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Women in literature through time
The yellow wallpaper analysis
The yellow wallpaper and the forms of oppression
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Together the themes of manipulation and mental illness will trigger a series of events that change their lives. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the protagonist becomes increasingly obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom and seclusion from human contact. This was a cure that her husband John prescribed that proved detrimental to her mental health. As she spends more time alone in the room, she becomes fixated on the patterns and images, slowly becoming convinced there is a woman behind the wall that is trapped and that she must free, "The front pattern does move—and no wonder!
The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the main character in the short novel. She is a young newly married mother in the upper middle class who is very imaginative. The narrator is going through a stage of depression and believes the house they have temporarily moved into is haunted. What the narrator is actually experiencing is called Postpartum depression, depression suffered by a mother following childbirth. This illness can arise from the combination of hormonal changes, psychological adjustment to motherhood, and fatigue.
The abundant value of her provocative, concerning memoir is in exploring the psychological impact that racism could make on an individual, spreading a stain of self-doubt and self-hatred that, shared with lack of opportunities, abets black people in collectively destroying themselves all together. Drugs and violence, the disintegration of families and a range of other social difficulties are traced back to this common afflicted root. In Men We Reaped, Ward grapples with the self-condemnation: “We tried to ignore it, but sometimes we caught ourselves repeating what history said, mumbling along, brainwashed: I am nothing. We drank too much, smoked too much, were abusive to ourselves, to each other. We were bewildered.”
The Yellow Wallpaper’s John is the narrator’s husband and doctor, who orders her the “rest cure” in the wake of her “nervous condition” shortly after giving birth. In the beginning, the narrator demonstrates the ways that John belittles her illness and her thoughts in general. For example, after she tells John that she finds the house to be ‘queer’ she writes, “John laughs at me of course, but one expects that in marriage” (792). John also takes to using pet names for his wife throughout the story as another form of belittlement. In one passage, John finds the narrator up in the middle of the night examining the wallpaper: “‘what is it little girl?’
The story” The Yellow Wallpaper” wrote in first -person perspective. The main character is “ I” in the story. This narrator is a crazy, sick, nervous woman, who is asked to live in someplace peaceful by his husband John. The narrator’s husband John is a physician. John never believes that his wife is sick instead of thinking she just need a rest.
Oppression & Isolation: The Ugly Faces of Old-school Motherhood. In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins, the protagonist suffers through an apparent post-partum depression that showcases the submissiveness of women in the 19th century as well as the social pressure they faced. The story is intense and somewhat disturbing and explores certain topics that were controversial at the time. This tale shows the descent into madness of a woman who recently became a mother and is experiencing many psychological issues. The protagonist recently gave birth and is now isolated in a nursery room with a yellow wallpaper due to a “sickness” she is supposed to be experiencing.
In Gilman's short story,"The Yellow Wallpaper" the narrator becomes disassociated with reality while becoming fixated on the yellow wallpaper of her bedroom. This reveals to be symbolic of the everyday pattern of society. The narrator's husband John, who is also her physician, believes nothing is wrong with her. John tends to be a very practical man. His practical way of thinking seems to lead him to only admit physical illnesses that are obvious to the human eye.
The dominant point of view in the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” Is told by a first person. She tells her story from a closed room, so that she can receive the “rest cure” treatment for her nervous condition and depression. She is the major character in the story. She writes in her journal everyday about her situation. The first person focuses on her owns thoughts and feelings hoping she can overcome her mental state.
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.
The house is in a super-isolated place. The house represents the narrator 's personal emotions; restricted and isolation. In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the symbolism of the the wallpaper and the diary demonstrate the psychological difficulties, that were caused by being disrespected and thought less of, during the 19th century for women across the United States. In the “Yellow Wallpaper”, the woman 's husband John neglects her symptoms of postpartum and says she has a slight hysterical tendency.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” gives insight into the life of a mental illness patient. Unfortunally, her husband is her doctor. John, the husband, is not the main protagonist, but plays a significant role in the story of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is told from the first person’s perspective of the narrator. Therefore, the reader is only able to observe John from the perspective of the narrator and the only way the reader can learn about John is through the narrator’s interpretations of his actions.
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 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.
The Yellow Wallpaper In The Yellow Wallpaper written in 1894, Gilman portrays the protagonist as a victim of oppression. Oppression is defined as being heavily burdened mentally or physically by troubles or adverse conditions. Oppression is also a form of authority over someone who is in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. During the 1800’s women were subject to strict laws of society which prevented them from many civil rights and opportunities.
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.
