Preview

The Yellow Wallpaper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
684 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkin’s Universal Truth
Charlotte Perkin Gilman is internationally known for her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Gilman was born on July 3, 1860. After marriage, she endured depressions several times shortly after her first daughter was born. Gilman suffered from mental breakdowns which soon lead to melancholia. Her personal experiences, dealing with post-partum depression, are what inspired Gilman to write the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. This story revolves around the main character, Jane, and how she copes with her illness. Jane suffers from post-partum depression, and to “cure” this illness, she is kept isolated from the world. In this short story there are many influences that impact the conflict of the story. Social influences are present in the story as Jane is kept isolated from the world. Also, cultural events in the story, related to the Victorian era, when women were treated unequally, built up the storyline. Finally, several personal events in Gilman’s past are shown throughout the story and add to the story’s conflict. Therefore, Charlotte Perkin Gilman incorporates several aspects of her own life into her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” that becomes evident through the explanation of the Gilman’s universal truth that treating women inhumanely will only result in negative outcomes; it is the reverse cure for an illness.
To begin with, social influences in the story, such as the isolation of Jane to cure her post-partum depression is clear in the story because Jane was separated from the world and is forbidden to live her life. In the story, Jane is not allowed out of her room, but in fact, she is kept isolated. The isolation of Jane is evident in the text when Jane states….Gilman is also isolated from society because she is forbidden to do daily activities that she admires. The wise man that treats Gilman applies the rest cure on her and sends her home forbidding her from work, which in Gilman’s belief, brings joy to one’s



Cited:

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “The Yellow Wallpaper”, written in 1892, metaphorically illustrates the captive and oppressed state of women during those time period through which Gilman herself had experienced for many years with bouts of depression and anxiety and was advised to do the “rest cure” for nervous illness and depression. The woman in the story goes insane because her role in society is limited and her ability…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story of a woman who goes mad while fixating on a bizarre wall-covering has been used as an early example of post-partum depression. In the latter part of the 1800’s women were seen as inferior subordinates to men who could not be trusted due to the effect of the female organs on their brains. The narrator is almost certainly a victim of the lack of medical knowledge of the day, while the prevailing attitudes in the medical field of women as childlike and the social pressure of male domination contribute to the narrator’s illness. The husband’s role as spouse and physician enable his benevolent manipulation of the narrator by isolating her and removing her societal roles as wife and mother in an effort to help her cure herself of her hysteria. Placed in a vacuum of selfhood in which the nanny and sister-in-law are allowed to usurp her identity, she is left no other choice but to create a new existence using the unhealthy stimulation of the yellow wallpaper.…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the prominent techniques that Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses in this first diary entry would be the repetition of certain phrases and words.…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    the yellow wallpaper

    • 1987 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Throughout history, figurative language has been utilized within the written work to emphasize theme. Charlotte Gilman does just this within her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” to bring to light the ideas tied to the narrative’s theme of power dynamics. Jane, the narrator suffers from “a slight hysterical tendency” and as her husband treats her with the rest cure a “remedy” of sorts Jane slowly looses her mind until eventually she has a psychotic break. Throughout the story’s entirety, she develops an unhealthy obsession with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom and what she recognizes as a woman trapped just behind its pattern, an obsession which allows her to project her internal struggle for freedom outwards. John and Jane’s relationship is similar to that of a father and daughter, in that the decision making is entirely up to john, certainly the hierarchical nature of America at this time had a major impact on the dynamics within a household. The intangible power that john has over Jane, possesses her to such an extent that she has to attach it to something tangible, the yellow wallpaper. Gilman establishes this theme by using the wallpaper as a symbol for the structure of family, Personification of the pattern itself, her use of irony within Jane’s statements, and the work’s events and by utilizing similes and metaphors to compare the wallpaper to suicide.…

