Introduction
The question of gender roles has been recurrently addressed in numerous works of literature. The presence of different outlooks on the issue allowed numerous contemporary and past authors to approach gender roles from numerous perspectives. The current research paper takes Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Paper and Susan Glaspell’s Trifles to address the paradigm of rigid gender roles and see how diverse stories unfold a similar conflict.
The idea is that a patriarchal society can be seen as a damaging concept that does not bring balance to the relationships between sexes, which also means that women recurrently sacrificed their own interests to support the concept of a loving relationship, whereas men took it for granted and ignored female needs and ambitions.
Sexism and Unfairness in Trifles
The parallel narratives included in the story provide the readers with an extended outlook on why men and women are different. As it is also mentioned in Phelps’ book, there is no perfect freedom that would allow both males and females to display their true behaviors or remain consistent throughout the world, as every particular location imposes its limits on one’s comportment (84). The play written by Glaspell highlights the differences between women’s and men’s reasons for visiting the Wright house, as males are there to fulfill law-related obligations and females only visit the house to collect some of the belongings to transfer them to the imprisoned Mrs. Wright. The lack of flexibility in male characters is presented as a relative disadvantage because they cannot overcome their rigidity throughout the story. Therefore, the knowledge that women possess in Trifles goes beyond mere evidence and creates opportunities for them to research more than one violent moment and relieve Mrs. Wright’s marriage.
Another important finding that can be highlighted is the women actually gaining power throughout the process of the story plot development. Females tend to keep quiet at the end of the play, but it symbolizes their capability of overcoming their perceived low-tier status imposed by men. A similar thesis was mentioned in Riggs’ book, where she dwelled on the notion of controlled images that would later have a devastating influence on women from all over the world (46). The low expectations displayed by men in Trifles support the idea that men generally underestimate female contribution to society and ignore their inherent value. The fact that men do not show enough respect and do not even expect women to contribute shows that a patriarchal outlook on society could avert people from gaining access to multiple viewpoints. Accordingly, Glaspell and her Trifles do more than simply challenge the rigid gender roles but also provide the readers with a deeper insight into why understanding and collaboration between sexes are crucial.
Male Oppression in The Yellow Wallpaper
A crucial idea mentioned in Gilman’s story is that the key male figure in The Yellow Wallpaper serves as an authoritative limit-setting party that does not tolerate any misunderstanding or failure to adhere to his words. All decisions are made by the husband because he no longer sees his wife as rational and does not want to help her. Instead, he willingly ignores the protagonist because, in his eyes, she is not even worthy of being taken into account. At certain points, the reader may witness the husband approaching the main female character of the story as a mere child that should not have any responsibilities or freedom to act (Gilman 17). This kind of controversy may also be supported by claims made by Palmisano regarding how the lack of socialization could establish limits for gender roles and their exteriorization (33). Placed in a position where she had no physical space for maneuvers, the protagonist started resorting to her imagination to run away from the limitations of the real world.
The controlling nature of the main character’s husband started showing even more because of the failed attempts to change her. The Yellow Wallpaper displays a stereotypically male materialistic view of the world and makes the readers believe that imaginative thinking is something irregular. Therefore, the concept of femininity as an ideology remains an odd concept for many people today because reality does not always adhere to individual expectations (Palmisano 38). The fact that the main character becomes insane at the end of the story signifies a new chapter for the protagonist where she chooses to lose her mind instead of coping with her husband’s obstinacy and unwillingness to help her. With this being said, The Yellow Paper may be considered one of the predictors of the feminist movement due to the long-standing impact of fixed gender roles and the lack of consistency of patriarchal societies caused by male stubbornness and inability to accept the fact that women also bear certain value and have to be reckoned with at all times.
As it is described by Gilman, the majority of gender expectations mostly cause failure because they set the bar high for both genders and force them to compete for the leading position instead of helping them cooperate. The main character’s husband failed to take charge of the wife’s mental health because he did not listen to her when it was necessary. One way or another, the protagonist did not stand up for herself either and chose to remain silent irrespective of the majorly authoritarian behaviors displayed by the husband. The notion of lopsided love is perfectly in line with the plot of The Yellow Wallpaper because the main character does not even fully realize that it is not her fault that she becomes mentally ill at the end of the story. Therefore, both the protagonist and her husband were taken hostage by their gender roles and failed to re-evaluate their place in society to escape bias and change the world around them.
Conclusion
The crucial idea that can be witnessed in both The Yellow Paper and Trifles is that main female characters hint at the eventual flaws of a completely patriarchal society where men and women do not complete each other. The rigidity of such gender expectations makes it harder for females to survive them and achieve something valuable under the influence of perceived male domination. The generic male overconfidence displayed in both stories shows that reason and authority do not always lead to positive consequences when they are taken out of context and assigned to male characters only. There has to be a connection between men and women that would allow the latter to gain a voice for themselves and speak out freely, without having to stand up for themselves and prove their value. Both stories show that it may be a beneficial practice for women to challenge the patriarchal setup of society to achieve a better place in the world. Fixed gender roles cannot lead to positive outcomes because they set default values that cannot be superseded by women, as they hint at male dominance.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. The New England Magazine, 1892.
Glaspell, Susan. Plays by Susan Glaspell. Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Palmisano, Joseph. World of Sociology. Gale, 2001.
Phelps, Shirelle. World of Criminal Justice. Gale, 2002.
Riggs, Thomas. St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture. St. James Press, 2018.