"The Yellow Wallpaper" and "The House of Mirth"

Paper Summary:

This paper summarizes the plots and analyzes the female characters in Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" in order to illustrate the themes that expound on the aspect of male hegemony and the discrimination that women had to suffer in a male-dominated society.

From the Paper:

"As in "Yellow Wallpaper", Society seems to have cast its influence on Lily and she looses her capacity for judgment. This is evident in that she is indecisive about her marriage. She is never contended with the good proposals that come her way and is always on the lookout for better offers. It is this kind of indecision that proves to be the undoing of Lily. The power that money enjoyed and the need to get absorbed into the higher ranks of the society had indeed blinded Lily. Lily is one of those typical women who entertains wrong notions that money and status alone could guarantee happiness. So we see that Lilly is psychologically defeated by society and her consideration of marriage as a springboard to success makes her vulnerable to the manipulations by wealthy guys. She asks Gus Ternor the husband of her friend Judy to invest some money for her in the stock market. Lilly gets the first blow of this opportunistic society when she is asked by Gus Ternor to pay him back by way of spending her time with him."

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