A Struggle for Power :: Research Papers

A Struggle for PowerWomen in Western participation have been expected todo what men and their husbands ask of them with no call into question of countenance popular twentieth-centurydepictions of the nuclear family show the bread-winninghusband governing what his pliable wife does and doesnot do. A conflict over marital authority is found in CharlottePerkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper, where the fibber isbattles the pressures of several regime which eventuallylead to her breakdown. If there is no balance in a marriage andone partner has total authority, then that marriage becomes nothing more than an institution within which the obedientpartner is a prisoner. An analytic thinking of The Yellow Wallpaper inthe context of Phillip K. Zimbardos prison test showsthe tremendous power that ideologies of obedience andauthority have over people, specifically the authority that aman has over his wife, who becomes his prisoner.Many forces control the narrator in The YellowWallpaperthe most obvious being her husband, John. Inthe beginning of the story, she goes along with everythingher husband tells hereven if she does not agree withit. Because he is a physician, she does not go against hisauthority. While she may, in fact, feel absolutely fine afterwriting, she tells herself that she is weary because John hasforced the idea into her head. She says, I sometimes fancythat in my condition if I had less ohmic resistance and more societyand stimulusbut John says the very score thing I can do isto think about my condition, and I confess it always makesme feel bad (Gilman 577). She respects his authority andcomplies with his demands.These actions be similar to those of the students inZimbardos prison experiment who were given the roles ofprisoners and guards in order that scientists could more fullyexamine obedience and authority in prisons. Zimbardo tellsthe reader, Act not, want not, feel not and you will not use upinto trouble in prison-like situations (371). The narratorscompliance with her husbands demands illustrates how sheis similar to a prisoner. Zimbardo says, The prisoners wereforced to obtain permission from the guard for enactment andsimple activities such as writing letters, smoking a fagotor even going to the toilet this elicited from them a adolescentdependency (366). Like these prisoners, Gilmans narratorfeels controlled by her husband and is frustrated by herdependency. She says, I get unreasonably angry with Johnsometimes. Im sure I never used to be so sensitiveBut Johnsays if I feel so angry, I shall neglect proper self-control soI take hurt to control myselfbefore him, at least (Gilman