THE OPPRESSION BY MAN TOWARDS WOMAN 1

Suwida Saelim
The Oppression by Man Towards Woman in The Yellow Wallpaper

Inequality between the gender start affected many countries since 19 centuries. The

women was treated differently from the man by distinguishing through education, sanitation

and etc. The idea of men empower women were introduced since the publication of the

Feminist Press. In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins

Gilman, to compose this short story, the sexual dissimilarity concerned by Feminist Press the

most. Thereby, this educational organization encourages him to change his style of writing

from making the magazine to be short story (St. Jean, 2002). The inspiration to write this

short story, she tried to express the significance voice of women to show the equality of the

gender. It is story regard to the experience of the author. In the short story, the narrator is

suffering from depression and she is moving into the new mansion like a haunted house with

her husband. Her husband, a phsycian, cure her with a rest treatment by imprisoning the

narrator isolately in the room full with the yellow wallpaper. Throughout the story, she

described her unfavorable feeling towards wallpaper on that room. She saw the shadow of the

women behind that yellow wallpaper which trying to get out. Besides, she reflect those

woman as herself. Charlotte Perkins Gilman reveals the feminism by using action of the man

towards woman, the mans career and the explosion feeling by the narrator.

One of the most famous short story The Yellow Wallpaper, the action that man

reacts to woman throughout the story represents the feminism. As it shown in the beginning

of the story, the narrator was imprisoned by her husband, and he did not allowed the narrator

to do any thing, especially her work; writing her journal. She had no right to against or refuse

any suggestion of her husband. As it mentioned, You see he does not believe I am sick! And

what can one do?(p. 1) and also repeated a similar connotation in the next few sentences, So

I take phosphates or phosphites - whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and

exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well again. Personally, I disagree
THE OPPRESSION BY MAN TOWARDS WOMAN 2

with their ideas. ... But what is one to do?(p. 1). These two statements interpret the sense of

no right for woman to oppose men and also no right for having her own thought. Moreover,

the first aforementioned statement, the narrator was not allow to do whatever she want to.

Also, she has to believe and listen to her husbands suggestion, even if her mind absolutely

against that thought.

However, her thought that against her husband can be seen from the text, And it is

like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. and The faint figure

behind seemed to shake the pattern just as if she wanted to get out.(p. 9). These statements

represent her opposing thought after sawing the shadow of the woman creeping out and

shaking the bars in the wallpaper. According to Christian Thomas (2014) whom got direct

quote from Martin Luther which stated;

Men have broad shoulders and narrow hips, and accordingly they possess intelligence.

Women have narrow shoulders and broad hips. Women ought to stay at home; the

way they were created indicates this, for they have broad hips and a fundament to sit

upon, keep house and bear and raise children.

This quotation supports the thought that men have more power than woman in terms of career

and voice. To contrast with this idea and can also represent the narrator thought, Alice Paul

said that equality of right should not depend on the gender (Kausner, 2014).

In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman creates the character of John to represent the

higher position receiving in society for differentiating the level of status between men and

women. As the writer wants to show the inequality of opportunity of women towards work,

Johns career and his high standing point in the society have been mentioned from the

beginning until middle of the story. As he mentioned, Of course if you were in any danger, I

could and would, but you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor,

dear, and I know (p. 10). It illustrates the power of a man controlling a woman thought about
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the narrators imagination, and he tried to show that his career is credible. Furthermore, in the

next few sentence, he repeated his sentence in similar meaning,

I beg of you, for my sake and for our childs sake, as well as for your own. There is

nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It is a false and

foolish fancy. Can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so? (p. 10).

As the statement above also represents the same meaning, John look down upon the

imagination of the narrator by the word foolish fancy. He always think that his thought is

always true, and his wife must belive in him because of his career. The career physician

makes him to create the idea that being in a higher position can empower upon a woman.

There is a research revealing mens point of view. A woman gains less opportunity in

terms of roles and status than a man does (Carli, 2001). There is a large expectation on men to

react more agentically, while women react more publically. Besides of the aforementioned

statement, there is another research revealing womens point of view and supporting the

writers idea of feminism. The article by Jessica Kausner(2014) was showing the perspective

of some Catholic women. The crucial perspective of Catholic women is that equality of

gender in the social also refers to the equality of occasion in the workplace. Furthermore, men

should not adhere to the old-structure of womens position in families(p. 1). Therefore,

women should be treated more equally.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman creates the character of the narrator to represent the feminist

by exploding her anger. Before she could escape from the house, she reflected herself as a

hallucination girl who staying in both place at the same time; in the yellow wallpaper and

outside of the house. The following statements show the hallucinatory reactions, Sometimes

I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around

fast, and her crawling shakes it all over. (p. 13), and I wonder if they all come out of that

wall-paper as I did?(p. 16). The hallucinatory that she had seen from the wallpaper reflects
THE OPPRESSION BY MAN TOWARDS WOMAN 4

herself as the women behind the wallpaper who want to come out as the narrator want to be

escaped from supervision of her husband. Apart from the girls in wallpaper, the narrator also

wants to reflect others old-time women in which they were controlled by men. Therefore, in

the end of the story, the narrator spreads out her anger from the oppression, I ve got out at

last, said I, in spite of you and Jane. And Ive pulled off most of the paper, so you cant put

me back(p. 17). This monologue interprets the feminist idea out from the narrator mind after

she unwilling to live in this house. She got out from the mans oppression and finally she got

a freedom. According to the news (2015), there was a persistent problem in Iran on inequality

right among genders. Women are facing problems on feminism; marriage, divorce and child

custody. Even public speech about women right, the speaker was sent to jail. Therefore,

human right organizations represent themselves as a representative in order to solve problems.

Human Rights Watch is launching a new campaign, #Watch4Women, to support

Iranian women fighting this ugly discrimination. What were asking is simple: that the

International Volleyball Federation, known as the FIVB, uphold its own rules and

agree not to allow Iran to host future tournaments unless it allows Iranian women to

attend (Human Rights, 2015).

As same as the woman in the story, an assistance is needed for her to empower herself and

other women as well. However, the woman cannot receive any assistance from others in that

time; as a result, she finally became a leader to overcome feminist situation.

To recapitulation, in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, she tried

to display some ideas of feminism through mans behaviors towards woman, mans career

and the anger of the narrator. Most women have no right to against men in terms of work,

voice and decision making during the old-time period. In particular, the woman character is

not allowed to write her journal and paint. At the end of the story, the narrator empower
THE OPPRESSION BY MAN TOWARDS WOMAN 5

women rights as the woman character can escape from the house. Therefore, the authors

point is to show that women and men should be treated equally in the society.
THE OPPRESSION BY MAN TOWARDS WOMAN 6

References

Carli, L.L. (2001). Gender and Social Influence. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4); 725-741

Kausner, J. (2014). Equality and Difference:How Catholic Women in Louisiana Reacted to

;;;;;;;;;;;the Struggle for Equal Rights. Journal publishing of Tulane University, 1(1).

St. Jean, S. (2002). Hanging The Yellow Wall-Paper: Feminism and Textual

Studies. Feminist Studies, 28(2), 397.

Thomas, C. (2014). It Doesn't Have to be Like This: Women and the Struggle for Socialism:

Kindle Edition. Socialist Publications

Womens Right. (2015). Womens Right in Iran. HRW. Retrieved from

https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/10/28/womens-rights-iran