the yellow wallpaper
Carpenter 1
Kelsey Carpenter
Professor Malley
English 243
5 October 2011
“A Sickly Sulfur Tint” (599) 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.
Carpenter 2 The Yellow wallpaper symbolizes the framework of the household, therefore it extensively deals with the power dynamics within the family. The short story is placed somewhere between the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s and during this time period women had very little rights both legally and within the layout of a family. The narrator’s feeling of confinement is enhanced due to the double-sided relationship that she has with her husband, as they interact as not only
Kelsey Carpenter
Professor Malley
English 243
5 October 2011
“A Sickly Sulfur Tint” (599) 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.
Carpenter 2 The Yellow wallpaper symbolizes the framework of the household, therefore it extensively deals with the power dynamics within the family. The short story is placed somewhere between the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s and during this time period women had very little rights both legally and within the layout of a family. The narrator’s feeling of confinement is enhanced due to the double-sided relationship that she has with her husband, as they interact as not only
Cited: Gilman, Charlotte P. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Yellow Wallpaper (1892). Rpt. in The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. By Richard Bausch and R. V. Cassill. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton&, 2006. 597-608. Print.