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The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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Isolated within a bedroom with nothing to do but analyze the walls, “The Yellow Wallpaper” By Charlotte Gilman illustrates the treatment of womans’ mental health in the early 1900s. This work exhibits the inner monologue of a woman falling into postpartum depression after a miscarriage. Under the control of her manipulative husband Jonn, she is convinced to spend all her time in a run-down bedroom, where the lack of entertainment leaves her to obsess over the wallpaper. Charlotte Gilman uses imagery and sentence structure in “The Yellow Wallpaper” to create an erratic tone. When the wife is not around anyone she documents what she sees in the walls in her journal, these in-depth and repetitive descriptions of the wallpaper patterns give insight …show more content…

The second time she mentions the pattern she says, “I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of conclusion. I know a little of the principle of design and I know this thing was not arranged on any laws of radiation or alteration of repetition of symmetry or anything else that I ever heard of,”(Page 4 C. Gilman). This lack of consistency and control illustrates how the narrator sees her own illness; in the early 1900s little was known about mental diseases and this lack of knowledge causes distress in the narrator which quickly transforms into self-critique. Not being able to follow the pattern on the wall symbolizes her inability to understand the inner workings of her own illness; ignorant of the effect her miscarriage has had on her. After attempting to bring up her dwindling condition to her husband but being given complete disregard, her frustration with the pattern intensifies, “You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turns a back somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face and knocks you down and tramples upon you. It is …show more content…

The author's use of complex and simple sentences helps communicate the irregular moods the narrator experiences. In the beginning of this short story her husband could do no wrong, “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be this sensitive. I think it's due to this nervous condition,” (Page 1 C. Gilman). At first her thoughts are very concise and to the point, she’s aware of her problem and even offers reasoning for it; misguided as it may be. The simple sentence structure allows the narrator to come off as level headed and in control. However by the end of the short story her infatuation with John has dwindled significantly and it reflects in her thoughts, “ John knows I don't sleep very well at night, for all I'm so quiet! He asked me all sorts of questions too, and pretended to be very loving and kind. As if I couldn't see through him!” (Page 5 C. Gilman). The author begins using run on sentences to demonstrate how disoriented the narrator is. When she is unable to form complete thoughts her emotions are pushed further towards the surface, this causes chaos and a lack of structure in her writing. The juxtaposition the author uses between complex and simple sentences allows the reader to easily see the deterioration of the narraotrs mind, creating a manic tone throughout the

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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!

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In the women’s room, Nancy falls down, but that doesn’t make her sad or disappoint. She was free laugh, she wouldn’t laugh if she was with someone, but she was alone, so she laughs and decides to write her own story. Her disability is not something makes to laugh about, but she does. Disability is a serious ailment, but Nancy doesn’t get depressed, because her personality and her illness is not related to each other. She realizes nobody can judge about her illness.

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One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.” (381) Her constant mention of hating the wallpaper seems like it becomes an odd obsession for the narrator. The woman who she is seeing

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The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a portrayal of a woman’s descent into madness and how the society around her contributes to her illness. As a matter of fact, the story was inspired and written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s own personal experience. Gilman’s use of a first person point of view and tone allows the reader to experience and understand the narrator's actions and situation. The narrator’s tone also plays a role in establishing her character and the theme through the paragraph structure, her thoughts and expressions and finally her ironic expressions. To begin with, the narrator's tone helps establish character through her paragraph structure within the story.

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Jane's being kept under isolation treatment by her husband created a phenomenon of her being obsessed with the wallpaper that caught her interest. Truly revealing the flaws of her treatments while breaking down the wallpaper as a whole. "There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern, the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous.

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In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is suffering from postpartum depression. The narrator 's husband John, who also happens to be her physician, prescribes the rest cure to help lift his wife of her depressive state and ultimately heal her depression. However, the rest cure does not allow the narrator to experience any mental stimulation. Therefore, to manage her boredom the narrator begins obsessing over the pattern of the yellow wallpaper. After analyzing the pattern for awhile, the narrator witnesses a woman trapped behind bars.

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Though something to her feels off about this house. As they explore the house they, discover a nursery with yellow wallpaper inside. The woman becomes obsessed with this wallpaper, trying to decipher each and every pattern, logging all of it into her diary which she keeps away from her

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Mental illness is an issue that has always been apparent in the world. The “Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Gilman is a story that shows the declining mental health of a young woman. Jane, whom the story follows, is suffering from postpartum depression; her husband John exhibits very controlling behavior that is seen many times. He looks down on her and is very rude to her; as if she was nothing but an object to him. The theme emerges from the dialogue, setting, and plot symbolism.

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However, we later see a shift in her feelings towards the wallpaper as she states that she is growing “really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper” and comes to a realization that it may be “because of the wallpaper” (Par 94) As her opinions on the wallpaper begin to change, the progression of her mental instability becomes increasing visible. She begins to build a relationship with the wallpaper and claims that “There are things in that paper that nobody knows about” (Par 22) her. As this relationship with the wallpaper builds, her sanity begins to slip, and the hallucinations begin in a somewhat minor manor. In her first mention of “the woman” she says that the pattern on the

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When she is up in the room she feels trapped and lonely like she has nobody, and people need other people. She states, “John is kept in town very often by serious cases” (Gilman). Her husband is constantly working so he is away all the time. Being trapped in a room all day leads her to be bored, so she follows the pattern on the wallpaper. For example, she says “I lie here on this great immovable bed-it is nailed down, I believe- and follow that pattern about by the hour” (Gilman).

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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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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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Nonetheless, the narrator continues to pen her ideas about the wallpaper as it transpired from being perplexing to gaining clarity each day. Amidst arriving at a full conclusion of what the wallpaper depicts, the narrator says she sees “a woman stooping down and creeping about behind the pattern” (Perkins Gilman, 50). As the days passed,

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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.

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