During the Progressive Era, many feministic authors attempted to display the unfair treatment of wives and daughters through writing stories based upon the true aspects of many women’s lives. These stories were considered scandalous and were often criticized at the time of their first publication, as many pieces of literature written before their time are. A few of the most influential authors include Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Susan Glaspell, who wrote “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and “A Jury of Her Peers,” respectively. Through the characters of these stories, the authors were able to skillfully demonstrate many struggles and conflicts women were facing during the period, such as marrying domineering and overly watchful husbands, being seen as insubordinate and insignificant, and having their work not taken seriously and seen as “trifles.” Through these three stories, Chopin, Gilman, and Glaspell further evaluate the delicate, almost trophy-like treatment of women in this era. With the use of figurative language, such as irony and symbolism, it is made evident that women were smothered and considered replaceable to the men of the time.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in her critically acclaimed short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” proclaims and explores the dangers of the Rest Cure, a common prescription for women with depression and other mental illnesses in the late 1800s. She, after the birth of her child, became overwhelmed with the vast amounts of hormones ravaging her body and was prescribed the Rest Cure by the doctor that invented it, Silas Weir Mitchell; due to the lack of stimulus, however, she nearly went mad, giving her more of an insight into the mind of a woman controlled by the Rest Cure and those who enforced it. Gilman portrays a woman, full of life, slowly deteriorate into madness because of her husband’s controlling, insistent, and overwhelming nature. The reader is given many insights into the narrator’s mind, especially when it is mentioned that her family wishes for her to stop writing, working, and socializing, despite her belief that “congenial work, with excitement and change,” (Gilman 1) would help along her illness, what she calls a “nervous condition” throughout her letters to the audience. The men in her family believe her so fragile that even letting out her emotions on paper would be too much for her to handle, a common belief of women during this time period, and, as such, they take many precautions where her safety is concerned, such as placing her in the nursery with barred windows and an immovable bed. That same nursery is symbolic for the childish manner in which she is treated by her family and friends and the unnecessary care that is taken with her, just as a person would with a child. Towards the end of the story, Gilman draws a picture of a woman broken by the inhumane Rest Cure as the narrator finally snaps and begins to crawl around the room in which she has spent much of her stay in, following a “smooch” (Gilman 9) along the wall in order to keep her from getting lost on her mission. The narrator is so broken that she cannot even empathize with her husband, who is fainted on the floor, as she continues to crawl over him as she keeps on her “path” (Gilman 9). This story allows an insight into the ironic nature of this “Rest Cure,” by showing that though John, the husband, tries his best to care for his troubled wife, in the end, it was he who caused her to finally snap with his overbearing and glass-like treatment of the narrator.

In much the same fashion, Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” demonstrates a woman held prisoner in a gilded cage because of her family’s belief that she is too fragile to handle anything strenuous. Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist of the story, is a young, beautiful woman, but she is smothered by her overly loving, overly caring husband’s concern for her health, as she was known to have a heart condition. Her husband’s friend, Mr. Richards, also believed her to be fragile, as can be seen as he “hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend,” (Chopin 1) from providing Mrs. Mallard the news of her husband’s untimely death. Though Chopin provides an image of a fragile and soft woman, she surprises her audience as Mrs. Mallard weeps into her sister’s arms with “sudden, wild abandonment” (Chopin 1), proving that she is stronger than she seems, still full of life, and ready to be released from her cage. Throughout the story, Chopin provides more proof of Mrs. Mallard’s strong character as she sits in her room and contemplates what her husband’s death means for her. Chopin uses much symbolism in the story, such as the mentions of “spring life” (Chopin 1) to symbolize her freedom’s rebirth, and the open window in her room, symbolizing the new beginning of a life. It is made quite obvious that Mrs. Mallard, though saddened, is delighted at the revelation that she will be able to “live for herself” (Chopin 2) and not for anybody else, as she has for so many years; she is pleased that she will no longer be constantly watched and cared for. Even as the reader witnesses this transition, Josephine comes to the door worried for her sister, afraid that Mrs. Mallard, now known as Louise, will cause herself to become ill with grief; however, in an ironic twist, Louise is not becoming ill, she is, in fact, “drinking in the very elixir of life” (Chopin 2). Once Josephine convinces Louise to come out of her room, another image of her growing strength is presented to the reader as the two walk down the stairs and Louise is “carrying herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (Chopin 2). Despite her inner and outer strength, her two comrades continue to treat her with care and caution, protecting her from life’s obstacles, again, much like one would a child. By writing this marvelous short story, Chopin is damning the overbearing, demeaning, and controlling husbands of the period during which this was written. Mrs. Mallard helps to characterize the smothered and cared for house wife who wishes so badly to be free from her gilded cage, but cannot escape because of the stigmas and treatments placed upon women.

