What Is John's Use Of Escapism In The Yellow Wallpaper

“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!" (Kelly 189). This last moment from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” refers to “you,” the narrator’s husband and main antagonist of the story, John. Throughout the story, Gilman uses John as a way of exploring the effects that a patriarchal society has on the first-person, unnamed narrator’s mental breakdown. Gilman achieves this through the narrative style, specifically the use of an epistolary form, first-person narration, and fragmented stream of consciousness. John affects the narrator’s mental health due to his attempts of manipulating her health and environment into conforming to society’s

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. The narrator is constantly going back and forth between accepting her husband’s opinion and begging for help. She explains, “John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious. I am glad my case is not serious! But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing. John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him. Of course it is only nervousness" (Kelly 175). This stream of consciousness shows the narrator's struggle between trusting her husband's

During the 1800s, women were supposed to adhere to the ideas of a patriarchal society. According to scholar Rula Quawas, womanhood during this time period consisted of “a sharp dichotomy between the home and the economic world outside that paralleled a sharp contrast between female and male nature; the designation of the home as the female's only proper sphere … and the idealization of her function as a mother and a wife” (Quawas 44). While men were expected to leave home and make money for their families, women were encourage to work in the house and take care of their children. These narrow expectations for women caused them to be economically and intellectually dependent on men. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the character Jennie embodies this stereotypical function of a woman. According to the unnamed narrator, “[Jennie] is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which made me sick” (Kelly 178). Jennie functions as a foil to the narrator because she happily assumes the role as housekeeper and is willing to adhere to society’s expectations. Jennie even agrees with John and scolds the narrator for going against society’s expectations; by mentioning how Jennie believes that it is the “writing which made me sick,” the narrator is