    • 1987 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    yellow wallpaper

    • 422 Words
    • 1 Page

    Throughout "The Yellow Wall-Paper," Charlotte Gilman uses various symbols to show the oppression of women by men, and the continuing struggle to escape that oppression. The three main symbols that run throughout the story lend the most support to this. The yellow wall-paper is an indication of the mental restrictions that were placed upon women by men during the 1800s. As yellow is oft considered the color of sickness or weakness, the sickness that the writer suffers from is the continuing oppression and struggle that continues to this very day by women. Gilman shows that the possibilities of women are as vast as those of man, and that during the 19th century those possibilities were severely restricted. This is shown through the descriptions of the two windows and the view from each. The writer sees other doing acts she could do herself, just as women saw acts of man that they could do with the same level of competency. Entirely, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" is a statement of the oppression of the female sex by mankind.On page 835 the description of the two windows and the view from them by the writer is a representation of the possibilities of the female sex, and how those possibilities were limited and restricted by men during the 19th and into the 20th century. The first view is described as "I can see the garden, those mysterious deep-shaded arbor, the riotous old-fashioned flowers, and bushes and gnarly trees." The "garden" is a clear symbol of the earth, or society, and the use of "mysterious" shows that the possibilities that women have are undiscovered to them. In the next view the writer describes seeing a "lovely view of the bay" and a "private wharf belonging to the estate." The bay is a reference to the uncharted territory of womankind's abilities and the private estate is clearly indicating the sections of society forbidden to women. The description of seeing "people walking in the numerous paths and arbors" is the idea of women seeing the acts of men, and…

    • 422 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story about a new mother attempting to overcome her diagnosis of depression by being cooped up in a room without normal human interaction as prescribed by a top-rated male psychologist. The gender role expected of the nineteeth century woman was not ideal to the main character. The story goes on to critique the treatment plan set forth by her husband and psychologist. This in turn critiques the entire belief system in the nineteeth century that women should not be working outside the home. Gilman reveals in “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’?” that the story parallels one of her own, with exaggeration (Gilman “Why I Wrote” 804). Through research and an analytical reading, I will demonstrate how Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” contradicts the gender roles that were placed on American women in the nineteenth century.…

    • 1964 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yellow Wallpaper

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the beginning of the essay the reader uses a situation where the reader has no say or voice in what is wrong with her mostly because she is a woman. “I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.” The narrator doesn’t realize it yet but this is her way of telling the reader that she didn’t have much choice on where she would be spending her time. Her husband is treating her like a child. Not to be taken serious what so ever. “There was some legal trouble, I believe, something about the heirs and coheirs; anyhow, the place has been empty for years. That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don't care -- there is something strange about the house I can feel it. I even said so to John one moonlight evening, but he said what I felt was a draught, and shut the window.” In this quote, this is a proving fact that in this story the narrator’s opinion is not taken seriously at all. The narrator’s husband, John, almost thinks of her as a “lower class”. Gilman is comparing this situation to the role of woman in her time period; that woman aren’t here to make assumptions or have opinions but are here to follow the certain “orders” of a man.…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Yellow Wallpaper

    • 2311 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In the story the Yellow Wall Paper, the narrator is making a statement which is saying that if you are locked up in a house or "prison" you are not being allowed to be put to your full potential with society. She is using the narrator's point of view to show how mental issues start to occur when you are confined to one place and have no actual view of the outside world. That statement also includes the effects of your mind when you can only think to yourself and imagine. The main character's mind starts to go insane when thinking too much into things. Throughout the story the main character looks into every little detail of the room and analyzes it. This is the effect of having too much time on her hands and not having anything better to do.…

    • 2311 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    the yellow wallpaper