Women of the time were often seen as mere housekeepers, and their work and emotions were viewed as insignificant trifles by the men they cared for. Upon following the trial of a woman accused of murdering her husband, Susan Glaspell wrote the story “A Jury of Her Peers” to demonstrate not only the significance of women but also the strong bond women share. As Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are waiting for their husbands to conclude official business in the house of Mr. Wright, now deceased, and Minnie Foster Wright, his wife, they begin to piece together the events that led to the murder of Mr. Wright. Ironically, while the men were looking for evidence against Minnie Foster everywhere but the kitchen, claiming that it would contain only insignificant “kitchen things” (Glaspell 4), the women were busy finding the evidence the men needed in that very kitchen. Throughout the story, the men laughed and joked about the women and their worries, such as the busted jars of preserves, proclaiming at one point, “women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell 4). The women simply submitted to the treatment, as would be expected of them; however, they were destroying the evidence that could convict Minnie without the men’s knowledge and despite their claim that women wouldn’t know what could be a clue and what couldn’t. Glaspell illustrates the idea that women are capable and should be taken seriously, despite men’s persistence, through the women’s keen observations; furthermore, the male characters are easily humored by the women, laughing at their silly worries and claiming that there are much more important things to worry about than what the women are capable of. By the end of the story and the men’s search for clues, which was unsurprisingly unfruitful, the women have discovered the truth and motive behind the crime, and yet the men continue to joke about the question of whether Minnie had planned to quilt or knot her quilting pieces. The women discover that Minnie had been emotionally, mentally, and, possibly, physically abused for many years by her husband, and she had finally snapped when he strangled her only solace, the canary. In symbolic retribution, she decided to create a noose and strangle her husband to death. This story tells the tale of a woman scorned and broken and the women who protect her from further punishment. Glaspell creates a distinct tension between the two genders throughout the story, demonstrating the irony of womanly duties being considered insignificant, when, in fact, those duties and the knowledge that comes with them were the only reasons that the women were able to discover the truth, while the men were unable to find anything of the sort.

The principal of equality and amity between genders is easily distinguished in these three short stories, as the authors had intended, despite the criticism bestowed upon them for publishing such controversial stories. Chopin, Gilman, and Glaspell were so popular because, at the time of publishing, these stories were relatable possibilities for women of all castes and backgrounds. In order to demonstrate the many struggles and conflicts of women during the period in which these stories were written, the authors skillfully created diverse and complex characters. Because of their own experiences, Chopin, Gilman, and Glaspell were able to further evaluate the delicate, almost trophy-like treatment of women during this era through these stories and their use of figurative language, such as irony and symbolism. The authors were able to create three separate, yet cohesive, pieces of literature that made evident that women were smothered and considered replaceable to the men, despite the inherent need of a woman.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” KateChopin.org. Kate Chopin International Society,

2017. www.katechopin.org/story-hour. Accessed 10 Jan. 2017.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Gutenberg.org. Project Gutenberg,

5 Nov. 2012. www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm. Accessed 12 Jan. 2017.

Glaspell, Susan. “A Jury of Her Peers.” Annenberg Learner. The Annenberg Foundation, 2016.

www.learner.org/exhibits/literature/story/fulltext.html. Accessed 20 Jan. 2017.