Comparison Of Yellow Wallpaper And Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
nant figures; for the reasons she had to make the decisions she did and in Gilman's and Chopin's the husbands were in control of the woman. In Olsen's I Stand Here Ironing, the constraints of oppression were alive in her thoughts. Olsen's fa'ade was being a housewife, she would have rather had other choices in her life and wanted more for her daughter as is told by the last quote in the story:
In summary, all three women had no choice in their lives or they chose not to have a choice but to follow society's way of thinking. "It was the only way we could be together, the only way I could hold a job" (Olsen 225). They did what they could do to cope and do stay within society boundaries of the feminine role in life. The outcome of each story is different in the way each dealt with the struggles of oppression, conflict and life. "But the reader sees the mother's strength more fully than the mother does herself"(Bauer). Olsen's character went through a lot of struggles but it only made her a stronger person whereas the other two stories the
She's lost hope of being free from her prison within the mansion. "I don't feel as if it was worthwhile to turn my hand over for anything..."(Gilman 412). Olsen's story the daughter has a lot of emotional problems from the lack of attention from her mother while she was growing up.
All the women found escape through very different ways, either behind a fa'ade or death or insanity. Gilman's character escaped through insanity while Chopin's died of a "joy that kills"(Chopin 245). Olsen's main character escaped behind the fa'ade of being a happy housewife, she conformed to what life had dealt her. She also found her escape with her new husband. "The mother's own needs to escape, to enjoy the outside world again with her husband..."(Kloss). Gilman's character summed it up best in when she states, "I've got out at last,' said I, "in spite of you and Jane" (Gilman 419). In their own way, they beat society and the people that...
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