Homework Question on Domestic Prison
The following are essay questions and answers, it is a one page response use examples and quotes to support your argument.
Several stories we read for this week had to do with women imprisoned in the domestic sphere. Choose two of the three stories we read and compare how the authors used the symbol of the domestic prison to convey a theme.
- How is the domestic prison represented?
- What symbolism is associated with it?
- Is “escape” possible for the characters who are imprisoned? If so, how does one escape?
Please use textual evidence to support your claims.The stories we read were:
1. Story if an hour- by Kate Chopin
2. The yellow wallpaper- by charlotte gilman
3. Trifles- by susan glaspell
4. Hills like white elephants- by ernest hemingway
Homework Answer on Domestic Prison
Men used to define and assign roles to women prior to the 20th century. Men perpetrated an ideological prison to silence women. Indeed, the ideology, known as Cult of True Womanhood, supported or rather legitimized women victimization. Cult of Purity and Cult of Domesticity were the major tenets allied to the Cult of True Womanhood. Women used to be imprisoned in the private spheres or homes, a servant supposed to attend to the requirement of the family. Men also used religion to insure docility and passivity of women. In fact, religion used to pacify all women desires that caused deviation from the set standards. Submission, on the other hand depicted dependence and vulnerability on a patriarchal head.
The medical godlike attitude for profession in “The Yellow Wallpaper” clearly depicts the aforementioned arrogance. For instance, The Rest cure as prescribed by Dr. Weir Mitchell, demonstrates the disparaging attitudes of men (Trinastic 89-97). The yellow wallpaper symbolizes the Cult of True Womanhood. It binds women to family and home. Indeed, women were supposed to behave based on certain parameters. Men, the other hand, were supposed to determine the parameters. In the play “Trifles”, the imprisonment of women is demonstrated via the plight of Minnie Wright who has been imprisoned in her marriage. Despite being rich, she has been pressured in her home by the husband Johnwright whom Hale, the neighbor found dead (Glaspell 79-88).