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The Yellow Wallpaper Mental Deterioration

1260 Words6 Pages

Is it worrying that women are going unheard even when they themselves know something is wrong and are dying because of it? Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper is about the unnamed narrator’s struggles with mental health. The woman’s mental deterioration is directly linked to her physician/husband John’s, proposed "rest cure" and response to his wife’s plight. The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates how trusted external inputs can exacerbate issues around mental health. There are many signs throughout Perkins Gilman's short story that the narrator's mental state is deteriorating solely because of the actions of those around her. There is evidence of this on the first page with her husband/physician and how he treats her. …show more content…

When the narrator is forced by her husband to stay where " the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the wall… It is stripped off -- the paper -- in great patches… I never saw a worse paper in my life. One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin." The Yellow Wallpaper: (Charlotte Perkins Gilman page 2) she only keeps deteriorating. As the protagonist spends more and more time in the room with the Yellow wallpaper things only worsen as she starts seeing things in the wallpaper. If her husband hadn't forced her into the room with the Yellow Wallpaper and had let her stay where she wanted in one of the rooms downstairs then the hallucinations wouldn't have started and she wouldn't have felt as trapped. As the story progresses all the narrator can seem to do is focus on the Wallpaper which messes up her sleep schedule and occupies her every thought as she says "There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will" The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman page 7) even though all the people around her thought she was getting better she's was not, she's was only hiding the fact that she was experiencing new symptoms. There was never a point in their story where the protagonist was getting better. She was only learning how to hide what was happening from those …show more content…

As the story progresses the narrator say "I don't sleep much at night, for it is so interesting to watch the developments" The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman page 9) The narrator does nothing during the day but sleep and at night all she can focus on is the Wallpaper that she has now convinced herself that there is a women trapped inside. Though at first she wanted to help and still wanted to be a part of things around their house her husband would not let her because she felt bad that she could no longer do anything to be of help. However at some point she loses all interest in doing anything other than napping and watching the wallpaper. If the narrator had not been forced to spend so much time resting, if she could have left the house, if she had been allowed to do absolutely anything at all the deterioration of her mental health would not have happened or at least it wouldn't have gotten to the point where she felt no need to get out of bed. Her husband was also gone most of the time. She was left by herself to her own thoughts which is never good for someone who is struggling with their mind because the last thing that someone who is trapped in their mind needs is to be trapped in a room and alone with their thoughts. If her husband had taken a moment to listen to her and think that maybe she knew what was going on with her own

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The main character is almost always inside, in the room with the hideous yellow wallpaper. Nothing in the story suggests that she ever leaves more than briefly to go out into the garden, while her husband is always gone doing work and his sister is usually out because the main character chases her out to do arrands to leave her be. As the main character tries to handle the paper more and touch it, she seems to be descending further into madness. The yellow paint from the paper rubs off onto her, and even her husband’s sister notices how the paper’s color is in her clothes (165). She talks about the paper being fungus-like in appearance (588, 592), but it suggests that the paper is fungus-like in quality- fungus has spores and can be very toxic to the human body, known for causing hallucinations.

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1291 Words | 6 Pages

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How she describes her surroundings and her interactions with her family evolves as her condition worsens. By the end, the reader can truly see just how far gone the narrator has gone. The narrator’s fixation on the yellow wallpaper had gone from a slight obsession to full mental breakdown. As it is with most good stories, the presence of strong symbolism and detailed settings is a very important aspect of the story that helps to draw the reader into the story.

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1202 Words | 5 Pages

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1155 Words | 5 Pages

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779 Words | 4 Pages

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