The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” was the one that stood out to me the most. Jane the female lead has no control over her life, she can’t speak for herself because of the male dominance of her husband. Women wanted to “establish their humanity without sacrificing their identity as women” (Marston, Rockwell) because they weren’t seen, men thought they were just there to do everything they say. Throughout the story, Jane is diagnosed with depression, and this was a time when women were not allowed to speak for themselves. Jane’s husband tries to control her but says he’s helping her because he’s a physician. John the husband kept her from doing anything that made her use her brain basically, so she was only allowed to do things like eat, sleep,

John’s role in providing for Jane and her to be the sick compliant wife who doesn’t give John’s orders a second thought. John’s obsession with control skyrockets towards the end of the story when he can’t get into the room so he says, “It would be a shame to break down that beautiful door” (Gilman). John was barking orders at Jane, making her slowly lose herself, while being misdiagnosed. John is supposed to be pictured as the head of their partnership; she doesn’t get to have a say so with anything to do with her life. Just because John is a doctor, he thinks he knows everything and can control Jane when he told her “I am a doctor, Dear, and I know” (Gilman). John is the man in the relationship, and he believes he needs to be the person to make all the decisions, He tries to make her condition a crutch and therefore assumes he knows more than his

John liked the fact that their relationship wasn’t equal in any way and his ignorance distracts him from grasping the full problem of his wife. Not knowing how to think for herself only to be controlled Jane follows everything her husband says to cure herself not knowing his methods would push her to the brink of insanity. “I even said so to John one moonlight evening, but he said what I felt was a draught, and shut the window” (Gilman). Jane was dismissed by her husband so easily that it was common back then so she didn't even give it a second thought. Jane is bored a lot because John will not allow her to indulge in any brain-using activities which cause her to obsess about the wallpaper in her