The Representation of Patriarchal Society in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, The Giant Wistaria, and If I Were a Man

Abstract

This research aims to delineate the discourse of patriarchal society presented by Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), The Giant Wistaria (1891), and If I Were a Man (1914). This study analyzes the condition of women living in a patriarchal society. The main female characters experience oppression in the form of marginalization, powerlessness, as well as physical and psychological violence by men in their families. The idea of a patriarchal society is depicted by the male characters through the domination of power and social status and the oppression they carry out against female characters. To analyze the discourse of patriarchal society, I use Stuart Hall's theory of representation linked to Michel Foucault's discourse. This research is categorized as qualitative research, as the data use are in the form of narrative sentences. In addition, there are two types of data in my research. Those are primary and secondary data, primary data is obtained from narrative dialogues in three short stories. Meanwhile, secondary data is obtained from several books, journals, articles, theses, and other related sources which present any information of contextual background in United States of America (USA) in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the author's biography. It can be summed up that women are in a patriarchal environment are treated badly by the people around them. As women, during their struggle, they are powerless, marginalized, treated as subordinates, and oppressed by the men in their families. Thus, by treating female characters as subordinates, dominating and oppressing them, the male characters want to control what the female characters should and should not do, and these two aspects build the discourse of patriarchal society in short stories. The setting of the three short stories are in America in the 19th and early 20th centuries where at that time patriarchy was a culture that influenced every aspect of people's lives living in that culture. That is why the relationship between male domination, women's oppression, and patriarchal culture is important. It is because patriarchal culture triggers male domination and causes women's oppression. Through these short stories, Charlotte Perkins Gilman tries to protest and oppose patriarchal culture and also how she as a woman cannot be completely separated from this culture.