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Jane eyre and the social norm for women
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Paula A. Treichler from the University of Illinois analyzes “The Yellow Wallpaper” and its effects of the diagnosis given to the main character effectively in her article “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”. In her article, Treichler emphasizes the reasons why the main character was lead to believe her diagnosis from her husband and the other contributing factors that played a role in her hysteria, such as lack of social interaction and confinement. In the introduction to her article, Treichler gives the background of the story and hits on every area of importance. The diagnosis made by the narrator 's husband is highlighted by Treichler in her opening paragraph to illustrate the significance and informality of the diagnosis and its unreliability.
Insanity is a deranged state of the mind. Not everyone has the same experiences nor the same symptoms which lead to their mental disorder. In her story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents a peculiar case of insanity. The main character is put on bed rest to overcome her temporary nervous depression. However, while being stuck inside the room, the unreliable narrator increasingly becomes more and more symptomatic.
The first instance of the protagonist in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” where one can see her internalizing her feelings is in the line “You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?”. This shows that she is downplaying her mental health, that because someone she loves is telling her she ’s okay, she’s not validating the feelings she is experiencing.
In this dialogue, John puts the fact that he is a physician over anything she has to say. Within the time period this short story was written in, doctors were often male and being one was often associated with high stature, logic, and upper-class life. Within that same era, women were not allowed to do such masculine jobs. This resulted in them having to resort to other professions such as writing; however, writers, unlike doctors, were often portrayed as creative, imaginative, and poor. Such qualities were simply not valued as much as those of doctors at the time.
Doctors of the 19th century thought they were above everyone else because of their education and had a tendency to disregard the patient’s suggestions. Jacobus asserts in his work that “The hysteria that is femininity must be repressed in the interests of a masculinist psychoanalytic theory; the uncanny that is narrative must be repressed in order to sustain a realist view of fiction” (qtd. in E. Showalter 30). As the subject of male doctors’ authority, 35 years of feminist criticism had turned the interpretation of the story’s narrator into a victim of patriarchal control. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” John says, “you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know” (Gilman 236).
One of the emotions the narrator undergoes is intimidation toward her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” it says, “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?” The narrator is a woman and has no say about her own medical condition, due to the fact that she is a female, but her husband can say and tell her whatever he wants to about her condition and that intimidates her. He can have complete control over the narrator because he is more educated than her and he has a higher standing in society than women did. Another example of the narrator’s intimidation for the husband is in “The Yellow Wallpaper” it says, “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes.
Furthermore, John insists that in addition to the rest-cure treatment, she needs to refrain from activities that require mental or physical stimulation. Even though the narrator told him she would feel
This mysterious fiction short story features the protagonist, who becomes sick after improper care. The story is like her diary to prove her point of view she never said aloud. The story, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, represents the early stages of mental health and raising children, a quote from the story, “Of course, if you were in any danger I could and would, but you are better, dear, whether you can see it or not”. The protagonist, or patient, isn't sick, she's simply unable to see how she's being lied to, therefore lying to herself, she has no safe space to understand what she's going through, and the relationship with her doctor is unethical. A minor case of postpartum depression is a common experience.
John and Jane’s brother are both prominent physicians. According to Jane, they think that she is not truly ill.
Halie Boyd The Yellow Wallpaper Theme Essay The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman focuses mainly on womens rights. In the early 1900 's women could not think for themselves, were controlled constantly by men and had no right to thrive for an education. Women in the late 1800 's and early 1900 's had no choice to fend or think for themselves. " Person)ally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and changed, would do me good" (Gilman 648).
Throughout the story, Jane completely disagrees with John’s prognosis and form of treatment. This is shown when Jane says, “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. Personally, I disagree with their ideas.” (page ) As the story continues Jane makes suggestions to John about what she thinks would improve her health.
The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story full of imaginative symbolism and descriptive settings. However, without the narrator’s unique point of view and how it affects her perception of her environment, the story would fail to inform the reader of the narrator’s emotional plummet. The gothic function of the short story is to allow the reader to be with the narrator as she gradually loses her sanity and the point of view of the narrator is key in ensuring the reader has an understanding of the narrator’s emotional and mental state throughout the story. It’s clear from the beginning of the story that the narrator’s point of view greatly differs from that of her husband’s and other family in her life.
The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892 shows mental illness through the narrator first hand. The theme in this story is going insane verses loneliness as well as being trapped. These themes are shown through the main character (the narrator of the story) as she works through her own mind, life, and surroundings. First, the theme of the woman’s state of mind is the main focus in this story.
The short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a brilliant piece of fictional literature. The tale involves a mentally ill woman who is kept in a hideous, yellow room under the orders of her husband, John, who is a physician. The ill woman is conflicted due to the fact that the horrifying yellow wallpaper in the room is trapping a woman who she must help escape, but the sick woman is aware that she must get better in order to leave the terrifying, yellow room. The setting and personification applied in the short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, allows readers to develop an understanding of the sickness of the main character faces.
The woman was going crazy in her own world as she saw something coming out the yellow wall. The wallpaper had a bright yellow color that drove the narrator crazy and tried to peel it down. The woman was fighting with her mental illness as she explains her influence of her personal life, a woman’s right, and her mental illness. A woman in the early 20th century wrote a story, her story was heard about her mental illness and she had no type of support. The narrator of the story “Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper” says, “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked” (Gilman