Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper

  Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, while distinctly different in genre and era, are widely considered classic texts in second wave American feminism. Compare chapter 1 (“The Problem That Has No Name”) of The Feminine Mystique (1963) and The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) in terms of their persuasive and literary power within their different genres and their visions of individual and social change. In your analysis, consider both texts’ ability to reflect upon female life experience and their engagement with dominant ideologies of marriage, domesticity, motherhood and gender roles in their respective eras. Why were both texts highly influential in the “second wave” (though one is written in the “first wave”)? Do either or both texts continue to have personal and/or political relevance in 2019? If “yes”, in what way(s)? If “no”, why not?