More handpicked essays just for you.
Yellow wallpaper symbolism in the story
Yellow wallpaper symbolism in the story
Yellow wallpaper narrator character analysis
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Prior to the early twentieth century men dictated women’s role in society. Charlotte Gilman uses her novella “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) as a symbolic reflection of oppression of women in a paternalistic society. Her novella challenges the idea of women being depicted as weak and fragile.
The narrator’s name is unknown through out the story, yet at the beginning the reader is given her husbands’ name (John), and the narrator’s identity through the novella is as John’s wife, who is dominated by John in their relationship. This effect created by Gillman masterfully establishes the lack of a female determined identity. He diagnoses her, and with the exception of her being tired and wanting to write, John continues to establish that her health is unwell. John is the dominant personality in the marriage he does not see her as an equal in their relationship. This is a wonderful tone and mood used to reflect the cultural norm at the time of Gillman's writing. She is not viewed as an equal, she is treated like and often referred to as being a child. When she decides that she likes a downstairs bedroom next to the nursery, John insists on her having the bedroom upstairs with the yellow wallpaper. The narrator/wife hates the color of the room and describes the color as “repellent, almost revolting” (432) When she asks for her husband to change the color, he decides to not give in to her wants, and the reader is informed that John, who knows best, does this for her benefit. It is reflective of a parent not wanting to give into their child's whims for fear the child will become spoiled and will expect to get everything they ask for. Though her husband belittles her, she still praises everything he does and sees everything he is doing for...
... middle of paper ...
... of roles as the "man," has fainted. A man that faints at the sight of something that he is unable to understand, something terrifying.
In the end, it is the narrator who seen as weak and fragile by her husband and society who crawls over her husband’s motionless body. The narrator does not stand up and walk over her husbands body, but she crawls over it, indicating that she no longer cares about him and that she is finally free. that much like any child they will first crawl, then walk in the final progression towards running.
Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper” inspires that sometimes, to find your true self, you must break free restrictions and rules. The narrator looses herself in her decision to give into her husband and society and ceasing to do what she loved. With her decision to rebel and instead continue to write, she begins to find herself and her true freedom.
When the narrator got up in the middle of the night to see if the yellow wallpaper was moving John said to her, “What is it, little girl?” he said. “Don’t go walking about like that—you’ll get cold” (Gillman). Throughout the entire story, the woman or her husband never reveals her name. The woman is referred to names that carry a subordinate connotation, such as “little girl.” All sense of individuality and self worth is taken way from the narrator when her name is never revealed to the audience. Furthermore, John continues to belittle his wife by giving her the command to not walk around at night. Although the John thinks in his mind that he is looking out for the best interest of his wife, in actuality, he is taking away his wife’s abilities to make choices for herself. There is a possibility that John’s controlling personality is one of the factors that led to his wife’s psychosis. Such a controlling life style more than likely limited the narrator’s ability to live any life outside of the home. Towards the end of the story, the narrator exclaims, “"I 've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane” (Gilman). The woman had escaped her gender role as being subservient to men, and is possible that the narrator’s real name is Jane. If this is true, then she had relinquished that identity associated with the struggles that she had during her relationship with John. Her
The story is Gilman’s way of throwing off the restraints of the patriarchal society so that she can do what she loves, to write and advocate for women’s rights. In her story of “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman challenges the roles of women in this time period; such as viewing women as children, as prisoners, as domestic house slaves, their sanity and the dangers of being the quintessential passive, submissive woman. Gilman embraces as a writer that there is more to her as a person than that of what has been shoved on her by society. She embraces feminism which by definition is the belief that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities.
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.
At the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” she was considered a prominent feminist writer. This piece of background information allows the readers to see Gilman’s views on women’s rights and roles in the 18th century; “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggests that women in the 18th century were suppressed into society’s marital gender roles. Gilman uses the setting and figurative language, such as symbolism, imagery, and metaphors to convey the theme across.
In a female oppressive story about a woman driven from postpartum depression to insanity, Charlotte Gilman uses great elements of literature in her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Her use of feminism and realism demonstrates how woman's thoughts and opinions were considered in the early 1900?s.
