The Yellow Paper & A Rose of Emily: Compare & Contrast

The story “The Yellow Paper” has been composed by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in which he has described different themes such as Feminism, control, and loneliness. The story explains around a narrator and her husband John. The story mainly highlights the feminist discourse in a patriarchal society that is a community where males dominate and where women are considered as private property. Here a woman is not usually allowed to start her professional career and is forced to nurture her children and protect her husband’s home. The narrator was also suppressed by her husband who didn’t pay any attention to her passion for writing and creativity. So the narrator was very demotivated and was considered herself as a prisoner who is concentrated to a location and is not permitted to move or act freely according to her will. The wallpaper also highlights the story of a woman who seeks liberty and freedom. Indeed, the narrator considers herself lonely like that woman of the wallpaper however she believes in morality and still has love and affection for her husband that shows her loyalty towards her man despite the fact she was not permitted and cooperated to live on her own way.      

The stories “Barn Burning” and “A Rose of Emily” have been composed by William Faulkner. In the first story, William has described the story of a family that was struggling for their living during the post-civil war period. The family was headed by Abner who was the leader of the Snoops family and was engaged in burning barns to show the aggressiveness in his behavior. However, his son who was a young boy was tranquil and a loving human being by nature and strongly believed in morality, ethics, and justice. Abner’s son considered his father’s activities as absolutely unethical and immoral. He viewed his father as a felon and was concerned with whether to live with a dishonest family or to follow the instructions of his conscience which repeatedly directed and guided him about the difference between right and wrong. Of course, the story describes the themes of anger and alienation within a child who possessed the attributes of fortitude and courage in himself and who was striving to reach a route that he could follow for his entire life.      

“A Rose for Emily’s” is a story that has used ‘Symbolism’ and it revolves around the main theme of finding affection, love, and protection to make oneself emotionally satisfied.  Faulkner’s use of symbolism profoundly develops the theme of the story, bringing to light the issues of morality that arise from a young woman’s struggle to find love.

So the three stories have one particular theme in common and that theme is about love, morality, and courtesy. In conclusion, the three stories although portray three different situations yet they show that Morality is a basic human need that must be fulfilled to achieve a decorum in one’s own life and that leads to adding colors and brightness in life of every other person.    

References:

 Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper”

 Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily”

 Faulkner, William. “Barn Burning”