Essay on Narrator and Point of View in Yellow Wallpaper and Story of an

Narrator and Point of View in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour Both Gilmans and Chopins stories are, in effect, stories of women who feel confine by the men in their lives. Gilman uses first mortal narration to reveal a womans creeping loss of reality to her readers, while Chopin allows us to experience the blessedness Louise Mallard felt upon hearing of her husbands death through and through third person narration. Interestingly, neither story would have been able to reveal either womans psyche to conflict the reader as successfully as both did had their individual narrations been attempted through another form. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilmans point of view is expressed through first person narration, which provides her readers with brief glimpses into the other characters perception of her and her perceptions of them (which essentially enlightens readers), as well as the main characters active dissemination of what is occurring in her mind. First person narratio n can at times be considered biased or naive within the context of their perceptions and projections of other characters. Not so with the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper. She seems to offer an almost unbiased perspective of husband illusion, which the reader notes from the beginning as she goes back and forth from justifying his attitude and behavior towards her--Dear John He loves me dearly, and hates to have me sick (324)--to eventually becoming mistrustful of him The fact is I am getting a microscopical afraid of John (326). star ends up viewing John as completely oblivious yet superior in his lackadaisical attitude and treatment of his wife. Therefore one has little sympathy for John in the end (which I believe is also intended), when he finally realize... ...r V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Prentice-Hall Inc. Simon Schuster/ A Viacom Company, 1998. 542-553. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper Ed. Catherine Lavender The C ollege of Staten Island of the City University of New York, Fall Semester, Oct. 1997. (25 Jan 1999) http//www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/whyyw.html McChristie, Pat. Women Need to Work procure 1998. Cyberwoman (30 Jan 1999) http//www.cyberparent.com/women/needwork.htm Wyatt, Neal Biography of Kate Chopin English 384 Women Writers. Ed. Ann M. Woodlief Copyright 1998, Virginia Commonwealth University. (26 Jan. 1999) http//www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/katebio.htm Why are Women Leaving Marriage in Droves? Marriage. Copyright 1998. Cyberwoman (30 Jan 1999) http//www.cyberparent.com/women/marriage1.htm