Main Theme Of The Yellow Wallpaper

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The first main theme is about repression of women in marriage. Long ago women were tied to their husbands both financially, emotionally and sexually. Woman depended on their husbands for almost everything. The husband is responsible for the finances and the women would provide everything else in their life. The woman is meant to provide by taking care of the house, cleaning, cooking, and washing the clothes/linens. In addition, the wife gives birth to the children and then raises them, usually without much input from the husband. She was to be at the disposal of the man in every respect. I believe that it has changed a little because women work as well as be a mother and sometimes the men are more moms than the woman. If a woman suffered from depression a long time ago, the doctors would label her as hysterical. The treatment for women with depression would have the woman on bed rest and then expect the woman to “perk up” and go on with her life. (www.enotes.com) In the yellow …show more content…

The narrator has no way of expressing her emotions which makes her more unstable and sinks deeper into her problems. From the time after she had her baby and up until her husband finds that she has gone insane, the narrator has focused on the wallpaper in the bedroom. (enotes.com) the narrator says on page 242 section eight ” Sometimes I think there are a great many woman behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over. Then in very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard”. This signifies that she has a mental disorder and is not in the right state of mind but I think that if John would have treated her like a wife instead of a patient then she would have gotten better, although I don’t think many people knew about mental illness back then and so they wouldn’t know how to treat them and some people just thought they were

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