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The early 20th century and the condition of women
The yellow wallpaper analysis
The yellow wallpaper analysis
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Recommended: The early 20th century and the condition of women
The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses aspects of the feminist theory to develop the plot as well as create an image of the time. The narrator lives in a patriarchal society where a man’s opinions are rarely, if ever questioned. Throughout the course of the story, the opinions of the narrator, a female, are not valued; men plan out every aspect of her life. The narrator is also treated as weaker than her male counterparts and is referred to using pet names, particularly those given to children. Finally, due to the previously mentioned components of her life, the narrator is confined to the attic of the mansion and it is likely that it is this confinement that drove her to insanity. The Yellow Wallpaper opposes feminist ideologies through the poor regard of the narrator, while using these same ideologies to further develop the plot.
Throughout the entirety of the story, the narrator’s opinions are not valued. Whenever she voices her own thoughts, they are belittled or disregarded. When mentioning the prospect that the house is haunted, the narrator observes that, “John laughs at me, of course” (Gilman, 1). Not only does this show the value John has of her belief that the house is haunted, but also by saying “of course” (1) the narrator shows that this is not by any way a new phenomenon. She is accustomed to her husband treating her in this way. Her opinions are given as much merit when dealing with her own illness. As the narrator mentions after her husband John, a physician, examines her, “he does not believe I am sick!”(1). Because her husband has no medical evidence that she is indeed sick, he doesn’t take her seriously, believing that she is making up her illness even though she tells him she does not feel well...
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...her own life and treatment in question. As a result, her husband’s, and ultimately societies, view towards women intensified her postpartum depression, which may have been very mild. In addition, she is pushed to the edge of the world like a child as well as living her life as one. Her confinement due to stereotypical patriarchal views of her simply because she is a woman leads to hysteria, which ultimately demonstrates that it is through the lack of equality for women and more specifically the narrator of this story that leads to a tragic outcome.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. Print.
"Post Partum Depression." Canadian Mental Health Association. Canadian Mental Health Association, 2011. Web. 9 Jul 2011. .
“Fancy.” Def. Collins Gem English Dictionary. Canadian ed. 1992.
Misogynistic Confinement Yellow Wallpaper depicts the nervous breakdown of a young woman and is an example as well as a protest of the patriarchal gender based treatments of mental illness women of the nineteenth century were subjected to. The narrator begins the story by recounting how she speculates there may be something wrong with the mansion they will be living in for three months. According to her, the price of rent was way too cheap and she even goes on to describe it as “queer”. However, she is quickly laughed at and dismissed by her husband, who as she puts it “is practical in the extreme.” As the story continues, the reader learns that the narrator is thought to be sick by her husband John, yet she is not as convinced as him.
Knowing the symptoms of postpartum depression is critical for a young mother's discovering that she may have the depress...
They are written during a time period when women were not viewed as important as men. The narrator from the yellow wallpaper is suffering from post-natal depression and has been recommended the rest of her cure by her husband and her brother, both physicians. Instead of curing her, it worsened her condition. The protagonist did try to convince her husband about what she would prefer, but she could not overcome the powerful authority figure. The narrator is restricted from working, writing, which leads to her obsession with the yellow wallpaper and suffocates her into madness.
- - -. "The Yellow Wallpaper." 1892. Ed. Dale M. Bauer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. 41-59.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story that gives an uncommon look at point of view. Gilman gives us a narrator that comes across as reliable at first but later challenges our initial understanding. We read about our nameless protagonist through a series of journal entries. The story is written in first person unreliable because we are unable to to trust our narrator due to her mental illness; she informs us that she has “temporary nervous depression - with hysterical tendency ”(273). Through her mental deterioration we see her thoughts, feelings, and different emotions from a perspective we typically aren't familiar reading about. The well rounded character shows us what it was like for women at that time while keeping
The "Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Gilman is a great story about the repression of women in the late 1800's but is still representative of issues faced by women today. She writes from her own personal experiences and conveys a message that sometimes in a male dominated society women suffer from the relentless power that some men implement over women.
