Gary Gammon
Dan Anderson
English 123
June 28, 2010
Feminist Themes in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Hills Like White Elephants"
While reading Ernest Hemmingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" and Charlotte Perkins
Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," it is hard not to see a connection in the roles that women take
in relationships and society. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the most obvious theme of women's
subordination in relationships and society is shown by the way John, the narrator's husband,
treats the narrator. More subtly, in "Hills Like White Elephants," the American man attempts to
coerce his younger female companion, Jig, to go through with an abortion that she would rather
not get. By looking at both of these stories together, it is easy to see that they share a common
theme relating to the role women had in relationships and society in this era of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story told from the point of
view of a woman who seems to be experiencing post partum depression, which she describes as
"temporary nervous depression" (16) in the story, about her descent into insanity. This is caused
by her husband, John's prescription of what is known as the resting cure to her in order to fix her
depression. This so called cure consisted of laying around in her bedroom and refraining from
any activities, both mental and physical. While this form of a cure for depression sounds
ludicrous to us today, it was actually a common practice for women experiencing depression in
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the 1800's, and in fact Gilman herself we prescribed this "resting cure" in her own life. Knowing
this background information helps tremendously in understanding the main purpose of this story,
which I believe is for Gilman to portray the harm of the resting cure, and more broadly, of the
harm that society's forced subordination of women has on women everywhere.
Gilman uses the narrator to symbolize women as a whole in this story, and portrays her at
the beginning as a smart and imaginative woman who does not in the least bit seem crazy. She
also quickly shows the reader what the narrator's role in her marriage is, in part with the passage:
"I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus-but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it
always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house" (Gilman 17). In this,
it is clear the narrator is unhappy with the "treatment" her husband has prescribed for her, but
because she feels like she is below him due to her gender, she does not challenge his opinions
and instead talks herself into believing he knows better than her. Through this simple character
trait, Gilman personifies the status of the female sex in these times, with lots of imagination and
energy to contribute to society but being forced into domestic roles by men and by conventional
teachings. Again on page 18 we are reminded of John's controlling of the narrator's actions,
when she states, "There comes John, and I must put this away,--he hates to have me write a
word" (Gilman 18). This further illustrates the point that because of John, the narrator is quite
limited, just as women as a whole were limited in the era of the late 1800's and early 1900's in
America.
As the story progresses, and the narrator continues her descent into insanity from laying
around in the room with yellow wallpaper, it becomes clear that the main theme of this story is
that society's forcing of women into roles as beneath men is greatly harming women everywhere.
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Similarly to how the narrator becomes insane due to her inactivity and lack of interaction with
the world outside of her room, women as a whole were being harmed by having to stay in the
homes and forego their dreams and imaginations of their own.
In "Hills Like White Elephants," Ernest Hemmingway uses dialogue masterfully to subtly
convey a conflict going on in a relationship between an American man and his female
companion, Jig. While at no point in time does Hemmingway come out and say that what they
are discussing is an abortion, it becomes clear when carefully examining their conversation. The
American man in the story refers several times to the abortion as the "the operation," such as the
statement, "It's really an awfully simple operation...It's not really an operation at all"
(Hemmingway 150). Later on in the conversation, Jig says, "Doesn't it mean anything to you?
We could get along." to which the American man replies, "Of course it does. But I don't want
anybody but you. I don't want any one else. And I know it's perfectly simple" (Hemmingway
152). Combining these hints, along with other similar subtle references, makes it pretty clear
they are talking about an abortion, and the decision whether or not to have a child.
Through careful inspection of the dialogue in "Hills Like White Elephants," the reader
can not only begin to see that the couple is discussing an abortion, but that the American man is
trying to persuade Jig into getting the operation and she would prefer to have the child. Through
persuasive yet caring remarks, such as "I'll go with you and I'll stay with you all the time. They
just let the air in and then it's all perfectly natural" (Hemmingway 150), the American man seems
like he is almost trying to trick her into doing what he wants. She seems to be saddened by the
situation, but is willing to go through with the abortion if it will make him happy, as she makes
clear several times, including the line, "Then I'll do it. Because I don't care about me"
(Hemmingway 151).
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The American man's attempts to dominate Jig, along with her submissive responses
showcase the typical gender roles in the time of this writing, echoing many of the same traits that
are apparent in Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." Although "Hills Like White Elephants" is
much less obvious in its theme, I believe one of its major themes is the roles these two play in
the relationship, which mimic their genders' respective roles in society. While the American
man is the dominant and controlling member of the relationship, he still acts like he has her best
interests in mind much in the same way as John claimed to have the narrator's best interests in
mind in "The Yellow Wallpaper." Jig also clearly would prefer to keep the baby and settle down
instead of just traveling all the time and trying new drinks, but she seems to be willing to give up
what she wants to please the American man. Similarly to this, the narrator in "The Yellow
Wallpaper" submits to John to make him happy. I believe both of these character roles mimic
the roles of the genders in these times, and the authors use them as parallels to comment on
society's forcing of these roles on women.
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Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Hudson Book Of Fiction. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill, 2002. 16-28.
Hemmingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." The Hudson Book of Fiction. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill, 2002. 149-152.
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