Hernandez 1

Javier Hernandez
Mr. Quezada
AP English IV
22 September 2016
Comparative Essay
In present-day society, women are rightfully being seen as equals to their male
counterparts more than ever before. There is still some little minded oppressors that think of
women as inferior to them (and women who view themselves as inferior), but as time progresses
this dreadfully wrong opinion is becoming less prevalent. Though this has not always been the
case. The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, and The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Gilman, are
both examples that exhibit the gender roles and oppression that was imposed on women in the
late 1800s. Both stories have examples of married women (Mrs. Mallard and the unnamed
narrator, respectively) and the oppression given to them by their husbands as well as societys
constraints, isolation, and the sense of freedom that both women from the stories wished for, and
eventually acquired, but not without a cost.
In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard receives news of her husband, Brently Mallard,
demise in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard did not hear the story as many women have heard
the same. This is because besides the initial shock at her husbands death, she had not been sad,
but rather overwhelmed by the news that the holder of her freedom will no longer be in
ownership of it. Later, Mrs. Mallard attempts to leave her house by opening the front door with
a latchkey, Mr. Mallard appears, not deceased, with his grip-sack and umbrella. The

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oppression imposed over Mrs. Mallard by Mr. Mallard and society around her prevented her
escape, even making her use a latchkey from the inside (rather than outside as they are usually
used) to leave her house. Mr. Mallard is described carrying a grip-sack instead of a briefcase or
suitcase to emphasize the grip he has over Mrs. Mallards life. Similarly, in The Yellow
Wallpaper, the narrator tells what one expects that in marriage of a marriage, showing the
expectations society has deemed as correct. Her husband, John, is physician and the one reason
[she does not] get well faster. This irony shows that even though Johns high standing
profession should help her, it makes her worse. The role men had over oppressing the narrator is
further backed up when it is revealed that her brother is also a physician and does not help her
get better, but just dismiss her claims of being sick. In both of the stories, neither of the main
female characters names are revealed. Mrs. Mallards first name is not given, just her name
given by marriage, showing she is just Mr. Mallards property. The narrator in The Yellow
Wallpapers is never even revealed.
Both women in The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper experience an immense
portion of their marriages spent in isolation. Mrs. Mallard spends much of her time in her room
sitting on a comfortable, roomy armchair, staring at her window setting a juxtaposition of
freedom being only inches away from isolation. After being forced to spend her time on her
armchair for so long, she has found the only comfort and sense of space she has in her life. When
Mrs. Mallard needs to process the death of Mr. Mallard, she went away to her room alone and
[had] no one follow her. The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper also spends the majority of her
time in a room that at different points been a nursery, and then playroom and gymnasium. This
can be seen as ironic that the room she spent time in isolation in was at one point a nursery, a
room that would evoke a sense of nurturing, caring, and youth, a playroom, a room that gives a

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sense of joy, carelessness, and youth, and a gymnasium, a room that makes you think of leisure
time and freedom. Further, the windows are barred, sending off a trapped, prison-like feeling.
The room is covered with a smoldering unclean yellow wallpaper that is dull yet lurid orange
in some places and sickly sulphur tint in others. This wallpaper that the narrator has a deep
hatred for eventually becomes something she identifies with due to the long period of isolation
spent being engulfed by it.
Freedom plays a big role with the characters in The Story of an Hour and The Yellow
Wallpaper. Mrs. Mallard spends much of her time sitting on her armchair in order to look
through the open square before her house, observing tops of trees that were all aquiver with
the new spring life and the delicious breath of rain was in the air. This window in which she
[drank the] very elixir of life is her only escape that gives her a sense of freedom. Once Mrs.
Mallard processed the death of Mr. Mallard, she realized the freedom that came with his death,
even chanting free, free, free!" and "Free! Body and soul free!" over and over. This freedom
quickly perishes, along with Mrs. Mallard herself, within the hour of learning of her husbands
death because it turns out he did not die after all. Through death Mrs. Mallard was able to obtain
her freedom, though it was at the cost of her life. The narrator from The Yellow Wallpaper
experiences her freedom (apart from the confinement) through the yellow wallpaper. Her time
spent surrounded by the yellow wallpaper eventually gave her comfort as seen with her saying
but this is a dead paper and a great relief to my mind. With the assistance of the wallpaper, she
was able to freely explore her mind. She eventually found herself in the wallpaper and once this
happened she peeled off all the yellow wallpaper, essentially freeing herself. This freedom, like
Mrs. Mallards, does come with a cost and that cost is her mind as she ends up going insane.

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With the assistance of The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper, an insight of what
it was like for women in the 19th century to have to adhere to the gender roles constructed by
their husbands and society in general, experience confinement, and long for freedom. Through
these similarities, the oppression that women faced was illustrated. These women, like many
others at the time all just wished to be able to say "Free! Body and soul free!"