ipl-logo

The Yellow Wallpaper Postpartum Depression

1067 Words5 Pages

The Yellow Wallpaper and Postpartum Depression What is postpartum depression one would ask from the 1800’s? It wasn’t until the late 1850s when medical professionals first recognized postpartum depression as a disorder. “Postpartum depression isn't a character flaw or a weakness. Sometimes it's simply a complication of giving birth” ("Postpartum Depression - Mayo Clinic"). Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses symbolism in “The Yellow Wallpaper” to show the different levels of postpartum depression one can go through (Gilman 792). She actually suffered from depression for many years and seeks help and was told to “live as domestic a life as possible, ‘to have but two hours’ intelligent life a day,’and ‘never to touch a pen, brush or pencil again” (Gilman …show more content…

Women were to be considered the weaker sex. “Some even compare the conditions of women in this time to a form of slavery” (Smith). Gilman shows this in “The Yellow Wallpaper” when her husband sends her to the room upstairs, “it was a nursery first and then playroom and gymnasium”(Gilman 793). John sees her as a child that is why he placed her in the nursery room all alone and that is why is calls her “little girl” (Gilman 798). The bars on the windows show her incarceration as if she were in a jail cell looking to break free. The bars on the window are not the only symbol to show entrapment. The wallpaper design she starts to talk about in the story is a sign of delusion she begins to have. Delusion and hallucinations is to be considered a more severe “postpartum psychosis” ("Postpartum Depression - Mayo Clinic") She makes a statement that the wallpaper has “a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes staring at you upside down” (Gilman 795). We can see she is beginning to hallucinate from being in that room for so long. She goes on to describe the wallpaper with big patches and “uncertain curves” (Gilman 793) She begins to see the all women in the wallpaper trapped behind all the designs trying to get her to join

Show More
Related

Neurasthenia Disorders In The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1348 Words | 6 Pages

Reading this story was a sad example of how women with postpartum depression were treated back in the 1800’s, before we knew more about the cures for those ailments. Gilman showed significant courage when writing this story, as it reflected on her own experiences and how she almost became a fatality from this type of treatment. The fact that she has helped many people through writing this story shows how important that her words truly were in her work, The Yellow

Read More

Essay On Depression In Charolette Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

1012 Words | 5 Pages

We today would look at Jane and would diagnose her with postpartum depression. The wallpaper seems to give Jane a sort of anxiety because of how much she focuses in on all the horrible factors of the yellow wallpaper. She was improving with her depression and went on to say “John is so pleased to see me improve! And said I seemed to be flourishing in spite of my wall-paper. ”(653).

Read More

Examples Of Postpartum Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper

1106 Words | 5 Pages

Gilman herself suffered from postpartum depression. Gilman was given the rest treatment. She was to stay in bed most of the day and not to write until the day she died. This nearly drove her mad, like Jane, but she manages to escape from this hell. After her escape, she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

Read More

What Is The Cause Of Jane's Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper

571 Words | 3 Pages

In the short story “the Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator, Jane who has just given birth becomes progressively more ill and depressed. Her husband John, who is a physician prescribes that she get lots of rest and fresh air so Jane and John rent a colonial mansion for the summer. Throughout the story John is one of the main causes for Jane’s deepening depression.

Read More

Tone Of The Yellow Wallpaper

875 Words | 4 Pages

In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gillman gives a real life example of how the inhumane treatments for postpartum depression genuinely do just the opposite of what they are supposed to. The narrator, which is the woman in the story, shows how her development symbolizes the effects of cruel postpartum depression treatments and how they transform women into something they are not. The narrator is developed through certain regimens of the treatment, altering her thoughts through journaling, and forming an unhealthy obsession with the wallpaper in her bedroom which eventually consumes her into believing what is not there. Tone is a very important element in this story. The author uses tone to demonstrate how the narrator’s thoughts change from the beginning to the end of her treatment.

