Exclusion: "White Woman of Color" and "The Yellow Wallpaper"

In White Woman of Color, Julia Alvarez explains her struggle of exclusion. In life, I experience the same obstacle that Julia faces. I am an African-American but I am also Guyanese. When I fill out a job application, they do not have Guyanese or Caribbean as a choice. When I fill out a job application, I can’t fathom the thought of not having a sense of belonging. In the short story, White Woman of Color, Julia Alvarez faces exclusion through her race. In America, when Julia would apply for jobs, she would place a check mark into the Latino choice, but she is Dominican. Julia struggled understanding that in America, Dominicans are Latino. After moving to college environment, Julia felt she became Americanized while everyone around her became Europeanized. I also felt the same transformation that Julia has exhibited. While going to high school, I was in a pre-dominantly white school. After going there for 4 years, I started walking like them, talking like them, conversing like them, while also thinking like them. In the short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins-Gillman experiences the violence she is facing. Every time Charlotte Perkins-Gillman writes on a piece of paper, she is damaging her health. I believe writing is hurting her health because when one writes something on paper, one has the ability to process what they wrote. In life, addiction is attributed to denial of a problem. Charlotte’s writing and denial of rest attributed to her demise because it led to more challenges. The Yellow Wallpaper is the barrier keeping Charlotte from maintaining her sanity as well as hurting her physically, mentally, and emotionally. As Charlotte ripped up the yellow wallpaper, she gained her sanity but, Charlotte still lives with the burden of processing what she went through.