Analysis between “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Postpartum depression Charlotte Perkins Gilman used her own personal experience with postpartum depression to create the story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Charlotte suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown, she started seeing a specialist in nervous disorders, the best in the country. The doctor applied the rest cure and put Charlotte to bed, his advice to her was to “live as domestic life as possible”. He concluded that there was nothing much the matter with her. Although in the 1800s, postpartum depression was not medically diagnosed. The story Gilman wrote termed it as “The rest cure”. Postpartum depression is a very diverse illness that affects many women; the story gives readers a very broad perspective on the effect it has on the protagonist, Jane. The story, “The …show more content…
This was supposed to be a very happy time in her life; however, she is overcome with depression. Her husband, a very condescending man, treated Jane more like a child than a wife. John, kept her secluded which caused her condition to worsen. Jane enjoyed writing in her journal, it was an escape, a place she could write her secrets down. John also forbids Jane from writing in her journal, so she had to hide it from him. As time goes on Jane’s mental state declines even further. Since Jane wasn’t being treated properly, she went from a being in a depressed state to a form of psychosis. She became obsessed with the wallpaper; Jane believed she was seeing a woman behind the wallpaper. The symbolism is clear: the woman behind the wallpaper is Jane who is trying to escape her reality of being secluded in her own home. If Jane had been able to get out of the house to get fresh air, instead of being kept in the house her mental state may not have