In the 19th century women were portrayed as fragile, and weak. They were to be classified under men. ‘…we introduce some of the issues women faced at the time: work inside and outside the home; marriage law, domestic violence, and divorce; and the medical treatment of women-‘ (Gilman 519) By this, you can tell how low they were treated and how they were definitely classified under men. This work in the home could be challenging. It consisted of things like cooking, quilting, sewing, and keeping fires going. Water also had to be pumped and carried and laundry was also very tedious. Women were alike in ways that they lived daily. Women did not work, they stayed at home. They took care of the house and chores. This is something that all the women did. Young women were expected to stay at home with their mother and sister and help around the house.
Women are different in today’s time. Women work and also do things around the house. Women go to school, go to college, and get degrees as well as work in factories. Women are also leaders and business owners in our world today. I would say some issues in a way are still relevant to an extent. I believe that people may think less and classify women below men more than we think. Even though we don’t see it everyday, we still hear things about it. Women today are more outspoken and independent, where as they use to do everything with their husbands, or their husbands did it for them. I do see many comparisons in the stories.
They all speak about how they are the ones to take care of the house and if it’s not said it’s implied. In both stories they had health problems. In The Story of an Hour, ‘Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husbands death.’ (Chopin 523) and also in The yellow wallpaper, ‘You see he does not believe I am sick!’ (Gilman 526) If these stories had been set in today’s time, I think that women would have a greater role and be more outspoken. They would have been independent and took care of things themselves. The time period and setting gives the stories the background needed to portray these stories. They fit in with this time period and make a great connection with the storyline.
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