Read More

Postpartum Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper

679 Words | 3 Pages

Charlotte Perkins Gilman created a strong fictional character by using her personal experience with postpartum depression, which created robust insinuations of women as a whole. Gilman realized her experience was more than an individual happening indicated by when narrator noticed there was another imprisoned female. The Yellow Wallpaper symbolizes the denouncement of the treatment entirely, but as well as the anti feminist disposition politics which took place that left the women vulnerable. Gilman used a diverse vocabulary and many literary devices that helped increase the reader’s perspective on postpartum depression.       The hierarchy of John’s relationship to the narrator represents the gender equality and the fine divide between male and female during that time period.

Read More

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Rest Cure Analysis

811 Words | 4 Pages

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the story of a woman suffering from postpartum depression in the nineteenth century is told. Since the condition, and mental illnesses in general, had not yet been thoroughly studied or diagnosed, physicians of the time had developed their own treatment, which the woman in the story is forced to take part in; the results are most certainly not what her husband must have intended. In the story, there are also several connections to the modern articles, “Rest Cure” from Science Museum and “Depression During and After Pregnancy” from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. An example would be the easy exhaustion of the narrator, even though she is allowed to do very little in the

Read More

AP Literary Analysis: The Yellow Wallpaper

1024 Words | 5 Pages

Women were seen as mentally fragile and hysterical, with treatments such as “rest-cures” existing as a means of not “upsetting” the female patient. This sentiment can be seen throughout the story, from the narrator’s diagnosis to the treatment she receives as a result. For instance, the narrator was not properly diagnosed with postpartum depression, but rather what her brother and husband describe as “ temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency"(The Project Gutenberg eBook of the Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman). Despite saying that she is sick, her brother and husband quickly dismiss her concerns and tell her friends and family she is healthy.

Read More

Symbolism In The Yellow Wallpaper

714 Words | 3 Pages

Symbolism Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper One might know that Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” uses the wallpaper in the main character’s room as a symbol for a bigger underlying meaning. This is a short story about a young women diagnosed of depression and “a slight hysterical tendency”. In hopes of healing the narrator, her husband moves them into an old, ornate home for the summer and required her to refrain from any activity to calm her mind. However, instead of getting better, the narrator goes into a deeper level of madness. This madness is caused by her obsession over what she believes is animate patterns and a trapped women in a peeling, aged wallpaper in her room.

Read More

Postpartum Depression Annotated Bibliography

675 Words | 3 Pages

Stevens, Lise. 2010. " Postpartum Depression." The

Read More

Hysteria In The Yellow Wallpaper

1634 Words | 7 Pages

In the story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman she writes of her postpartum depression, which during that time period was dismissed as “hysteria”. In The Yellow Wallpaper there are very evident signs and symptoms of depression. By the end of the story, the narrator becomes one with the wallpaper itself, this marks her mental breakdown. Postpartum depression during the 1800s was not even classified as such, they considered this to be a type of “hysteria”.

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis

1061 Words | 5 Pages

"Postpartum Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper". Writing On Women Writers, 2018, https://writingonwomenwriters.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/postpartum-depression-in-the-yellow-wallpaper/. Accessed 6 Apr 2018. "Imagery/Symbolism". The Yellow Wallpaper, 2018, https://anahuerta.weebly.com/imagerysymbolism.html.

Read More

Stuart Hackshaw's Short Film The Yellow Wallpaper

500 Words | 2 Pages

Depression is one of the many mental illnesses that thrive in environments where relationships are not strong or sturdy. In the short film The Yellow Wallpaper, the main character, Jane, has been kept away from the relationships she needed to assist in her healing of postpartum depression. Without the relationship she needed from her husband and others, she began to lose sight as herself as an actual human being. Instead, she saw herself as a woman in the wall. This tore away at her already withering mind.

Read More

Literary Criticism Of The Yellow Wallpaper

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.

Read More

The Yellow Wallpaper Psychoanalytic Analysis

1291 Words | 6 Pages

Psychoanalytic reading of The Yellow Wallpaper In Charlotte Gilman's short story The Yellow Wallpaper, the speaker seems to be suffering from postpartum depression or "temporary nervous depression." (648). Accordingly, her husband makes the decision for her and takes her to a country house because he believes that it would be good for her. The narrator is not allowed to take care of her own child as she was imprisoned in her room where she should do nothing but "rest."

Read More

More about The Yellow Wallpaper Postpartum Depression

Open Document