ipl-logo

How Does The Struggle In Charlotte P. Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

1220 Words5 Pages

Throughout the story The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte P. Gilman illustrates a unique relationship between a married woman and the wallpaper in her room. This particular woman went through a rough patch recently believed to be suffering with postpartum depression. Her husband – a doctor – seems to know what is best for his wife and keeps her locked away from friends and family all day long. Due to her captivity, the woman begins to imagine a woman trapped inside the awful yellow wallpaper. However, many people she sees herself trapped behind bars trying to escape to freedom. By the end of the story the woman escapes out of the wallpaper but the question still stands if the woman actually escaped or if she was still trapped in her life. In Charlotte P. Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, the wallpaper itself …show more content…

Throughout the story, the narrator illustrates how controlling her husband is and how she is oppressed in her marriage. After her pregnancy, the narrator starts to suffer with postpartum depression which has a huge toll on her family. Her husband feels as though he knows what’s best for her since he’s a doctor; however, the situation gets worse. While reading the story, it’s obvious that the narrator is not in a stable emotional or physical state and her husband isn’t supporting her at all as she states, “John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don't want to go there at all” (Gillman 9). From this quote, it is evident that John believes he knows best and urges the narrator to get better soon and threats to send the narrator to a more isolated environment. By using this threat is suggesting that the husband is done dealing with his wife’s problems and doesn’t understand why she isn’t better. Maybe by shipping her to someone else to deal

Show More
Related

How Does Gilman Use Anaphora In The Yellow Wallpaper

827 Words | 4 Pages

Jay Patel Ms. Murchie AP English 12 Feb 2016 The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman portrays the story of the heavily restricted domestic life of a woman who is suppressed by being trapped in a marriage with no personal growth. She does this through the usage of many different types of literary devices.

Read More

Comparing The Orphanage And The Yellow Wallpaper

1212 Words | 5 Pages

The Narrator from The Yellow Wallpaper tries to do the best she can to please her husband and fulfil her role to be the perfect wife, but she isn’t able to balance out her husband’s needs. Towards the end she starts to forget the desire she once had to become the perfect wife and mother and starts to think of ways she can release the imprisoned woman that is trapped from behind the yellow wallpaper. I can see the connection that the woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper can be her trying to get out of the position she’s in, sometimes the color yellow signifies being sick or very much ill. With the narrator tearing the paper apart wanting the sickness

Read More

Effects Of Isolation In The Yellow Wallpaper

1011 Words | 5 Pages

He is completely oblivious to her mental state until the conclusion of the story, when he sees the full effect of his oversight. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” shows us that maltreatment, particularly neglect and isolation can have diminishing and possibly drastic effects on a person with mental illness. John, who is a doctor, diagnoses his wife with what he deems “temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 317). From the beginning, John dismisses his wife’s mental illness and does not see the toll her mental state is taking on her.

Read More

Prescribing Madness In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

1166 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout her journal, the narrator reassures the reader of John's love for her and her trust in him, at one point musing that “Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick” (7) and “It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise and because he loves me so” (8). It is this implicit trust that she has in her husband that convinces her to continue the treatment he prescribes despite her misgivings about it. John also uses this trust as a tool to emotionally manipulate her into subservience during the night he finds her awake. During his conversation with the narrator John attempts to convince her that she is getting better, but after rebutting that she is only “Better in body perhaps-”

Read More

Post Partum Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper

882 Words | 4 Pages

From the beginning, it is clear that the narrator appears as a docile and complacent. In the novel, the narrator makes it obvious that John her husband, has all control over her. She writes “If a physician of a high standing, and one husband... assures there is temporary nervous depression… what is one to do?” This shows the narrator’s position, there is nothing she can do or say.

Read More

How Does The Yellow Wallpaper Relate To Gender Criticism

952 Words | 4 Pages

When reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman many readers interpret the short story differently. Readers may find the story to be confusing and perhaps disturbing. It was written in June 1890. This story is about a woman who is considered depressed after having a baby. She gets trapped in a room by her husband to cope with her “depression.”

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Interpretive Analysis

1012 Words | 5 Pages

This is suggested in the quote, “John is a physician, and perhaps -(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)- perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (647). Here, the narrator is implying that her husband may be intentionally hindering her recovery. The fact that she cannot say this to a living soul implies that she is aware of the power imbalance between them and is afraid to speak her mind. This is significant because it reflects the theme of the story and proves she lacks the authority to make decisions for herself. She is scared to speak her truth out of fear of reprimand, embarrassment, and her husband's feelings , but the narrator’s fear further reinforces this theme and shows the unequal power division between the couple.

Read More

Examples Of Transcendentalism In The Yellow Wallpaper

970 Words | 4 Pages

From the very beginning of the story, the narrator questions the methods used to treat her. She is desperate more socialization with other people, and this is quite explicit in her writings, quote, “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. ”(Gilman) The narrator knows that the real way to actually combat her depression is to go out and distract herself and talk to people instead of sitting at home all day and letting it fester. The narrator also places an importance on her own thoughts and understanding of her own condition over her husband's opinions. These transgressions are visible many times in the text, but one instance can be found in the first portion of the story where the narrator writes, “John is a physician, and perhaps--(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)--perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster.

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper And The Awakening Analysis

1122 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the generation, women have always been trapped in some way or another. In the short story, ‘The Yellow Wall-Paper’ and the novel ‘The Awakening’ highlights the struggle of women in the late 1800’s and the early 1900s in society. The Yellow wallpaper is a short story about women giving birth and being imprisoned in a room with a weird view of the yellow wall-paper. This resulted in her hallucination lead to the development of mental illness. By the end of the story, she rips off the yellow wallpaper and kills her husband.

Read More

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

533 Words | 3 Pages

The story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is Charlotte Gilman’s interpretation of how women were treated and were thought that they were only useful in the home. The story follows the first person point of view of a woman who is struggling to break free from the irrational labels of being a woman that her husband is attempting to force upon her. The narrator dreams of being able to write freely and leave her home to be in the world she sees outside her window. However, John, the husband, convinces her that she has nervous depression, and that she is unable to leave the house until she is better. John, being a physician, believes that he knows exactly how her nervousness affects her and convinces himself and his wife that it is better for her to stay in the home until she is not “sick” any longer.

Read More

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

767 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator feels as if she is a burden on John but she is also growing tired of his constant dictation. She feels this especially since she knows what she needs but he does not allow it. She wrote that she, “meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort,” but she feels like a “comparative burden” (par. 44). John makes her feel that it is her fault for not getting well faster. The narrator feels that she can not talk to John about her case because, “he is so wise, and because he loves me so” (par.

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Point Of View Analysis

814 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism Essay

1202 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1626 Words | 7 Pages

Because of this, we get a clear insight of the narrator's mind. Our protagonist is the wife to John, a physician. She is experiencing a ‘nervous depression’ after giving birth, and throughout the story her husband makes it his goal to take charge of her ‘illness.’ John is written as quite a basic physician of the 1800s. He believes that there are logical reasons behind everything, and that matters of the mind are not something to be concerned with.

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Character Analysis Essay

501 Words | 3 Pages

To be trapped in one's own mind may be the worst prison imaginable. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", the narrator of the story is constantly at battle with many different forces, such as John, her husband, the yellow wallpaper that covers the walls of her room, and ultimately herself. Throughout the story the narrator further detaches herself from her life and becomes fixated on the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in her temporary home, slowly driving her mad. The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a major and dynamic character as she is the main character of the story, and throughout the story her personality and ways of thinking change drastically.

Read More

More about How Does The Struggle In Charlotte P. Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

Open Document