It is the extensive heritage of literature that makes our conscience shake sometimes and rethink the attitude to many social issues the way they were a century ago and the way they are now adopted in society. It is a well-known fact that women have been suppressed for years by society’s beliefs of their inequality with men; this continued up until the twentieth century and has its echoes today though to a poorer extent. However, not everyone knows what nineteenth-century women underwent as per their role in society and family. The clear notion of that is given by the shot stories of Kate Chopin The Story of An Hour, Charlotte Gilman The Yellow Wallpaper, and Alice Walker Everyday Use. It is explicitly speculated on the women’s feminist views and their steps out to the world. Though the stories have many differences, they are bound to the similarities, the one concept.
The short story by Kate Chopin The Story of An Hour is a wonderful representation of those times’ inequality of women in society which resulted in their suppression of family rules, responsibilities, and opportunities. Although the short story starts with a heart-breaking image of a woman who is suffering over her husband’s death, the next what a reader finds out is her feeling of freedom because she finally gets rid of a tyrant. To be more exact, what Louise feels is a certain freedom of society standards during the nineteenth century. She comes up to her room, locks the door, and connects herself with nature feeling more confident and self-asserted. She keeps on saying: “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin, p. 83) The story is an explanation of a “rest treatment”, and of course, a story of feminism. Interestingly, the story by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper interconnect at the point of feminism and unfair treatment, the two women protagonists truly consider themselves locked in a room
literally and figuratively, and eventually start feeling free once the life circumstances change. Mrs. Mallard had to overcome the sorrow of her husband’s overall control. Therefore, once she found out about his death, she thought no one else would be there to live for her during upcoming years. Moreover, only the previous day she was horrified to think that the life may be long, whereas now she was delighted to this though because the Mr. Mallard was no longer alive. No one was going to impose a different will on her – the short story unveils brilliant the women’s desire to rebel against society’s stereotypes. The story was first published and evoked vibrant responses for suggesting an idea of women trying to escape the imprisonment of marriage. It is clear that the husband must have loved Louise more: “the face that had never looked save with love upon her”, while her feelings are scantily described meaning he lack of tender feeling towards husband and marriage overall. It is remarkable that the language of The Story of An Hour speaks for the feelings of protagonist and the plot uncovering. Namely, when Louise’s emotions are described, the language becomes lively and vibrant with colorful images: “What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!”, while the true feelings towards husband are expressed by author as the following: “And yet she loved him—sometimes. Often she did not”. The entire short story expresses utmost hope of a suppressed woman for better future not blaming her husband but the society regime.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman is another representation of those days’ gender inequalities. The author provides that the woman allows herself to be subordinate to her husband John. Being a doctor he orders her to stay in bed, also he cuts her imagination short and what is more essential he does not let her to continue the writing, which she feels helps her feel better but she does not dare to resist. She writes: “Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?” (Gilman, p. 160). The language chosen here is perfectly reflecting her uncertainty and evident husband’s inferiority via: “What is one to do?” It is outrageous that she considers any of her attempts to be in vain in advance, and yet she accepts this compliantly. The overall underestimation of her own dignity makes it an unbelievable contrast with Mrs. Mallard from The Story of An Hour, though the two stories express society’s inconsistency. The protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper claims: ‘I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and her I am a comparative burden already’, whereas Mrs. Mallard was full of plans to live a good life further on without a husband. The Yellow Wallpaper depicted completely different women: ready and willing o obey her husband, bother, and personal fragility. Moreover, it is impossible to avoid the woman’s description of a wallpaper: “dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide-plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions” (Gilman, p. 161). It is her vision of not only herself but what the doctor’s therapy transforms her into. The wallpaper is a social environment for her, she imagines different colorful art works, scenes, and various people because is not allowed to waste the imagination because of the husband’s views. It is a very depictive prose of a woman being suppressed by the orders of the society.
Alice Walker Everyday Use can be considered as a perfect story with an underlying concept of heritage of African Americans, who in their turn used to fight for their equality, too. The story written in early 70s describes the efforts of African Americans to find their identities within the society. Being completely torn apart by desire to rediscover their African roots and get Americanized, Afro-Americans suffered a great deal of discrimination and internal relations’ disorder. The embodiment of the latter is the relations of Dee and Maggie, their attitude towards the heritage of African Americans. Although the sisters’ relations are complicated, Mama’s attitude is clear and is worth of deep respect. There are at least two symbols t pay attention to: the quilt and the dasher handle. She says: “In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform” (Walker, p. 412).As such, she recalls all her ancestors who contributed to her current life with dearest love and deep respect. It is amazing how Walker draws a line between the dasher handle Mama touches and her tribute to the heritage: “the dasher the handle stuck out. I took it for a moment in my hands… It was a beautiful light yellow wood, from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived”, as if touching the hands of all her relatives who used the dasher handle (Walker, p. 412). Along with the description of Mama’s beliefs Walker introduces the new understanding of rebellious heritage embodied in Dee: “She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature…” (Walker, p. 409). Rebellious and powerful Dee symbolized opposition to society and the rules of percepting the heritage.
It is evident that the three stories unveiled the sufferings of three souls about the unfair treatment of their personalities. However, the three authors presented the issues in different stories, times, and concepts. While The Story of An Hour and Everyday Use are talking about the two strong woman – one of which cannot be understood due to family reasons and another because of social injustice – The Yellow Wallpaper is a representation of an average nineteenth century woman, due to whom many women could not get to the point of contemporary feminist victory. Still, the three short stories tell us about soul torments due to imperfectness of society and life in general. Women While the issue of feminism has been adopted and pushed through throughout years, it is necessary to say that women would not be so suppressed without their initial desire. The only reason for such willingness to be set free is the new century’s life circumstances. So, provided that the older social norms are the more biblical, natural and hence correct they appear to be. Therefore, who said women were suppressed and not simply misguided by the swift cultural, political, and economical development?
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Story of An Hour. 2011. Web.
Gilman, Charlotte, P. The Yellow Wallpaper. Radford: Wilder Publications. 2011. Print.
Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th ed. Robert DiYanni, Ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1998. 408-413.