Feminism Paper
Piper Longenbohn
Roughton
Per. 3 Humanities
December 8, 2014 Battle of the Sexes Turned into a War
The battle of the sexes has been around for centuries; “men are superior because…” Yeah, alright. Truth is, men have everything handed to them, just plain given to them while women have to fight for everything they get the right to vote, their choice in clothing, even just the right to express themselves. In the early 1900’s women were viewed as housewives; in fact, the only thing they could strive to be was a great housewife. Women started to push back and many authors began writing about women’s oppression therefore bringing it into the limelight; in fact, two specific authors used the description of the indoor spaces to help portray the oppression of the female gender.
In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the old nursery, and new bedroom for a place that traps and confines the main character. The room is described as a place with awful patterned wallpaper that is torn up, nailed down furniture, and windows that have bars on them. Sounds pretty much like a prison cell to me. Not only does Gilman use the room as a confining space, the house is also a major
area of confinement itself. "[The house] is quite alone standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people." It’s a fancy house, yes, but more importantly, it stands back away from the road and contains many "locks" and "separate little houses,” meaning overall, this is a very isolating place. Everyone is, or has the option to be locked away from each other; they have separate homes, and probably have very little to no human interaction. Since the house is also separated from the road, we could argue that it is separated from society, further proving that everyone on
Roughton
Per. 3 Humanities
December 8, 2014 Battle of the Sexes Turned into a War
The battle of the sexes has been around for centuries; “men are superior because…” Yeah, alright. Truth is, men have everything handed to them, just plain given to them while women have to fight for everything they get the right to vote, their choice in clothing, even just the right to express themselves. In the early 1900’s women were viewed as housewives; in fact, the only thing they could strive to be was a great housewife. Women started to push back and many authors began writing about women’s oppression therefore bringing it into the limelight; in fact, two specific authors used the description of the indoor spaces to help portray the oppression of the female gender.
In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the old nursery, and new bedroom for a place that traps and confines the main character. The room is described as a place with awful patterned wallpaper that is torn up, nailed down furniture, and windows that have bars on them. Sounds pretty much like a prison cell to me. Not only does Gilman use the room as a confining space, the house is also a major
area of confinement itself. "[The house] is quite alone standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people." It’s a fancy house, yes, but more importantly, it stands back away from the road and contains many "locks" and "separate little houses,” meaning overall, this is a very isolating place. Everyone is, or has the option to be locked away from each other; they have separate homes, and probably have very little to no human interaction. Since the house is also separated from the road, we could argue that it is separated from society, further proving that everyone on