John Carpenter: A Short Story

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

She pushed a few loose strands of her raven black hair from her face, regarding him scrutinizing

John, the narrator’s controlling, but loving, husband represents the atypical man of the time. He wants his wife to get better and to be able to fill the role of the perfect wife that society expected from her. John, being a doctor, did not quite believe that her mental illness was out of her control and insisted on

Initially, John and Ann are a happily married couple living on a farm, they have been married for seven years. They both adore and love each other greatly, but with John working all the time to pay off the mortgage, Ann starts to feel lonely and trapped. Isolation is already a problem for Ann, and with John leaving amidst the start of a storm, this can only get worse. Ann shows her commitment to John by asking him to stay, as she cares for his safety and well being. John’s gesture to tell their friend Steven to come over and look after Ann for the day while he was gone, truly proves his commitment to her and how he cares about her physical well being. There are signs that she is not fully committed to him, but not in a loving way; John does not pay much attention to her mental well being and because of her loneliness and the feeling of being trapped this could be seen as a loss of commitment.

She kept asking if she should cook dinner, but he wouldn’t answer her or talk to her. Mary noticed he wasn’t acting the same and that he was zoned out all the time. She was furious with him, and she left the room to figure out what she should do. She left to go to the kitchen, but she felt light and sick about what he did.

The opposing reader can make the connection that John 's wife is considered a “housewife” while John is “away all day.” John 's role as a physician makes him feel as if his wife is suffering with some sort of illness. As the scenes are set up for the reader, it is noticeable that John

She could see how that assistant lost her professionalism while working with him. His face was a work of art that drew you in and screamed aristocracy. From his high forehead to the nobel slope of his nose. Melody’s eyes followed the path of his light freckles sprawl across the bridge of his nose and fan out onto his impossibly high cheekbones. Said cheekbones created deep valleys in his cheeks that shadowed beautifully in the not so forgiving light of the first class cabin.

She stubbed her cigarette on the heel of her shoe and flicked it to the side. It was time for her break, which would have amounted to five or six minutes, and instead of going to greet Cecil she lingered on stage with her back turned in his direction. She removed her compact mirror with intentions to spot-check her makeup. What she saw did not displease her: her eyes were outlined with mascara and kohl, the dark red tint to her lips had yet to run, and her rouge still looked quite nice against her pale complexion. She wore a beige-colored dress that came a few inches above her knees, exposing her stocking-cladded stick thin legs. The dress was straight and loose and covered her boyish figure. She wore a long bead of pearls around her neck. And if one looked close enough, they could see a dust of freckles over her button nose. She was everything her parents hated about the younger generation. No wonder they had set her up with such a

The pain medication that her husband has her on appears to be causing her to feel groggy and unable to express herself even through her journal entries. This is seen when the narrator states that she thinks “sometimes that if [she] were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and [bring her comfort]. But [she] finds [she] gets pretty tired when [she tries]” (Gilman,79). She goes on to states that she finds “it is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about [her] work” (Gilman, 79). John is causing the narrator more harm than good, and one can see that more clearly because when a person lacks the strength to do something that they love that means that there is something really wrong with that person. In addition, John is treating his wife like someone that is less than him, which leads one to state that he is driving his wife crazy. As a result, the cure that John has put her on, causes her to begin to have delusions. The narrator begins to imagine that there is a woman trapped in the wallpaper. By showing that the narrator is going insane, Gilman helps show the severity of the narrator’s health and the lack of control that she has over her own well-being. The narrator asks her husband if they could leave the home that they are renting one last time because she feels like she is losing her mind, and John responds by saying that she is not in any real danger and that she should not let false ideas into her head (Gilman,83). John then begs her to stop letting “false and foolish [ideas]” (Gilman, 83) like that into her head for his sake, the sake of their child, and her sake. (Gilman, 83) Then the narrator stops talking and lets her husband go to sleep. This shows that once again the narrator is trying to take control of her own situation but she unable to gain control because her

John constantly attempts to completely control his wife’s life by forcing her to do nothing and stay in one room all day; however, this eventually works to his disadvantage when the narrator goes insane, and John loses all control. The narrator states, “Now why

During the day, excitement filled Margaret, knowing Andrew would be home later that evening. She wasn’t accustomed to being alone and was surprised Andrew went to the convention instead of sending Sylvia. After preparing a special dinner, she sat down to watch TV. Waking up later, she wondered why he failed to wake her when he came home. “He was probably tired and went on to bed,” she said, under her breath as she went up the upstairs to their bedroom. Opening the door without seeing him in bed, Margaret rushed downstairs, out to the garage

With his wife in a great mood, and eagerly anticipating a romantic dinner, the ride to Zefferelli's proceeded smoothly, and they exchanged conversation with ease. When they entered, Tom held the door open, then placed his arm around her waist, and his heart swelled with pride at the admiring glances she attracted. His wife.. Tom, whose dark gray suit had crumpled a little, and lilac tie come un-knotted, didn't receive the same appreciative reception, however, he'd caught a glance of himself in the window and

"Calm down my husband, things will turn out right. Nobody suspects we did anything." Lady was attempting to calm him down but her words were served more as an attempt to calm her own rapidly beating heart. She knew things were going to turn out badly and

John and the narrator do not have the best relationship. John appears to view his wife as an accessory instead of a woman who is part of his life. The narrator

Soft, soothing music filled the air, drawing the attention of the guests as Blaine and I took our places. That’s the first I saw him, my soon-to-be husband so very handsome and the perfect groom in every way. Rather than the traditional tuxedo, he opted for a tailor-made suit, his broad shoulders and trim build accentuated. His hair neatly combed into place, his vibrant eyes sparkling with excitement, I realized I never could’ve resisted him, the man my soul mate. As for myself, I chose a strapless, layered gown, angle white and floor length, of course, with matching full-length gloves