The Yellow Paper and Escape From Spiderhead are two short stories that offer a critical theme of imprisonment to the readers. The Yellow Paper revolves around the story of an imprisoned women while the other story highlights the imprisonment of the mind of a convicted killer. Escape From Spiderhead underpins the limitations and manifestations of the human. Similarly, the other story states highlight the widespread discrimination and prejudice faced by women in the specific era of the publication of the story. It is essential to comprehend the state of events when The Yellow Paper was published. It was published in the nineteenth century where women were imprisoned in the social structure and refrained from being autonomous in true letter and spirits. Jeff assumes the role of protagonist in the Escape From Spiderhead and a woman named Jane is the leading character in The Yellow Paper. Both the stories highlight the themes of imprisonment as the inability of women to advance in the patriarchal society while the other short story manifests the potential of a test of man’s limitations.
To begin, Escape From Spiderhead is a sci-fi story written by George Saunder. The fundamental theme of imprisonment and the purpose of the short story is discussing the emotional, physical and moral limits of a man. It is worthy to delineate that the story urges the reader to contemplate critical questions which assert influence on the theme of confinement. For instance, it raises intricate concerns as the instance where the inherent sentiments of empathy confront the commanding impact of the chemical composition of the body and the moment where a man is pushed to kill himself in order to ensure the well-being of other innocent humans. In essence, the dominant theme of humanity is explicated in the short story. It is a first-person narrative of a man named Jeff. He is convicted in a prison system where several experiments are conducted to test the impact of certain serums with mind-changing tendencies.
Moreover, The Yellow Paper is written by Charlotte Perkins Gillman that assesses the detrimental role of the gender roles which were subjected to the women in the late nineteenth century. Women were significantly undermined by males. They were faced with the menace of relinquishing their desires under the influence of discriminatory and radical social structure. The story is an explicit illustration of the discriminatory attitude toward women which causes them to suffer grave mental illness. The fundamental theme of imprisonment explored in the story accounts for the plight of women and the impediments caused by the society dominated by males. Jane is a woman who is skeptical to explore her true identity. Her husband refrains from comprehending the critical mental state that causes her to be confined in a room. In the room, wallpaper is placed which plays an instrumental role throughout the story. The narrator founds herself imprisoned inside the wallpaper that was a depiction of the social structure of the society. The plight and adversities faced by the women are illustrated to the readers. Primarily, the fundamental theme of imprisonment pertains to the inability of the narrator to leave the house ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"lux2kg5n","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ford)","plainCitation":"(Ford)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":246,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/5ACZBM2S"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/5ACZBM2S"],"itemData":{"id":246,"type":"article-journal","title":"\"The Yellow Wallpaper\" and Women's Discourse","container-title":"Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature","page":"309-314","volume":"4","issue":"2","source":"JSTOR","archive":"JSTOR","DOI":"10.2307/463709","ISSN":"0732-7730","author":[{"family":"Ford","given":"Karen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1985"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ford). Her husband restricted her to rejoice freedom and bounded her to sleep in the room surrounded by the repugnant yellow wallpaper.
In addition, the author advances to nourish the theme of imprisonment by picturing a dystopian framework to question the values pertinent to the ethical paradigm and mindfulness of the society in Escape From Spiderhead ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"YP1o1zIJ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}X-Escape-From-SpiderHead-George-Saunders.Pdf})","plainCitation":"(X-Escape-From-SpiderHead-George-Saunders.Pdf)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":245,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/4KX9QRPJ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/4KX9QRPJ"],"itemData":{"id":245,"type":"article","title":"X-Escape-From-SpiderHead-George-Saunders.pdf","URL":"http://classes.dma.ucla.edu/Spring11/157A/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/X-Escape-From-SpiderHead-George-Saunders.pdf","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,3]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (X-Escape-From-SpiderHead-George-Saunders.Pdf). However, the story keeps the reader in a confused state of mind regarding the place and time when the story takes place. It is pictured to be occurring somewhere in the future because of the neurological potential of the technology and drugs necessary to drive them. The characters highlighted in the story are mentioned as animals, guinea pigs, in the laboratory. The story urges the reader to critically assess the impact of the chemicals and our dependence, which is the fundamental theme of imprisonment, on the chemicals circulating in our bodies. For instance, Jeff and other characters are connected to the chemicals which release several drugs under the supervision of the administrator, Abnesti. Abnesti supervises these scientific experiments related to the drug tests to determine the accuracy and reliability of a drug which authorizes the sensations of love.
