Women not only need their own room, but also freedom

Virginia Woolf mentioned that women need their own room and small amount of money to write a fiction and poem and her idea can be found in The Yellow Wall Paper as well. In The Yellow Wall Paper, the narrator seems to have her own space and time but she feels like she is imprisoned. What her husband does look like he cares about his wife, but in truth, he ignores her feeling and treats her at his will. I think the status of her husband and her brother worsen the situation. As both John and her brother are a physician of high standing, their opinion on her symptom dominates and leads to ignoring what she feels and wants. Her symptom gets worse but John thinks that his wife is improving.   

I think both Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Stetson well describes many women’s circumstance in late 19^th and early 20^th century. Many women had less power and freedom than men and women tend to have a less access to education and lack of financial support. I think this gap creates intense difference between two sex. In The Yellow Wall Paper, the status of John and narrator’s brother, the prominent physician, make narrator less powerful and less freedom. I think this unequal status between her and her husband, and lack of freedom that she had was the main cause of her illness.

Support is Big

I think Virginia Woolf’s idea of “a room of one’s own” is not the only things women writers need because in the Yellow wallpaper the narrator has money and a quiet room. She clearly has something wrong with her psychologically but it is not being treated properly by locking her into a room by herself with her thoughts. It is actually making her go crazy and is not able to express herself in any form of expression yet alone literature. “I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal—having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition.”(Stetson pg. 648) This shows that she wants to write but without the support of her husband and brother she finds it to be rather difficult. So I would add to Virginia Woolf’s idea that some women also need support from their family. The yellow wallpaper directly challenges Woolf’s idea and tries to show that there should be a couple of other additions added to make it fit a wider audience of women writers. Woolf’s idea is not wrong but it is not the whole truth behind being a successful women writer.

A Room of One's Own and The Yellow Wallpaper

It is true that other writers in this unit—Women and Literary History all agreed with Woolf’s idea that women should have their own free, private, secure and comfortable space. In The Yellow Wallpaper, a woman was prisoned and forbade working by her husband. Then she lost her mind and became depression. The yellow wallpaper in her room is represented for the physical and mental prison of female in the society. From Borderlands, “Culture is made by those in power-men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them”. Generally speaking, we lived in a male-dominant society. Males always play the most important roles in any fields and any period of time. Females are always controlled by men power. The woman in The Yellow Wallpaper lives under the control of her husband, John. She tried to get rid of the control of her husband. However, she cannot. It seems her husband treated her well, in fact, her husband did not care about her feeling. Women usually did not have the privilege as to share equal human rights and freedom as men did. However, women also have the ability to think and write independently as an individual, not just be considered as the property of their husbands. Both Woolf and The Yellow Wallpaper advocate that women should have equal human rights as males do.

Woolf, Silko, and the Perception of Women

It's no secret that the other writers from this unit would agree with Virginia Woolf's basic theme in A Room of One's Own-- that women's freedoms have been restricted. It's a prevalent phenomenon across both cultures and time periods, and feminist writers have put great effort into exposing its wrongness, albeit in their own unique ways. Woolf's novel focuses on how women's lack of proper resources have suppressed their creative endeavors, while Leslie Marmon Silko's short story "In the Combat Zone" deals with the physical violence that men often exert upon women. Despite the differing topics, connections to Woolf can be found in Silko's work. Men see women as easy targets, she says, and believe it's within their right to intimidate women, but a rather surprising note is that she doesn't place the blame for this violence solely on men. Consider the following passage:

"Only women can put a stop to the 'open season' on women by strangers. Women are TAUGHT to be easy targets by their mothers, aunts, and grandmothers who themselves were taught that 'a women doesn't kill' or 'a woman doesn't learn how to use a weapon.' Women must learn how to take aggressive action individually, apart from the police and the courts."

