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The Yellow Wallpaper Essay

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Women are confined to society because of their gender. In our civilization and history, women have been deceived, looked upon as fragile, and ultimately limited from their full potential. In the short story, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” vividly depicts a woman trapped mentally and physically in her walls. The narrative powerfully illustrates the detrimental effects of women’s limited roles caused by their gender, causing the lack of power overall in the narrator's mental and physical health. The story illustrates this through its characters, setting, conflict, symbolism, and theme. The short story's message is that when women in families are confined and are being repressed and ultimately have less control over their lives, this profoundly affects their cognitive, …show more content…

For example, she says, “John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a little the other day and said I seemed to be flourishing in spite of my wall paper. I turned it off with a laugh. I had no intention of telling him it was because of the wallpaper – he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away. I don’t want to leave now until I have found out” (7). At the story's beginning, the narrator wants to leave and wants her environment to change with the thought of society. Now, she fears leaving the room as she sees a woman in the wallpaper as she interacts and has lost all sense of self. This symbolizes even though her lack of power and already generating mental health were terrible before; it has not gotten worse because of her lack of ability and potential she didn’t have over herself. John seems to think and not fully acknowledge the narrator and see how she is at risk because of the confinement he has put her in. This symbolizes John's ultimate fault as his confinement has caused her to become worse, and he doesn’t seem to see what he has done, letting her go back into something he won’t be able to come back

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While the diary functions as the narrator’s form of escapism, John still influences the way the narrator treats her own breakdown. In her article “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in The Yellow Wallpaper,” scholar Paula A. Treichler discusses how even the narrator’s personal diary entries are affected by her husband’s expectations of her. Treichler mentions, “At first, she expresses her views … [with] repetition of the impotent refrain, ‘What is one to do?’ The journal entries at this early stage are very tentative and clearly shaped under the stern eye of male judgement” (Treichler 62). In the beginning of the story, the narrator tries to trust her husband’s diagnosis, however, she still admits to feeling nervous and depressed.

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In the earlier segments of the story, the narrator was telling herself, "I meant to be such a help to John, ...and here I am a comparative burden already! Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able" (Gilman 3). Which highlights that her role in society is not viewed as valuable or productive. This sentiment is further emphasized by the fact that her husband and brother, who are both physicians, dismiss her concerns about her own health and well-being. The narrator's struggle to assert herself and be taken seriously reflects the larger societal issue of women being marginalized and silenced.

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