The Yellow Wallpaper Feminist Analysis Essay
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Luis Villeneuve
Ms. De Francesca
ENG4U1-03
12 November 2014
Feminist Analysis : Yellow Wallpaper
The short story “Yellow Wallpaper” was written in the early 1900 's by Charlotte Perkins Gilman to warn women against the rest cure treatment. This treatment which was common a century ago was mostly applied to fragile women that were experiencing depression and anxiety. Rest cure however did the opposite of its purpose, it worsened their mental state. Gilman because of her experience as a victim wanted to display through her short story that women should be treated the same way men are. Her story was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy. The narrator of “Yellow Wallpaper”, a married woman who …show more content…
lives by her husband 's rules, is diagnosed with nervous depression. John (the narrator 's husband) who is also a physician, decides to put her under the rest cure treatment. As the treatment progresses her mental state starts to get worse and she ends up having a mental breakdown. The oppression and destruction of the narrator is perpetuated by her being under her husband 's dominance. Because John is the leader of the family the decisions related to her treatment are all under his control. Besides isolating his wife in a room, John forbids her to be expressive or creative and treats her as some kind of toy, that he can control around.
The narrator shows dissatisfaction towards her husband 's prescription of rest cure ever since she was diagnosed with nervous depression. She gives her opinion on her husband 's ideas: “ Personally I disagree with their ideas. Personally I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change would do me good. But what is one to do? (Gilman 1). The narrator believes that instead of being isolated in a room, active work would be better for her. However, her opinions have no strength compared to John 's.
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She has to obey what her husband decides even though she is the one with problems not him. The control John has over her treatment is so profound that everything the narrator does is supervised by him. She uses the term “John says” multiple times throughout the story showing John 's control over her. As the narrator mentions how sensitive she is becoming because of her illness, she mentions what
John wants her to do when she feels this way : “But John says, if I feel so, I shall neglect proper selfcontrol; so I take pains to control myself – before him, and that makes me very tired”(1).The narrator does not speak for herself even when it is related to how she feels. John by being a physician gives her drugs to make her feel better because he thinks that will solve the problem quickly. What John does not understand is that what she has is not physical. This lack of attention and failure to listen the husband demonstrates are reasons for the narrator 's destruction. Despite her disagreements, the narrator still believes that everything John does is for her improvement. According to her, John 's insistence with the treatment is a sign of how much he loved her : “ It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so” (4). The narrator needs someone to share her emotions and feelings with but John refuses to listen. He does not take seriously anything that comes from his wife because of her state. Because of John 's lack of compassion towards his wife, she finds herself lonely in a isolated room in the middle of nowhere.
The narrator is forbidden to be expressive or creative. John believed that work in general would make her situation worse. According to him, her “ imaginative power and habit of story” would not do her well due to her nervous weakness (2). He denies her one of her great loves, writing in her journal.
This is her only outlet and she is limited to writing in it a short of time each time she was able to do so.
His indignation towards her writing is seen every time he is approaching the room : “ There comes
John, I must put this away, -- he hates to have me write a word” (2). The narrator has to write secretly because she is afraid to go against her husband. This hidden activity is the first time she does not follow his rules because she is doing what she thinks is best for her. The narrator believes that if she was “
Villeneuve 3 well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas” and rest her (2). Work is part of the normal life of every human being and without it life has no purpose. Since John fails to listen, writing would give the narrator the chance to share her feelings and emotions instead of keeping it all to herself. These irresponsible ideas that come from her husband are not letting the narrator to live the life of a normal human being. The constant prohibitions are causing her to feel as if she does not have control over herself anymore. She cannot speak about her treatment or do what she wants to.
John 's idea to isolate his wife in a room and his refusal to give her anything to do drives her to the wallpaper for a intellectual activity which led to her insanity. She starts showing clear signs of a breakdown when she is emotionally affected by what she sees in the wallpaper :
There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don 't like it a bit. I wonder – I begin to think – I wish John would take me away from her !”(5).
The narrator is clearly not satisfied with the images she is been seeing. This attachment to the wallpaper is a result of John 's prohibition to let her write and her isolation in room with no one to talk to. As the narrator intensifies her fascination with the wallpaper, she becomes progressively more dissociated from her day-to-day life. Her obsession towards the wallpaper is so strong that she is determined to be the first one to solve its puzzle. According to the narrator, “no one shall find it out” but herself (7). At the end of the story she tears the wallpaper off the walls of her room in an attempt to free the imaginary woman. It was not until she was done that she realized that the woman behind the wallpaper was actually her. She asks herself : “ I wonder if they all come out of that wall- paper as I
Villeneuve 4 did?” (9). The woman behind the jars symbolized the narrator being imprisoned by her husband. The narrator 's actions shows her despair for freedom. She does not want to be protected or taken care of, she wants to be independent and speak for herself.
When John comes into the room she says : “ I 've got out at last, in spite of you and Jane. And I 've pulled off most of the paper, so you can 't put me back” (9).
The narrator believes that her husband is the barrier on her way from becoming autonomous. She cannot continue living her life as a sick and fragile woman that is not listened to. By tearing the wallpaper apart she is free from her husband 's dominance which is against the traditional roles of women. They were supposed to feel safe under the hands of their husbands but the narrator 's actions shows the opposite.
In the “Yellow Wallpaper” the destruction of the narrator is a result of her being under her husband 's hands. The poor decisions that came from him and the lack of participation of her towards her treatment caused her to act the way she did at the end of the story. The story is used as tool to express the author 's beliefs, demonstrating the mental and physical hardships women had to face in this time period. Through this story the author was trying to show that gender roles should be removed from the social order for women to ever be free.
