Women's starvation in the early 20th century.

Women's Hunger

Starvation is defined as a state of extreme hunger resulting from the lack of essential nutrients over a prolonged period. Being deprived emotionally, physically, and psychologically by dominating forces are some of the restraints endured by humans, especially women of the nineteenth century. In a male-dominated society, men subjugated the women, who were forced into a life of confinement and limitation. Nora from Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House and the narrator from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" portray the negative treatment of women throughout society during this time. These women long for the activity and stimulation, which they have been deprived of as the product of a society that puts women in the lowest division, and they resolve to triumph over their husbands and free their souls. As Nora and "Charlotte" suffer from the starvation of independence, they struggle to escape their husband's restrictions in different fashions.

nora and dora

The Yellow Wallpaper, one of Gilman's most popular...

English: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Nora Helmer from Ibsen's A Doll's House is living her life under her husband Torvald's control, which is starving her from the freedom to think and act as she pleases. Nora has been spoon-fed all of her life by her father and now her husband. She is the perfect image of a doll wife who revels in the thought of luxuries that she can afford because she is married. She constantly engages in childlike acts of disobedience such as little lies about things such as whether or not she ate macaroons. Nora has sacrificed herself for her family and has a passionate and devoted heart that is willing to do almost anything for her husband. At first she did not understand that these feelings were not reciprocated. Torvald does not want a wife who will challenge him with her own thoughts and actions. He denies Nora...