This passage immediately makes me think back to Woolf's commentary on Fernham's financial standing. In both cases, there's a perceived "right" way for a woman to live her life that's ultimately detrimental to her being. Moreover, it's a perception that's ingrained in our society and passed down across generations. With Woolf, the phenomenon is explicitly stated: women are limited because they're expected to bear and raise children as well as look after the house. In Silko's case, it's implied, but the message is the same-- that women need not bother with man's work. Gender roles work to reduce and pigeonhole women's societal value in both cases.

If there's a difference in the two arguments, it's with regards to the action that should be taken to correct society's gender disparity. Throughout her novel, Woolf argues that women need to be provided with the resources to flourish. In her mind, the belittling of women should be recognized, and reparations should be arranged accordingly. Silko takes a more direct stance-- she thinks that women need to take hold of their situation and act to blur the divide between men and women. Their solutions may take different forms, but the message contained in them is the same: women are equal beings, and deserve to be recognized and treated as such.

A room of one's own and the yellow wallpaper

In “a room of one’s own”, Virginia Woolf argues that a woman must have money and a room of her own if she intends to write a fiction. The arguments of Woolf represent a feminist thought in 20^th century. She criticized that the society and outer conditions at that time deprived most woman of making some difference in literature. Woolf is more likely to give her arguments with a historical thought. She not only speaks out for the women at that time, but also in a broadly historical viewpoint.

For me, I pretty agree to Woolf’s arguments that a woman needs a private, secure and comfortable space to write. Since actually most women do not have much time of their own, because they have to do much heavy housework. Therefore, they could gradually lose the willing to make some time write a fiction. On the contrary, most men have much more freedom than women.

In “the yellow wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman also comes up with similar arguments like Woolf. The narrator in the book was tortured by a psychology disease which was actually worsened because of the inequality relationship between her husband and herself. However, her husband who is a famous physician tried to “cure” her by his own idea without asking her advice, which is the reflection of the male-dominated culture at that time. Even though, the narrator has her own room and she is also in a rich family, but actually she does not really have her own “room” where to do something she intends to do, like writing. Since, the narrator cannot even choose the wallpaper in her room. Besides, the yellow wallpaper can indicate that women suffer inequality and oppression from the society and outer conditions. In my opinion, the room should be like what Woolf argues that is actually a symbol of freedom which is not belong to women at that time.

Yellow Wallpaper and A room of ones' room

In the Yellow Wall Paper, the author had depression after giving birth. Her husband made her have rest in an old house. His made daily plan for her and treated her as a child. The author could not do whatever she want and could not write and see her child. She was imprisoned in a room with yellow wall paper. I think this is sexual discrimination and male chauvinism.

In a room of one's room, Woolf had the same unfair experiences. When Woolf wanted to go to library, the administrator told she that she needed have the accompany by a male staff to get into library. There is sexual discrimination. In the yellow wallpaper, the author realized the behavior of women can not be controlled by public policy. She needs to fight back to have real freedom. But in Woolf 's opinion, woman need to have money and room to write a book. I do not agree Woolf's opinion. I think the most important thing is that fight back the discrimination. The discrimination is the main problem. If women have enough money and room to write, their work can not be valued due to discrimination.

Women's right and freedom to write

In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf mentioned money as the primary element that prevents women from having a room of their own, which means having money is extremely important. Since women do not own power, their creativity has been limited throughout the ages. “Intellectual freedom depends upon material things. Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom. And women have always been poor, not for two hundred years merely.” She uses this quotation to explain why so few women have written successful poetry. She insisted that the novel writing is more easily to starts and stops frequently, therefore, since women must deal with frequent interruptions because of disturbing of losing a room of their own in which they can write, they are more likely to write novels than poetry. Therefore, without money, women will always be in the second place to their creative male counterparts, which indicted that at the time of Woolf’s writing, women were less successful writers.