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Work Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. Boston : Small & Maynard,
1899
Luis Villeneuve
Ms. De Francesca
ENG4U1-03
12 November 2014
Feminist Analysis : Yellow Wallpaper
The short story “Yellow Wallpaper” was written in the early 1900 's by Charlotte Perkins Gilman to warn women against the rest cure treatment. This treatment which was common a century ago was mostly applied to fragile women that were experiencing depression and anxiety. Rest cure however did the opposite of its purpose, it worsened their mental state. Gilman because of her experience as a victim wanted to display through her short story that women should be treated the same way men are. Her story was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy. The narrator of “Yellow Wallpaper”, a married woman who …show more content…
lives by her husband 's rules, is diagnosed with nervous depression. John (the narrator 's husband) who is also a physician, decides to put her under the rest cure treatment. As the treatment progresses her mental state starts to get worse and she ends up having a mental breakdown. The oppression and destruction of the narrator is perpetuated by her being under her husband 's dominance. Because John is the leader of the family the decisions related to her treatment are all under his control. Besides isolating his wife in a room, John forbids her to be expressive or creative and treats her as some kind of toy, that he can control around.
The narrator shows dissatisfaction towards her husband 's prescription of rest cure ever since she was diagnosed with nervous depression. She gives her opinion on her husband 's ideas: “ Personally I disagree with their ideas. Personally I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change would do me good. But what is one to do? (Gilman 1). The narrator believes that instead of being isolated in a room, active work would be better for her. However, her opinions have no strength compared to John 's.
Villeneuve 2
She has to obey what her husband decides even though she is the one with problems not him. The control John has over her treatment is so profound that everything the narrator does is supervised by him. She uses the term “John says” multiple times throughout the story showing John 's control over her. As the narrator mentions how sensitive she is becoming because of her illness, she mentions what
John wants her to do when she feels this way : “But John says, if I feel so, I shall neglect proper selfcontrol; so I take pains to control myself – before him, and that makes me very tired”(1).The narrator does not speak for herself even when it is related to how she feels. John by being a physician gives her drugs to make her feel better because he thinks that will solve the problem quickly. What John does not understand is that what she has is not physical. This lack of attention and failure to listen the husband demonstrates are reasons for the narrator 's destruction. Despite her disagreements, the narrator still believes that everything John does is for her improvement. According to her, John 's insistence with the treatment is a sign of how much he loved her : “ It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so” (4). The narrator needs someone to share her emotions and feelings with but John refuses to listen. He does not take seriously anything that comes from his wife because of her state. Because of John 's lack of compassion towards his wife, she finds herself lonely in a isolated room in the middle of nowhere.
The narrator is forbidden to be expressive or creative. John believed that work in general would make her situation worse. According to him, her “ imaginative power and habit of story” would not do her well due to her nervous weakness (2). He denies her one of her great loves, writing in her journal.
This is her only outlet and she is limited to writing in it a short of time each time she was able to do so.
His indignation towards her writing is seen every time he is approaching the room : “ There comes
John, I must put this away, -- he hates to have me write a word” (2). The narrator has to write secretly because she is afraid to go against her husband. This hidden activity is the first time she does not follow his rules because she is doing what she thinks is best for her. The narrator believes that if she was “
Villeneuve 3 well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas” and rest her (2). Work is part of the normal life of every human being and without it life has no purpose. Since John fails to listen, writing would give the narrator the chance to share her feelings and emotions instead of keeping it all to herself. These irresponsible ideas that come from her husband are not letting the narrator to live the life of a normal human being. The constant prohibitions are causing her to feel as if she does not have control over herself anymore. She cannot speak about her treatment or do what she wants to.
John 's idea to isolate his wife in a room and his refusal to give her anything to do drives her to the wallpaper for a intellectual activity which led to her insanity. She starts showing clear signs of a breakdown when she is emotionally affected by what she sees in the wallpaper :
There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don 't like it a bit. I wonder – I begin to think – I wish John would take me away from her !”(5).
The narrator is clearly not satisfied with the images she is been seeing. This attachment to the wallpaper is a result of John 's prohibition to let her write and her isolation in room with no one to talk to. As the narrator intensifies her fascination with the wallpaper, she becomes progressively more dissociated from her day-to-day life. Her obsession towards the wallpaper is so strong that she is determined to be the first one to solve its puzzle. According to the narrator, “no one shall find it out” but herself (7). At the end of the story she tears the wallpaper off the walls of her room in an attempt to free the imaginary woman. It was not until she was done that she realized that the woman behind the wallpaper was actually her. She asks herself : “ I wonder if they all come out of that wall- paper as I
Villeneuve 4 did?” (9). The woman behind the jars symbolized the narrator being imprisoned by her husband. The narrator 's actions shows her despair for freedom. She does not want to be protected or taken care of, she wants to be independent and speak for herself.
When John comes into the room she says : “ I 've got out at last, in spite of you and Jane. And I 've pulled off most of the paper, so you can 't put me back” (9).
The narrator believes that her husband is the barrier on her way from becoming autonomous. She cannot continue living her life as a sick and fragile woman that is not listened to. By tearing the wallpaper apart she is free from her husband 's dominance which is against the traditional roles of women. They were supposed to feel safe under the hands of their husbands but the narrator 's actions shows the opposite.
In the “Yellow Wallpaper” the destruction of the narrator is a result of her being under her husband 's hands. The poor decisions that came from him and the lack of participation of her towards her treatment caused her to act the way she did at the end of the story. The story is used as tool to express the author 's beliefs, demonstrating the mental and physical hardships women had to face in this time period. Through this story the author was trying to show that gender roles should be removed from the social order for women to ever be free.
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Work Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. Boston : Small & Maynard,
1899