Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper

In â€Å"The Yellow Wall-Paper†, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the main character describes herself as a little insane woman. In the beginning of the story, although she is suffering from a continuous nervous breakdown, her mental condition is not so serious and deep. She has a good family, nice house for the summer, and she has talent in writing. However, she is getting increasingly insane everyday that she lives in the bedroom with the yellow wallpaper and the bars on the windows. Then, why did she stay there? We can prove some of the reasons why the main character stayed so repressed throughout the summer retreat at the mansion: one - her oppressive husband, two – her exclusion from writing, and three - the struggle within herself. First, there is John, her oppressive husband. John keeps his cloak of control over her with his profession and his male dominance. In addition, he is seemingly the leading person in the marriage as a typical middle-class male was in the past. He tells her to rest and sleep and never truly listened to her; â€Å"Personally, I disagree with their idea. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?†(p. 407). Even though she tries to discuss her feelings, his stern, reproachful looks and comments make her withdrawn, and her only choice becomes to go back to her bed. In addition, he also thinks what she says is just silly fantasies and illusion. She was almost imprisoned in her bedroom with the yellow paper. Moreover, she is not allowed to have visitors either. Specifically, his oppressive action pushes her deeper into madness. Secondly, she is not even allowed to work on her writing because of her oppressive husband; â€Å"There comes John, and I must put this away - he hates to have me write a word † (p.409). â€Å"So I take phosphates or phosphites – whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the unnamed protagonist is obsessed with the yellow wallpaper because it represents the insanity in her life that snowballs from post pardum depression to a serious nervous disorder. When we first learn of the protagonist, we find she suffers from post pardum depression, which her husband, a high ranking doctor, attempts to address by treating her with a â€Å"Rest-cure† (pg. 617) by placing her in a colonial mansion away from society. It is this location where she comes in contact with the yellow wallpaper. Automatically when the narrator views the yellow wallpaper of the room, she is appalled at the way it looks. She states she had never seen worse paper, and that it had â€Å"committed every artistic sin.† (pg. 618) We learn of her resentfulness of the wallpaper through writings in her journal. She is not allowed to visit her Cousin Henry or Julia, her husband is gone most of the day and she is not allowed to leave the room, which leads her to discuss the wallpaper, or in reality her portrait of herself. She talks of how horrid it is and a spot where there is a bump in the pattern that looks like a broken neck. This represents her dissatisfaction with her life. She cannot overcome the wretchedness of the paper because she cannot overcome her own problems. She believes the wallpaper looks at her â€Å"as if it knew what a vicious influence it had.† (pg. 620) This represents the tremendous impact the depression has on her life and her refusal to accept her inner chaos. Her simple hate of the wallpaper grows into a hallucination of images that emerge from it when she begins to realize her need for help. She begins to see â€Å"a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure.† (pg. 621) This shows that the narrator is inwardly analyzing herself as well as her illness and yet she still cannot come to terms with it. She says the wallpaper has no laws, and everything ... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper The Yellow Wall Paper In the short story â€Å"The Yellow Wall Paper†, by Charlotte Perkins, Jane and her husband move into a rental house for the summer. The room in which Jane stays has ugly yellow colored wallpaper. During the story Jane goes from being â€Å"sick†, to really becoming insane. Her insanity is shown through the images she sees in the wallpaper and her behavior toward them. At the beginning of the short story Jane is told that she is sick, and that she should not do any work or take part in any stressful activity. She is taking phosphates and tonics under her husband’s advice. Jane enjoys her writing, but is told not to continue. Throughout the story she continues to write, hiding the writings from her husband and only working when he is away. Her husband considers her condition to be temporary nervous depression, which is to be treated with lots of rest. She is told that she should not leave the room, which in actuality, only makes her true condition worse. As the story progresses Jane’s actions and thought patterns become stranger and stranger. Her hatred for the yellow wallpaper continues to grow and her husband still sees no point in removing in a three month rental. The longer she is enclosed in the yellow room the worse her condition becomes. Jane starts to see shapes of discoloration in the paper, and soon begins to see eyes staring back at her through the yellow covering. In her writings she comments on a smell that is believed to be coming from the walls, she decides that it must be the wallpaper. When the sun is just right she can see a formless sort of figure sulking behind the horrible walls. Jane notices that the walls change color, but no one else is able to see this. By now, halfway through the story, Jane has decided that the figure she keeps seeing has a form to it not unlike that of a woman. She also begins to fear John as her mental condition becomes worse. With one week l... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper The Yellow Wallpaper, â€Å"Explanations of Insanity.† "The Yellow Wallpaper", written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story of a woman, her psychological difficulties and her husband's so called therapeutic treatment of her aliments during the late 1800s. Gilman, who writes from her own personal experiences, is suffering from a â€Å"temporary depression.