“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. Despite being a minor character John plays a major role embodying the obstacles of oppression within society by being both her doctor and husband.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the use of medicine is used as a device to oppress the narrator. In the short essay medical advice, while possibly
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In The Yellow Wallpaper, it is apparent that the narrator has not gotten any better. However, it seems that her husband, who is supposed to be improving her health as both a doctor and a husband is not doing so. In fact, his treatment is making her worse. During the short story the narrator reports that, “But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take pains to control myself—before him, at least, and that makes me very tired”. This confirms the fact that John is not treating her condition, but her symptoms so that she has “proper self-control”. The narrator also mentions “So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air”. Here it is shown that John prescribes her “phosphates or phosphites” which most likely allude to some sort of anti-depressant. This suggests that John is not trying to cure his wife of her ailment, but try to get rid of the symptoms. As seen by her confusion, the narrator does not know what she is taking. Therefore odds are that John has given up and is only trying to control the narrator as best he