In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, the woman is also confined in a room. However, Stetson she considered a room of one’s own is limited and belittling instead of creative, private, and free as Woolf did. But they both agree that women are oppressed when they are writing. The woman in Yellow Wallpaper is in this depressed situation. She loved writing but his husband prevented her from writing. “There comes John, and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word.” This story shows that women are robbed of opportunity both professionally and socially because of societal norms, and emphasized on the weakness of women’s voice and the unfairness between two genders in the society at that time, further appealed for the equality.

We see a common thread throughout the text. I believe that it is best highlighted with a line from Borderlands “Culture is made by those in power- men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them”- Anzaldúa. The texts that we have looked at over the past few weeks seem to raise issue to the fact that the (white) male holds power over women. They  make the rules that women must follow. In a room of one's own Woolf is  really advocating for women’s rights and equality. Equal protections, equivalent education,  and a place to write. These were rights afforded to men in the day, but the same could not be said for women. Women were having to hide what they were doing, by writing in secret like the female character in the yellow wallpaper. She was having to hide her writing from her husband, for if she were caught he could conclude that she was to smart and seeked an education. The male thought of the time was that an educated women served little good around the house, they would no longer be able to focus on the daily house tasks.

These writings were in protest to the current or common thought that women were there to serve, and had no use forming opinions. These texts in fact show quite the opposite, women were seeking out education and self fulfillment. They were writing novels and short stories in spite of the men who wished they wouldn't. These women had a story to tell and in the process have inspired many, I’m sure, to follow.

Is it "your room" if you cannot get out?

Recently, there was a novel titled "room" in where a mother and her child were trapped in a room for countless years before they finally escaped. The only bit of freedom they had to the outside world was a small window that allowed them to see daylight. This is a clear example of confinement. But is this situation mirrored in both "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "A Room of One's Own"? I would argue that the limited freedoms of the characters in both the yellow wallpaper and a room of one's own are very similar to that of the book "room". Of course, in the yellow wallpaper, it is similar in the fact that she is actually put in a room, but in A room of one's own, it is similar in that she describes that women cannot begin to write fiction unless they have their own room, one that belongs only to them so that they can write and be free. While in The yellow wallpaper, the woman does have a room, but it is monitored by her husband and at one point she even mentions that he wouldn't want her to write.

While women in Woolf's writing aren't physically trapped like The Yellow Wallpaper, their limited freedom of expression can make it seem that way. Women ate differently, women had different rules, women were treated like an entirely different group of people. Finally, at the end of The Yellow Wallpaper, John walks in to the room with all of the wallpaper scratched down and his wife says "I've got out at last [...] and I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!". To me, this physical confinement can mean many things. She has finally "escaped" being in the room, yes, but she has also escaped being under her husband's finger. Her physical confinement begins to feel like something much bigger because she begins to go insane. If women in Woolf's essay were treated the same way in that it almost felt as if they were locked up- how did they not go insane as well? Whether you have a room or not doesn't matter as much as who put you there. Did you go into the room to be alone and write what you please, or were you put there by a husband, or society, to limit your freedom and keep you from being heard. Although being locked in a room may seem more severe than keeping women from writing fiction, in the end they both drive women into the ground.

Woolf & Stetson on Women's Rights

On the whole, I do support Woolf’s idea that women are in need of “private, secure, comfortable spaces to write from.”  However, I believe that this idea should be extended to something larger.  I believe Woolf was trying to communicate a bigger message, which is that women should have the same common rights as men.  Throughout Virginia Woolf’s writing, in particular A Room of One’s Own, a reader can understand her advocacy for women’s rights in the early 20^th century. 

In Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s The Yellow Wallpaper, we can see Woolf’s thesis being supported throughout the text.  Stetson describes the story of a woman that ultimately depicts the oppression women faced during this time period.  Considering Woolf’s thesis, and the extension of this thesis that I described in the first paragraph, Stetson’s depiction of the oppressed women in the 19^th century can be seen as supportive towards Woolf’s advocacies. 

