Concept of liberty and femininity in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Awakening
I decided to examine the concept of femininity and liberty in a short story “The Yellow Wall-paper” from the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman and in the book “The Awakening” from Kate Chopin. I chose these two books in order to demonstrate how society in the nineteenth century treated woman and how those woman were trying to escape from this concept. Femininity refers to set of behaviours and roles which are appropriate for women and judged by certain culture.
In the nineteenth century were women expected to stay at home and wait for their husbands´ return each evening. Women should have these four attributes: piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. (Rula Quawas,2006) Women who had these attributes were considered happy and satisfied. It was also believed that there is a sharp line between home, the woman sanctuary, and the economic world because it is a hard world only for men.
The Yellow Wallpaper
The story begun with moving of the main hero and her husband to the colonial mansion. Her husband´s name is John and he is a high standing physician. They moved for a while because she had to undergo a rest-cure. This method of treatment of the main hero of The Yellow Wallpaper is Dr. Mitchell´s rest-cure for women which included no intellectual stimulation and no writing. Her brother is a physician as well and agrees with her husband, but she doesn’t think that the way they cure her is right.
“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, would do me good But what is one to do?” (Gilman, p.249)
In this extract form the book she confirms she has to