Examples Of Finding A Voice In The Yellow Wallpaper

“Finding A Voice: In “The Yellow Wallpaper”
“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story based on a woman shown to have a mental illness that keeps deteriorating that can be traced back to her complicated marriage. The story revolves around who she needs to be and what her role should be in this complicated marriage. The narrator describes this “yellow wallpaper” as frightening and represents something musty and rotten in a way. This color, which is “yellow”, is described to be “a smouldering unclean yellow” which is “strangely faded by slow-turning sunlight.” The way she described yellow was the same thing she thought of describing how her marriage was. What’s strange is in the story is that we never find out the narrator’s

What’s surprising is that she has no intention of freeing herself from this controlling relationship she has with her husband John, but she has this unknown courage to tear the wallpaper off these walls to free this woman. By doing this she has this relief that she is free from John and his possessive ways, but unfortunately doing this has cost her, her sanity. We see that Jane while describing this woman is in fact talking about herself which makes us to believe that she has a split personality that she hides from the world. According to Judy Murray, “She begins to see women trapped behind the interlocking pattern and slips into psychosis” (The Yellow Wallpaper). This shows how she finally loses her sanity after having such disturbing

This book was published in 1892 showing the difference in status between a woman and a man. According to Asha Nadkarni, Jane is considered “A heroine who chooses to become mad rather than assume her proper place in the patriarchal order” (Reproducing Feminism). For example, in the quote earlier when John was telling Jane to stop her foolishness that it was affecting not only their relationship but their child’s as well. While saying this to Jane, John’s tone sounded as if he was referring to her as a child. This continues to support the idea that men had the upper hand whereas women had to live with restrictions and rules according to their husbands. Unfortunately during that time, Jane had to endure this type of treatment when she needed someone the most. For example, she had led this double life because she wasn’t satisfied in her relationship. To others she seemed happy in her marriage, but in reality she felt alone and empty inside. Even though Jane had everything she wanted, but she still yearned for something that didn’t