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages

    How can a simple old yellow wallpaper drive someone insane? “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a short story by Charlotte Gilman, is about a married couple whose wife is a little sick, and John (her husband) forbidden her leave a room that has old yellow wallpaper where she’s left alone constantly and the lack of something to occupy her time causes the her to become delusional. John’s assumption of his own superior wisdom leads him to dominate his wife, all in the name of “helping” her. She’s like a child unable to stand up for herself feeling like she’s in prison that has four walls with some old yellow wallpaper. The theme of this story is oppression and the importance of self-expression because her husband was making decisions for her like keeping her in a room where she didn’t want to be; therefor making her feel with no authority over her life in an unjust manner.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life as it is, can be full of ups and downs. Through time, individuals have lived healthy lives and life has treated them well, but also there are sicknesses in life that can be detrimental to ones-self. Individuals have different coping mechanisms that help with tough situations through life. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” portrays how one is able to go about dealing with an illness that ends up being detrimental to the narrator. Gilman, in the “Yellow Wallpaper,” through the use of the setting, symbolism, and point of view, conveys the message that the narrator suffers from an awful illness.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Yellow Wallpaper

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The narrator is telling the story in her perspective. She is describing exactly what she is going through with her marriage and she is also explaining exactly how she feels. The narrator of this story is a young woman who is suffering from anxiety and depression after giving birth to her child. She is married to her husband John and they have recently rented a summer home for a few weeks. “A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house and reach the height of romantic felicity- but that would be asking too much of fate!” (676). The narrator does not believe there is anything wrong with her but her husband, a physician, has diagnosed her with a slight hysterical tendency. Her husband has banned her from the outside world and has not allowed her to work until she gets better. She believes she would feel much better if she goes out and exercise from time to time. “Personally, I believe that congenital work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (677).…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Yellow Wallpaper

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wall-Paper describes a mentally ill woman who goes insane from being prescribed by her husband to be locked in a room with little communication with others until her illness subsides.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Today, Gilman is remarkably well-known for her semi-autobiographical short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” There are numerous feminist analyses about Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Yellow Wallpaper in relation to her tragic life and the medical diagnosis in the 1900s. In fact, these analyses have been from a feminist perspective associated with marriage and the medical treatment women received due to postpartum psychosis. Feminist critics assumed that the patriarchy of the late nineteenth century was the cause for the insanity of the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper. Carol Ruth Berkin, one of the writers of the “Critical Essays on Charlotte Perkins Gilman,” points out that marriage and motherhood were Gilman’s problems and her frustration to…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Yellow Wallpaper

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Feminist studies generally focus on the role that hysterical diagnoses and treatments played in reinforcing the prevailing, male-dominant gender roles through the subversion, manipulation and degrading of female experience through the use of medical treatments and power structures. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “ The Yellow Wallpaper” is a perfect example of these themes. In writing this story, Charlotte Perkins Gilman drew upon her own personal experiences with hysteria. The adoption of the sick-role was a product of-and a reaction against gender norms and all of the pressures and tensions that their satisfaction demanded. Gilman’s essay uses autobiographical experiences displayed as doppelganger quality the in the main narrator of the story, Jane. Set during the late 1890s, the story shows the mental and emotional results of the typical "rest cure" prescribed during that era for neurasthenia and the narrator’s reaction to this course of treatment. It appears Gilman’s writing was focused on past experience and the anguish that arose from treatment with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1887, just two years after the birth of her daughter Katherine. But from the reader’s perspective, one and come to can assumption that expressing her negative feelings about the popular rest cure is only half of the message that Gilman wanted to send. Within the subtext of this story lies the theme of oppression: the oppression of the rights of women especially inside of marriage. Gilman was using the woman or the women behind the wallpaper to express her personal views on this issue.…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Yellow Wallpaper Critique

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper, a lady battles against neurasthenia. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, based this story on events that took place in her life when she faced a psychological crisis. Feminist literary can also be defined in her writing of The Yellow Wallpaper. Gilman went through treatments for her problem with depression she faced. Not only did she suffer from postpartum but ever since Charlotte’s early adulthood she suffered from episodes of severe melancholia which is a psychiatric disorder. The narrator went by her husband’s treatments because he is a physician in the story and she figured he knew what he was talking about and knew what was best for her.…

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays