The Theme Of Identity Crisis In The Yellow Wall-Paper

The theme that I intend to analyze is the theme of identity crisis, which essentially is quite significant. I am truly interested in this theme, because as we go through life, we are consistently defining our identity and learning more about ourselves. As I am attending college, I am finding that I am learning more and more about myself. The texts that I will analyze are “The Yellow Wall-paper” “Why I Live at the P.O.” and “To a Daughter Leaving Home.” In two of the three stories, depression essentially is a key role to the characters. The three texts all share the theme of identity and this can be seen through character struggle, names, and family. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper” in 1892. The story is mainly about how

“I was getting along fine with Mama, Papa-Daddy and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again” (Welty 659). Her sister took away her identity by turning her family against her. Which led to her realizing that something needed to change, she needed to change. This forced her to create a new identity and moved away from her family. Linda Pastan wrote “To a Daughter Leaving Home.” The poem is about a daughter who is growing up and is about to leave home. The mother reflects back to the time when the she was teaching her daughter how to ride a bicycle when she was eight years old. The mother is gripping onto the memory and realizing how quickly the daughter’s life went by. The mother is sad that her daughter is growing up and leaving home. In this poem, the characters of the mother and daughter are both dealing with identity issues. The daughter is growing older and not needing the mother, while the mother is sad about the daughter not needing her as much. “I kept waiting/for the thud/of your crash as I/sprinted to catch up” (Pastan lines 11-13). This quotes shows that mother was waiting to help the daughter, but the daughter was fine on her own. Since the daughter is leaving home, it means that both the mother and daughter are going to be starting new identities. Because they did not have names, they could be used to represent any mother-daughter