Comparison between The Yellow Wallpaper and A Rose for Emily

Barbara Angelis stated â€Å"Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away† (Angelis, BrainyQuote). This statement reflects the theme of isolation and how one can truly understand themselves through self-reflection and time spent in loneliness. In the short stories, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner, both female protagonists, experience a time of seclusion leading to self- realization. Hence, both of these pieces of literature illustrate the troubles of women in a male-dominated society. As a result, both characters experience oppression by overbearing male influences and are physically and emotionally†¦show more content†¦Thus, he treats her like a child and â€Å"laughs at [her]†¦ † and calls her a â€Å"‘...little girl’† (Gilman 90, 94). For these two female characters in à ¢â‚¬Å"A Rose for Emily† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, their struggles are a direct result of male dominance, and their coping mechanism escorts them away from the world that devalues them. Their escape from the current world is directly from their feelings of repression which leads to them to be physically isolated. In â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, Emily spent all her time shut inside her house, which is symbol of her downgrading physical condition. Other than her changing appearance, the townspeople’s attitude also alters after her father’s death and they treat her as a tradition, a duty and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town (Faulkner, 139). Besides her father’s disapproving outlook of Emily’s marriage, the community also disagree with the idea of Emily having someone new in her life. They describe her relationship with Homer as â€Å"a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people† (144). Her aby smal relationship with the community, her father and Homer limits her growth as a person and prevents her from future interactions with the people around her. Correspondingly, the narrator from â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is confined in a room in an isolated country estate. Additionally, she is forbidden to engage in a normal conversation and her physical isolation is partially designed to remove her from the possibilityShow MoreRelatedIsolation in â€Å"a Rose for Emily† and â€Å"the Yellow Wallpaper†1222 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two well written short stories that entail both similarities and differences. Both short stories were written in the late 1800’s early 1900’s and depict the era when women were viewed less important than men. The protagonist in each story is a woman, who is confined in solitary due to the men in their lives. The narrator in â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is the mutual voice of the townspeople of Jefferson, whileRead MoreComparison and Contrast of the Yellow Wallpaper and the Rose for Emily1078 Words   |  5 PagesParis Claypool Eng 120 Essay 1 06/12/2010 A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper â€Å"A Rose for Emily’’ By William Faulkner and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman,† are two short stories that both incorporate qualities of similarities and difference. Both of the short stories are about how and why these women changed for lunacy. These women are forced into solitude because of the fact that they are women. Emily’s fatherRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper, And William Faulkner s A Rose For Emily1340 Words   |  6 Pagesinternal struggle women goes through are Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† and William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily.† The two protagonist from these short stories, the unnamed narrator and Emily, display symptoms of â€Å"hysteria† because they experience conflicts between their individual desires and social influences that either repress their feelings or displace their feelings. The unnamed narrator in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† symbolizes the majority of women by showing what they endured inRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner And The Yellowpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1945 Words   |  8 Pages losing their sanity. An example in literature that displays this type of structure of society where women can become victims of patriarchal conditions takes place in the short stories â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner and â€Å"The Yellowpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Both women, the main character Emily Grierson from Faulkner’s story and the narrator from Gilman’s story, though they have different circumstances, are similar in a unique way as they are both held back by the male figures inRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesresolved is one within the protagonist’s psyche or personality. External conflict may reflect a basic opposition between man and na ture (such as in Jack London’s famous short story â€Å"To Build a Fire† or Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea†) or between man and society (as in Richard Wright’s â€Å"The Man Who Was Almost a Man†). It may also take the form of an opposition between man and man (between the protagonist and a human adversary, the antagonist), as, for example, in most detective fiction. Internal