Mental Decline In The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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It is impossible to know exactly when mental decline happens, especially when it happens in the subconscious, because it usually happens so slowly that it is not noticed until great change has occurred. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, the narrator’s interactions with the wallpaper are symbolic of the changes in her mind, as her mind declines the wallpaper becomes a bigger tormenter, if only in her subconscious mind. As the story begins the house is described as looking haunted and the couple as ordinary. The wallpaper which initially is described as gaudy and yellow is a symbol of the chaos happening within the narrator. Gilman begins describing the couple’s disagreement about the wife’s health. The husband is …show more content…

She attempts to look better for the sake of her husband, her conscious mind wants to be better to get out of that place. Her unconscious mind is beginning to connect the wallpaper with a mental trap. In the middle of the story a journal entry shows how the narrator sees herself like the house. Outside she looks calm and beautiful, but inside there is chaos, like the wallpaper in the dreaded room. As she sees the wallpaper as more chaotic, her thoughts also become more …show more content…

It progresses from being ugly and bothersome to being disturbing and with heads and eyes. The narrator cannot separate herself from the chaos she sees in the paper, so she wants to get away from it and ponders jumping out of the window. However there are bars on the window so she cannot. There are also barriers in her mind which, at the end keep her in the room. Then she committed to staying in the room even if her sister-in-law, Jane suggests leaving. She has had enough of the wallpaper and on the last day there she is determined to get rid of the wallpaper and with it all that ails her. She tears off the wallpaper as if it now has a consciousness because she believes that it is making her life more difficult. In her mind she has become part of it because when she looks at it she sees a woman in there and then believes that she has escaped the

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