Furthermore, the narrator in The Yellow Paper represents a woman who is imprisoned in a nursery that resembles a prison. With barred windows, she is essentially confined to step out and bring a change in society because of being a woman. The plot and settings of the story lie at the very heart of demonstrating the confined state of events, freedom and thoughts. As the story advances, she establishes a state of mind to embrace the confinement and to further prevent the husband from intervening her assault on the wallpaper. A critical appraisal of the story reflects that the narrator is imprisoned within her mind portrayed by the women who are trapped in the outer pattern of the wallpaper. Throughout her delusion, she recognizes the ugly pattern of the wallpaper as a cage to imprison the women who are persistently striving to escape. To highlight the escape, the narrator radically tears the wallpapers which is a figurative expression of breaking the bars of the cage. Such critical are the manifestations of imprisonment underpinned in The Yellow Wallpaper.
Likewise, Escape From Spiderhead is a confrontation between the good and the evil. The characters feel their bodies are experiencing an intense and realistic change while essentially their minds were scammed by the drugs. They are not only imprisoned but also deluded as nothing is a realistic perception. Abnesti, the administrator of the scientific experiments, is fetching the human traits and emotion that are believed to define the very nature of humans. For instance, humans wonder whether or not there exists something else to humanity than the subjective mixture of cells and chemicals devoid of metaphysical tendencies ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"lEXTqgB0","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Yu)","plainCitation":"(Yu)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":249,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/BSHPDDIZ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/BSHPDDIZ"],"itemData":{"id":249,"type":"webpage","title":"A Drop of Concentrated Empathy: On Brokenness and Beauty in the Stories of George Saunders","container-title":"Los Angeles Review of Books","abstract":"COMPRESSION TRANSFORMS A SUBSTANCE. The fundamental properties of the object can undergo such radical change that it is no longer recognizable. George Saunders does this to language: he takes words and feelings and presses them together until they reach some kind of thermodynamic phase change, a critical point in the empathy of the system, near …","URL":"https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-drop-of-concentrated-empathy-on-brokenness-and-beauty-in-the-stories-of-george-saunders/","shortTitle":"A Drop of Concentrated Empathy","author":[{"family":"Yu","given":"Charles"}],"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,3]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Yu). The story is written to convey the moral to the readers and Jeff that the motives and true emotions of humans are not merely structured by chemical substances.
Besides, the author thematically expressed the widespread adversities and restrictions faced by women in the era of the publication of The Yellow Wallpaper. Women were subjectively forced to be imprisoned in the traditional gender role of subservience in the patriarchal society. With the passage of time, the protagonist in the story proceeds to relinquish herself from the domestic obligation. The radical and authoritative attitude of the husband causes her to develop a critical association with the woman confined inside the yellow wallpaper. She observes her reflection in that confined woman. Her endeavor and confinement is aimed at seeking mental freedom and peace. The narrator in the story faces an emotional breakdown and her mental condition and depression continues to aggravate ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"qwIbDCtZ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and \\uc0\\u8220{}The Yellow Wallpaper\\uc0\\u8221{} | Fau.Digital.Flvc.Org})","plainCitation":"(Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and “The Yellow Wallpaper” | Fau.Digital.Flvc.Org)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":251,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/X76T6D9X"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/X76T6D9X"],"itemData":{"id":251,"type":"webpage","title":"Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and \"The Yellow Wallpaper\" | fau.digital.flvc.org","URL":"http://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A39868","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,3]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and “The Yellow Wallpaper” | Fau.Digital.Flvc.Org).. It is essential to highlight that the narrator began to suffer from mental illness. Since mental illness and depression were not deemed to cast an adverse impact on health, her plight and confrontation with the reality were left unaddressed.
In Escape From Spiderhead, the confrontation between evil and good also shapes the theme of imprisonment. When the results of the scientific experiments are revealed, the subjects are forced with the measures to validate the credibility of those tests. Abnesti is reflected as the progressive scientist who is on the verge of a miraculous breakthrough. The examination of the theme of imprisonment in the short story concludes that subjective definitions of characters do not exist while searching for the good as the good is not influenced by the appearance of men. Instead, the prominent actions and profound qualities that relate them to humanity define the nature of their good character. The state of events in the story causes the readers to sympathize with Jeff. Despite his past and present acts, he is deemed a good person contributing toward humanity potentially. The identity of the narrator is stipulated as transient in the climax of the story.
