The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis Essay

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Looking from the Outside In Within the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson; the author gives a perception of what a life of an unhappy woman’s life was like in the nineteenth century. Stetson uses instances such as sickness through setting, symbolism and irony to define her as an individual. In the text, she uses supportive details to give an insight of the reality of depression and emotional abuse through her condition. The home was a colonial mansion which was now home for the narrator’s treatment, it was a beautiful place distant from the other villagers. Their home was filled with lush full gardens, arbors of grape vines and greenhouses. Only one could imagine the beauty but not the narrator, John brought their family here to do what was best for the narrator. He said “we came here solely on my account, that …show more content…

“There comes John and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word.” (649) The narrator stopped her writing out of respect for John since they lived in a time it was to be respectable to the head of the household. In the nineteenth century women were known to be the care takers and remain dependent on the man of the household. In this instance the narrator wanted the perks of being the male being able to go have an outside identity rather than being stuck in an identity that did not yet fit her. The narrator thought as herself as a worthless burden in John’s life since she was supposed to be the one to be the care giver and watched Mary take care of their son. Although she does state that “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already.” (649) Shortly after the child’s birth the narrator had what is known as postpartum depression. This affected her life by making her feel trapped in a lifestyle that was just not her and who she wanted to

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