Theme Of Imagery In The Yellow Wallpaper

1200 Words3 Pages

Nandanie George Professor John Hodgkins English 352 March 1, 2016 Depiction of Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” author Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives us a chance to see into the mind of a woman during the Victorian Era who is gradually becoming insane. Her insanity is incomprehensibly brought on by efforts made by her physician husband and brother to help restore her psychological well-being. Through out the story, the narrator is living a stereotypical lifestyle of a mother and a wife who is hindered and oppressed. This story portrays a time in society where women were dominated by men and not allowed to proclaim themselves the way men were allowed to. The narrator is also trapped in this common …show more content…

The author used personification to give life to the wallpaper, to portray how the narrator sees herself through this woman. As Stated, “I often wonder if I could see her out of all the window at once. But, turn as fast as I can, I can only see out of one at a time” (469). The woman is imagined and indeed the narrators next self because it’s her reflection! She is seeing herself reflect off the windows, that is why it does not matter how fast she turns her head she will still see the woman at all of the windows. Also, physically if it was a person behind there, both John and his sister Jennie would have seen it. As mentioned, “and, I’ve caught him [John] several times looking at the paper! And Jennie too. I caught Jennie with on her hand on it once” (467). Besides the narrator, her husband and sister-in-law were in that room and they have never mentioned seeing the woman. She’s a product of the narrator’s imagination …show more content…

She eventually shows John that her condition is serious and he should have treated her like it was serious. Something was wrong with her, but instead he overlooked it. It took the cost of her own sanity to find herself. I find it interesting how a problem this serious was overlooked back then. Her wanting to think for herself and have her own mind, lead her husband to belief she had mental problems. She could not express herself, even by writing because he thought she only needed rest. She needed something as an outlet to get better and if there was not a limit to what she can do, she would have gotten better instead of going

Show More
Related

  • A Feminist in Action in The Yellow Wallpaper

    1794 Words  | 4 Pages

    "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts a woman in isolation, struggling to cope with mental illness, which has been diagnosed by her husband, a physician. Going beyond this surface level, the reader sees the narrator as a developing feminist, struggling with the societal values of the time. As a woman writer in the late nineteenth century, Gilman herself felt the adverse effects of the male-centric society, and consequently, placed many allusions to her own personal struggles as a feminist in her writing. Throughout the story, the narrator undergoes a psychological journey that correlates with the advancement of her mental condition. The restrictions society places on her as a woman have a worsening effect on her until illness progresses into hysteria.

    Read More

  • Feminist Perspective on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper

    1449 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," the reader is treated to an intimate portrait of developing insanity. At the same time, the story's first person narrator provides insight into the social attitudes of the story's late Victorian time period. The story sets up a sense of gradually increasing distrust between the narrator and her husband, John, a doctor, which suggests that gender roles were strictly defined; however, as the story is just one representation of the time period, the examination of other sources is necessary to better understand the nature of American attitudes in the late 1800s. Specifically, this essay will analyze the representation of women's roles in "The Yellow Wallpaper" alongside two other texts produced during this time period, in the effort to discover whether Gilman's depiction of women accurately reflects the society that produced it.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Delusion In The Yellow Wallpaper

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells her readers the story of a woman desperate to be free. Gilman’s use of symbolism is nothing short of brilliant in telling the story of a new mother suffering from postpartum depression and fighting her way through societies ideas of what a woman should be. When her husband, John, also known as her physician, tells her nothing is wrong with her mind, at first she believes him because she knows that society tells her she should. However, with her husband’s misdiagnosis, or attempt to keep his wife sane for the sake of their reputation, comes a short journey into madness for his wife, Jane. Jane’s downward spiral, as one may call it, turns out to be not so downward when the reader

    Read More

  • Person Versus Society In Gilman´s The Yellow Wallpaper

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the author takes the reader through the terrors of a woman’s psychosis. The story convey to understatements pertaining to feminism and individuality that at the time was only idealized. Gillman illustrates her chronological descent into insanity. The narrators husband John, who is also her physician diagnosed her with “nervous depression” and therefore ordered her to isolate until she recuperates. She is not only deprived of outside contact but also of her passion to write, since it could deteriorate her condition. The central conflict of the story is person versus society; the healthy part of her, in touch with herself clashing with her internalized thoughts of her society’s expectations. In a feminist point of view the central idea pertains to the social confinement that woman undergo due to their society.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wall Paper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although the narrator feels desperate, John tells her that there is “no reason” for how she feels, she must dismiss those “silly fantasies”(166). In other words, John treats her like a child and gives her reason to doubt herself. “Of course it is only nervousness”(162). She decides. She tries to rest, to do as she is told, like a child, but suffers because John does not believe that she is ill. This makes her feel inadequate and unsure of her own sanity.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper Mental Illness