In The Yellow Wallpaper, the captives lose the fundamental privilege to exercise their freedom and rights in true letter and spirits. A wide range of roles of women was assessed which reaffirmed the influence of male on society. The influence desecrated the essential autonomy to live life as per aspirations, will and ambitions. These instances were a peculiar reflection of the social structure of the nineteenth century. Women were the captives who were faced with the grave challenges because of these adversities and pervasive norms of gender discrimination and stereotypes ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"qwIbDCtZ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and \\uc0\\u8220{}The Yellow Wallpaper\\uc0\\u8221{} | Fau.Digital.Flvc.Org})","plainCitation":"(Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and “The Yellow Wallpaper” | Fau.Digital.Flvc.Org)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":251,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/X76T6D9X"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/h6KbaPMu/items/X76T6D9X"],"itemData":{"id":251,"type":"webpage","title":"Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and \"The Yellow Wallpaper\" | fau.digital.flvc.org","URL":"http://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A39868","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,3]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and “The Yellow Wallpaper” | Fau.Digital.Flvc.Org). The story is an explicit illustration of the fact that despite their struggle and will to confront the social stigmas and stereotypes, they failed to pursue their dreams. Moreover, they were not even permitted to exercise their will to step outside the boundaries of their homes. Such critical was the framework of deprivation and loss faced by the captives. For instance, the society dominated by male prevented them from choosing their ambitions, as is the case with the narrator, to write something in order to divert her mind from depressed and negative thoughts. She fought to overcome the depression by confining herself in the room. However, the yellow wallpaper placed on the walls further aggravated her mental state and she realized she lacked the power to even step outside the door of the room.
The short story Escape from Spiderhead deliberates an account of the journey and transition from the traits of apathy and empathy. The captive is made to realize that the feelings he experienced were real. For instance, he is made to realize that the world he is living is the inherent manifestation of life. The illusion is the primary factor that deludes the character and the other subjects because of the scientific experiments. They are represented with a distorted picture and perception of love. The administrator of the scientific experiments advances to harness the metaphysical competencies of human emotions and aspirations. He makes the subjects believe that they are witnessing the reality without any doubts and speculations. However, these experiments were aimed at comprehending the nature of human beings and their mind besides the impact of emotions and actions.
In both stories, captors gain immensely. The theoretical and practical evaluation of the gains differs in the stories. Escape From Spiderhead indicates the philosophical framework of metaphysical features related to the mind which were gained after conducting experiments on the characters who were delusional. The administrator of the experiments successfully extracted the traits that human mind is not only limited to experience emotional and inherent sentiments of love, good and evil. Instead, the philosophical framework of metaphysical capacity is proved to have a dominant impact on the thoughts and consequent actions. The subjects of the experiment experience a transition in their emotions after the injection the drug which are thought-provoking Similarly, The yellow Paper highlights the gains of the patriarchal society. The husband caused the wife, the protagonist, to act upon her directions regardless of her mental conditions. It is an explicit illustration of the profound potential exercised by men to rule the women and deprive them of their fundamental rights of freedom. The short story has a critical association with the plight and struggle of the women in the previous centuries. After several years of its publication, it was again critically appraised by the scholars to determine the widespread mental afflictions faced by the women in that era.
To conclude, both stories offer critical themes of imprisonment. The Yellow Paper deliberates a comprehensive account of the restrictions imposed on women to exercise freedom in the patriarchal society. The women struggle to even pursue their will and determine the course of action to treat themselves from mental illness and depression. Likewise, Escape From Spiderhead illustrates the distinction between evil and good. The human mind is represented as encompassing a broad spectrum of aspects other than emotions and the thoughts to commit action. The philosophical contributions as the metaphysical tendencies have a significant impact on the mind that can change their worldview. The argument was concluded after conducting scientific experiments of drugs on characters. They deemed the experiences, choices and emotions realistically and hence were delusional. The bottom line is that both the stories underpin the dominant traits of imprisonment faced by humans in the society where women face widespread discrimination and the other story highlights an intricate account of the human mind as empathy proved through scientific experiments.
Work Cited
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Ford, Karen. “‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Women’s Discourse.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, vol. 4, no. 2, 1985, pp. 309–14. JSTOR, JSTOR, doi:10.2307/463709.
Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and “The Yellow Wallpaper” | Fau.Digital.Flvc.Org. http://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A39868. Accessed 3 Apr. 2019.
Yu, Charles. “A Drop of Concentrated Empathy: On Brokenness and Beauty in the Stories of George Saunders.” Los Angeles Review of Books, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-drop-of-concentrated-empathy-on-brokenness-and-beauty-in-the-stories-of-george-saunders/. Accessed 3 Apr. 2019.
