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Entrapment of women in The Yellow Wallpaper and Mulan
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- Must bear children
- Must keep the house
- Must do as they are told.
- Women are dominated by men since they are privileged by having education, thus can work and make decisions.
- The narrator's desires, mainly to write, do not correspond with the social conventions of the time. Thus, she is forbbiden to practice what she enjoys, which affects her psychologically.
- As she cannot fulfill her role as wife and mother, she is kept inactive until she gets better, only this worsens her situation.
"There comes John, I must put this away, for he
hates to have me write a word"
"It feels so discouraging not to have any advice and
companionship on my work"
At first, she tries to break social rules in secret by writing when her husband is away
Eventually, she publicly defies the role set out for her through her madness. She modifies her reality as she cannot find any other way to escape this situation
- Raised to be wives and mothers
- Must not speak without previous permission, should always be silent.
- Must bear sons
- Must fulfill her house duties
- Must always be respectful, controlled, dignified, refined, and poised.
- She should please not only her husband but also her in-laws.
This entrapment in a specific role
causes frustration and disappointment
in the protagonist,expressed in
the song "Reflection"
Lyrics
Look at me
I will never pass for a perfect bride
Or a perfect daughter
Can it be
I'm not meant to play this part?
Now I see
That if I were truly to be myself
I would break my fam'ly's heart
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me?
Why is my reflection someone
I don't know?
Somehow I cannot hide
Who I am
Though I've tried
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
First defies rules in secret:
- Pretending to be a man and enlisting in the army.
- Running away at night.
- Not informing her family
Later, she will openly defy social conventions dictating how a woman must act.
- Returns to the City to save the Emperor although she has been rejected by the army.
- Fights openly as a woman.
The acceptance of
the Emperor, the Army and society of Mulan shows a change in society and its customs
Conclusion
Plot
The Yellow Wallpaper
The different ideas of freedom from the pressures of society are manifested by each character in a particular way. Mulan manages to sanely fight for her respect and place in a world of men, and successfully earns back her honour. The less fortunate character of The Yellow Wallpaper, however, ends up completely mad, trapped in her own world of fantasy, far away from the pressure imposed by her husband and the people who surround her. She is free to create a world in her head where she can write when and whatever she likes and think whatever crosses her mind without the fear of getting caught.
Mulan
Set in the late IXX century, the story is a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose physician husband has confined her to the upstairs bedroom of a house he has rented for the summer. She is forbidden from working, and has to hide her journal from him, so she can recuperate from what he calls a "temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency," a diagnosis common to women in that period.The story depicts the effect of confinement on the narrator's mental health, and her descent into psychosis. With nothing to stimulate her, she becomes obsessed by the pattern and color of the wallpaper.
Do you think that women nowadays are
entrapped by society into a specific role?
Why? Why not?
Fa Mulan, a rebellious Chinese girl unfit for the typical life of women in her society, decides to fight in the war against the Huns disguised as a man in her father's place, who is an injured veteran. This is a disgrace to her family name, but her strength and bravery help her succeed against the great Attila the Hun and save her country, regaining her family's lost honour and her father's acceptance.