The yellow wallpaper referenced in the title of the story holds significant symbolic meaning relating to the oppression of the narrator and the progression of her psychological deterioration. Early on, the narrator expresses her disdain for the yellow paper covering the walls of her temporary bedroom, referring to it as “that horrid paper,” and declaring it the worst wallpaper she had ever seen in her life (Gilman 77, 79). The frequently mentioned pattern of the wallpaper, which is particularly exasperating to the narrator, symbolizes the societal patterns of gender-related restrictions. “It is […] pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman presents the behavior of society of the time. The protagonist is suppressed by her husband, John, and her brother, though they both mean well. The way she is treated by her husband and her brother is not outwardly “mean” because they never deal with her in anger, but the way that they suppress her by not letting her express her feelings or do what she wants, is still abuse. Even though, the way that they are treating her is wrong, it does not seem wrong because they both act gentle and kind towards her and make her think that they really do care about her. Throughout the story, the protagonist states her intentions to herself, but then does not act upon them because of her husband. This is further shown when she speaks of her husband and her brother, who "is also of higher standing," (Gilman 317) showing the high ranking of men in society. They keep her from doing the things she wants because they believe it is best for her to rest. She disagrees. "Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good" (Gilman 317). On p...
Throughout the nineteenth century, women were considered as the woman of the house. With this title, women were expected to take care of the children, clean the house, and complete chores around the house. Women were not allowed to have jobs and do what they wanted to. Most writers during this time period were men. One of the most famous female authors during the nineteenth century was Charlotte Gilman. Her most famous and controversial short story was “The Yellow Wall-paper”. Charlotte Gilman wrote this short story to change the view on the roles of women in the nineteenth century by using the wallpaper as the oppression of society and the narrator as women mentally breaking away from their roles during this time period.
Women have always struggled to gain attention from men as well as equality with them. Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's "The Yellow Wallpaper" has a theme of feminine oppression. It is a work of literature that shows many of us how women were treated because women in the era in which this story was published were treated in much the same way as the narrator was on a daily basis. Male dictatorship over women is rampant within the illness and treatment of Jane the characters in the story, and the many symbols that serve to confine the main character. A stand had to be made in order for women to achieve equality with men. Standing up to a man, however, was not permissible in nineteenth century America. This story epitomizes
Besides some minor embellishments, the parallels between Gillman’s own life and that of her narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” are comparable. After overcoming her own depression Gillman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a rebuttal to her doctor and in opposition of the patriarchal society in which she was living. Overall Gillman wrote this story as a tool to express her feminist views, demonstrating both the physical and mental hardships women in this time period faced. These concepts are symbolized by the isolated setting of the story, and John’s actions as an overbearing and condescending husband. Through the stories entirety, Gilman revisits the ideas of isolation, imprisonment, and social inequality that were placed on women by a male dominated society.
More sympathetic critics like Gilbert and Gubar read “The Yellow Wallpaper” simply as a narrative of one woman’s efforts t free herself from the structured psychic, and social atmosphere—indeed, a rigidly constructed atmosphere that was very restrictive for a female of this day and time. They envisioned the wallpaper as being ...
Traditionally, men have held the power in society. Women have been treated as a second class of citizens with neither the legal rights nor the respect of their male counterparts. Culture has contributed to these gender roles by conditioning women to accept their subordinate status while encouraging young men to lead and control. Feminist criticism contends that literature either supports society’s patriarchal structure or provides social criticism in order to change this hierarchy. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts one women’s struggle against the traditional female role into which society attempts to force her and the societal reaction to this act.
... she calls her husband “that man” (608), implying that she no longer recognizes him, and says that she “had to creep over him every time”, clearly not comprehending the absurdity of crawling repeatedly around the room and over her husband’s unconscious body.
The protagonist of Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the visual representation of all the things women have to endure for their freedom of thought. The protagonist is locked away in, what seems to be a psychological prison of her husband’s design. It is clear that the story is from a feminist view. This feminist approach is made clear by: the characterization of John, the writing and thoughts of the protagonist, and the environment that they are place in. If combined, these elements describe the psychological imprisonment of women, and the power that was held by men.
For decades now critics have viewed, Gilman’s novella, “The Yellow Wallpaper” mainly in a feminist way, focusing on the way women acted and how they were treated in the 1800s. Although there are good points to the feminist criticism, one could go more in depth by psychoanalyzing it because feminism fit more into the 1800s when women did not have the roles they have today, by looking at the psychoanalytic effect the restrictions had on her, and observing the effects the room had on her.