† She is having to face the overwhelming fact that this is a male dominated society and sometimes women suffer because of it. Gilman sets up the story to convey a certain opinion of the repercussions a woman faces in the care of a man. She states right from the beginning that "John is a physician, and perhaps(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) perhaps that is the one reason I do not get well faster." (McMichael, George, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† page 667.) The story mentions that she has an older brother who is also a physician and concurs with her husbands theory, thus leaving her no choice but to subject herself to this torment of being totally alone in this room with the yellow wallpaper. The narrator with absolutely nothing else to do is reduced to staring endlessly at a pattern in a wallpaper, thus creating some image that she feels is necessary to find out. Perhaps to save her own sanity? Once the narrator determines that the image is in fact a woman struggling to become free, she somehow aligns herself with the woman. She continues to pursue this obsessive project of getting the woman out. Gilman is obviously putting her dilemmas along with the women stuck in the wallpaper into the same category. That would be the thought and feeling of being â€Å"trapped!† The narrator wants the women to be free of the paper just as bad as she wants to be looked at as a sane person as well as being allowed to read and write again without being scolded by her mentally and vocally abusive, overpowering husband... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper Prior to the twentieth century, men assigned and defined women’s roles. Although all women were effected by men determining women’s behavior, largely middle class women suffered. Men perpetrated an ideological prison that subjected and silenced women. This ideology, called the Cult of True Womanhood, legitimized the victimization of women. The Cult of Domesticity and the Cult of Purity were the central tenets of the Cult of True Womanhood. Laboring under the seeming benevolence of the Cult of Domesticity, women were imprisoned in the home or private sphere, a servant tending to the needs of the family. Furthermore, the Cult of Purity obliged women to remain virtuous and pure even in marriage, with their comportment continuing to be one of modesty. Religious piety and submission were beliefs that were more peripheral components of the ideology, yet both were borne of and a part of the ideology of True Womanhood. These were the means that men used to insure the passi vity and docility of women. Religion would pacify any desires that could cause a deviation from these set standards, while submission implied a vulnerability and dependence on the patriarchal head (Welter 373-377). The medical profession’s godlike attitude in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† demonstrates this arrogance. The Rest cure that Dr. Weir Mitchell prescribed, which is mentioned in Gilman’s work, reflects men’s disparaging attitudes. His Rest cure calls for complete rest, coerced feeding and isolation. Mitchell, a neurosurgeon specializing in women’s nervous ailments, expounded upon his belief for women’s nervous conditions when he said, American woman is, to speak plainly, too often physically unfit for her duties as woman, and is perhaps of all civilized females the least qualified to undertake those weightier tasks which tax so heavily the nervous system of man. She is not fairly up to what nature asks from her as wife and mother. How will ... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper In â€Å"The Yellow Wall-Paper†, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the main character describes herself as a little insane woman. In the beginning of the story, although she is suffering from a continuous nervous breakdown, her mental condition is not so serious and deep. She has a good family, nice house for the summer, and she has talent in writing. However, she is getting increasingly insane everyday that she lives in the bedroom with the yellow wallpaper and the bars on the windows. Then, why did she stay there? We can prove some of the reasons why the main character stayed so repressed throughout the summer retreat at the mansion: one - her oppressive husband, two – her exclusion from writing, and three - the struggle within herself. First, there is John, her oppressive husband. John keeps his cloak of control over her with his profession and his male dominance. In addition, he is seemingly the leading person in the marriage as a typical middle-class male was in the past. He tells her to rest and sleep and never truly listened to her; â€Å"Personally, I disagree with their idea. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?†(p. 407). Even though she tries to discuss her feelings, his stern, reproachful looks and comments make her withdrawn, and her only choice becomes to go back to her bed. In addition, he also thinks what she says is just silly fantasies and illusion. She was almost imprisoned in her bedroom with the yellow paper. Moreover, she is not allowed to have visitors either. Specifically, his oppressive action pushes her deeper into madness. Secondly, she is not even allowed to work on her writing because of her oppressive husband; â€Å"There comes John, and I must put this away - he hates to have me write a word † (p.409). â€Å"So I take phosphates or phosphites – whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper The Yellow Wall-Paper By: Charlotte Perkins Gilman In the story, The Yellow Wall-Paper by Perkins Gilman, the yellow wall paper symbolized the character and her marriage to her husband John. The character expressed herself through the wall paper. She reflected her life to the yellow wallpaper. She saw a woman trapped behind bars, crawling around the wallpaper fighting to free herself. Those bars resembled her husband. Throughout their marriage, she felt trapped. She always did what she was told by her husband. She was not allowed the write in her journal or even allowed to read. Her husband made all of her decisions for her because according to him, she was unable of making her own decisions. Everything he did was for her best. The yellow wallpaper intrigued the character so much that towards the ending, she became that woman in the wallpaper. She started to crawl around the floor and eventually crawled all over her husband. It seemed that when she crawled over her husband, she changed completely , she no longer was the obedient â€Å"little girl† that her husband loved. At the sight of her crawling, her husband fainted. The yellow wallpaper is a very important symbol in the story. It portrayed the character’s life. The character was trapped in her marriage just like the woman was trapped in the wallpaper. Both of them constantly tried to release themselves. The woman in the wallpaper consistently shook the pattern and the bars, while the character would try to talk to her husband and try to make him see that she is smart enough to make her own decisions. The bars from the wallpaper coincided with John. Those bars would not permit the woman from liberating herself. John would not permit his wife to become independent. He wanted her to need him to survive.... