At the turn of the 20th century, the roles of women remained unchanged and their social obligations were limited within the domestic sphere. Gilman’s work is revelation of inner thoughts of a woman trapped within her domestic life. This situation is apparent in the American culture back in the early 1900s. It is the period wherein American culture sees woman as an unpaid emotional slave endowed with a particular task of tending to her family’s needs. In addition to the agitation that women feel due to the kind of imprisonment they perceived during marriage, they also feel the pressure exerted by their husbands towards them. The female character in the text depicts the struggles of women to get free from the patriarchal society.
The patriarchal society created and dominated by men creates a kind of constraint that chokes women to the point of breaking down. In an early American society, women are perceived to be unfit to undertake tasks that constitute greater responsibilities. More often than not, women during that period are to speak plainly, this is due to the inherited identity women that only evolves around exploitation of their physical make-up and immobility rendered from blackmailing husbands. In addition to the prevailing rules imposed by the patriarchal society women are also subjected to the parameters that their husbands determined for them. These constricting factors led to the female character in Gilman’s work to retaliate and object to the patriarchal culture demonstrated by her husband (Garcia).
In the face of social adversities brought by the prevalence of masculinity and discrimination, the women portrayed by Gilman in her work forged ahead and decided to topple down the dominating patriarchal ideologies of her husband. The woman’s husband is named John, he is described as a penal officer guarding an 18th century penitentiaries (Bak, 1994). A person perceived to be the product of his patriarchal ideologies. John’s attitude towards Gilman can also be described as mechanistic, predictable and rigid. He is a sexist that greatly represents a patriarchal society of men that works and creates a world of their own where women can never be a part. These and several assertion of authority by John to his wife is the cause of actions that entailed a defeat in John’s reign.
The narrator tells of her sudden interest in the tallow paper that she constantly observed day and night. Her way of retaliating emerged as she found a way to escape the house where she believed to be imprisoned. Little by little she tears of the paper to find a route out to the world she longed for. She waited for the right time when John will be away for a night. She refused to open the door and threw away the key outside of the window and despite the call from her husband; she just looked over her shoulder and continued to her escape from the house.
Works Cited
Back, John S. "Escaping the Jaundiced Eye: Foucauldian Panopticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper." Studies in Short Fiction 31.1 (1994): 39-46. Print.
Garcia, Viola. "Gilman, "Yellow Wallpaper"." Academic and Event Technology Services. itech.fgcu.edu, n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2013.
