roles of women

No matter which way you state it, women have struggled to be their own person through literature. Obstacles have always been present when women have to try to find themselves. Their roles have either been the crazy feminist or the obedient wife, with many other roles in mind. Women have always struggled in literature due to male dominance and societal views. What truly is their role? Many authors have tried to answer this question. Others have shown their idea of women’s’ roles through their point of view. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman tries to portray her idea of the roles of women. “I think it is due to this nervous condition” (Gilman, 674). The narrator is told by her husband, John that she is sick. The male dominance is evidence in the beginning paragraphs. The role the narrator has at the beginning is a poor fragile woman. Her husband keeps her cooped up inside of her room. “The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out” (Gilman, 679). The narrator seems to think there is a woman stuck behind the wallpaper. The woman is only allowed to crawl behind the paper when in the presence of sunlight, the men representing the sun. Gilman is trying to explain how women are trapped in by society, and have to obey and recognize the male presence. The paper is represented by society. The obstacles for the narrator to become independent person are evident throught the entire short story, whether it be her husband, the wallpaper or the bars on her windows. The role of the woman behind the

Contreras, 2 paper is to represent the narrator’s subconscious hold by her husband. Gilman provides only one outcome for the narrator: death. “I’ve got out at last... And I’ve pulled off most of the paper so you can’t put me back!” (Gilman, 685). The only way for the narrator to win over male domination is by dying. At this point in the short story, the narrator has decided to hang herself to