The Rest Cure Research Paper

The Rest Cure was a treatment to help those who suffered from hysteria, women in particular. Neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell developed the rest cure in the late 1800’s. The treatment became popularized and spread throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. The treatment’s regimen consisted of enforced isolation, bed rest, and force-feeding. Patients were also prohibited from reading, writing, and even talking. A well-known writer by the name of Charlotte Perkins Gilman received the rest cure treatment and reacted strongly against it. Soon after the treatment Gilman wrote about her experience in a semi-autobiographical short story called, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. This small act of literature shed light on the harm the treatment did to
women and because of this it is no longer practiced worldwide today. Women are left in a subordinate position due to their overpowering husbands, writing is seen to have helped women rebel, maintain their sanity, and gain freedom under the rest cure treatment.
Writing helped women rebel against their oppressor by exposing the truth, thus spreading awareness of the harsh conditions women had to endure under the rest cure.
The cure was used to help women with nervous disorders, instead it made their mental state worse. Charlotte Perkins the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper” was aware of this possibility happening to herself, but she chose to fight against it. Perkins managed a way to write about her experiences under the treatment, which helped those who went through it and those who were oblivious to the harm the treatment caused to women. In the article, “Managing madness in Gilman’s The Yellow Wall-paper,” Beverley Hume discusses the author of the story, Charlotte Perkins, in a more detailed examination of her own writings and a thorough explanation of the rest cure and how it affected women (Hume). It is seen that when Perkins wrote about the treatment it scared many people, which is exactly what she intended. The fear that lay between the lines of every page she wrote, she crafted a world where the reader can fully empathize with the damage the cure can have upon an individual. The truth behind the treatment what slowly and finally revealing itself, insanity. Hume points out that Gilman herself was deeply affected by this treatment and wanted to reveal
to the world its long-lasting repercussions (Hume). Also, she shows that Perkins purposely wanted the woman in the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” to create a more detailed and misleading narrative that is at least twelve journal entries long (Hume). By each passing day the writer’s text can be seen as getting messy and complicated to understand as she concentrates only on one object. This in depth examination shows that the narrator was not mad, and instead was meant to show that the rest cure was dangerous and ineffective. As stated in the passage written by the wife, “…John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making, a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency” (Perkins 248). John forces his wife to repress her imagination. He is unaware of the harm this could cause to his wife and believes it will help her ill condition. In the wife’s defense she states, “I can write when she is out, and see her a long way off from these windows” (Perkins 249). John’s sister is the wife’s caretaker. She fulfils the duties the wife cannot and overbears her with her presence. The moments she is gone the wife can finally get her chance to write. The wife has followed and obeyed her husband’s rules, but luckily she decided to rebel against one of his many wishes and write in order to help herself throughout the treatment.
Under the rest cure a woman’s mental health would significantly deteriorate, which is why in numerous cases writing was a tool used to maintain ones sanity in order to prevent insanity.
People are known to be social creatures, which is why communication is key in order to stay sane. For example, the exchange of ideas and self-expression, and as such have created complex social structures, where people manage a way to cooperate with one another. In this case, the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” kept a secret diary that was prohibited by her husband so she could write, which was her only source of sociability. The diary was meant for her to maintain her sanity and/or what she had left before she lost it due to her husband’s demanding ways. Also, writing was used as a source of entertainment. Many women that were allowed to do what they pleased before were now deprived from many things against their will. They were left in a room with nothing to do, but stare at wallpaper. Writing allowed women to entertain themselves, by drawing, writing about stories, and even playing games. In this article, “A New Woman's Journey into Insanity: Descent and Return in the Yellow Wallpaper”, Rula Quawas examined the North and South (Quawas). During this time period they were at war with one another due to the different believes they upheld. Despite the North and South’s differences she did come across one popular common trait they both believed in; a woman’s place (Quawas). Quawas sees this
issue as a cult like belief. She compounded several ideas of what a man would think true womanhood consisted of in the early 19th century. A few ideas was that a female should know the economic world is for the men only , the home is where she belongs, females at a young age should only be taught how to do house work, care for the family, and every woman should have knowledge about the functions as a wife and a mother (Quawas). It is then seen if a woman does not partake in that belief system or act out, she can simply be treated of the rest cure. Despite the strong belief of sexism a significant number of American women chose to stand up and fight against it (Quawas). The expressed their own views of equality, feminine virtue, property, and male authority (Quawas). A small percentage of women that decided to have a voice when others gave into the treatment somehow managed a way to write everything down and spread the word of their own mistreatment that the rest cure caused upon them. For this reason, Quawas shows how the rest cure can bring a woman to insanity. In the “Yellow Wallpaper”, the wife writes “I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me” (Perkins 248). The author herself managed a way to write throughout her treatment without losing her grip of reality, while on the other hand she wanted to show what would have happened through the wife if she lost all control, thus going insane. Clearly, writing is seen as a major source of keeping one’s sanity.
Women were strictly prohibited to write when treated under the rest cure, in this case it was used as a form of liberation from the oppressor, which altered many women mentally. In “Charlotte Perkins Gilman's ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’: On How Female Creativity Combats Madness and Domestic Oppression,” María González discuss when women write they use it as a way of grasping some authority that they have lost to their husbands. (Gonzalez). Gonzalez states that writing helped women as a healing process and the rest cure is morally wrong, proving that female breakdown was employed by the oppressor to degrade women; emotionally and physically (Gonzalez). Writing saved lives for women who were treated under the rest cure, including the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins. A study of extensive cases have been found of many women that have been treated under the rest cure. In the article it is seen that a connection of women in the early 19th century who have been treated and came out still sane all had one common trait; writing (Gonzalez). It is told by the wife that, “At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean and the woman behind it is as plain as can be” (Perkins 253). What is being said here is that, the wallpaper starts to resemble bars that are trapping the wife inside. The wife is starting to feel like a prisoner in her own home. The woman is the wife, and the wallpaper is her husband. At this time rest cures were the most common treatment used for mental disorders, most of the time this procedure was not effective. As of today the rest cure has been put to rest. Women that wrote were able to get through the treatment, unlike other unlucky patients. Writing allowed women to go against their oppressor, remain in the right mindset, and obtain little freedom that they had from being confined in a small room. Many peer review articles and the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” were used to demonstrate the claims of different ways writing helped women. Rebelling was one of the many ways to stay sane. Women that were afraid to do so, immediately fell mentally ill. It brought forth awareness of the harm it does to many women; it was informative and effective. Writing was also used as a coping mechanism to maintain one’s sanity. It was used in a way of a stress reliever, entertainment, socializing with one self and therapy for the mind. Human beings are social creatures and when alone for a lengthy period of time can be detrimental. Finally, writing is a way of exercising freedom. It calms the person down from feeling anxiety of being trapped in a room all day and night. The mind feels confused and imprisoned, therefore writing releases the high tensions and allows women it exist in a world where they can take their lives into their own hands. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” It seems the main reason the narrator went insane was that she could not follow through with writing while prescribed to the rest cure. This cure required that women stay inside and do nothing until they show signs of improvement. The intentions of the cure were good, but in most cases were detrimental. Writing was the main source that helped women rebel, finish the treatment still sane, and eventually gain their freedom.