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The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis

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“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins, represent the oppression women faced, for a long period of time. The story goes into intense detail, to explain the struggles women faced to gain intellectual, social, and political freedoms.One of the things Charlotte Perkins, tries to convey to the audience is patriarchal power and oppression, and how harsh it really is and was. There are multiple times the male characters showed dominance over the unnamed narrator.They did this by treating her in a child like manner,they stripped her of all intellectual freedoms, and coerce her into believing what they believed.(that she was not as intelligent as they were.)

In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, many times the narrator’s husband, John, is seen …show more content…

She has no way to express herself and let the emotions she feel escape. Dr. James W. Pennebaker of the University of Texas at Austin says “Expressive writing—writing about traumatic, stressful or emotional events—has been shown to have a number of health benefits, from improving symptoms of depression to helping fight infection.” Even though this was recently discovered it still shows that writing helps. In the story, the narrator explains that her husband doesn’t support her writing and she is not allowed to do it. This is him stripping her of her intellectual freedoms. “There comes John and I must put this away,-he hates to have me write a word”, says the narrator on page three. This quote explains that John doesn’t like her to write; and she immediately puts her writing away to please him. Charlotte Perkins, continuous to show Patriarchal power with having the narrator say this, she says, “... and am forbidden to “work” until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.” This quote adds to the fact that she wants to work and is denied this. She wants to express herself, but is denied this. And, has no choice but to listen because of her gender role in the nineteenth

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637 Words | 3 Pages

The Yellow Wallpaper’s John is the narrator’s husband and doctor, who orders her the “rest cure” in the wake of her “nervous condition” shortly after giving birth. In the beginning, the narrator demonstrates the ways that John belittles her illness and her thoughts in general. For example, after she tells John that she finds the house to be ‘queer’ she writes, “John laughs at me of course, but one expects that in marriage” (792). John also takes to using pet names for his wife throughout the story as another form of belittlement. In one passage, John finds the narrator up in the middle of the night examining the wallpaper: “‘what is it little girl?’

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155 Words | 1 Pages

In the story of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, dramatically changes for Janes behavior has been shown towards the end of the story. On the last night, her husband has once again going in town for attending to a patient, and Jane asks Jennie not to disturb her. As no one know notice Jane, she locks herself in the nursery to allow uninterrupted time for peeling wallpaper and thus freeing the shadowy woman. As Jane was tearing off the paper, she knows that she is closer to be woman who is behind the wall, until the point she loses her sense of personal identity and merges with the woman behind the wallpaper. When the time her husband breaks through the door to find out his wife was crawling amid the torn paper, and proclaiming that the woman behind

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612 Words | 3 Pages

Writing helped the narrator to be happy and be productive. Without writing the narrator would be bored, and wouldn't be able to keep her mind off her troubles. Therefore, the narrator had to secretly write. Also, there were expectations from John, her husband, and society. The narrator feels as if working and being productive will help her health, “personally, I disagree with their ideas.

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971 Words | 4 Pages

“The Yellow Wallpaper” a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s has some elements that link it to the Gothic genre. However, there are features within it that are not directly prescribed in Gothic literature. Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper” there are some aspects of the short story that observe the traditional features of gothic literature. However, in some instances, other aspects do not, overall though the short story is gothic in its writing. Where there is a departure from the traditional gothic, they still point us to something unknown or strange.

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1024 Words | 5 Pages

Wisal A. Ibrahim AP Literature and Composition 25 February 2023 The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis The short story The Yellow Wallpaper follows the narrator, a nameless upper-middle-class woman from the late 19th century, as she gradually descends into psychosis as a result of her physical environment. The toxic dynamic between the narrator and her doctor, her husband John, plays a critical role in her insanity. Through its use of historical context, characterization, and narration, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author of The Yellow Wallpaper, creates a psychological horror that criticizes the treatment of women in healthcare.

