Isolation in “Yellow Wallpaper”

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In the story “A Rose for Emily”, Emily Grierson the main character lives in a house where a horrible stench lingers. The stench began at the time of her father’s death thirty years prior. She was rarely seen outside of her home after his death. Her husband was then suspected of “abandoning” her. No one had entered her house for the last ten years nor had Miss Emily left it. The stench was found to be from her father’s dead body and her husband’s of which she had been sleeping with since she killed him. In the short story “Yellow Wallpaper”, the main character Jane was dealing with a slight nervous depression. Her and her husband John rented a small house in the country side in hopes of recovery. Her husband believed the peace and quiet would be good for her. In the house, she is confined to bed rest in a former nursery and is forbidden from working or writing. The spacious, sunlit room has yellow wallpaper with a hideous, chaotic pattern that is stripped in multiple places. The bed is bolted to the ground and the windows barred closed. Jane despises the space and its wallpaper, but John refuses to change rooms, arguing that the nursery is best-suited for her recovery. Because the two characters, Emily and Jane are forced to become isolated, they turn for the worst. Isolation made the two become psychotic. Jane and Emily became irrational due to their confinement. Being separated from social interactions and also their lack of abilities to participate in daily activities caused insanity upon the two characters. For years Miss Emily was rarely seen out of her house. She did not linger around town or participate in any communal activities. She was the definition of a home-body. Her father was a huge part of her life. She had never... ... middle of paper ... ...duals are by themselves for too long, they start to question their own understanding of reality; who they really are and what the world is really like. People need interaction with other people because it is such a significant part of how they understand the reasons for living. Human beings are naturally curious. Therefore, by drastically reducing the amount of normal social interaction, exposure to the natural world, or experience of different relationships, isolation is emotionally, physically, and psychologically destructive. Works Cited Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily”. Literature: A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader. Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2005. 1-9. Print Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Literature: A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader. Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2005. 82-96. Print

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