Comparison Between What the Tapster Saw and the Yellow Wallpaper
Ryan Bristle
English 101-20
Ms. Harris
9 November 2012
Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “What the Tapster Saw” there were many similarities. Some of the main ideas were setting, insanity, doctors, and the sudden and gradual changes. The ideas of the stories have many similarities, even though they in very different times and places. The ideas of “The Yellow Wallpaper” are composed of inner thoughts of self- imposed insanity. “What the Tapster Saw” was an inner evaluation of the surrounding world situations about country invasion and how humans can only function under certain circumstances due to our nature of modern civilization.
The differences that stuck out the most were the setting and the conflict. The two settings were the two largest components of the stories. The author describes the house in which she is staying as an “English place” with “hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate smaller houses for the gardeners and others” (Gilman 1). Even though the house seems pleasant in description, it had been around since the civil war or reconstruction. This old house set the possible mood of the house to where there is a lingering spirit from the original owners of the house which cause, the room with the yellow wall paper to cause the wife to act so irrationally or appear to go crazy. With the isolated setting of the house and the room with the yellow wall paper, I believe that it caused Jane’s mental state to slowly decline. Her mental state was in a slow decline because of the isolation of herself constantly being in the yellow room. The setting for “What the Tapster Saw” is in a palm forest in Nigeria. In which the forest is full of trees, animals and a river “whose water was viscous and didn’t seem to move” (Okri 185). Nigeria sets itself apart from America because of the lack of modern knowledge or technology. The fact that there is an herbalist that is having the wine Tapster bring him items to talk about his dream of him
English 101-20
Ms. Harris
9 November 2012
Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “What the Tapster Saw” there were many similarities. Some of the main ideas were setting, insanity, doctors, and the sudden and gradual changes. The ideas of the stories have many similarities, even though they in very different times and places. The ideas of “The Yellow Wallpaper” are composed of inner thoughts of self- imposed insanity. “What the Tapster Saw” was an inner evaluation of the surrounding world situations about country invasion and how humans can only function under certain circumstances due to our nature of modern civilization.
The differences that stuck out the most were the setting and the conflict. The two settings were the two largest components of the stories. The author describes the house in which she is staying as an “English place” with “hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate smaller houses for the gardeners and others” (Gilman 1). Even though the house seems pleasant in description, it had been around since the civil war or reconstruction. This old house set the possible mood of the house to where there is a lingering spirit from the original owners of the house which cause, the room with the yellow wall paper to cause the wife to act so irrationally or appear to go crazy. With the isolated setting of the house and the room with the yellow wall paper, I believe that it caused Jane’s mental state to slowly decline. Her mental state was in a slow decline because of the isolation of herself constantly being in the yellow room. The setting for “What the Tapster Saw” is in a palm forest in Nigeria. In which the forest is full of trees, animals and a river “whose water was viscous and didn’t seem to move” (Okri 185). Nigeria sets itself apart from America because of the lack of modern knowledge or technology. The fact that there is an herbalist that is having the wine Tapster bring him items to talk about his dream of him
Cited: Okri, Ben. “What the Tapster Saw” Stars of the New Curfew. NY: Viking P, 1989. 183-194. Print Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper” Suny.edu State Univ. of NY. nd. Web. 29 Oct. 2012