Women continue to fight for recognition in both social-economic and political spheres. The traditional male dominated societies continue to resist the realities of changes espoused by women leaders in various fields including literature writing. Most literary works that women wrote get set from the protest standpoint in which they try to dismiss the old perception that women do not portray similar qualities as men. The Yellow Wall-Paper literary protest against male chauvinism in which women get bypassed in many issues including things that directly affect and touch their lives like health. For instance, the Johns as presented in the The Yellow Wall-Paper represents many women that continue to suffer silently under the male know it all society. It is from this perspective that this paper demonstrates a literary critical analysis of The Yellow Wall-Paper. It will also incorporate and discuss a personal experience with my sister who despite getting diagnosed with a mental health condition got prevented by her husband from health medication.
The narrations in the The Yellow Wall-Paper leaves the female character with almost no identify a clear manifestation of the disenfranchisement of the women. A critical analysis of the text done by Charlotte Perkins Stetson portends to the fact that the name of John, the husband of the abused woman gets dominated with every mention on almost every page. Literary, the author, keenly gets interested in highlighting the plight of women from the proposition of identity oppression in which the male name dominates that of women in any social discourse. Most societies globally advance male surnames in every transaction and majority of women get compelled to adopt the family name of their husbands. Charlotte in what get construed as a biographical work demonstrates the male chauvinism in respect to an identity crisis in women by concealing the name of Jane in almost all the scenes of the novel. For instance, Jane gets referred to as Johns wife a fact that demonstrates from the duos conversation in which she complains of the husbands dominance in almost every discourse.
Some health conditions should only get medical intervention as any otherwise treatment as prescribed by doctor Weir Mitchell only amounts to profiling of the patient. Psychological conditions like the one affecting Johns wife should get interventions and therapies related to it as opposed to taking isolated rests proposed by Mitchell. Some doctors fail to understand conditions and erroneously prescribe treatments that only prolong the situation. In the contemporary society where lifestyle diseases are taking a toll order on the lives of many patients, doctors and health practitioners develop tendencies of speculating the causes of such conditions without giving substantive treatments. For instance, the neurasthenia that Mitchell diagnoses Jane with requires both psychological and medical intervention as opposed to the rest and isolation fronted by the doctor and adopted by John. Critically, one can speculate that probably Mitchell does not comprehend better medication for the neurasthenia.' Similarly, it can get argued that Weir does not understand the criticality of neurasthenia and as such equate it to conditions like fatigue that can only get cured through proper rest.
The essence of protest literature and feministic view of the writer of The Yellow Wall-Paper depicts the male prejudice over female. The hotly contested general election in the U.S gave the world a rare hope of demolishing a patriarchy government where women serve as tea girls with male championing policy formation. However, the race between Hilary and Trump can as well relate with the assertions of The Yellow Wall-Paper in which a slight pneumonia infection that Hilary caught in the wake of the U.S presidential campaigns got used against her. For instance, Jane gets isolated from the mainstream environment with her husband denying her an opportunity to exercise her thought and expression freedom through creative writing. John religiously follows the doctors prescription of rest and isolation as he takes his wife to the new house. In what can get perceived as collusion between Doctor Mitchell and John, Jane gets denied an opportunity to socially and economically emancipate herself through the old prescription to her disease by Weir. Feminist writers frequently protest the undoing of the male dominated society though pinpointing acts of mistreatment just like the writer does. Conventionally, the human mind dissociates itself from any close link with the sexuality of either gender and should, therefore, never get related with either male or female personality. Therefore, the author as an anti-patriarchy order protests against gender profiling that happens in her life through the doctors wrong intervention prescription.
The fundamental role of literature gets premised on its power to dissect the mainstream society through the social lens. The Yellow Wall-Paper relates to my sisters personal experience in which despite getting diagnosed with neurasthenia got prevented from medical treatment. In what can get linked to the fear of stigma, the husband forced her into staying indoors. According to her husband, my sister suffered a mental fatigue and required sufficient rest to recuperate from the effects of the condition. Critical analysis of the events in this particular case depicts a lot of deprivation on the part of my sister by her husband. Conventionally, human beings enjoy the recognition of equality regarding thought and freedom as aspired by the human rights convention and bill of rights. However, under the circumstance in which the husband prevented his wife from seeking proper medical intervention abuses and contravenes the right to healthcare as desired by the universal human rights. Just like Jane gets prevented from interacting with the mainstream environment, my sister suffered the double jeopardy of medical intervention and nature healing. Similarly, just like John decides for his wife the therapy of isolation and rest, my sisters husband denies her medical intervention but instead put her indoors.
Conclusion
In summary, The Yellow Wall-Paper perfectly embodies protest literature premised on feministic viewpoint regarding the plight of women in a patriarchy society. The conversation of John and his sick wife depicts a society where male chauvinism thrives with the ladies left with almost no say in every matter about their wellbeing just like in the case of Jane. For instance, the almost anonymous narrator succinctly protests the doctors treatment which according to her aims at hindering her free speech and autonomy regarding thought and expression through creative writing. Therefore, Charlotte Perkins Stetson not only represents literary piece that can get discussed from the proposition of artistic work but also very well relates with the happenings in the contemporary life. For instance, it applies to my sisters personal experience with the same illness that affected the anonymous narrator that persists in the novel. Therefore, protest literature and feminist perspective inform the best critical analysis of The Yellow Wall-Paper.
Cite this page
Literary Critical Analysis of The Yellow Wall-Paper. (2021, May 26). Retrieved from https://midtermguru.com/essays/literary-critical-analysis-of-the-yellow-wall-paper
If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the midtermguru.com website, please click below to request its removal:
- Essay on Immorality and Injustice in the Great Gatsby Society
- Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates - Essay Sample
- Essay on Battle Royale by Ralph Ellison
- Essay on The Freedom Writers
- The Sirens in Odysseus - Literary Analysis Essay
- Piano Critique
- The Relationship Between Gilgamesh and Enkidu - Research Paper