Feminist Problems in Literature - Book Report/Review Example

Feminist short stories Introduction Feminism itself and feminist stories are very relevant topic to consider. In the modern world women gained many rights and freedoms, but unfortunately we can’t say that they have already become free of prejudice and discrimination especially in developing countries. The problems women still have now have their roots in the past. Feminist short stories open to readers a picture of inner emotional condition of women. It is a too challenging and intense emotional world, where women live under a constant pressure of the society. The stories, considered further on, represent social turmoil experienced by women, who lived in the nineteenth century. Thesis: a moral oppression and social bounds imposed on the main characters of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Nathanial Hawthorne reflect negative impacts caused on physical and emotional condition of women. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Therefore, we will focus on the ways the main characters from these short stories fought against their oppression. There were different physical and emotional conditions among these women. The first short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman represents an emotional and moral degradation of the main character of the story. In her intentions, she tries to reveal a woman hiding behind yellow wallpapers of the room. She tries to climb up the wallpapers and at the same time she tries to escape from oppressing reality. This woman is positioned as a “hysterical woman”, which means her unusual behavior for the society of the nineteenth century. This woman is able to make some notes in her diary about the oppressing circumstances happening to her life. She is unable to take care of her child and she feels depressed. At the same time, this woman is locked in the room, which was a child room. In her despair she pulls off all the wallpapers: “I've got out at last….and I've pulled off most of the paper so you can't put me back!” (Gilman). At this moment the author shows to us the way her husband faints. In other words, she shows that this man could not remain conscious. He cannot take control over his emotions, the same way like women do. Therefore, his wife maybe is not too weird; she just was oppressed by social stereotypes and behavioral templates. Once she gets rid of these ties, she becomes free. There is much more behind her life and her inner feelings and emotions. Her emotions are oppressed and her inner self experiences degradation. Nevertheless, she manages to pull all her efforts and direct her power on overcoming the most challenging moments in her life. She makes changes in the room; she releases an imagined woman from the wall and in such a way she releases herself from a “yellow wall” or social oppression. She finally manages to cope with her emotional burden and the fact that her husband faints in her face, means that this woman defeats him. Unfortunately, the heroine of another short story does not have so much power. Nathanial Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” In another short story written by Nathanial Hawthorne, “The Birthmark”, Georgiana has a birthmark on her cheek. This imperfect trait makes her husband insane, because he is obsessed with having an ideal wife. The author tells exactly about the most acute problem, oppressing the modern women: their physical ideal form. There is only appearance, which should be followed by a woman. Another factor, determining behavior of Aylmer is his occupation. He is a perfect scientist and he is sure that a man is able to take control over nature. The birthmark on the face of his wife looks like a hand. His husband makes her remove this “dreadful hand”. He made his life drink the elixir. She dies and the birthmark disappears from her face. He was not focused on love to his wife; he was focused on love to his work. He wanted to make his wife perfect and he reached his goal. The author shows to the readers that Aylmer is a selfish individual. He followed his own personal goals and aspirations and he wanted to satisfy the laws of the science. His wife was like an object for his experiments. In accordance with her own beliefs, she was not worrying about her birthmark: “She felt how much more precious was such a sentiment than that meaner kind which would have borne with the imperfection for her sake, and have been guilty of treason to holy love by degrading its perfect idea to the level of the actual” (Hawthorne). Her husband was striving for idealness. His wife should have been subjected to his ideals. It is a metaphoric way, in which the author shows the way husband is using their wives as housekeepers, mothers of their children or their lovers. They are interested in satisfying only their own needs. Moreover, women following these demands and are losing their self-identities and even their lives, like this happened to the main character of the short story. Georgiana follows her love to her husband. She is not afraid of losing her self-identity. It is weird, but it should be noted that women are able to fight for their own positions and their opinions. The author of this short story discusses a very acute theme. In the modern times women suffer from beating, from moral oppression etc. They think that they are triggered by their love, in reality these women are triggered by their weak-willed inner selves. Emotional condition of the heroine is weaker than that of Gilman’s heroine. She gives up and even dies. She has no power to fight against an oppressing and authoritative power of her husband. Comparison and contrasting of short stories As far as we can see, these short stories are focused on a nature of a woman and her role in the society. It should be noted that feminist literature drives attention of the audience to the most critical problems of the modern society: a problem of inequality. In both stories neither of husbands took into account the interests of their wives. Thus, they were positioned as selfish individuals, who were interested only in their own lives. It is a perverted positioning of family relations. There is a need for promotion of humane and tolerant attitude to the spouses within the society. To my mind, the short story “The Birth Mark” raises the most crucial themes for the contemporaries. The theme of appearance and violence are the most crucial for modern women. Moreover, the most crucial theme, such as bioethics and innovative medicine are raised by the author. He shows that a price for beauty may be too high. Beauty may cost life of a patient. What is more scaring is that women are going to cosmetic surgeons because they want to satisfy their husbands. It is incredible and the author of the short story makes us think a lot about this stupid thing. Conclusion Therefore, I found out more global concerns raised by Hawthorne. Appearance perfection leads to the most negative outcomes, such as death. Pure appearance is impossible without pure spirit, i.e. without death. There is a deep philosophical and ethical background of this story. There is a need to differentiate between the God’s roles and functions and human roles and functions. There is a need for women to become stronger and sound citizens of the modern society. Women have their own careers and such stories, like these ones, should remind modern women of a danger to be oppressed and located in the yellow room or on the surgeon table. Works cited Hawthorne, N. The Birthmark. Web. Retrieved Feb 12, 2012 from: http://www.online-literature.com/poe/125/ Perkins, Charlotte Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper. Web. Retrieved Feb 12, 2012 from: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_gilman_yw.htm Read More