Yellow Wallpaper vs Revolt of Mother

Mary Wilkins Freeman and Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two women who articulate feminist issues in their writings. Freeman, a major figure in the feminist movement, describes in The Revolt of “Mother”(1852), the rebellion of a wife who realizes that her husband is not building her the new home that he promised. Gilman is an influential feminist and in her story The Yellow Wallpaper (1852), she examines the relationship between a husband and his ailing wife. The Revolt of “Mother” and The Yellow Wallpaper have similar setting, characters, and themes. The Revolt of “Mother” takes place in the late 1800s and early 1900s. If the mother in this story was put in a different era, she would not be a strong character and if she was equal to her husband than she would not be so unique. The Yellow Wallpaper would have been different if it had taken place during a time where women were not commonly maltreated by their husbands. In both short stories the authors focus on gender roles of the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century men and women had specific gender roles. Men were in charge of the households while making decisions and providing for their families. Women did all the household chores and took care of the children. Men never asked or accepted advice from women. Women during this time were trying to gain a place in society. They were trying to have the same opportunities as men and wanted to be seen as equals. Both women in these short stories went against the normal gender roles. The dialect in both short stories helps define the settings. In The Revolt of “Mother” the husband and wife refer to each other as mother and father which tells the time they lived. In The Yellow Wallpaper the wife speaks very proper and shows intelligence. Gilman also uses proper dialect to show the wealth from the husband because he is a physician. For example the narrator says,“Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down to