Restriction In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

The Restriction of a Wallpaper

The narrator in 'The Yellow Wallpaper', whose name we never learn, is diagnosed with temporary nervous depression. She is being treated by her husband, John, in a big beautiful house that is far off the road. Her husband, as well as others, believes that isolating her from everyone and everything will cure her. John is a physician, so he and the narrator convince themselves that he knows what is best for her. After spending some time alone in this house, while being inconsiderably taken care of by her husband, the narrator's condition worsens. Throughout the story, she is treated as though she has no maturity. She is also stripped of her creativity and freedom. As the story continues to progress, she comes to the realization of her enslavement. The narrator experiences something similar to a rebirth that frees her from the bondage of societies' expectations. In the end, she decides that she will not let her husband or anyone else live her life for her, yet in the midst of freeing herself, she drives her insane. This short story was set in the ninetieth century, in a big isolating house that contains a yellow wallpaper. All three of these settings helped the author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, exploit the truth of how women are not treated equally in society.

During this time, women are looked down upon if they wanted to do anything besides the roll of a submissive house wife. They are not expected to work. In fact, businesses like the American Medical Association refused women membership during this specific time. Women are expected to be taken care of by their husband. They are basically expected to be in the shadow of their husbands. Overall, they are expected to look to their husband much like a child would look to a parent. In 'The Yellow Wallpaper', The narrator describes her room in the big beautiful house as being an old child's room. She