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The Yellow Wallpaper Unreliable

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According to the CDC 1 in 5 people suffer from some type of mental illness. This can cause people to spiral and become unreliable. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe a caregiver kills an old man because he had a sickness and hallucinates about the old man. The other story is “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman follows a woman named Jane as she writes in her journal about her mental illness. Her husband John locks her in a room with a yellow wallpaper and Jane hallucinates that there's a woman in the walls. Because of Jane's mental health causing her to be overly medicated and hallucinate she is the most unreliable narrator. Jane in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the most unreliable narrator because she is being overly medicated …show more content…

Some will argue that the caretaker in “The Tell-Tale Heart '' is the most unreliable because he only hallucinates a heart beat. “The ringing became more distinct: --It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness --until, at length, i found that the noise was not within my ears.” (Poe 4). This point is true but not important because Jane is hallucinating someone in the wall and harming herself whereas the caretaker hallucinated a heart beat. After John leaves for the day Jane writes in her journal, “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard!” (Perkins Gilman 13). Jane hallucinates so badly and makes her think she was trapped behind the wall. She finally fully accepts that she's the woman in the wallpaper. When John got home he went to go talk to Jane, ‘“I’ve got out at last,” said I, “in spite of you and Jane. And i've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!”’ (Perkins GIlaman 14). Jane's hallucinations got so bad she caved and tore off all the wallpaper. Now that the woman in the wallpaper is out Jane is free from the hallucinations. Although the caretaker has hallucinations they aren't as bad as Jane’s where she does not even identify with herself making her more

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588 Words | 3 Pages

She proceeds to explain the contributing factors of the narrator succumbing to her “disease” of hysteria which was isolation from social interaction and the restriction of her own thoughts. She points out that the narrator is confined to a simple square room with nothing to offer in terms of mental health therapy. The narrator’s lack of the ability to interact with anything or anyone leads to infatuation with the wallpaper, which turns out to be “the

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775 Words | 4 Pages

As the narrator becomes more fascinated with the wallpaper she moves progressively away from her normal day-to-day routines and lifestyle. When the narrator finally recognizes herself as the woman trapped in the wallpaper she screams at her husband "I 've got out at last," (Gilman 656) "you can 't put me back" (Gilman 656). She realizes woman are forced to hide behind the internal patterns of their lives and they need that she needs to be

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1002 Words | 5 Pages

The woman in the wallpaper is trapped just like she is. The narrator creates a figure that she could relate to and then spends all her time focused on the figure and trying to figure out how to help the woman in the wallpaper escape her cell. As the story continues and she remains isolated, it is obvious Jane views herself as the woman inside the wallpaper. As a result of being trapped in her room, she begins to lose her sanity. She believes she is trapped in the wallpaper and must escape its holds.

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665 Words | 3 Pages

It is a story that could actually happen. In the story, Jane expresses concerns about her mental health to her husband, John, a doctor, who through good intentions and believing that he is doing the right thing, requires that his wife stays in bed all the time, and not do any of the things she would normally or would like to do. Due to being bed ridden, Jane becomes worse until she reached the limit and goes crazy. John’s behavior and decisions at this time were considered to be completely normal. The Yellow Wallpaper is considered to fall in the genre of realism because it represents the way life was for women during the nineteenth century.

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894 Words | 4 Pages

Then after this she kinda just went beyond crazy. “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane. And i’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can 't put me back.” She wanted the woman in the yellow wallpaper to escape so she helped her out. Because her husband traumatized her she was always nervous and emotional.

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This differs greatly from Jane, who begins to sympathize with the plight of all domestic women through her experience with the woman behind the yellow wallpaper. Although she initially frowned upon the woman’s efforts to escape, the more her mental health deteriorated, the more she began to relate her plight to that of the trapped woman, both prisoners desperate for escape. With her newfound revelation, she sought to save the trapped woman from her prison, subconsciously freeing herself in the process. “As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her…I wonder if they all came out of that wallpaper as I did?… “I’ve got out at last,” said I, “in spite of you and Jane!

