A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper are two short stories about two women during the late 1800s through the early 1900s. This is during an era when women are viewed as less important than men. Both Emily and the narrator are trapped in a world of delusions, control, and mental illness. Scorned by the men in their lives and society, both women experience feelings of control by others, loneliness, and a loss of sanity. Although both women share similar experiences, they came from different environments. One avoids interacting with the outside world, while the other is forced to stay inside her home. In both stories, the women begin to sink into further isolation and leaving reality in the past.
Both characters were dominated by the men …show more content…
Her father was overprotective and thought that there was no man good enough to marry his daughter, for example, “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such.” On the other hand, the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper would suffer the same treatment of control by her husband. After the birth of their child, Jane, her husband, and sister-in-law would spend the summer in a rented Victorian mansion. Suffering from postpartum depression, her husband who’s a doctor, refuses to acknowledge her mental condition, doesn’t believe that she is sick, then she’s forced by her husband to get some “rest” as a form of treatment. Jane states in the text, “John is a physician, and perhaps-(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)-perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency-what is one to do?.” During this time in history, women were powerless. They had no social identity, money, or control over their own actions. In A Rose for Emily, …show more content…
A neighbor saw the Negro man admit him at the kitchen door at dusk one evening. And that was the last we saw of Homer brown. And of Miss Emily for some time.” In each story, the houses are like prisons, both Jane and Emily are confined to it. Emily is isolating herself due to the “disappearance” of Homer. Meanwhile, in The Yellow Wallpaper Jane is prescribed medication to help her with her sickness, “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 with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, will do me good. But what is one to do?” forbidden to leave the room, unable to read and write, her mind begins to break down, Jane sees a figure of a women in the yellow wallpaper. “There are things in the wallpaper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!” In both stories Jane and Emily are being watched, but Emily is unaware of how close. “Just as if a man—any man—could keep a kitchen properly’, the ladies said; so they were not surprised when the
Both characters were dominated by the men …show more content…
Her father was overprotective and thought that there was no man good enough to marry his daughter, for example, “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such.” On the other hand, the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper would suffer the same treatment of control by her husband. After the birth of their child, Jane, her husband, and sister-in-law would spend the summer in a rented Victorian mansion. Suffering from postpartum depression, her husband who’s a doctor, refuses to acknowledge her mental condition, doesn’t believe that she is sick, then she’s forced by her husband to get some “rest” as a form of treatment. Jane states in the text, “John is a physician, and perhaps-(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)-perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency-what is one to do?.” During this time in history, women were powerless. They had no social identity, money, or control over their own actions. In A Rose for Emily, …show more content…
A neighbor saw the Negro man admit him at the kitchen door at dusk one evening. And that was the last we saw of Homer brown. And of Miss Emily for some time.” In each story, the houses are like prisons, both Jane and Emily are confined to it. Emily is isolating herself due to the “disappearance” of Homer. Meanwhile, in The Yellow Wallpaper Jane is prescribed medication to help her with her sickness, “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 with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, will do me good. But what is one to do?” forbidden to leave the room, unable to read and write, her mind begins to break down, Jane sees a figure of a women in the yellow wallpaper. “There are things in the wallpaper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!” In both stories Jane and Emily are being watched, but Emily is unaware of how close. “Just as if a man—any man—could keep a kitchen properly’, the ladies said; so they were not surprised when the