A Comparative Study about Subjected Women in Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)

Abstract

This dissertation examines the lives of both black and white women in the nineteenth century America and the conditions they were subjected to. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl1681 written by Harriet Ann Jacobs is an example about the way black women used to live. In Incidents, the protagonist faced sexual and physical abuse of her master and the jealousy of her mistress. Concerning white women, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper1681 is an example about white women’s situation in which the protagonist was a victim of the misunderstanding of both husband and society. Moreover, comparison between the two literary works is the aim of this research paper.