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Madison Lewandowski

Mr. Koroshec

English 111, Period 1

9 March 2017

The Silent Calls for Freedom

Freedom is a word that many people use lightly. We live in America, where the stripes

and stars on our flag alone represent freedom, yet through analyzing these stories, its become

clear that freedom doesnt come as easily as a flag to everyone; women in particular. Two

specific stories called this to attention: Kate Chopin wrote about about an elderly lady

anticipating her husbands death, who falls dead when she found him alive, and Charlotte

Perkins explored the topic of a woman painfully going insane due to the captivity that was forced

upon her by her husband. Both Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour and Charlotte Perkins

Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper expose systemic patriarchal oppression and the need for a

women to break free through the use of character development, symbolism, and irony.

The first way Chopin demonstrates a need for freedom in Story of an Hour is through

characterizing Mr. Mallard, through Mrs. Mallards voice, to be controlling of his wife. Although

Chopin does not abruptly say this, it is implied in the way the main character subconsciously

thinks about him and reacts to him being alive when she thought he was dead. Chopin

states,There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for

herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men

and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature, (Chopin,

101). Through this hopeful tone, it became apparent that Mrs. Mallard had a sense of relief when
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she got the news about him passing away, implying that she felt her husband was consuming her

of her power.

Similarly, in The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman uses a similar tactic to depict the

dominating male figure. In this story, the husband is quite obviously dominating and controlling

the relationship with his wife. He does this by misdiagnosing her medical condition,

manipulating her thoughts, and making her feel useless through constricting any power she still

had left. Although a shallow solution to come to is that it was Janes mental illness that made her

mentally insane, evidence points to her overpowering husband as the leading cause. Gilman

writes, I did write for a while in spite of him; but it does exhaust me a good dealhaving to be

so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition, (Giman, 151). This statement by Jane not

only expresses the amount of control John had over Jane, but also shows how passive Jane was

about changing it. By trying to take away one of Janes only forms of expression, it left her

feeling useless and deprived of her freedom; yet she seemed too brainwashed to do anything

about it.

In a similar way, Chopin uses symbolism, in Story of the Hour, to portray a message to

the reader. The the story focussed in front of an open window with Mrs. Mallard standing in

front of it, looking out at the world outside of her room, imagining her possibilities, and yet

being trapped inside. This open window symbolizes the freedom that Mrs. Mallard was never

able to have. The fresh air and and beautiful surroundings represent the concealed excitement of

independence that Mrs. Mallard was subconsciously looking forward to. This is demonstrated

when Chopin states, She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that

were all aquiver with the new spring of life.[...] There were patches of blue sky showing here and
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there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing window,

(Chopin, 99). The open square, new spring, and endless sky create a visual for the new

possibilities and freedom that Mrs. Mallard was becoming hopeful of.

In an almost identical symbol, Gilman in The Yellow Wallpaper allows the readers to

consider the barred windows. Instead of these windows symbolizing freedom, like Chopins

example, the metal bars set along them represent captivity and being controlled. Similar to a

prison, it creates a distinct disconnect between the life Jane was living and reality. It suggests

that regardless of how hard she tries, she will never be able to escape her own insanity and find

her own freedom. I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the

window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong to even try, (Gilman, 166).

This sentence perfectly symbolized Janes relationship with her husband. She desperately wants

freedom, yet she fears what might happen if she asks for it.

In addition to characterization and symbolism, both authors demonstrate a particular use

of irony in the ending of their stories. Chopin in The Story of an Hour describes an almost

unrealistic reaction that Mrs. Mallard has when she saw her husband alive after she had thought

he was dead. Yet, moments before her fainting, she comes to an epiphany that she seems to have

known all along but was afraid to admit to herself. She realizes that the relationship she had with

her husband had been controlling her because she had been more happy about gaining freedom

from him than she is sad about him dying. Chopin writes, When the doctors came they said she

had died of heart diseaseof the joy that kills, (Chopin, 101). Although it is apparent that she

didnt die out of joy, and of a heart disease (which is yet another ironic aspect of love), the

doctors are so quick to jump to the conclusion of her being so helplessly happy that she falls
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dead. This adds onto the patriarchal standpoint because, the doctors, who were male, couldn't

possibly consider any other reason that Mrs. Mallard passed out after seeing her husband.

The irony in The Yellow Wallpaper happens when the husband walks in to find Jane

creeping around the room, dragging her nails along the walls, and he faints in shock. Yet after he

faints, Jane continues creeping around the room, and stepping over his body each time. The

significance is that even so slight, Jane was put into the more powerful position here. The story

ends with her, still mentally insane, creeping over her husband's motionless body, and her feeling

less captivated than before: Now why should the man have fainted? But he did and right across

my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time! (Gilman, 167). Jane states that

she had to creep over him as if she didnt have a choice, yet her enthusiasm in this quote

suggests that Jane wanted nothing more than to creep over the heap that her husband had

become. Although her mind was foggy and distorted, it was the first time in the story where Jane

felt powerful. The irony here is that her power gain came at the expense of her sanity.

Through these stories, both Gilman and Chopin clearly demonstrated the importance of

acknowledging systemic patriarchal oppression through describing the desperate need for

freedom and ignorance of the men depriving them of it. These stories address and reach out to

the obliviousness of many men in this world today dealing with similar situations. Neither of

these women knew to ask for help when the needed it, and as a result, one ended up mentally

insane while the other ended up dead. By leading through poor example, this also has a subtle

call to action to any women who feel trapped in controlling relationships to ask for help before

the situation progresses into something worse. Hopefully in doing so, these calls for freedom will

be heard.
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Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. Seagull Reader: Stories. 3rd ed. Ed. Joseph Kelly. New

York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2015. 99-101. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. Seagull Reader: Stories. 3rd ed. Ed. Joseph

Kelly. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2015. 151-167. Print.