The story begins with Gilman's protagonist describing her husband, John, and the colonial mansion in which they are residing for the summer. Through careful word selection, it becomes evident that Gilman has assigned John a superior occupation to demonstrate male dominance over women. Examples of this claim can be found in her language. Gilman writes, "If a physician in high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency- what is one to do?" (1392). Not only does this show readers a dependency from the protagonist on her husband; it suggests that she feels an emotion of helplessness. To reaffirm that women are placed in an inferior position to their male counterparts, Gilman also assigns the occupation of a physician to the protagonist's brother. This strategy helps to prove that an imbalance between the sexes exists not only between the protagonist and her brother, but between the protagonist and her husband as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Victorian_era- Site describes the roles of women during the Victorian Age.
http://beak12.weebly.com/gender-roles.html- Site describes the roles of women during the Victorian Age and addresses the issues of education.
Definition: Gender Roles: a set of behaviors that indicates one's gender, specif. the image projected by a person that identifies their femaleness or maleness; an overt public presentation of gender identity
