Would you consider Charlotte Perkins Gilman to be a muckraker?
I understand Perkins wrote the short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" which draws attention to the inequities in the treatment of women in the 19th-century.
Muckrakers as I understand, were typically investigative journalists who attacked corrupt institutions and leaders during the Progressive Era to bring about reform/change.
Based on well known muckrakers like Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Ray Stannard Baker, would you consider Charlotte Perkins Gilman to also be a muckraker?
I understand Perkins wrote the short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" which draws attention to the inequities in the treatment of women in the 19th-century.
Muckrakers as I understand, were typically investigative journalists who attacked corrupt institutions and leaders during the Progressive Era to bring about reform/change.
Based on well known muckrakers like Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Ray Stannard Baker, would you consider Charlotte Perkins Gilman to also be a muckraker?
1 Answer
Based on "The Yellow Wallpaper", I do not consider Gilman to be a muckraker.
Explanation:
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is more a psychological/social exploration through a feminist lens than anything else, I think. It was a response to the "rest cures" for psychosis recommended by the doctors at the time.
I don't consider it muckraking because, while it is based off of her own experiences, it is not about any actual one incident. Muckraking uses investigative journalism to create real narratives that bring attention to an issue through shock value. Nelly Bly was a muckraker because she exposed specific injustices that she witnessed in mental hospitals.
Gilman does discuss injustices, but she does it through the filter of fiction. She does not directly say "while on rest cure, I experienced x, y, and z". She instead uses a fictional character to reflect her experiences, and "the female experience" in general, and the injustice involved, which is fine, but I don't consider it muckraking.