    1526 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The Yellow Wallpaper” was a groundbreaking piece for its time. It not only expressed feministic views through the defiance of a male but also discussed mental illness and the inefficacy of medical treatment at the time. This fictional piece questioned and challenged the submissive role forced upon women of the 19th century and disclosed some of the mental struggles one might go through during this time of questing. Gilman shows however that even in the most horrific struggle to overcome male dominance, it is possible. She herself escapes which again shows a feminist empowerment to end the

    Read More

  • Characterism In The Yellow Wallpaper

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    “John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures… he does not believe I am sick!” (Gilman 647). As one sees through this quote John does not believe in anything that you cannot feel or see. So apparently he does not think his wife has a mental illness. It seems to the reader that John is almost embarrassed by how the “illness” makes his wife act. He does not let anyone see her nor her them “… tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there; and I did not make a very good case for myself…” (Gilman 651). He will not allow her to see anyone until she is better showing that he does not believe she is sick, and he does not want their family or others to see how she is acting because of her

    Read More

  • The Deeper Meaning of The Yellow Wallpaper

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," is the disheartening tale of a woman suffering from postpartum depression. Set during the late 1890s, the story shows the mental and emotional results of the typical "rest cure" prescribed during that era and the narrator’s reaction to this course of treatment. It would appear that Gilman was writing about her own anguish as she herself underwent such a treatment with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1887, just two years after the birth of her daughter Katherine. The rest cure that the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" describes is very close to what Gilman herself experienced; therefore, the story can be read as reflecting the feelings of women like herself who suffered through such treatments. Because of her experience with the rest cure, it can even be said that Gilman based the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" loosely on herself. But I believe that expressing her negative feelings about the popular rest cure is only half of the message that Gilman wanted to send. Within the subtext of this story lies the theme of oppression: the oppression of the rights of women especially inside of marriage. Gilman was using the woman/women behind the wallpaper to express her personal views on this issue.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 19th century society was from different from what it is today. Women were not in the workforce, could not vote, or even have a say in anything. Women were not permitted to give evidence in court, nor, did they have the right to speak in public before an audience. When a woman married, her husband legally owned all she had (including her earnings, her clothes and jewelry, and her children). If he died, she was entitled to only a third of her husband’s estate. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wanted to change this. She wanted people to understand the plight of women in the 19th century. In her short story The Yellow Wallpaper she tries to convey this to the reader not just on a literal level, but through various symbols in the story. In The Yellow Wallpaper the author uses symbols to show restrictions on women, lack of public interaction, the struggle for equality, and the possibilities of the female sex during the 1800s.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Yellow Wallpaper is overflowed with symbolism. Symbols are images that have a meaning beyond them selves in a short story, a symbol is a detail, a character, or an incident that has a meaning beyond its literal role in the narrative. Gilman uses symbols to tell her story of a woman's mental state of being diminishes throughout the story. The following paragraphs tell just some of the symbols and how I interpreted them, they could be read in many different ways.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Imagery In The Yellow Wallpaper

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    She spends a long time looking at the wallpaper to try to figure out if it moves and how the patterns tangle together. The paper gets to the woman and eventually drives her to insanity. This wallpaper surrounds her and she can’t do anything but stare at it all day so she sees patterns and movement that no one else sees. “I am getting angry enough to do some­thing desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try.” This shows how much she wants to escape this room because all the things she's seen in the

    Read More

  • Behind The Yellow Wallpaper

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the reader journeys into the complex, deteriorating mind of a woman suffering from postpartum depression. Through symbolism, Gilman issues a profound statement against the accepted subjugation of women during the 19th century. The narrator's internal dialogue sets the tone of the story and allows the reader to experience her horrifying delusions. Additionally, the use of irony illustrates the repressive nature of her marital relationship. In the end, both freedom and insanity lie behind the yellow wallpaper of the narrator’s world.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Yellow Wallpaper

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    Evelyn Cunningham once said “women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.” While this may not be true today, it was for the narrator in the “The Yellow Wallpaper.” This story by Charlotte Gilman is considered one of the best in feminist literature. It tells the story of a woman who struggles with mental illness and her role in society. However unfortunate, this story provides the reader with a good insight of the roles of women during this time period. Through the story we see how gender roles affect each character. In particular, the author shows how the roles of women in the nineteenth century only serve to restrict and oppress women.

    Read More

  • What Is Feminism In The Yellow Wallpaper

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gilman has stated in multiple papers that the main reason for her writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” was to shed light on her awful experience with this ‘rest cure’. However, she also managed to inject her own feminist agenda into the piece. Charlotte Perkins Gilman chose to include certain subtle, but alarming details regarding the narrator’s life as a representation of how women were treated at the time. She wants us to understand why the narrator ends up being driven to madness, or in her case, freedom. There are untold layers to this truly simple, short story just like there were many layers to Gilman

    Read More

More about Theme Of Imagery In The Yellow Wallpaper

Open Document