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A feminist study of the yellow wallpaper
A feminist study of the yellow wallpaper
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Having a positive mindset often leads to positivity. Likewise, having a negative mindset almost always leads to negativity. However, negativity tends to weigh a person down even more, with greater negative factors. Negativity leads to stress, depression, and in some cases mental issues. The woman in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper” supports this theory tremendously. Her diagnosis of her poor mental health wasn’t revealed, however, many details support that her insanity could have been prevented. All of which include her husband improving their communication and relationship techniques, alternate surroundings or an alternate setting, and possibly even a friend to further comfort the woman. There is no one to listen to her or care for her ‘personal’ opinions. Her husband cares for her, in a doctor’s fashion, but her doesn’t listen to her (Rao, 39). Dealing with a mentally ill patient can be difficult, however, it’s extremely inappropriate for her husband to be her doctor when he has a much larger job to fulfill. He solely treats his wife as a patient telling her only what could benefit her mental sickness rather than providing her with the companionship and support she desperately needs. If her husband would have communicated with her on a personal level, her insanity episode could have been prevented. Instead of telling her everything she needed he should’ve been there to listen and hear her out. Instead she had to seek an alternate audience, being her journal in which he then forbids her to do. All of this leads to the woman having nobody to speak or express emotion to. All of her deep and insane thoughts now fluttered through her head like bats in the Crystal Cave. The narrator makes it se... ... middle of paper ... ...or that he was trying to be, a vacation or even to move into a more comforting and brightly presented house, and a friend to support and keep her mind off of anything that could’ve been bothering her. Positive people and surroundings always lead to a positive outcome. Likewise, negativity and suffocation always lead to the worst possible outcome and in this particular case, permanent insanity. Works Cited Barth, Melissa E. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition (2004): 1-2. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 9 Feb. 2014. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Page by Page Books, 2004. Web. 30 Jan. 2014. Rao, K. V. Rama. "The Yellow Wallpaper -- A Dynamic Symbol: A Study Of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Story." Poetcrit 19.1 (2006): 38-44. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
Gilman tries to show that according to her husband, the narrator continually brings her great depression upon herself. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman also attempts to show that the lack of social exposure, physical repression, and ugly wallpaper cause the treatment to be extremely ineffective and detrimental. The disorder which is being treated is actually strengthened to the point of a serious mental illness. Similarly in today’s society, medical and psychological advice may have the same effect. Medical technology and practice have progressed considerably since the time of the “Yellow Wallpaper.” This is not to say that today’s physicians are infallible. Perhaps some of today’s treatments are the “Yellow Wallpaper” of the future .
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper is partly autobiographical and it illustrates the fight for selfhood by a women in an oppressed and oppressive environment. In the story, the narrator is not allowed to write or think, basically becoming more dysfunctional as she is entrapped in a former nursery room where bars adorn the windows and the bed is nailed to the floor. In this story there is an obstinacy on behalf of the narrator as she tries to go around her husband's and physician's restrictions, however, there is no resisting the oppressive nature of her environment and she finally surrenders to madness even though it represents some kind of selfhood and resistance because it allows her to escape her oppression, "She obsesses about the yellow wallpaper, in which she sees frightful patterns and an imprisoned female figure trying to emerge. The narrator finally escapes from her controlling husband and the intolerable confines of her existence by a final descent into insanity as she peels the wallpaper off and bars her husband from the room" (Gilman, 1999, 1).
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Booth, Alison and Kelly J. Mays, eds. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York: Norton, 2010. 354-65. Print.
The initial factor that leads to the narrator’s following slip into the madness is John, her physician and husband. John’s definite dominant and highly respected figure generates a controlling relationship with her, taking away the narrator’s freedom even in the slightest aspect of her life. For instance, as simple as to write a journal, she is not able to do so because “John would thinks it’s absurd”(79). Her husband’s therapeutic process and opinions on how to handle and treat her mental sickness makes her not to trust her own thoughts doubting them instead, and restricts her to do anything in her will. At one point when the narrator tries to talk to John and said that she ”really was not gaining here” (80) and she “wished he would take [her] away”(80), he calms her by suggesting that she should not be having such worries and he replies “My darling, … There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours… Can you trust me as a physician when I tell you so?”(80). This demonstrates how John’s manipulative authority causes her to feel unfaithful and irrational. John does not notice that every instance that he refuses and shuts her out, her need to express her thoughts
The character of the husband, John, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is introduced as a respected physician and a caring husband who strives to improve the mental health of his wife, the narrator, who is diagnosed with temporary nervous condition. John tries throughout the story to apply professional treatment methods and medications in his approach to helping his wife gain strength. However, his patient, his wife, seems to disregard John’s professional opinions and act as if she is following his advices only during his awakening presence with her. The narrator seems to be in need of John’s positive opinion about the status of her mental condition in order to avoid the criticism even though she disagrees with his treatment methodology. John, without doubt, cares for his wife and her wellbeing, but he does not realize how his treatment method negatively impacts their relationship his wife’s progress towards gaining strength. Although John was portrayed as a caring and a loving physician and husband to the narrator through out most of the story, he was also suggested as being intrusive and directive to a provoking level in the mind of the narrator.
