against the yellow wallpaper are overlooked by her husband. Throughout this story, the narrator expresses different views and her sufferings, and different feminist views. The unequal relationship between men and women, and discrepancies in the medication for mental health indicates the sufferings of the women at that period. My thesis statement is based on this story where the narrator’s husband mistreats and misunderstands her and her doctor prescribe the wrong medication as a cure.
Davis, Cynthia J. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Biography. Stanford University Press,
2010.
“Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Biography” is a biography of a famous novelist, writer, lecturer, and feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman by Cynthia Davis. It is written in 2010. Different facts and lifestyles of Charlotte can be explored in this biography. She married twice. The yellow wallpaper somewhere portrays her life during her first marriage with a doctor. She went through a mental health issue and had a very bad relationship with her husband. Later, she divorced him and marry another guy. She wrote many novels and stories which are against feminism and she always preferred a woman to be treated as equally as a man.
McCann, Hannah, et al. The Feminism Book. First American edition., DK Publishing,
2019.
Feminism means every people have equal rights and opportunities irrespective of their gender. People who support feminism are called feminists. “The Feminism Book”, written by Hannah McCann in 2010 explains feminism and its movements in the United States of America. This book expresses different ideas and concepts on feminism. It covers the history of feminism from the late 18 century to date. It has different chapters which explain different feminist movements. It also explains feminism is not only for white women, it is for all women irrespective of their color. The best part of this book is it covers the feminist ideas and movement of the USA and can be accurately related to the “The Yellow Wallpaper” story.
CHRISTINE L. WILLIAMS. “THE GLASS ESCALATOR, REVISITED: Gender Inequality
in Neoliberal Times, SWS Feminist Lecturer.” Gender & Society, vol. 27, no. 5,
age Publications, 2013, pp. 609–29, doi:10.1177/0891243213490232.
“The Glass Escalator Revisited: Gender Inequality in Neoliberal Times”, written by Christine L. Williams, states that women encounter a glass ceiling in a male-dominated profession which holds them to become successful in their career. Glass ceiling is a metaphor which means there is an invisible obstacle for the women to achieve their success. Neoliberalism means the idea which says society should be shaped by the free market, and the economy should be deregulated and privatized. This literature identifies the limitation of addressing women as manpower and hurdling them from reaching the top of their career. The glass escalator means that women should have a nice job, a stable job, work recognition, and a proper career ladder. Women can handle the leadership profession and can lead a company to progress. Women have all the abilities that men have and can perform well in their profession.
Dalton, Katharina, and Wendy M. Holton. Depression after Childbirth: How to
Recognize, Treat, and Prevent Postnatal Depression. 4th ed., Oxford University
Press, 2001.
“How to Recognize, Treat, and Prevent Postnatal Depression”, written by Katharina Dalton, presents the meaning of postnatal depression, its symptoms, behavior, and mood swing during the depression, treatment, and prevention from it. After giving birth to the child, women can go to depression and this is called postnatal or postpartum depression. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator goes into postnatal depression after giving birth to her child. A doctor prescribes her the rest cure and she develops different feelings for the yellow wallpaper in her room during the medication. This book helps to decide why rest cure is not the right treatment for postnatal depression. A patient diagnosed with postnatal depression should not be left alone in her room, she should work, talk, and become busy which will cure the depression slowly which is the opposite of the medication provided to the narrator of the yellow wallpaper. Mood swing is normal in the depression and that should be handled with care by the close person of the patient but the narrator’s husband in the yellow wallpaper did not take care of her emotionally which explain more why she tears the wallpaper at the end of the story.
Chalak Ghafoor Raouf, and Helan Sherko Ali. “The Helpless Angel in Charlotte Perkins
Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper.” International Journal of English Language and
Translation Studies, vol. 6, no. 3, Lasting Impressions Press, 2018, pp. 130–36.
The paper, “The Helpless Angel in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper” is written by Chalak Ghafoor Rouf and Helan Sheko Ali of the University of Human Development, Iraq. This paper presents the feminist view of Charlotte Perkin’s The Yellow Wallpaper. The paper compares the life of Charlotte Perkin and the sufferings of the narrator of the story. The term “Helpless Angel” is a metaphor used to present the helpless women in that period. This paper expresses the gender inequality, and male dominating nature by presenting the story The Yellow wallpaper and express the feminist voice to aware people. During that period, men think women as a person who should cook food, do laundry, clean the house, and stay at home. Men do not give value to the women and do not listen to the voice of the women. This paper clarifies feminism from a different perspective.
