"The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Daddy"

Paper Summary:

The paper analyzes relationships between wives and husbands in Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and between daughters and fathers in Plath's "Daddy". The paper discusses how, in both works, female speakers with mental illnesses try to overcome the influence of either an overpowering father or an overprotective husband in order to become more authentic, autonomous, adult selves. The paper concludes that patriarchal interference thwarts the female speaker's individuating process.

From the Paper:

"The first-person narrator, and protagonist, of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" (whose name may actually be Jane) is an imaginative, creative, and (for those and other reasons) very frustrated upper-middle-class young woman. She yearns to write and be creative as she had before the story opens. Now, however, she is prohibited, by her neurologist; her well-meaning husband, and by association, society (i.e. patriarchy), from all imaginative or creative pursuits."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Electronic Text Center. University of Virginia Library. April 16, 2006. Retrieved April 21, 2006, from: <http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/GilYell.html>.
• Plath, Sylvia. "Daddy." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 4th Compact Ed. New York, Longman, 2005. 830.
• "Sylvia Plath, 1932-1963." Sylvia Plath. November 30, 2004. Retrieved April 21, 2006, from: <http://www.sylviaplath.de/plath/bio.html>.
• "Sylvia Plath." Voices and Visions. Prog. 3. Prod. New York Center for Visual History. Videocassette. Annenberg/CPB Collection, 1980s.
• "Sylvia Plath." Wikipedia. Retrieved April 20, 2006, from: <http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath.html>.

More papers on "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Daddy":

• Essay # 1894 : "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
• Analytical Essay # 145927 : "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Female Gothic Tradition"
• Comparison Essay # 125200 : "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Erin Brockovich"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: