A Struggle for Power :: Research Papers

A Struggle for PowerWomen in Western society have been expected todo what men and their hubbys strike of them with noquestioning of authority popular twentieth-centurydepictions of the nuclear family show the bread-winninghusband governing what his submissive wife does and doesnot do. A conflict over matrimonial authority is found in CharlottePerkins Gilmans The chicken Wallpaper, where the narrator isbattles the pressures of several authorities which notwithstandingtuallylead to her breakdown. If there is no balance in a marriage andone partner has total authority, then that marriage becomesnothing more than an institution within which the obedientpartner is a prisoner. An analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper inthe context of Phillip K. Zimbardos prison experiment 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 YellowWallpa perthe most obvious being her husband, gutter. 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 perfectly fine afterwriting, she tells herself that she is weary because lavatory hasforced the idea into her head. She says, I sometimes fancythat in my condition if I had less opposition and more societyand stimulusbut John says the very worst 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 are resembling 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 repulseinto 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 routine andsimple activities such as writing letters, smoking a cigaretteor even going to the toilet this elicited from them a childlikedependency (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 pains to control myselfbefore him, at least (Gilman