Tale Of An Hour By John Kasmer Analysis

Many of the passages concerning the husband can be interpreted as containing sarcasm, a great many contain irony, and several border on parody (Johnson 528). It is true that the husband’s language is exaggerated at times, but dismissing the husband’s character as caricature seems extreme. He is instead the natural complement to the narrator’s madness and uncontrolled fancy: the character of John is control and “sanity” as defined by Victorian culture and is therefore the narrator’s opposite. Greg Johnson notes that John exhibits a near-obsession with “reason,” even as his wife grows mad. He is the narrator’s necessary counterpart, without whose stifling influence her eventual freedom would not be gained. And he is also transformed at the end of the tale—in a reversal of traditional gothic roles—because it is he, not a female, who faints when confronted with madness (529).

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.

Like the narrator, women of that time were directed to suppress their creativity as it threatened the dominating male's sense of control. By having the narrator be forced to write in secret, "There comes John, and I must put this away -- he hates to have me write a word," Gilman was able to show that even the simplest things, like wanting to write were forbidden, lest the male approved (392). Prohibited from working and not being able to contribute to the household as a proper wife, the narrator begins to feel helpless: "So I… am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas" (390). The narrator’s husband and brother both exert their own will over hers, forcing her to do what they think is the appropriate behavior for a sick woman. She has been given a "schedule[d] prescription for each hour in the day; [John] takes all care from me" (391). The way that she is required to act involves practically no exertion of her own free-will. Instead, she is expected to obediently accept the fact that her own ideas are mere fancy, and only the opinions of the men in her life can be trusted. The fact that she is not allowed to think for herself is narrowing the extent of her authority in her life and of her autonomy.

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 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 author states, “John hates me to write a word”(474). It seems that writing is a form of escape to her, but as close as she is to do it, her husband keeps an eye on her which prevents her to keep writing and give up on it. Also Perkins states, “I did write for a while in spite of the; but it does exhaust me a good deal having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (474). Writing allowed her to make sense, in her mind at least, of the confusing world she was living in. John did not like her writing because to him it was a threat that can make her more sick and he was only trying to help her be better. He has to control her, and as a woman her thoughts were not important. Writing gave the woman a small sense of control or power. It allowed her to express herself and her thoughts, which John was very uncomfortable with. “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (475). With this, the reader can conclude the obstacles women went through with gender inequality. John thought that he was providing for her, keeping her safe, giving her everything she wanted, but he did the opposite. He kept her locked at home, with supervision around all the time, which brought the yellow wallpaper as a major symbol for

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, men and women hold very different roles. Not only are women the weaker sex, but their worth is dependant on how powerful and high up their husband is. Because of this, women are forced to be silent and are not allowed an opinion. If a woman shows traits that are considered manly, such as intelligence, determination, or control, she is considered masculine, and therefore unattractive. From a very young age, the main character, Janie, is taught that in order to find a suitable husband, she needs to suppress her independent personality. As a result of this belief being engraved into her, Janie does not realize her worth, therefore she is involved three abusive relationships. For years, girls were taught to make themselves smaller so they do not threaten the male’s reputation. The reader sees that Janie is an example the mistreatment of females through Janie’s three marriages.

A glance at a few of the conversations between John and the narrator will help clarify the roles of husband and wife as the story represents them. Rather than see the husband and wife as equals, the story clearly places the wife in the role of inferior. Nowhere is this made more explicit than in the use of condescending names when referring to his wife. Early on, when the narrator complains of the unsettling décor in her room, John "called [her] a blessed little goose" (Gilman 2); later, when she cannot sleep, he calls her a "little girl" (Gilman 5). When the narrator protests that she is not improving under her treatment, John patronizingly states: "'Bless her little heart!' said he with a big hug, 'she shall be as sick as she pleases!'" (Gilman 5).  Such language use suggests that the narrator is akin to a child, rather than an adult partner of the speaker. Even the narrator herself, within the confines of her own writing, notes that one of her biggest disappointments is that she is unable to fulfill the obligations that come with marriage and motherhood: "It does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way! I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!" (Gilman 2).

First of all the genre of this story is irony. According to Frye 's "theory of myths" this genre contains certain characteristics like, the story displays a real world seen through a tragic lens, the protagonist is defeated, and suffers. These characteristics, along with others, can be seen throughout the text. The story consists of a female protagonist, and is seen as inferior in kind to men and her environment. During this time period, women would be considered inferior to men, which we can see within the narrator and John’s marriage. Also, on page 77, the narrator describes the room with the yellow wallpaper and it is in poor condition. It seems as though she is describing that of an

She speaks as though her opinions to do not count anyway, but she is very accepting of this. She belittles herself several more times throughout the story. "I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and her I am a comparative burden already" (Barnet 747). Having read the text through to the end we know that she is in a mental hospital, a reader could most likely begin to imagine what John may have been thinking to have witnessed his wife go through such disturbing mental anguish and that he was only going off of the knowledge available at this point in time. How would the story be different if it had been written from John’s point of view?

The room that the narrator stays in is also significant to the symbolic setting. As she walks us through the description of the house, she mentions that she is not fond of the room her husband chose to put her in whether she liked it or not, “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs the opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, but john would not hear of it” (479). Instead, she was suckered into a room that seems the complete opposite of the other room that she wanted, a “big, airy room…with windows that look all ways” she says. This serves as another evidence of her lack of freedom and say to even do the simplest things, like choose a room she likes. She also says that the windows have bars (479), preventing any attempts

John puts his wife in the best room he feels will help with her recovery and that is the room that once was a nursery. Of all the rooms to put her in, the nursery should of been the last place, but how could he know of her condition, postpartum was unknown of during the late 1800’s. John saw the room as, “a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore” (Gilman 591). The narrator wanted to stay in another room that she describes to be so peaceful in her eyes, “I wanted one downstairs that opened onto the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings” (Gilman 591).

The narrator describes the entire mansion from the hedges to the gates, to the garden as “the most beautiful place ever”. All of it is beautiful except for the bedroom in which she is kept in, but again the room selection was not her choice. “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it.” The room had previously been a child’s nursery, and had bars on the window. Though she recently had a child, her newborn did not occupy this nursery. The baby was looked after by Johns’ sister, something he had also arranged, and the narrator had very little contact with her child. As the story progresses, the narrator begins to fill more and more trapped by the room and completely obsessed with the “repellent, almost revolting” yellow wallpaper that surrounds her. In many of her secret

The nursery, exemplifies the theme of inferiority, serves as the main setting for the story. The irony is that the “ill” person needs to be taken care of and resides in the nursery; thus, the husband is treating the narrator like a child. Through diction the reader can clearly see how the narrator is made to feel inferior. An example of inferiority would be when John calls the narrator “little girl” after she is caught walking around the house alone (Gilman 632). The phrase is most associated with little children not with grown women. By calling his wife a childish name he treats her with even less respect much like a

Another example of the narrators domestic role due to male dominance includes; When John bringing her to a colonial estate for the summer, because he says he has work near the city. The narrators description of this estate; “ It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village.” (Knight 167) which could be interpreted as an isolated environment, away from social or intellectual stimulants, or could be an abandoned insane asylum of sorts. In order to keep her mind off of her condition, as john suggest is the worst thing she can do, she turns her attention to the house.