The Yellow Wallpaper- Lauren Ghelfi

After reading The Yellow Wallpaper and discussing the piece in comparison to the "New Woman" I thought that the main female character very much contradicted the idea of the "New Woman." The "New Woman" is confident, independent, and intelligent. She does no rely on a man to care for her whatsoever. I felt that in the Yellow Wallpaper, John was trying to keep his wife who was supposedly "sick" from transforming into this "New Woman" that was probably very intimidating to him. She was taken away from her original lifestyle and placed in a room where she had little interaction with the outside world. Before this idea of the "New Woman" came about, women were said to be emotionally and mentally unstable, incapable to do the sorts of things that men do. Which is exactly how the main character in this story appears. John was trying to contain her, which is where the idea of the woman in the wallpaper comes in. Once the woman in the wall was released, she seemed fully recovered and more confident. I find it interesting that men are so intimidated by women and at one time, and maybe still now, want to keep us as housewives and helpless.