Compare Jane And Emily

Yellow Wallpaper And Rose For Emily Essay, Research Paper

?Jane and Emily?

Jane in ?The Yellow Wallpaper? and Emily in ?A Rose for Emily? were two women who were both driven to insanity by similar factors. Both women had very controlling men in their lives that greatly limited their social lives, causing the two women to suffer tremendously from loneliness. Jane and Emily also lived in very unhealthy environments; therefore, their home and town were not represented as secure places for the two women to grow and prosper.

John?s ability to control Jane?s every move is only one cause of Jane?s madness. Because she is locked in an ?atrocious nursery?, she has no outside stimulation. John refuses to let his wife write in her journal, get out of bed, or even have visitors. Jane disagrees with the ?rest cure?, but is afraid to tell John how she feels. Since John is her husband and also a doctor, Jane puts her complete faith in him, just as Emily did in her father, and is eventually driven to insanity.

Emily also had men in her life, such as her father and Homer, who both played a major part in her eventual lead to madness. Growing up in a wealthy family, the Griersons, led Emily to having a very lonely childhood. Her father was an extremely controlling man who wanted his ?little girl? all to himself. He felt that Emily was too good to associate with anyone else in the town. Like Jane, Emily had no outside stimulus. Emily?s father thought, ?None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily.? ?Miss Emily was a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip.? This statement represents Emily?s father?s ability to stand between his daughter and any intruder who may be capable of taking his daughter away from him. Emily is dressed in white, the sigh of purity and innocence, while her father is positioned in a sturdy, unmoving stance. After Emily?s father?s death, she begins to depend on Homer. As soon as she begins to feel that she has somewhat of a replacement for her father, Homer disappears for weeks at a time, like Jane?s husband who frequently departs to business trips. Miss Emily feels that she is going to be left alone; therefore, she kills Homer when he returns. This action enables her to be with his rotten corpse.

Jane and Emily both spent very trying times in an unsuitable environment. While Jane was suffering from ?temporary nervous depression,? she was locked in a house that she declares is haunted and claimed that there is ?something queer about it.? She is locked in a room that resembles an insane asylum and is not allowed to have any company. Her bed is nailed down, the walls are covered with unclean, yellow wallpaper, and there are bars on the windows. These bars show her exclusion from the outside world. John refused to let his wife leave the house in fear that she may come in contact with someone who would stimulate her. The musty yellow wallpaper tended to drive the narrator mad by trapping her in with its intricate pattern. She stayed up until late hours of the night trying to figure out the yellow wallpaper and was never satisfied with her prediction.

Emily also lives in an ancient house that smells of dust and disuse. Several people in the town declare that it is an ?eyesore among eyesores.? The following statement describing Miss Emily shows her similarity to the house. ?She looked bloated like a body long submerged in motionless water and that of palled hue.? Emily did not always look this grotesque, until her father died. The description of Emily when she was young described her as frail and innocent and desperate to be a part of the outside world. After her father?s death, she looked like a girl with a ?vague resemblance to angels in colored church windows.? The reference to the angels represents Emily?s eventual death. Emily gets together with Homer maybe to get back at her father for keeping her isolated for so many years. When she feels threatened that Homer may leave her, she kills him and keeps his body so she will always have him. The room in which Homer is found is rose colored, representing the life she once had when her father and homer were alive, but the room is also covered with dust representing death.

The town in which Emily lives is crucial in her eventual lead to madness. The town was ?glad? when Emily?s father died. They felt that they could finally pity her and that his death ?humanized? her. The town enjoyed gossiping about her, although they knew that she was very lonely. When someone finally visits her home, it is only to confront her about past due taxes, which she claimed were dismissed. Emily feels that the whole town is against her.

Jane and Emily were both very troubled women who each needed love and support from others. Instead, they were both isolated and had no one to depend on. The controlling men and the unsuitable environments led Emily and Jane to insanity.

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