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518 Words | 3 Pages

Jane has become so insane that she thinks the yellow wallpaper in the room that she is locked in has a woman trapped inside it who is moving around. “The front pattern does move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!” (Perkins 654). Over the time that Jane has been in the room the women trapped inside the yellow wallpaper that keeps moving drives her more and more insane.

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Secondly, throughout the story, the narrator describes seeing an evolving woman trapped inside of the wall. Although readers can assume that this woman is merely a product of the narrator’s mind, the woman can also be seen as a symbol of the narrator and her feelings of being trapped. Eventually, the woman in the wall aids the narrator in her escape. In conclusion, many elements of the narrator’s increasing madness throughout The Yellow Wallpaper contributed to her freedom from the confines of the room, the confines of society, and the confines of her

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1008 Words | 5 Pages

However, we later see a shift in her feelings towards the wallpaper as she states that she is growing “really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper” and comes to a realization that it may be “because of the wallpaper” (Par 94) As her opinions on the wallpaper begin to change, the progression of her mental instability becomes increasing visible. She begins to build a relationship with the wallpaper and claims that “There are things in that paper that nobody knows about” (Par 22) her. As this relationship with the wallpaper builds, her sanity begins to slip, and the hallucinations begin in a somewhat minor manor. In her first mention of “the woman” she says that the pattern on the

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571 Words | 3 Pages

At the beginning of the short story Jane absolutely hates the wallpaper in her bedroom, but at the end Jane claims that she is “getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper.” (page ) At the beginning of the story Jane is aggravated at John and after John’s treatment she describes him as “so wise” (page ) and “loving [her] so.” (page ) Throughout the “Yellow Wallpaper” John consistently makes Jane’s condition worse and worse until she finally has a mental breakdown.

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774 Words | 4 Pages

She wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” in an effort to open the public’s eyes to the unfairness of this treatment. By infusing Jane’s narrative with childish language and actions without ever actually calling “Jane” by her name, Gilman creates a universal experience any woman of the time could insert herself into. This allowed women to fully realize the injustice they faced. John’s belittlement of Jane also serves to create both a universal and eye opening experience for the women reading it. Additionally, for those who were willing to read into the symbolism, the nursery and the meaning underlying it added to the injustice Gilman conveys.

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501 Words | 3 Pages

To be trapped in one's own mind may be the worst prison imaginable. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", the narrator of the story is constantly at battle with many different forces, such as John, her husband, the yellow wallpaper that covers the walls of her room, and ultimately herself. Throughout the story the narrator further detaches herself from her life and becomes fixated on the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in her temporary home, slowly driving her mad. The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a major and dynamic character as she is the main character of the story, and throughout the story her personality and ways of thinking change drastically.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

(99). The woman on the floor trying to take the wallpaper down would not let her husband in as he tried to knock the door down, but she does not realize she is doing it to herself. For example, Catherine Golden states in her article that, “The narrator seems detached from the bits of wallpaper on the floor next to her and John wallpaper fragments that could be read as a literal representation of the source of her insanity. The narrator’s hallucinations and action of tearing down the wallpaper to free the woman trapped behind the wallpaper pattern condemn her to madness” (60).

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905 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is unreliable because she cannot determine reality from hallucinations and cannot express herself because she is dominated by her role as a woman. The most unreliable narrator out of all the short stories is the wife who narrated the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman because she cannot distinguish reality. On the other hand, some would say that the narrator from Strawberry Spring by Stephen King is the most unreliable narrator because he is a serial killer and has no recollection of the murders he has committed. The narrator from The Yellow Wallpaper is the most unreliable because she cannot

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417 Words | 2 Pages

After reading “The Yellow Wall Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. You couldn’t help, but see Jane’s spiral downward into more absurd observations, from her acting even more crazy, to her constant ramblings and obsession about the wallpaper, to her constant returning to her moral conscience of being a good wife to John, Jane had quite the ordeal in this house and in her mind. As Jane said “I think that woman gets out in the daytime! And I’ll tell you why--privately--I’ve seen her!

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