Female Diction

Think of the origin of unlimited power, who obtained it? The “almighty” was represented by rich, white men. Society held women in a perpetual state of confinement by creating a disproportionate amount of fairness among the sexes. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Margaret Atwood both display a woman’s need for expression in their pieces, The Yellow Wallpaper and “Spelling”. Each author paints a picture of the type of women that are disguised within society, but mostly the ones who are considered impractical.
In The Yellow Wallpaper, an allegory by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the woman represents all women suppressed by ideals of civilization. After the woman was diagnosed with “hysteria” by her physician husband, she said, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas…I believe that all congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.” (Pg.1). This quote simply signifies how strong willed she was in the beginning of the story. However, towards the end, she says “I don’t want to. I don’t feel able.” (Pg.7) representing her indifference and showing repression of self. Although seemingly insane due to her personification of the wallpaper in her room, “This paper looks to me as if it knew what vicious influence it had!” (Pg.4), but it merely symbolizes the struggle that women had to break through, in order to use her voice.
Short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, shows irony because of elements such as her room, the wallpaper, and her journal. Her room is separated from everyone else in order to represent the restrain of society. What is ironic about the setting is that it was previously used as a nursery. By evidence, “What is it, little girl?” her husband treats her as though she’s a child- delicately and foolishly. Many aspects of the room for example, the wallpaper, the bars on the windows, and the nails holding the bed exemplify that women had no control over their life decisions, but surely needed that opportunity.
Margaret Atwood expressed her passionate eye for women suffrage in her poem, “Spelling”. Through the element of parallelism, Atwood expresses the way that simple education leads to the development of one’s ideas. This connects to women suffrage because society was afraid of allowing women the open delivery of opinion. Atwood uses symbolic language in the first stanza, “Learning how to spell; Spelling; How to make spells,” disclosing the enchantment of speech. If women were to speak out, their words would have the possibility to captivate crowds and change ideology.
In “Spelling,” the fourth and fifth stanza, “Of the woman caught in the war; & in labour, her thighs tied…So she could not give birth.” and “Ancestress…Her mouth covered by leather; To strangle words,” contains metaphoric language, comparing two different types of women in communities. Yet, they face the same fate. Both are being shackled by the terms of society. Margaret Atwood is plainly articulating the demand for women to use their intelligence, and make a statement.
Men feared the potential in women, therefore acted as though it was nonexistent. In pieces The Yellow Wallpaper and “Spelling,” these female writers succeeded in identifying the issue with women in society, and further revealing the acts that women sometimes took in order to be individual. Women for so long eluded the idea of conformation and others have mistaken it for sickness. Ultimately, men could not hold interminable superiority over a woman’s mind.