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How Does Gilman Use Imagery In The Yellow Wallpaper

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Symbolism and Imagery in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” author Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives a fictionalized account of a woman’s descent into madness which is based on her mental breakdown resulting from a failing marriage. Born in Hartford, Connecticut and raised by her mother, Charlotte became a prominent American feminist, sociologist, writer and advocate for social reform. Her declining mental health became such a concern to her husband, Charlotte had herself committed to a mental asylum. She entrusted her care to Dr. S. Weir Mitchell who prescribed isolation and rest. She also mentions him in the story (Harrison). “The Yellow Wallpaper” uses symbolism and vivid imagery to describe a woman’s struggle to maintain her …show more content…

Jane can see the woman behind the pattern of the paper creeping about the garden by day and sees her trying to get out from behind the pattern by night. “As soon as it was moonlight that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern.” (Gilman 266). “When the sun came up that awful pattern began to laugh at me.” (Gilman 268). Jane mentions how different shades of light during the day came through the window yield different images in her mind and cause her visions of the wallpaper and the woman outside to come and go. “In the daytime it is tiresome and perplexing. There are always new shoots on the fungus, and new shades of yellow all over it.” (Gilman 228). Though Jane has tried to keep count of them, she cannot. Everyone has mood swings and attitude changes as the day goes on and the sun crosses the sky, whether it lies behind the clouds or not. Jane is no different except for the fact that her mind is especially colorful. In the story, the daylight hours represent rational, cognitive thinking, and the darkness suspends polite, ladylike behavior. The door to her room can be locked from the inside, thereby symbolizing the only thing over which she has any control. As her illness progresses the lock becomes her decision to communicate with the outside world or further isolate herself. The door represents her state of mind in that it is open or locked at her discretion. “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.” (Gilman

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Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator, Jane, has postpartum depression. In order to cure this depression, John, Jane’s husband and a doctor, administer the rest treatment on her. Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” through her personal experience. Along with writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” she wrote an explanation for why she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

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In literature, an author’s life experiences are often reflected in their writing. Likewise, the environment and time period of an author, plays a crucial role in the development of their stories. Many cultural, historical and political references are made in literary works. In her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman reflects upon her own struggles, along with the struggles that women faced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

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“I kept still and watched the moonlight on that undulating wallpaper till I felt creepy…the faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out” (Gilman). When she’s locked away in her room, the character analyzes every little detail on the wallpaper, trying to interpret the patterns in it. The details that she sees portray her role as a woman, going against social norms and declaring her independence from society and her husband. She is no longer inferior or

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Her obsession with the paper begins subtly and then completely consumes the narrator’s mind. Since she is stuck in the dark room and the only form of escapism is the bright yellow wallpaper, she becomes absorbed in the pattern of the paper and tries to follow them to an end. She fantasizes her replica behind the paper and projects the reflection of inward herself, as the characteristics of the wallpaper are very similar to those of

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The narrator is a woman who is imaginative trying to make her mind think and realize the meaning of the yellow wallpaper. She describes the wallpaper as, “repellant, almost revolting; smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow turning sunlight” (Gilman 641). This specific wallpaper makes the narrator feel a certain way. At first, she does not like the color or how it looks. But then not having anything else to do in the room, she starts examining the wallpaper.

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Madness and what it causes, an analysis on the basis of the chosen short stories written by Charlotte Gilman and Edgar Allan Poe. Madness has many faces, usually such a state of mind is far from desirable. Person with an unstable mind can cause a havoc in a pragmatic and organized world of ordinary citizens. People build society of certain cultural norms for breaching which an individual faces various consequences. Very few bother to determine if a person while breaking some set of rules is capable of answering for his or her actions or not, today 's average individual suffering from a mob mentality is more keen on finding a scapegoat rather than a just solution.

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Since she locked it away for so long she gradually became immersed in it, by day-dreaming. Jane’s, the narrator, day-dreams consisted of “seeing” people in walking in the garden or on the sidewalk. She also daydreamed about the wallpaper saying “that it moves” or “it changes patterns” when it wasn't changing

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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.

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The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story told through diary entries of a woman who suffers from postpartum depression. The narrator, whose name is never mentioned, becomes obsessed with the ugly yellow wallpaper in the summer home her husband rented for them. While at the home the Narrator studies the wallpaper and starts to believe there is a woman in the wallpaper. Her obsession with the wallpaper slowly makes her mental state deteriorate. Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses many literary devices such as symbolism, personification and imagery to help convey her message and get it across to the reader.

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Martin states that the narrator’s confinement in the upstairs bedroom fortifies her mental illness developing into “a frightening hallucinatory world constructed around the pattern of the yellow paper on the wall.” This shift in her identity happens as the shift in her disposition towards the wallpaper changes. The wallpaper is a visible metaphor that eventually becomes her identity. In the beginning of her stay in the bedroom she says the wallpaper is “committing artistic sin” (Par34) and can push anyone to “suddenly commit suicide” (Par35) These comments show her despise towards the wallpaper and the separation she originally has from it.

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There are many feminist aspects throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper.” They can be seen through many symbolic objects and events. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” from her own personal experience, later being labelled as a classic feminist literature. In the beginning of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator is put on bed rest by her husband who is a physician. She is suppose to "live a domestic a life as far as possible.. and never to touch a pen, brush or pencil . . ."

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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.

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Living through a brief, unsuccessful marriage, postpartum depression, and relinquishment of her young child, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her experiences to create a revealing portrait of women’s societal constraints in her famous short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Published in 1892, “The Yellow Wallpaper” brilliantly represents the plight of women during the Victorian era. The story tells of a woman’s dual confinement, both in a rest home, specifically, and in the society as a whole, more generally. The apparent symbolism categorizes the story as a significant and progressive feminist text. Through exploration of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s biographical influence and the symbolism throughout the short story, readers will be able to see how

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