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The Turn Of The Woman Of The Century

The Turn of the Woman of the Century

Before the turn of the century, women were under a strict defined role in society and in the home. Men were the decision makers in the household and determined the wife's role and her place in his "kingdom" and in society in general. Women were not allowed to participate in many things with men, such as education, religion and politics. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of many women who stood up against this oppression of women. She did not necessarily make a movement through her actions but through her writing and her ability to share her story with her audience. Gilman uses a variety of language, metaphors, allusions and many other literary tools in order to better introduce her reader to the subliminal messages, whose meanings are hidden within her well written well-written stories.
Women eventually began to get so tired of being dominated heavily by their male counterparts, that some of them began to revolt against the domination and suppression of women and their freedoms. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the many women authors who spoke out against the suppression. Her opinion of men began to deepen at around the age of nine, when her father died and left her and her mother to live with some women relatives. These women are very well known for their role in the fight against suppression and oppression and for the part they played in the fight for women's suffrage. Their names include; Harriet Beecher Stowe, Catherine Beecher, and Isabella Beecher Hooker. Machella Caldwell states in her article, "[Gilman] developed her views on ‘feminist convictions'... [and] at a very early age learned to be independent (Caldwell page?)."
In "The Yellow Wall-Paper," we see Gilman use her writing to tell a story, through subliminal messages and relative events, about her situation along with millions of other women in the United States and throughout the world. Gilman used many symbols to relate her life to things...