Revolt

In both of these stories, ("The Yellow Wallpaper" & "The Revolt of Mother"), the authors portray a woman who is severely undermined by her husband until she defies the strict gender rules of society in order for her voice to be heard.  This idea is best captured by an excerpt from Mary Wilkins Freeman's story The Revolt of Mother: "Nobility of character manifests itself at loop-holes when it is not provided with large doors."  Here, Freeman is literally saying that one must find a loop-hole to get their point across if they are not blessed with the opportunity to do so, and that is exactly what both women did.

In "The Revolt of Mother", Sarah Penn sternly asks her husband why he would build a barn to better house his farm animals than a home to protect his own family; at first, he denies her an audience, then he seems to not be listening as she tells him her concerns, and to top it off, he denies her an answer!  Sarah thought herself a decent wife and person, she never complained or nagged her husband about anything, the least her husband could have done was hear her out, but she was even too unimportant for that.  She was so fed up and embarrassed with her housing situation that she moved her belongings and her children into the new barn to live permanently. For the first time in her life, Sarah was not submissive, she would be heard by her husband.  Although many of the towns people thought her silly and crazy, she was making a statement; by standing up for herself, she would finally make her husband pay attention.

The narrator of Gilman's story "The Yellow Wallpaper"also finds a loop-hole to her repressive situation.  In this story, the narrator's husband takes her out of town after she shows signs of post-partum depression; but, he does not necessarily help her or council her, instead he locks her in a room all day and night.  He continuously tells her that there is nothing wrong with her, and denies her the opportunity to do what she wants to most -- write.  At first she believes he is doing what is best for her, but after a while we can see that she slowly changes her mind.  Fed up with being treated like a child, she begins to create her own world through the wall paper, claiming to see a woman in its confines.  She tears it down to let the woman out of the wall, symbolizing her finally being free, no longer kneeling to the commands of her husband.  Although she is essentially crazy, she revolted against the wishes of popular society to do what she wanted.  Life didn't give her an open door, so she ripped one open herself.