Oppression Although, the theme for both stories “Maus” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” is oppression each characters face different obstacles in their generation. The characters in Art Speieglemans’ “Maus” are prisoners held in a concentration camp in the Holocaust. In Charlotte Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper” the main character is a woman undergoing the “resting cure” treatment. Both characters are victims of maltreatment but encounter them under different circumstances. The setting in “Maus” is a dark land filled with despair and the aroma of decaying bodies. The camps had thousands of prisoners. The camps had difficult jobs for many prisoners. Though many lined up to take these jobs or they would be useless and sent to gas chambers. The prisoners were forced to work to sun up to sun down. Many of them were starved and fragile but kept on in hopes of finding their families. The setting for “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a huge home with a wonderful view of a garden. The woman is kept inside for treatment for nervous illness. Her husband John whom also is her doctor never allows her to leave the home. Inside her room…show more content… The guards wanted to destroy the prisoners mentally and physically. This symbolized that the prisoners were beneath and in complete control of the German guards. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the wallpaper is a symbol a desire for freedom. The woman in the story is so intrigued with wallpaper that she claims to see a woman in there. She thinks there is a woman trapped behind bars in the wallpaper. She is eager to help the woman escape from wallpaper. Her husband controlled exactly how her days would go. By John treating her illness, he neglected to give her proper treatment she needed. This in turn made her insane in the end of the story. The woman in the wallpaper she set free was actually herself, yearning for an ounce of freedom in her
