In The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis

Jane's illness was also doubted by her family. Jane writes that her husband "does not believe I am sick!" (Perkins Gilman 424) though she does not mention her concerns on the subject with him. Jane is upset because John, "a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one" (425). Her brother, also a doctor, agrees with John's report on Jane. John even comments that Jane "shall be as sick as she pleases" (430). Jane continues to hear

John has placed his wife in a prison. The disturbing stained and yellowed wallpaper is used, faded and repulsive. The color is one that is unwelcoming, uncomfortable, and uneasy; its color mirrors the narrator's relationship with her husband, and ultimately, with herself. The narrator is uncomfortable and anxious in the barred sulfur colored room where she is fussed over by her husband. John preens his wife, his possession, making the narrator draw further and further away from him. She realizes that her husband lacks the understanding that she craves. This is emphasized as John refuses to accept his wife's condition; "John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him" (248). As the narrator begins to recognize herself as her husband's caged belonging, she becomes more attached to the symbol of the wallpaper. Instead of attempting to understand, John reduces his wife to the status of a child. He repeatedly refers to her as his "blessed little goose"

The key words in this line are “three months”. These words mean the narrator has to stay in the room with the barred windows and hideous, yellow wallpaper for a total of three months. These keywords might be missed if read over too quickly. The quote needs to be read slowly to realize what is happening. The reason they are only there for three months is because the treatment John has given her is going to take three months. The narrator does not realize this. Under his rule, she cannot stop the treatment.

She has been trained to trust in her husband blindly and sees no other way. He calls her “little girl” (352) and “little goose” (349) and states “She will be as sick as she pleases!” (352) whenever she tries to express her issues. Instead of fighting for what she thinks will make her better she accepts it and keeps pushing her feelings aside, while he treats her like a child. We get an instant feel for her problem in the first page when she says, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that” (pg 346). A woman shouldn’t expect her husband to laugh at her concerns. Even after briefly writing about her condition she remembers her husband telling her the very worst thing she can do is think about it and follows his instructions. This is when she begins to focus on the house instead of her problems and the obsession with the wallpaper starts. She has nothing else to think about alone in the home; they don’t even allow her to write, which she has to do in secret.

He had even hired a housekeeper to take care of not only the house, but the baby as well. John also controlled almost everything in her life. In fact, the only thing he did not control was her journal writing, and even then she had to hide it from him since he did not approve of it. When he comes she says, "I must put this (the journal) away - he hates to have me write a word"(471). Part of John's problem 1s that he is a doctor. As a doctor, he control's his wife's health care, prescribing her medicines and her overall cure. As her husband, he is too emotionally involved to look at the case objectively, or if he had, he might have seen her mind going before it was too late. Not only that, the accepted "cure" at that particular time was ineffective and would only serve to make his wife worse (473). This "cure" was the product of a certain Dr. Weir Mitchell; a nerve specialist whose theory of a "rest cure" for mentally unstable patients was later found to be unsuccessful. In the story, the husband's ill-advised attempts to treat his wife's symptoms drive her insane by taking all responsibility from her and forcing isolation upon her as a part of her "cure."

Every request the woman in the story has made to her husband has been dismissed and her depression continues to worsen because she has lost control of her own life. John fails to understand how it feels for his wife to be trapped in her room all day. “He forces his wife into a daily confinement by four walls whose paper, described as ‘debased Romanesque,’ is an omnipresent figuring of the

In ?The Yellow Wallpaper? it seems that the narrator wishes to drive her husband away, spending the entire time hoping for freedom. She explains, ?John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious. I am glad my case is not serious? (Gilman). She is glad to see her husband away so that she may be left alone to do as she pleases without interference from her husband. She is frequently rebelling against her husband?s orders. She writes in her journal and tries to move her bed when there is no one around to see. However, she always keeps an eye out for someone coming.