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper Women’s Literature The Importance of Symbolism and Imagery In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† Often times the best work of writing, be it a short story or an extensive novel, is one that examines an issue using a variety of literary techniques, such as symbolism and imagery. Charlotte Perkins Gilman did just that. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is a short story in which a woman, who suffers from some sort of nervous condition, is basically confined to one room in a summer home while on any number of medications. Her husband doesn’t allow her to work and even forbids her from writing, which was a deprivation of the only outlet she truly had. Gilman uses various forms of symbolism and imagery throughout the novel that, as in most cases, can be interpreted in a variety of forms. One of the most significant examples of imagery and/or symbolism in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is actually the yellow wallpaper. It surrounds, in somewhat of an encompassing manner, the room occupied by Jane, the main character and narrator. Jane says at the beginning of the story â€Å"I never saw worse paper in my life. One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin† (Gilman 1135). The paper was stripped off in certain areas of the room and apparently its yellow color was more of a stain, while at the same time it possessed some type of bad odor. â€Å"It is the strangest yellow, that wallpaper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw- not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old, foul, bad yellow things† (Gilman 1141). To me, somebody with a sickness confined to one room for an extended amount of time should not feel this way about the room they are in. This ugly, almost evil wallpaper symbolizes a few different things. In her perception, the paper has eyes and exerts some sort of power over her. Hour after hour she lay in her bed, which is nailed to the floor, and tries to follow the pattern of the wallpape... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an account of a mentally disturbed woman. The woman portrayed in this short story plays the role of a dominated, inferior lady who is not outspoken and willing to take a stand on behalf of her own well being. She does not realize she can have her own ideas and stand up for herself; this is her main problem in the story. By applying all the concepts of style, symbolism and time era Charlotte Perkins Gilman has conceived a well-written story. The time frame has a great importance to the overall story. The account does not just deal with a woman going insane but a woman’s standing in society in the late 1800’s. During the time in which Gilman’s piece was written, women were not often prominent figures in society. Men frequently dominated them, and it was rare to find a very outspoken female willing to stand up for her own well-being. It is a very disturbing look at how a man could have dominated a lady in the time frame in which the story was set. It exemplifies how woman were disregarded at times and treated like frail beings at others. All woman really needed was moral or emotional support to break free of a male dominated society. Throughout the story symbolism is a strong key point. The wallpaper has many symbolic examples in it. The pattern at one point in time start to look like bars and the woman behind them is constantly shaking them at night to escape. The key factor is that the woman is somehow freed from the bars during the day, yet trapped behind them at night. This is symbolic of her husbands not being home during the days, while he is working. During this time she is alone and free to be herself, without anyone’s rules to suppress her emotions. Because of this she does not feel the urgent need to escape. At night however when her husband returns home she is thrown back behind those imaginary bars that symbolize her feelings of control. In the ... Free Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper The majority of works written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman were written as â€Å"forceful statements of her opinions on women’s need for economic independence and social equality† (151). However, the one story that is considered her artistic masterpiece greatly deviates from her typical fiction. This story, entitled â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† is a not a feminist statement, but a true work of art; merely an artist using her talent. Current feminist critics have come up with a profusion of in-depth views and symbolism that have altered the way this work is read. After a careful rereading of The â€Å"Yellow Wallpaper,† it becomes clear that while this is a work of fiction, it is also laced with subliminal symbolism in the story’s setting and environments. When reading â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, a reader cannot miss noticing the importance of the setting in which the action takes place. The author’s intent is to focus the reader’s attention into the story in a gradual manner; in this way, the unusual events presented later on will produce a greater impression on the reader. In addition, setting is a strategy for the author to introduce symbols in the text, symbols that are not obvious to decipher at the first read. As an expert on symbolism in human culture, Carl Jung writes in Man and His Symbols: â€Å"Thus a word or an image is symbolic when it implies something more than it’s obvious and immediate meaning. It has a wider ‘unconscious’ aspect that is never precisely defined or fully explained† (Jung 20). These symbols represent Gilman’s view on the status of women in the patriarchal society of the nineteenth century. Views that were so shocking for those times that their direct unveiling may have led to strong criticism and perhaps the exclusion of publishing the story. This effect is created with a combination of several techniques. The most prominent and easiest to observe is the manipulation of setting. The story ...