Part I
The Yellow Wallpaper is an illustration of the Gothic literature for the way it displays madness and powerlessness in the context o f women rights. The author Charlotte Gilman uses her work to fight for her rights as well as the rights of women in general. She uses the Gothic elements; women distress and supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events to justify its place in the gothic literature genre. The main character of the yellow wallpaper is displayed with insanity. The insanity protests the medical as well as the professional oppression for the women in society of the time. The husbands act for their own interest as is the male medical doctors. This leaves the women mentally frail and flimsy.
Those who fought for the women rights during the time believed that several women were diagnosed of mental illness as a result of their fallbacks concerning the role they were allowed to take part in amidst a male dominated community. Gilman tells her own experience in the story as a patient. The doctor recommends her a “resting cure” which requires that she lives a domestic life to get healed. Under the cure, she is not allowed to come in contact with a pen, pencil nor brush while she supposed to only take two hours a day for mental simulation. Today’s treatments of post-partum depression include medication after which one is advised to take a rest for some days.
Part II
The Open Boat, and To Build a fire, depict man as not determinant of his external environment and that he is only controlled by his instincts. In the Open Boat, it can be observed that the men facing death at the sea are in conflict with the indifferent and lawless nature that is not concerned about man’s desires as well as the quality of the actions take up. To build a fire depicts the relationship of man with nature as in a conflict. Man breaks the laws of nature while nature does not care about what man does. Man’s conflict with nature in the two stories is illustrated by hardworking men who do not survive in the end.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte. "Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper." College of Staten Island Library. N.p., 2011. Web. 11 July 2013.
Harris, Robbert. "Elements of the Gothic Novel." VirtualSalt. N.p., 22 Nov. 2011. Web. 11 July 2013.
