Role and Status of Women in 19th & 20th Century Western Cultures Essay

Role and Status of Women in 19th & 20th Century Western Cultures - Essay Example Since human nature does not allow the imposition of restrictions and confinements in any way, they always raise the revolt against the norms and values that are challenging freedom of their thought and action. As a result, elucidation of the challenges experienced by the women folk has also been one of the most imperative issues in the works created by the late nineteenth and twentieth-century authors, poets, and social scientists alike. The same is also applied to the short story under the title â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper.† Created by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1899, the story under-investigation served as one of the masterpieces of the above-mentioned author. The story concentrates on the exploitation of the women at the hands of the male-influenced nineteenth-century Western society by portraying their vulnerability at domestic and social scales partly because of the discrimination widely observed by the male members. The story revolves around the narrator, who equally ser ves to be the protagonist-character of the short story, and describes her confinement into a small apartment of the hereditary mansion (1) for the last several years to which she views to be the haunted house (1). The confinement she observes has been inflicted upon her by her husband John, to whom he views to be the physician. Somehow, the protagonist ridicules over John’s being a physician, for he is such an incompetent professional that he is unable to diagnose her health problem as well as to recommend proper treatment. On the contrary, he has just imprisoned her into a room instead of making wise steps for her complete convalescence from her purported nervous depression leading to the ultimate mental retardation has been suggested by John. The walls of the room she is bound to stay the long summer have been covered with the yellow wallpaper, which does not allow the narrator to bring a second thought in her mind other than thinking of the wallpaper from dawn to dusk. Hen ce, instead of entering into interaction with her natural and social environment and getting involved into different domestic chores, which must be congenial and beneficial for her health, she remains viewing the yellow wallpaper that has been suggested to be supportive for her recovery (2). The protagonist remaining restricted to one single thought does not reflect her profound inclinations towards the same; on the contrary, since she does not have anything other than the wallpaper to look at, her keeping it as her focus point could be viewed to be the Hobson’s choice for her in life actually. As a result, the story elucidates the miserable plight of a 19th-century woman of America, which had been imprisoned within the four walls of domestic life, and had least opportunities of having encounters with the natural and social phenomena altogether. The narrator admits being getting rude towards John out of sheer anger, which is, according to her spouse, an outcome of her nervous breakdown; though the same may actually be the reflection of her being isolated from the members of her family and society as well. In other terms, John’s keeping her into the state of loneliness and isolation has resulted in her getting intolerant and annoyed towards others.  The protagonist views her spouse to be caring and loving, and takes care of her and their baby, though she seldom acknowledges his services, and hence feel basely ungrateful not to value it more (2-3).