Throughout the beginning of the story, the wife continually references the things “John says” (844-5). That indicates to me that she is timid and perhaps frightened of him. “John says this,” and “John says that,” shows me that our narrator doesn’t feel permitted to have a thought that is her own. The story’s unilateral male, as well as unilateral female conversations are friendly and comfortable. However, male to female conversation in the writing is dominant, aggressive, assertive and sometimes dangerous. Female to male exchanges appear delicate, soft and understanding, always agreeing with the male perspective. I would consider women in this time period to be viewed as a pet or toy to the male, dominant figure in her life. The use of the words in this short is very important, and gives you the information to interpret the story. For instance, on page 845 it says, “It was a nursery first, then a playroom and gymnasium. I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children.” This discloses that our woman has post-partum depression. At the very least, she feels as if she is trapped or in an asylum within her own home. Perhaps this feeling of entrapment lends itself to driving her mad. It is no surprise that the woman feels trapped behind the pattern of the yellow wallpaper. Her days and nights are filled with constant repetition of the same nothingness. She is left with little to

John’s seemingly overwhelming need to ensure she is healthy mentally and physically, drives him to control all aspects of her life. He has his sister come to the mansion to keep an eye on his wife while he’s away in town with his patients. John chose the mansion for its isolation and privacy as he needs to have his wife healthy or it could affect his reputation,. He also picked the nursery as their bedroom as another way to have his wife secluded. The location of the room is on the uppermost level of the house with stairs are gated at the top. There are also bars on the windows as if it is a jail. There is busy ugly peeling yellow wallpaper around the room and they’ve moved in furniture from downstairs. She pleads with John to allow her to stay in the lovely room with veranda on the lower floor. He argues that the nursery with the windows, air and sunlight will be much better for her and he may need a second bed or room for himself. As a compromise, he tells her she could have the cellar whitewashed (239). Either place, the nursery or the cellar, is a prison, which the asylums of the time resembled. John is just containing his wife the only way he knows given his status as a physician. He loves and cares for her and needs her to recover and take care of the family. John is exerting himself by pushing her back into the role she has agreed to by being his

Analysis: The above quotations clearly display the similarity between John and the Narrator’s relationship to that of a father and a daughter. John controls the majority of the Narrator’s behavior to the point she feels an overwhelming sense of guilt for her incapacity as John’s wife. The Narrator is restricted in her actions and is therefore unable to fulfil her wifely duties, forcing her to consider herself as a burden. When is reality, John treats the Narrator as his daughter and does not permit her to complete her duty. For instance, the Narrator dislikes the yellow wallpaper and wishes to have it removed; however, John does not allow her to do so and acts as if it would feed into a child’s stubbornness. His continued belief in his superiority disregards the Narrator as is wife and instead infantilizes her. He believes her identity exists only through him, which merely encourages his paternalistic

John is characterized by Gillman as being very analytical, very scientific in thought. As such, so when he fails to find anything physically wrong with his wife he attributes it to fatigue, almost refusing to entertain the idea that it might be an emotional unsoundness that afflicts her. There also appears to be an immense lack of communication between the narrator and her husband John. "I had no intention of telling him it was because of the wallpaper", says the narrator, referring to her husband, "he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away"(Gillman 583). This paucity of interchange and inability of John to truly listen to his wife's needs are the ultimate sources of conflict in the story.

seems that John is very controlling and doesn't pay true attention to his wife. The illnesses of both the

John really isn’t a responsible husband or doctor. He doesn’t even believe that Jane is sick, he thinks she is depressed. He keeps Jane trapped in a room upstairs that she absolutely hates. She is in there for so long, Jane eventually goes crazy. John will not let Jane work or do anything else. John is not a very good doctor

The body language present throughout the story helps define each character. John is shown carrying his wife multiple times, and this signifies his strength and ability to care for his wife. Also, other actions of his shows his need for control. These descriptions also give support to the way John acts in his marriage. He wants to be in control of his wife and doesn’t allow her to do certain things. John tries to treat his wife in the way that he knows how, but this may be making her illness decline. While John’s body language is expressed , the narrator has a lack of it. She sleeps, stares out windows, and barely goes out. This portrays her helplessness in her marriage. The narrator is always tired and doesn’t do anything to make herself better.

The times were hard for women; "John does not know how much I really suffer." (p. 14). John also treats her more like his daughter than his wife; "and calls me a blessed little goose" (p. 15), helps to show how he does this he also read her to sleep as you would an infant. Finally the room which John chooses for him and his wife is the old nursery for the house. The bed is immovable, "it is nailed down (p 19). The windows are barred which gives it a setting of more like a prison or a mad house for the insane.