¶ … Yellow Wallpaper,' the nameless narrator is compelled by those that surround her to spend time in a colonial mansion in order to rest and get well. The opposite happens; we see her descend into madness in a way that is vaguely reminiscent of the main character in 'The Shining.' We are given the sense of a controlled environment, in which a narrator is placed by male figures representing authority and familiarity (doctors: her husband and brother) in a situation where she is condemned to stare at a wall. The response of her subconscious is embodied in the changes she perceives in the character of the wall.
She sees a yellow female woman trying to break free of the wall, which we interpret to represent the constrained parameters of her activity. She is a complete subordinate, dominated by men who possess professional accolades. Her attitudes mirror those we see in Ibsen novels; that of an overgrown child that is not quite able to make decisions for herself. Her sense of free will is embodied in the mysterious character that lurks behind the wallpaper, threatening to invade her world and disrupt her stability.
In this novel, set in Victorian times, our perspective of women is narrowed to these two entities. One is seen as the id of the other, the subconscious desire for independence. The narrator is seen as a flawed character whose ideas and opinions are seen as the result of her condition....
In many ways, this is not only a critique of male authority but also a critique of conventional ideas of dementia and the categorization of radical opinions as those that reflect some malady. The authorities have complete authority over their own actions; they remind us of the clergy responsible for diagnosing women as being witches in the 17th century. The narrator's sublimation is seen as being as important to her sanctioned captors as her recovery; a device designed to mask the arbitrary approach to medicine employed by late 19th century doctors. These are in fact allegorical for all social forces constraining women.
Susan Cahn's work reflects on the self-identity of lesbians; in it she questions both the relevance and the valence of certain social activities generally associated with lesbians and with 'mannish' women. She takes time to question whether or not these connote a social constraint on the female identity. Her ideas reflect those first introduced to the world of critical theory by Simone de Beauvoir in 'The Second Sex.' However, Cahn extends de Beauvoir's premises to queer theory, questioning the way that lesbians are perceived as behaving in a social setting.
Cahn's focus is on the world of female sports. In many sports, female athletic prowess is seen as connoting 'mannishness;' implying that one cannot be a true woman without embodying characteristics traditionally…
Stocker, deaf since birth, admittedly attempted to compensate for her disability, her imperfection, through the relentless pursuit of achieving perfection physically and athletically, and even when she excelled, Stocker confesses, for a long time she remained emotionally tortured by disability for which no amount of body shaping or athletic skill in sports could change that disability (2001, p. 154). Stocker's struggle with her self-image, her identity and hers sexuality
Women's Rights Traveling outside one's own homeland will present certain challenges if not problems. It is important to realize that the world is a diverse place where many standards of action vary from place to place. This variance requires an individual wishing to navigate a culture without issue to inform himself of the cultural differences that may arise in this advancement. The purpose of this essay is to examine the role of
Women's Rights In Saudi Arabia Despite recent media attention stemming from Saudi Arabia's recent legislative decision to allow women the right to vote and run in the 2015 municipal elections, the truth remains that Saudi Arabian women remain some of the most tightly-controlled and oppressed populations in the world in terms of legislation and cultural practices -- both of which prohibit them from having the same rights as men. In viewing
Women in nineteenth century Europe were systematically excluded from positions of power in the public spheres including but not limited to political and economic domains. Thus invisible and disenfranchised, women were relegated to being priestesses in the cult of domesticity: the private sphere that was at once necessary for the maintenance of life but also restricting in its roles and functions. The cult of domesticity was open primarily to members
Women and men are made, not born. Debate this statement Women and Men Are Made, Not Born The statement that - "women and men are made, not born" - invokes the notion that, it is not by birth that one acquires their gender but rather by the process of socialization. This brings into perspective the need to understand what gender is and whether, biological determination of gender at birth is sufficient. This
Women's Roles In New England During Colonial America Today, women still have not seen an acceptable level of equality compared to their male counterparts. Yet, the struggle for women's rights have improved conditions for modern women tremendously when compared to the roles that the sex was limited to play during the colonial period. In Colonial America, women were often limited to purely caretakers, dealing only with domestic and child raising matters.