Reading 1001 discussion

10. Why is The Yellow Wallpaper sometimes considered essential reading in Feminist Literature? What are the qualities that make it representative?

Because it is a story of oppression and subjection of women.

I agree with Kristel.

Yes, it is representative of the repression of a certain middle class female towards the end of the nineteenth century. The description of the pain in the mind of a woman deprived of stimulation of almost any kind is so well portrayed, that it has become a staple work in feminist literature.

It speaks from direct experience. It's about a woman needing to wake up to her treatment at the hands of men. I loved the lines "I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition." I think she knows it's not unreasonable to be angry at her husband for dismissing her every thought. I think she's hiding her true feelings in the words women use to stop people thinking we're being rude or causing a fuss. She should make a fuss. We all should make a fuss if we're being dismissed on the basis of our gender. Hang politeness!