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Maeve Hammond
AP Literature and Composition
Mrs. Rutan
10 March 2014


Control (and a lack-thereof) Presented in Anti-Feminist Literature

Introduction: How The Yellow Wallpaper and The Handmaids Tale Are Related to Control
Relationships can be defined by control: when two people meet, animalism can kick in,
and the fight to be the alpha over someones beta commences. However, sometimes the
dominant and inferior roles of a relationship can be predetermined even before a relationship
begins. In two control-based pieces of literature, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins-
Gillman and The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, female protagonists Jane and Offred,
respectively portray controland a lack-thereof. Both characters are predisposed to
subordination solely based on their gender. The settings of both stories are during an anti-
feminist societal period, in which equality between sexes does not prevail; in effect, men
domineer women in every relationship. However, Perkins-Gillman and Atwood present their
literature as cautionary tales through examples of oppression, gender roles, and rebellion.

The Yellow Wallpaper: Limited Controls Correlation to Mental Health/Deterioration
In The Yellow Wallpaper, author Charlotte Perkins Gillman stresses the idea that a lack of
control and expression incites mental deterioration. After protagonist Janes husband, John, sees
her behavior of temporary nervous depression (Perkins Gillman, 1) as societally unacceptable,
he declares himself her absolute caretaker to monitor and order every aspect of Janes life.
Subsequently, he enforces Janes treatment by forbidding her to work, prohibiting expression
through writing, and locking her away from society and her own autonomy in a childs nursery


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where the windows are barred (Perkins Gillman, 2). Additionally, John barricades Jane from
her newborn child, and she develops nervous troubles (Perkins Gillman, 2) that resemble post-
partum depression. Janes isolation from society makes her feel dreadfully depress[ed]
(Perkins Gillman, 2) and provokes suicidal thoughts (Perkins Gillman, 2), as she says life
without control slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you like a bad
dream (Perkins Gillman, 6). Jane lost her sanity after she began to hallucinate a faint figure
behind [the wallpaper that] seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out (Perkins
Gillman, 5). At the end of The Yellow Wallpaper, Jane convinces herself she actually is the
woman behind the wallpaper, as she succumbs her overruling mental disorderand her
husbandand realizes the figures entrapment has paralleled her own life and relationship with
John.

The Handmaids Tale: Patriarchal Control Reflects Mixing Government and Religion
Patriarchal control is also demonstrated in The Handmaids Tale; however, author
Margaret Atwood moves away from The Yellow Wallpapers dominance of men in one
relationship to implementing this dystopian idea throughout an entire culture. A womans worth
in The Handmaids Tale setting, Gilead, is based on fertility, socioeconomic class, and
virtuousness based on ultra-conservative Protestant Christianity. Theocratic leaders in Gilead
determine what women wear, how they act, and with whom they have children. The government
recruits Offred to be a Handmaid, or a two-legged womb (Atwood, 136) forced to procreate
with a Commander, or a highly ranked man in society. Women are extremely devalued and seen
as walking containers [with] only the insides of [their] bodies that are important (Atwood, 96).
Colloquial of The Handmaids Tale help to establish subjectivity Gileads women endure, as the


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word handmaid in the Bible refers to a female slave that demonstrates self-depreciation in
the presence of great men (Handmaid, n.d.). Offred isnt allowed to own property, work
outside of the home, refuse anything men say, or even readAtwood uses satirical tone to say
book is an incendiary device: who knows what wed make of it, if we [women] ever got our
hands on it? (Atwood, 87) Atwoods reason for this extreme form of patriarchal control is to
portray how detrimental mixing religion with government is: by picking-and-choosing archaic
and misinterpreted rules about womens servility and submissiveness towards their husbands,
equality for all people cannot occur.

The Yellow Wallpaper and The Handmaids Tale:
Using Control to Enforce Stereotypical Gender Roles
Both authors of these anti-feminist pieces of literature stress that different degrees of
control between men and women correlate to the enforcement of stereotypical gender roles. Jane
and Offred are placed into one vague category of women, instead of being considered for who
they really are: individual human beings. For example, Janes depression is dismissed solely
because she is a woman. John thinks Janes mental instability is caused by a slight hysterical
tendency (Perkins Gillman, 1); blatantly put, Johns connotation of depressive behavior is
linked directly to the female gender, as hysteria stems from the word uterus (Traniello, n.d.).
Additionally, Offred is a subject of objectification, even during rebellion of Gileads men.
Higher ranking men let off steam by attending a Jezebels, a prohibited club, in which non-
Handmaid women are waitresses and prostitutes for these men. The men act as if the club is
liberation for both women and men; however, it actually objectifies women, as they are forced to
wear skimpy outfits, super high-heels, and be escorts. When Offreds Commander takes her to


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Jezebels, he is showing [her] off (Atwood, 236) to the other men at the club to review [her]
breasts, [her] legs, as if theres no reason why they shouldnt (Atwood, 236). Offred is not a
personshe is a prize.

The Yellow Wallpaper and The Handmaids Tale:
Subjection Leads to Rebellion and Resistance
Perkins Gillman and Atwood also emphasize what can occur when there is inequality and
an immurement of independence: rebellion and resistance. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Jane makes
small defiance against the tyranny of her husband: when John is away all day there is nothing
to hinder [her from] writing (Perkins Gillman, 2), and she runs out of her room to walk along a
long road under the trees, creeping along, and when a carriage comes along she hides under the
blackberry vines (Perkins Gillman, 8). Janes small dosage of freedom makes her realize how
dictating John really is and how he pretended to be very loving and kind as if [she] couldnt
see through him (Perkins Gillman, 8). In effect, the marriage between Jane and John promptly
desecrates as consequence to Janes rebellion. In The Handmaids Tale, Offred encounters the
Mayday (Attwood, 202) organization, which builds resistance against Gileads theocracy to
help women escape their lives as Handmaids along the Underground Female Road (Attwood,
301). However, Attwood describes the repercussions rebellion can lead to: people who are
caught breaking theocratic rules set in society are hanged or taken captive.

Conclusion: Both Excess and Limited Amounts of Control Are Detrimental to Society
Both excess and limited amounts of control are detrimental to society. Democracy
regarding government or interpersonal relationships is not presented in either of these pieces of


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literature. Anti-feminist literature is not only a representation of inequality between sexes, but
also symbolic of other forms of discrimination that are still prevalent in society. The Yellow
Wallpaper and The Handmaids Tale serve as warnings for future generations if the acceptance
of inequality still prevails: with excess control, there is always repression and resistance.

Literature Cited:
Atwood, Margaret. The handmaid's tale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986. Print.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The yellow wallpaper. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, 1899.
Print.
Traniello, Vanessa, n.d. "Hysteria and the Wander Womb." Abstract. MU, n.d. Web. 7 Mar.
2014. <http://academic.mu.edu/meissnerd/hysteria.html>.