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544 Words | 3 Pages

Passage Analysis #1 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman, in this particular passage of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” explores the theme of female oppression through imagery and symbolism of the wall-paper. These elements of literature make the wall-paper come to life for both the narrator and the audience. “The front pattern does move”(55) personifies the wall-paper to be so animate and physically restraining that the woman behind it must shake it to attempt to escape. The italicization of “does” serves to further affirm that the wallpaper exhibits restrictive human-like behaviors - particularly those of dominant men in society. The narrator states that there are “a great many woman behind”(55), extending the metaphor to all Victorian women in the United States and others around the world who are oppressed.

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2071 Words | 9 Pages

Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing”. (Charlotte Perkins Gilman 4) Jane was not allowed to write so she had to write when no one was around. If John really wants Jane to get better why wouldn't he let her do any activities that brought her joy and made her feel

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267 Words | 2 Pages

Character analysis over the Yellow Wallpaper The unnamed narrator which is also the protagonist of the short story “Yellow Wallpaper” shows inferiority to her husband John throughout the entirety of the story. Her husband John, limits the amount of creativity she is “allowed” to have. He does this by not allowing her to write although the narrator still does in fact write but only when she knows she can get away with it. The narrator wants to go outside she wants to interact with other people yet she will not stand up for herself which shows great inferior to John. Which of the time period that was almost the normal the men made the rules but it was also a time period where women were pushing equal rights.

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2622 Words | 11 Pages

In the story, "Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Gilman claims that women were submissive to man. Gilman shows this by using some past background from her life. Gilman uses a female in comparison with the male characters from her past to prove that men were most dominate in their relationships with women. Throughout her life the narrator has endured isolation, control, and depression; allowing her to use her-life comparison in relation with her story. The author’s use of: imagery, irony, and symbolism becomes clear to the reader as the struggle she endured is embodied in her written work.

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1248 Words | 5 Pages

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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1049 Words | 5 Pages

Charlotte is a feminist, she believes in equality between men and women. Her writing reflects all of her beliefs on this topic. When she writes “The Yellow Wallpaper” it is similar to an experience in her life. This story is about a woman who is going through postpartum depression and is locked in a room till she gets over this sickness. Her brother and husband don’t want her doing anything until she is better.

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165 Words | 1 Pages

Charlotte feels so trapped that she has to secretly write to escape her awful reality. The repression of Charlotte’s feelings due to the orders of John, result in hurting her more than helping her. The story itself is a better form of therapy than John’s methods. Gilman,

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963 Words | 4 Pages

As we come to discover John, controls the narrator and she, with her benevolence and love that she has for John trusts whatever he advises her. All through the start of the story, it is obvious that the narrator wishes to talk, however, something holds her back and this consumes her since she has nobody to converse with. The narrator says, "It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so". The incongruity of this quote and of the entire story is that this is a marriage, but the relationship amongst John and the narrator are

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802 Words | 4 Pages

“The Yellow Wallpaper” Literary Analysis The “Yellow Wallpaper” is a iconic short story written by Charlotte Perkins, a famous feminist author. The novel takes place the 19th century and deals with the issue of how women dealt with mental health issues, specifically postpartum depression. Back in the 19th century the way physicians dealt with women 's mental health was much different then it is today, back then they believed that the cure for depression was solvable by isolation and rest. As a result many women suffering from postpartum depression were forced into isolation which only made their situation worse. Jane; the narrator of the short story, is one of these woman forced into the rest treatment by her physician husband.

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1091 Words | 5 Pages

She identified the yellow wallpaper as a metaphor for women’s discourse. The narrator’s underlying feelings of confusion, depression, and frustration was covered by the yellow wallpaper which she rips from the walls at the very end to reveal “what is elsewhere kept hidden and embodies patterns that the patriarchal order ignores, suppresses, fears as grotesque or fails to perceive at all” (35). The yellow wallpaper is interpreted as the conflict of gender inequality and the struggles of women in a patriarchal society. The imagery reflects on how women feel toward sexual inequality and the situation with

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