Assignment for The Yellow Wallpaper
Directions: In this assignment, you will be examining Gilman’s commentary of women’s right through the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
Steps:
1. Read a short history of the women's movement at Brief history of women's movement". Additionally, Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "Declaration of Sentiments," from the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, reads: "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world." Some of Stanton's specific points include the following:
· Women were not allowed to vote
· Women had to submit to laws when they had no voice in their formation
· Husbands had legal power over and responsibility for their wives to the extent that they could imprison or beat them with impunity
· Most occupations were closed to women and when women did work they were paid only a fraction of what men earned
· Women were not allowed to enter professions such as medicine or law
· Women had no means to gain an education since no college or university would accept women students
· Women were robbed of their self-confidence and self-respect, and were made totally dependent on men
2. Fill out the Active Reading Chart for the story, "The Yellow Wallpaper"
3. After filling out the chart, answer the following question using evidence from the text as support for your claim.
What does Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" suggest about middle-class women's place and role(s) in this society?
Assignment adapted from : EDSITEment!: The Best of the Humanities on the Web.