Mental Behavior In Shirley Jackson's 'The Beautiful Stranger'

Ann was very selfish woman who only thought of herself. This is when does not want john to go look after his father, who is old and alone. She only want john around. However her marriage is dull, and boring as john think that the best way to prove his loyalty to Ann was to work hard all day long. She ends up having sex in her matrimonial bed with the neighbor and John come to find them there. He decided to commit suicide by walking in the storm.

“In one of the articles, John is a perfect example of a commanding mate, a husband who holds absolute power over his wife. He treats her as an minor, as seen here: “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” John sees his wife’s feelings as laughable, never taking them seriously until it is too late. It is also clear from this statement that John laughs at his wife because it is what is expected by the community. Later, when Jane is qualified to control her own thoughts, his role as a strong, higher ranked husband and leader is switched, and he becomes much like a woman himself: “Now why should that man have fainted?” Having seen his wife in a state of dementia (symbolically, shattering the power he has over her), he faints, much like a woman would be expected to. Due to acceptance of her insanity, Jane has changed the traditional roles of husband

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."

With good intentions, John controls his wife's life and makes all decisions for her, whether she agrees with them or not. His wife is full aware of the restrictions that her husband has imposed on her, but she is recessive to his control and often agrees with him. However, she fails to see “signs of her confinement: the bars at the window, the gate at the top of the stairs, steel rings on the walls, and the nailed-down bestead” (Korb). Because she is unable to escape from the isolation that her husband has kept her in, the woman seeks relief from the yellow wallpaper and she creates an imaginary relationship it. In fact, the worst thing her husband should not of done is give his unstable wife an object that is not appealing to focus on. In doing so, he has given her an opportunity to let her mind wonder and create objects that no one else sees. John, however, does not give any thought to this because after all, he thinks he knows what is best for his wife.

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

In all stories there is someone who changes after something happens and it turns them into someone they aren't. An example is a person turn into someone you never expected them to be because they are hiding themselves. Its also important to think before everything you do because the aftermath can be unreal. The characters in the“ Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson and the short story,” Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl could have learned their lessons. In the story, “ Possibility of Evil” Miss.Strangeworth takes her hate out to an family by writing letters to them. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” Mary makes a bad decision after finding out her husband is leaving her. These stories tell the reader that people around you have a side they don't show, but sooner or later it will come out of them.

Living on a remote farm with minimal resources close by, John was obligated to work hard for his living and was content with this lifestyle. Knowing Ann did not take pleasure in the lifestyle they were living, John always tried his best to satisfy her. “He wanted a mortgage-free farm; then a new house and pretty clothes for her.” This proved that John would like to become rich one day and supply Ann with the lifestyle she had always wanted even if it meant that he had to sacrifice the thing he loved most which happened to be the isolation from society. Devoted to the marriage that he had with Ann, even in the worst storms he would return.

John is an antagonist of the story. He feels he is doing his wife good; by locking her away in this mansion. However, the reader soon realizes, this treatment is only worsening her mental state. He is never home with her; he always has patients to see in town, leaving her locked in this house; alone with her thoughts. He ensures that she gets rest and fresh air to get well. To him, it may seem as though he is doing his wife good; by locking her away in this mansion. However, this seclusion she experiences causes serious damage to her mental state. Her husband has control over her that women

The unequal relationship between the narrator and John is a miniature of the larger gender inequity in society. Gilman makes it clear that much of John’s condescending and paternal behavior toward his wife has little to do with her illness. He dismisses her well-thought-out opinions and her “flights of fancy” with equal disdain, while he demeans her creative impulses. He speaks of her as he would a child, calling her his “little girl” and saying of her, “Bless her little heart.” He overrides her judgments on the best course of treatment for herself as he would on any issue, making her live in a house she does not like, in a room she detests, and in an isolated environment, which makes her unhappy and

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

In Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, the simmering tension between the striking mill workers of Milton and their employer John Thornton come to a head in Chapter 22 “A Blow and its Consequences”. The millhands, enraged at Thornton’s hiring of Irish workers while they are on strike, descend in a mob upon Thornton’s mill and home. This chapter is also pivotal in the relationship between Thornton and the novel’s principal character Margaret Hale. In the novel, Gaskell parallels the conflict between Thornton and his workers with the conflict between Thornton and Margaret. Both relationships erupt in this chapter leading to consequences throughout the rest of the novel.

Throughout history, women have been held to the many limitations that society has thrust upon them due to their gender. They were often viewed as being delicate and fragile beings that needed to have a husband to depend on and were not expected to share their views on things not pertaining to their wifely duties. Even in recent times, gender inequality prevails in almost any situation to the point where women are still, in some cases, not taken seriously as human beings. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, gender inequality is evident when the narrator is shown to be virtually powerless through the numerous restrictions forced upon her by her husband, John. These restrictions include what she can think about and who she can and

The narrator explains that John has told her that “the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition.” John is convinced that the narrator is only “sick” because she keeps telling herself that she is. However, when she follows his advice, it only leads her to fall even deeper into insanity. After the narrator begins to become more familiar with the house and the land she begins to imagine that people are walking to and fro through the many paths of the land. When she tells John of her day-dreams, he tells her that imagining such things will only weaken her health even more. This constant scolding brought upon the narrator not only makes her believe that she cannot be herself, but she even describes her efforts to keep in John’s good graces as being

These constant beatings in Maggie Johnson’s home, furniture thrown from parent to parent, and every aspect of her family life as being negative, her family situation is not an extremly healthy one. But, despite her hardships, Maggie grows up to become a beautiful young lady whose romantic hopes for a more desirable life remain untarnished.

The Stranger by Albert Camus follows the story of a man named Meursault, who received notice that his mother had passed away. Meursault was not emotionally connected to his mother, and his reaction is not what the reader would expect, as he did not seem to care at all. Therefore, the day after attending his mother’s funeral, Meursault goes to the beach and meets up with his girlfriend, Marie. After the beach, Meursault and Marie go to a movie and spend the night together. When he returns home from work the next day, Meursault runs into his neighbor, Raymond, who beats his mistress. Later in the story, Meursault, Marie, and Raymond go to a beach house, which is owned by Raymond’s friend, Masson. At the beach, Masson, Raymond, and Meursault