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Point Of View In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

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A story’s point of view helps the reader get the writer’s perspective. As such, one can determine the truth about a character thus affecting their response to the character. It also influences the reader’s response based on what the narrator knows or their objective. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” the point of view is in the first person. The narrator participates in the action of the story. In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the writer uses the third person point of view and lets the reader know how the character feel. As such, one learns about the characters through an outside voice. As such, the narrative of any story is a crucial asset to help the reader get the point, theme, or message of the material.
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The viewpoint of this story is meant to create sympathy for Miss Emily regarding her obsession with Homer, without condemning her.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” can also be tied to this theory since it spins an exciting tale of how a wife of a doctor becomes guilt-ridden with depressed after the birth of her child. As a result, her physician husband decides to place her under homecare to help "cure" her of her disease (3). However, this only serves to intensify her illness and put a damper on her marriage. The first-person point of view in this story helps one to catch a vision of what a suffering woman must endure. The first narrative also influences the reader to be able to connect to the narrator in a humane way.
Further, the first person standpoint in this story provides the reader access only to the woman’s thoughts thus limiting the reader. However, the limited point of view in this story helps is crucial in letting the reader get into the shoes of the wife and experience the feeling of isolation throughout the story. The limitation of the viewpoint also involves narrating the story in the present, which prohibits the main character from the benefit of hindsight

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