Postpartum depression is indeed a major psychological disorder that can affect the relationship between mother and baby. At this time, the cause of postpartum depression is unidentified, although several factors experienced during pregnancy can contribute to this disorder. Fluctuating hormone levels have been traditionally blamed for the onset of postpartum depression. Jennifer Marie Camp (2013), a registered nurse with a personal history of postpartum depression, states in the Intentional Journal of Childbirth Education that “current research demonstrates that PPD may be a compilation of numerous stressors encountered by the family, including biochemical, genetic, psychosocial factors and everyday life stress” (Camp, 2013, p. 1). A previous history of depression, depression during pregnancy, financial difficulties, a dif...
...show that it is a feminist reading, which is unconvincing. In the end, there is more information supporting the fact that it is not about women, and is about all people dealing with this issue. The message of the “The Yellow Wallpaper” is concerning the unfair and wrongful treatment of mental disorders.
The story "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story about control. In the time frame in which the story was written, the 1800’s, women were looked upon as having no effect on society other than bearing children, maintaining a clean house, and food on the table etc. etc. There was really no means for self expression as a woman, when men not only dominated society but the world. The story was written at a time when men held the jobs, knowledge, and society above their shoulders. The narrator on, "The Yellow Wallpaper" in being oppressed by her husband, John, even though many readers believe this story is about a woman who loses her mind, it is actually about a woman’s struggle to regain, something which she never had before, control of her life.
The Yellow Wallpaper was written as a realism story. It showed how woman felt they had the same opportunities as men in their personal choices. In this story, the woman expressed her worries to her husband who through good intentions, required that his wife stay in bed 24/7, and not do any of the things she would normally do. In effect his wife became worse until she reached the limit. The behavior of the husband at this time was completely normal. Men were the higher power over women and women, like the one in this story, felt that they couldn?t stand count for themselves.
Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. “A Feminist Reading of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” The Story and Its Writer. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. Print.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a self-told story about a woman who approaches insanity. The story examines the change in the protagonist's character over three months of her seclusion in a room with yellow wallpaper and examines how she deals with her "disease." Since the story is written from a feminist perspective, it becomes evident that the story focuses on the effect of the society's structure on women and how society's values destruct women's individuality. In "Yellow Wallpaper," heroine's attempt to free her own individuality leads to mental breakdown.
"The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells the story of a woman's descent into madness as a result of the "rest and ignore the problem cure" that is frequently prescribed to cure hysteria and nervous conditions in women. More importantly, the story is about control and attacks the role of women in society. The narrator of the story is symbolic for all women in the late 1800s, a prisoner of a confining society. Women are expected to bear children, keep house and do only as they are told. Since men are privileged enough to have education, they hold jobs and make all the decisions. Thus, women are cast into the prison of acquiescence because they live in a world dominated by men. Since men suppress women, John, the narrator's husband, is presumed to have control over the protagonist. Gilman, however, suggests otherwise. She implies that it is a combination of society's control as well as the woman's personal weakness that contribute to the suppression of women. These two factors result in the woman's inability to make her own decisions and voice opposition to men.
The Yellow Wallpaper, Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is comprised as an assortment of journal entries written in first person, by a woman who has been confined to a room by her physician husband who he believes suffers a temporary nervous depression, when she is actually suffering from postpartum depression. He prescribes her a “rest cure”. The woman remains anonymous throughout the story. She becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in the room, and engages in some outrageous imaginations towards the wallpaper. Gilman’s story depicts women’s struggle of independence and individuality at the rise of feminism, as well as a reflection of her own life and experiences.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" motivated the female mind of creativity and mental strength through a patriarchal order of created gender roles and male power during the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. While John represented characteristics of a typical male of his time, the yellow wallpaper represented a controlling patriarchal society; a sin of inequality that a righteous traitor needed to challenge and win. As the wallpaper deteriorates, so does the suppressing effect that male hierarchy imposed on women. Male belief in their own hierarchy was not deteriorating. Females began to think out of line, be aware of their suppression, and fight patriarchal rule. The progression of the yellow wallpaper and the narrator, through out the story, leads to a small win over John. This clearly represents and motivates the first steps of a feminist movement into the twentieth century.