Narrator Comparison - Yellow Wallpaper & Rose for Emily

“There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will,”(Gilman 440) said the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper. When society pities a woman and a house is all she has her mental state is at risk. In the story The Yellow Wallpaper a woman is being treated for nervous depression in a house with yellow wallpaper. As the story goes on we watch the narrators obsession with the yellow wallpaper unfold and get the best of her, The woman in A Rose for Emily is a young spirited and hopeful woman named Emily who loses her father and transforms overtime into a sheltered elderly woman who is pitied by her local townspeople, Although Emily and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper are both women who are outsiders of society, there are also many distinctions that identify each woman.

Even though both characters are trapped outside of society inside of a house, they both have different reasons why.

The character Emily in A Rose for Emily isn’t being forced to stay inside of her home.

She is a very mysterious woman who lived life on her own terms after her father’s death. “After her father‘s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all.” (Faulkner 14S) Emily chose not to go out in public much and socialize. Unlike Emily the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper was being forced to stay inside of a marvelous summer home, She is being forced by her husband to stay in this home for treatment for her nervous depression that she has sunk into.

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The narrator once says, “ I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus — but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.”

The narrator wishes she could be more social, but is forced not with her condition by her husband, Emily and the narrator do both stay inside of a house staying away from any socializing, but Emily chose that way of life and the narrator did not. Although Emily and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper are both pitied by family members and society the reasons why are not the same. Emily was left alone after her father’s death in a time where people talked and many of the townspeople felt sorry for her, She was alone for a long Lime until she met a man named Homer Barron, who she was falling in love with and everyone could tell, The townspeople soon began to feel excitement for Emily, but that faded when they never married, Once again the townspeople felt sympathy for her and wished Homer would do the traditional thing and marry Emily. However the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper has a lot of sympathy originating from her husband John. John is a physician and is treating the narrator or his wife for nervous depression.

The narrator is constantly wanting to leave the house she is put in, make changes, or socialize with people outside of the house, John being her doctor doesn‘t let her do any of these things, and does feel sorry for hert The narrator says, “Dear John! He loves me dearly, and hates to have me sick” (Gilman 440) John does not like to see his wife sick and feels sorry for her. The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper and Emily are both pitied by surrounding people in their lives, but for different reasons In contrast the narrator and Emily are mentally unstable but the logistics are a lot different Emily is alone most of her life and does not have a loved one or a friend to mourn her fathers death with. She is left inside of her father’s house the rest of her life with no one to share it with The townspeople are judging and pitying her as she get older and it drives her to the point of killing a man and never leaving the house filled of dust and shadows.

On the contrary the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper went crazy for another reason She was forced to stay in a home with her husband who is her doctor she wasn’t able to socialize she was just mourning over her illness Ayellow wallpaper in the house starts to make the narrator become obsessed and it is all she worries about. Within the three months of her stay in the house the narrator ends up locking herself in the room with the wallpaper and ripping it off, Both women are not mentally stable but the reasons why are not the same. In conclusion both women do have a lot in common. In comparison both Emily and the narrator are inside a big house that no one comes around, both pitied by surrounding people in their lives, and both are mentally ill, Although Emily and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper are both women who are outsiders of society, there are also many distinctions that identify each