"I think of [Charlotte Perkins Gilman] every time I feel trapped in my own sense of freedom gained by marriage to a person with a salaried, stable job, one that allows me to “make my own way,” but also keeps me, in some ways, tied to the domestic labor, or at least the image of traditional marriage and gender roles that come along with that."
Whatever our jobs or roles in our family and community, women seem more destined to experience, at some point in their lives, feelings of being "trapped," or unable to experience total, unbridled freedom in the world. Whether because of motherhood, marriage, the gender pay gap, capitalism, sexism, misogynic violence, or likely some combination of these, the trap feels very real and very inescapable. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is such a timeless depiction of that creeping feeling of insanity that permeates the slow and brutal realization of this.
Revisiting this passage today:
"I think of [Charlotte Perkins Gilman] every time I feel trapped in my own sense of freedom gained by marriage to a person with a salaried, stable job, one that allows me to “make my own way,” but also keeps me, in some ways, tied to the domestic labor, or at least the image of traditional marriage and gender roles that come along with that."
Whatever our jobs or roles in our family and community, women seem more destined to experience, at some point in their lives, feelings of being "trapped," or unable to experience total, unbridled freedom in the world. Whether because of motherhood, marriage, the gender pay gap, capitalism, sexism, misogynic violence, or likely some combination of these, the trap feels very real and very inescapable. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is such a timeless depiction of that creeping feeling of insanity that permeates the slow and brutal realization of this.