Control Your Own Life
Control Your Own Life
The theme of Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is what can happen when one let someone else control his or hers life. In the story, the wife becomes mentally ill because she lets her husband control her life and as the story progresses the reader can see that her condition worsens because she does not think for herself. The story shows how the wife writes about her and her husband, John, in the journal, her imaginations in the yellow wallpaper and on people, and the moment she goes completely insane.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the journal she kept reveals how much she lets her husband controls her life. One example of this is when she writes, “I…am absolutely forbidden to work until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas…I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman 2). She obviously has her own different opinions, but she never speaks of them openly. As a result, she only writes them down in her journal. This is why she takes the responsibility of the result that her husband controls her so much because she never fight back about her own opinions. She wants to have change; however, she lets John control her life and make her unhappy. She even knows that she is angry with him, but she just blames it on a nervous condition that John says she has. The real reason she is angry with him is the fact that he does not let her do what she wants to do, but she denies this. Another example, “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs…But John would not hear of it” (Gilman 3) also shows how much she lets her husband control her. Once again she disagrees with his judgment, but goes along with him anyways, and this is one of the main things she should have done for herself. Because she goes along with his judgment, her condition begins to worsen.
In the story, her condition begins to worsen when she begins to imagine people and things in the wallpaper. The first thing that gives evidence
The theme of Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is what can happen when one let someone else control his or hers life. In the story, the wife becomes mentally ill because she lets her husband control her life and as the story progresses the reader can see that her condition worsens because she does not think for herself. The story shows how the wife writes about her and her husband, John, in the journal, her imaginations in the yellow wallpaper and on people, and the moment she goes completely insane.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the journal she kept reveals how much she lets her husband controls her life. One example of this is when she writes, “I…am absolutely forbidden to work until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas…I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman 2). She obviously has her own different opinions, but she never speaks of them openly. As a result, she only writes them down in her journal. This is why she takes the responsibility of the result that her husband controls her so much because she never fight back about her own opinions. She wants to have change; however, she lets John control her life and make her unhappy. She even knows that she is angry with him, but she just blames it on a nervous condition that John says she has. The real reason she is angry with him is the fact that he does not let her do what she wants to do, but she denies this. Another example, “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs…But John would not hear of it” (Gilman 3) also shows how much she lets her husband control her. Once again she disagrees with his judgment, but goes along with him anyways, and this is one of the main things she should have done for herself. Because she goes along with his judgment, her condition begins to worsen.
In the story, her condition begins to worsen when she begins to imagine people and things in the wallpaper. The first thing that gives evidence