In a female oppressive story about a woman driven from postpartum depression to insanity, Charlotte Gilman uses great elements of literature in her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Her use of feminism and realism demonstrates how woman's thoughts and opinions were considered in the early 1900?s.
The Novel: Victorian Women’s Guilty PleasureIntroductionVictorian single women in the middle and upper class were expected to explore charity and community service as a way to help the poor. The attitude of “ rich are busy, poor can wait†was supposed to be overturned, so that a “ poor are busy, rich can wait†attitude could alleviate the growing poverty within the lower class. Miss Crawley’s blatant disregard for the poor, in addition to her zealous behavior, would normally be shunned in Victorian society, but because of her status, her irate behavior is overlooked. Her love for French culture was unusual for a woman of her status, but French novels, along with various types of British “ sensation†novels, were a popular form of entertainment among Victorian women.French InfluenceAfter the French Revolution of 1789, the British followed events in France very closely. British museums have an extensive collection of French artifacts, especially literature by Alexander Dumas and Emile Zola.
In The Great Gatsby, one of the predominant themes is the death of thee American dream. In this, F. Scott Fitzgerald is showing how the American dream has become corrupt and that the dream is dead.. The Great Gatsby took place in the roaring twenties. A time when man no longer found happiness in simple pleasures like he did once such as life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is when the first breakdown in the American dream occurred. The idealization of the American dream was over, people took what they were born with for granted and did not miss what the never had.Things that the dream stood for such, as life was not an issue that people talked about. There was an unspoken silence of live and let live even though there was vast amounts of discrimination. Liberty, a thing taken for granted since all born on American soil are free men and women, thus no one cherishes that part of the dream either. The pursuit of happiness is befuddling. Daisy makes this clear by saying 'Your revolting'; to tom. Obviously she's unhappy with tom yet she wont leave him for Gatsby.
