Early Stream of Consciousness and Feminism in Fiction
Question 9 • TX-English 8 CR
Read the excerpt from "The Yellow Wallpaper."If a physician of 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?My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing.So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again. What does the narrator’s description reveal about the social context of the story?
Answer
A
Women were able to make their own decisions about working.
B
Doctors were believed to be unquestionably all-knowing.
C
Husbands were reluctant to take doctors’ advice.
D
Wives were considered to be less fragile than husbands.
Explanation
The narrator’s husband and brother both have high standing as physicians, and their judgment is treated as decisive even though she describes her own condition. She follows their prescribed treatments and is forbidden to work, showing the strong authority doctors held in this social context. The best choice is “Doctors were believed to be unquestionably all-knowing.”
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