Many have feared where the line between sanity and insanity blur into one when an amount of trauma creates hallucinations in the subconscious. Throughout humanity’s earlier days, mental illness could not be determined by a physical diagnosis. The concept of how a sane person can turn insane brings wonders yet curiosity into the subconscious. Yet, the possibilities were expressed through the ideals of literature in a place where little to no knowledge could burst into bountiful amounts on the subject of insanity. One author in particular writes about a woman who explains through first person her journey from sane to insanity. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story
"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.
Madness is seen throughout society and is incurable. The stories we read clearly have universal theme of this. In my essay, I will provide examples of how these stories have madness in them.
There are multiple possible causes for the internal conflict the narrator faces. The first being nervous depression and the other is the fact that her life is being controlled by her husband. Her husband is in full control because in the beginning of the story, John, her husband, influences how she should act. He decides the actions that should be taken in regards to her health and sanctity. Although she finds herself disagreeing with his synopsis, she is confined and does not admit how she feels to him. This also brings about another a major conflict that occurred in the 19th century, men being dominant and woman being categorized as inferior. Evidence can be found when the narrator states, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband assures friends and relatives that there is nothing the matter with o...
Often in life things that are meant to help can hinder and positive intentions do not always bring about desired effects. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charolette Perkins Gilman illustrates such an occurrence. In the short story the narrator is locked away in a lonesome room in an attempt to free her from a nervous disorder. During this time period, the kind of treatments the narrator describes were common and considered beneficial. The narrators husband, John, is a physician and believes this and forces his wife into a treatment of solitude. Rather than healing her psychological disorder during this time, the treatment contributed to worsening her effects and sending her into a downward spiral of depression.
Learning of her nervous condition, known today as anxiety, and depression leads her to seek help. Seeing that her husband is a doctor, he happens to know that rest is the perfect cure. Not only that, he also knows what is favorable, along with what is unfavorable for her condition. John as a high standing physician of his time warns his wife, the narrator, that talking about it will affect her condition. Keeping in her thoughts along with her feelings cannot be healthy. "Repression cannot be healthful and as the protagonist grows quieter, she is becoming more and more mad" (Wagner-Martin 291). Her husband does mean well. He loves her, but he is overbearing. John feels the need to be in control of everything she does to make sure her condition does not worsen. To him, he believes that talking about her illness will cause it to worsen. Nevertheless, he does not want that. To combat that, he enforces that she does not talk about it. Although bottling up feelings can cause explosive consequences when done for an extended period of time. She has been in that house for three months, so the whole time she was getting restless.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced a relatively similar life story to the life of the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. She was prescribed the same “rest cure” as the narrator that subsequently led to a mental breakdown. The prescribed “rest cure” entails minimal human contact, repressed imagination, and female confinement. Comparatively, persistently being told that you are insane especially if you’re not, may drive someone to actually become psychotic.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story that continues to transcend time with its’ themes of feminism and mental health issues. The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper must struggle not only against her own mind, but the oppressive nature of her husband and her horribly inaccurate treatment plan, the combination of which destroys her sense of self. Throughout the story the narrator shares her experiences of her mental illness in a day to day basis until she completely loses her sanity. This just shows how serious it can be to ignore a type of mental illness for too long.
The narrator, already suffering from a "nervous condition," is forced to stay in her bedroom for most of the story. Her husband does not let her do anything that may take the least bit of energy because she needs to concentrate her energy on getting well. Her mental condition quickly deteriorates from the original "nervous condition" to complete insanity due to this isolation. As the narrator begins to see figures behind the wallpaper, the reader realizes that the wallpaper is a manifestation of her condition.
She ends up tearing most of the yellow wallpaper away, going mad in the process. The narrator’s madness has two root causes. The first is she is subject to the institution of motherhood, and the limitations put on women by a male-dominated society. She writes, “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 10). What is a woman to do when she is at the mercy of men in the twentieth century? A woman like the narrator does as she is told. This is the second cause of her madness: her own role in her treatment. She is partially responsible for giving in to her obsession with the woman in the wallpaper. Instead of fighting a treatment she knows will not work for her, she submits to the will of her husband. It is valid to argue that she didn’t have much of a choice, as fighting the treatment would have likely landed her in an asylum or locked in her room permanently. However, even without rights or support, internal will plays a role in the curing or worsening of a mental