"story of an Hour" and "yellow Wallpaper" Conversation of Texts

The struggle for women’s rights has been long and difficult. In the United States, ever since the early 1800s, movements supporting gender equality have been prominent in society, often pushing the defined gender roles of the time. Authors Kate Chopin and Charlotte Gilman discovered that, through writing, these matters could be pushed to the forefront of national discussion and recognized that the biggest struggle for women at the turn of the nineteenth century was personal freedom. Both Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” and Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper” convey the importance of personal freedom through Louise Mallard’s quest for autonomy and respect and the narrator’s struggle against a decidedly patriarchal society.

Similarities can be seen between Louise Mallard of Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” and the narrator of Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper” as they are both women who are inherently submissive due to the expectations pressed upon them by society. Due to each character’s realization that they risked their personal freedom in exchange for societal acceptance, the women have distinguishing characteristics which set them apart from other women of the late 1800s. The dynamic being put into play in "Yellow Wallpaper" is clear: the husband serves as the rational and controlling one in the relationship, while the wife serves as the supportive nurturer prone to hysterics. According to the National Women’s History Museum, “women were expected to restrict their sphere of interest to the home and the family” (“Rights for Women”) in the 1800s, but by having doubt in her husband John’s decisions in the beginning of the story, the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” already defies what is expected of women of the time period. Submissive behavior can be seen when she says that her “unreasonable anger with John… is due to this nervous condition” (Gilman 1), and the fact that she may actually have reason to be angry doesn’t cross her mind until the middle of the story. However, as she starts seeing the wallpaper as having a woman trapped within it, she slowly loses her mind and is closer to freedom than ever before, and the sense of freedom she ultimately feels once she releases the woman in the wallpaper is so strong that she “can’t be put back!” (Gilman 12).

While "Yellow Wallpaper" tells a story of oppression exclusively through the conflict of character versus character, "Story of an Hour" follows a conflict more adherent to character versus society. Referred to throughout the text as "Mrs. Mallard", it is suggested from the first line that she is seen as an afterthought of Mr. Brently Mallard as opposed to an individual. As a result of this seemingly natural oppression of the time period, inside Louise grows a silent sense of antipathy towards Brently, only seen when she hears the news of his death. Although she appears to be devastated after running to her room, as soon as she is alone, she couldn't escape the happiness surrounding her realization that she was "free, free, free!" (Chopin 10). This freedom, however, was short-lived, as when she sees her husband walk through the door “travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella” (Chopin 17), her heart fails. Her life of independence began and ended in the matter of an hour.

A common occurrence in each piece is the opinion of a medical professional. Because, like most occupations, this was a male-dominated field, their respective diagnoses were only from that point of view. Both victims of misdiagnosis, the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" was prescribed to the rest cure as a result of her "hysteria", which is actually postpartum depression. As a result, she was needlessly bedridden for weeks and could not perform any physically or mentally demanding tasks. She was actually kept away from her child as well, but the narrator was so distracted by her oppression that her baby barely crossed her mind since “Mary,” a woman who could fulfill her role in society, “is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby.” (Gilman 2). The irony in this prescription is that, since it was prescribed from that male point of view, the whole concept