“Proem” proposes that the distinction of gender within humanity came with Original Sin rather than creation.  Initially both called “man”, men and women were considered equal; however, with The Fall of Man came the distinction of gender due to corruption of consciousness.  Man constrained woman, “…that she should leave him never;”, and “weak still he kept her, lest she be strong and flee;” (stanza 7).  “Proem” suggests that the sociological influence man had over woman created a polarization of gender which exists solely through psychological constraints and power-abuse.  The most striking line, “And he never once hath seen her since the pre-historic time!” proposes the illegitimacy of gender distinctions which assume one sex as the dominant (stanza 9).  The subordination of woman exists due to a psychological fear which created an “other”. If man saw woman as she was in “the pre-historic time” (here meaning the Prehistoric Era but also before consciousness and sexual distinction), he would realize the fundamental equality which all humans, regardless of gender, possess. Woman is deemed lesser not because of legitimate factors or value-based judgments but due to the fear inspired by Original Sin and abuse of consciousness.  Beginning Women and Economics with this “Proem” suggests that gender lines and expectations exist arbitrarily rather than by act of God; this inspires readers to question the economic and social subordination of women described in the following chapters.

There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will” (Stetson, 652).

For this week’s blog post, I wanted to discuss Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” The above excerpt is what I believe to be the focal point of Ms. Stetson’s psychological horror tale. The story itself not only acts as a critique of the role of women in marriage but also suggests a rigid distinction between an active working male and a ignored, patronized and misjudged female.

I do not believe it is a coincidence that the woman who the narrator believes is trapped within the wallpaper is also trapped behind a pattern; this is because the narrator is trapped as well. Before the merge between the woman behind the sickly-looking paper and the narrator, both characters are trapped within their own type of prison – whether it be the yellow-patterned wallpaper or the prison-like cycle that women were trapped within in the 19th Century. The lives of women during this time were tailored to a rigid lifestyle such as being domestic wives to a family. The gender division shown between the husband John and his wife keeps the narrator contained within a child-like state of ignorance that withholds her from developing herself beyond the strict trajectory she is forced to follow day in and day out.

The wallpaper itself is an object that drives the narrator to analyze it as something which needs to be interpreted. At the start of the story, it is apparent that the narrator simply finds it  “dull” and “revolting.” The pattern itself is what provokes study and constantly irritates her. Further within the story, the narrator discovers a second, underlying pattern within the wallpaper which is interpreted as a woman who is desperately trying to escape from her own prison. The wallpaper itself seems to be portraying many qualities of the structure of 19th Century lifestyle such as tradition and a cycle of patterns that were meant to be followed. The domestic and vicious cycle that women were to follow during this time is cleverly portrayed by a grotesque, psychological horror tale that creates an affinity between the narrator and the “unclean yellow” wallpaper.

Works Cited:
Stetson, Charlotte Perkins. “The Literature of Prescription.” The Yellow Wall-Paper, www.nlm.nih.gov/theliteratureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digitalDocs/The-Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf.

In preparation for the Reading Women, Writing Women English class that will continue this summer’s research on the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore, I read the first chapter of Gere’s Intimate Practices book entitled “Literacy and Intimacy.” The chapter begins with quotes from different woman’s clubs’ minutes then goes into the history behind literacy in the United States. Apparently, in the 1880s, the United States began restricting immigration access to the country, and used literacy as a test to determine whether or not an individual was fit to enter the US. If the individual passed the literacy test, they may be permitted entrance. Gere continues to explain that women used literacy to create what is called an “imagined community” because it is a community that is not determined by the physical location of the women but constitutes a type of intellectual community.

The role that literacy played in this point in history is two-fold. On one hand, it was used to exclude a certain group of people who were deemed unfit due to their lack of US-approved literacy. On the other hand, literacy was a standard that brought a lot of women together in a time when women are still considered inferior to men. These women were not yet even allowed to vote, yet they formed these communities of like-minded individuals to read, write, and share their thoughts and works with one another. Like with many aspects of the Woman’s Literacy Club, this association between literacy and power gives me pause. In many cases, the question of literacy was used to strip power from people who could be considered disadvantaged. However, literacy gave power to many women and allowed them to find their voices in a time that did not necessarily always want to listen to what women had to say. This is something I look forward to exploring further this semester as we once again take to the archives to uncover the history of the Woman’s Literacy Club of Baltimore.

For my blog post this week I decided to write about Edith Wharton’s short story, “Writing A War Story.” In this story, a young author and nurse, Ivy, is working in a hospital in Paris when she is asked to write a short story for a magazine that will be sent to soldiers.  A quote that really stood out to me was,

But that very afternoon the ‘artistic’ photographer to whom she had posed for her portrait sent home the proofs; and she saw herself, exceedingly long, narrow and sinuous, robed in white and monastically veiled, holding out a refreshing beverage to an invisible sufferer with a gesture half way between Mélisande lowering her braid over the balcony and Florence Nightingale advancing with the lamp (Wharton, 253)

The mention of this picture is ironic because by the end of the story the only thing that the soldiers care about is the picture, no one cares about the story itself. I find this way of describing her picture and then making the soldiers only care about her picture a smart way for Wharton to comment on the participation of women in the war and also women as writers. WWI was the first time women and men, regardless of their marriage status were able to spend time together. Women were able to prove that they could handle being in difficult situations. However, women were also still objectified and it seems to me that Wharton is really trying to make sure that the reader understands that.

The soldiers want to remember Ivy as the “hot nurse”, not by her intelligence and ability to write. This piece sets up the mood for our class— women struggling to be taken seriously.