Dominguez 1. Naraly Dominguez. Professor Mahaffey. Enc

Dominguez 1 Naraly Dominguez Professor Mahaffey ENC 1102 April 27, 2017 It is not that women are really smaller-minded, weaker-minded, more timid and vacillating, but that whosoever, man or woman, lives always in a small, dark place, is always guarded, protected, directed and restrained, will become inevitably narrowed and weakened by it. -Charlotte Perkins Gilman Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper first appeared on the New England Magazine in May 1892. However it wasn’t until William Dean Howells included the story in his 1920 collection of Great Modern American Stories that the story gained attention. However, the feminist message behind it went†¦show more content†¦However before the narrator becomes obsessed with the wallpaper, she tries to take hold of her situation by naming what kind of place she is in and also saying what kind of place she wants to be in. To understand this story, you have to understand the kind of oppression women had to faced in the 19th century. Women were seen as second-class citizens who were me ant to find fulfillment at home. The narrator finds that she would rather live in a haunted house, the reality of that happening is very doubtful. Not only does John find his wife’s desire laughable but the narrator also says in the beginning that she is either demanding too much too soon from either fate or John. Also in the beginning of the story, the narrator says that her husband doesn’t take her seriously or understands what she wants. â€Å"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†. Her own husband is badmouthing her and doesn’t take her illness seriously. Which she can do nothing about because no one believes her and/or can say anything about it because he is the man, which means that he is right. The narrator has the inability to question her husband on a nything he does or say simply because he is the man. John has prescribed the