To more accurately support this argument, I have pulled a short line from a scene towards the end of The Yellow Wallpaper that describes the scene in which the narrator is feeling oppression from Jennie and John:

“He asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind.

As if I couldn’t see right through him!” (pg. 655)

These two lines, and the greater setting of this scene, accurately describes the oppression women faced during the 19^th century in that the reader can witness the female narrator express inferiority being provoked onto her.  While treatment of the narrator throughout this scene and the entire short story could be defended by the fact that she is “sick,” these thoughts by the female narrator accurately recount an oppressed situation for females in this time, regardless of whether or not she is sick. 

To again reiterate the extension of this thesis, all people—no matter their age, ethnicity, writing experience, etc.—should have the same common rights as one another.  Today, I would argue that Woolf’s thesis, and my extension of this thesis, is present throughout most American and European cultures. 

A room of creativity or a room of confinement?

In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf introduces us to her idea that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." She explains that a woman needs a space of her own to express her creative freedom if she is to write. Additionally, by the end of the book her ‘little idea’ about women needing a space of their own is connected to history, politics, sexuality, and society.

In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, the woman is confined in a room. Rather than seeing a room as imaginative, creative, private, and free as Woolf, Stetson she argues that a room of one’s own is limited and belittling. However, Woolf argues that woman do not have a room of their own because they are oppressed by society – they cannot enter certain libraries, they do not eat the same food as men - and to be truly happy they need money and time as men have. Stetson’s woman is far from being ‘oppressed.’ She is well off financially, she has many people working for her and taking care of her, she is a wealthy person that has everything Woolf says is necessary to thrive but yet she is still completely unhappy and victimized.

So the question is do woman need a private, secure and comfortable place to write from? The ides overlap on one theme. Women are societally and personally oppressed when it comes to writing.

“There comes John, and I must put this away, -he hates to have me write a word” (649).

The woman’s in Stetson book is not ‘supposed’ to write similar to the Woolf’s idea that women have been historically and systematically denied to the right to write comparative to men. However, the reason Stetson’s woman cannot write is because she is experiencing “a slight hysterical tendency” (648) as described by her husband, who is a physician of high standing. Her husband symbolizes science, rationality, reality, and the proper way to do and think of things throughout the book. So the read is left to believe the woman is fortunate to have her own room to heal but the isolation may be exasperating the sickness. Woolf argues that this secure place is essential, and Stetson writes that an isolated room might lead to more issues.

“The front pattern does move -and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!” (654).

The woman in Stetson’s writing has been isolated in the room with the yellow wallpaper for so long that she becomes obsessed and proprietary of the wallpaper. In the exert above, the woman personifies the wallpaper. In her mind, the wallpaper is alive. This challenges Woolf’s believe that a secure room would lead to creativity and the chance to truly and fully express one’s ideas. However, for Stetson there is no creativity or free flowing expression or even writing. There is only the wallpaper. The wallpaper is the one thing the woman fixates on and becomes obsessed with. Stetson challenges Woolf’s claim that a secure room leads to creativity and happiness. Stetson’s secure and individual room may have led to depression and cultural hysteria.

Woolf and Stetson’s books might agree that historically women are oppressed when it comes to writing. Woolf cannot find literature about women or by women and is not given the same writes as the men; Stetson is unable to write because her husband disapproves. However, they clash in the fact that Woolf believes if you have money, time, and a free space to write that you should be perfectly happy to exercise your creativity and therefore write. The Yellow Wallpaper contradicts this belief and tells the reader that a room of one’s own can lead to a certain type of hysteria.

The question remains pertaining to gender and how gender is actually playing a role in The Yellow Wallpaper. Gender has so much to do with social class, money and power. Is the husband’s diagnosis of sickness for his wife about being sick or is it about being a woman. I believe he truly believes she is sick but by isolating her and treating her, as she is sick is only making the sickness worse. I wonder how he would treat a patient if it were male.