The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a feminist and writer. She lived from 1860 to 1935 , fighting for women injustice. From the 19th and early 20th century she fought for woman's rights. She advocated child-care centers and communal kitchens so women could earn money outside the house. Gilman was a role model in the start of women's rights but her life was not a easy journey in the beginning.

In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator uses the psychological gothic genre to present the portrayal of women, women faced in a marriage, within the time frame of the 1890s. Women were seen as the “shadow” as men dominated society. This is presented throughout the book as many readers first interpitation

Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” to show how women undergo oppression by gender roles. Gilman does so by taking the reader through the terrors of one woman’s changes in mental state. The narrator in this story becomes so oppressed by her husband that she actually goes insane. The act of oppression is very obvious within the story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and shows how it changes one’s life forever.

The woman behind this work of literature portrays the role of women in the society during that period of time. "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a well written story describing a woman who suffers from insanity and how she struggles to express her own thoughts and feelings. The author uses her own experience to criticize male domination of women during the nineteenth century. Although the story was written fifty years ago, "The Yellow Wallpaper" still brings a clear message how powerless women were during that time.

First, if the wallpaper stands for a new vision of women, why is the narrator tearing it down? Next, how can it be a ‘representation of women that becomes possible only after women obtain their right to speak,’ if it grows more vivid as the narrator becomes less verbal? Moreover, if the narrator comes into her own through the wallpaper, then why does she become more and more a victim of male diagnosis as she becomes further engaged

Essentially, the wallpaper traps the narrator with its confusing and somewhat enchanting pattern, and it is this image that becomes important: for Gilman, society’s repression of women is exactly as the wallpaper. It, too, is an indecipherable and repellent pattern, which confines women to their houses. Societal convention traps women behind its bars, just as the wallpaper trapped the

The initial description of this woman is of her “stooping down and creeping about.” The woman in the wallpaper is a direct reflection of the narrator’s confidence and feelings of inferiority, and the change they undergo. Initially, the woman in the wall symbolizes the narrator’s fear of presenting herself and her opinions, and being her husband’s equal.

John moves his sister Mary with them to the new house, so that she can help take care of the baby and help around the house. In the story, Charlotte states, “and yet I cannot be with him, makes me so nervous” (Gilman, 10). John wouldn’t even allow Charlotte to see her son as if she wasn’t his mom. He made Mary take the place of Charlotte so she did everything for the baby; sometimes Charlotte would catch a glimpse of Mary and the baby walking by. Charlotte begged John to let her see her cousins Henry and Julia but John said, “I wasn’t able to go, nor be able to stand it after I got there; and I did not make a very good case for myself for I was crying before I finished” (Gilman,

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a horrific short story that reflects the struggle of women during this era. Gilman was born in 1860 in Hartfield, Connecticut. Furthermore, Gilman did not have a good life growing up. Her father abandoned her and her mother soon after she was born, leaving them to fend for their own. In this time, it was not fit for a woman to live independently.

In the story”The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman reveals changes in the narrator that expresses the yellow wallpaper which she has to write down in her journal because the 1900’s women didn't get the respect that men all got. At first the wallpaper was nothing to her but now it has her and now she is found of the room. The different symbols used in the,” The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman reveal changes the narrator to a feminist story which shows her frustration by being trapped and not being herself. First symbol that Gilman stated in this reading was the yellow wallpaper. In this symbol the narrator has thoughts of hating the room with this wallpaper but throughout the story the wallpaper dwells in her.

The injustice in society between gender is shown through the relationship between the narrator and John, her husband. In the story, John never once called her by her name, sometimes “a blessed little goose” or some other animal name, like an adult looking down at a minority. This is a discrimination towards women and clearly represents how unfairly women were treated during those times. They were looked down upon, treated as below human, equalling animals. John expects nothing more

John displays tendencies of an old school mentality of being dominate of his wife and having her be obedient towards his commands. He looks at his wife as being inferior in their relationship. Early in the story the narrator states "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage" John does not take the thoughts of his wife as being serious and shows that he believes her intelligence and thoughts to be inferior. He mocks her by laughing at her and does not take what she says serious until the end of the story when it is simply too late to listen. The quote also displays the obedience

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a first person short story that shows the emotional struggles the narrator faces. The story opens with a shared introduction of both the setting, as well as the story’s narrator. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Greg Johnson and Barbara A. Suess, all recognize a similar theme in “The Yellow Wallpaper” with a main focus on the key role of women in nineteenth-century, as they were important for two key roles: marriage and childbearing. Many women did not want these key roles; instead they wanted their individualism. Gilman's story expresses a concern for the ways in which society does in fact discourage women of their individualism. “The Yellow Wallpaper” opens with the image of a summer home sitting

Back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, many women took the role of a housewife in order to take care of the home, children, and most importantly, the husband. The role of a housewife was not seen as important but seen as the only role that women could partake due to them not being able to obtain a job. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses symbols, and the characterization of women to show the insignificance of women in marriage. The insignificant role that women play in a marriage, during this time, can lead a woman to loneliness and unhappiness.

The narrator and the husband relationship throughout the story kind of drifted apart. The wife pretends to be happy around him but in reality she’s much unfulfilled. John the husband who is a physician think he knows what’s best for his wife, he makes every decision regarding her life right down to who she should associate herself with to where she gets to sleep and so on. He always disregard her opinions on things, he thinks only his opinion matters just because he’s a doctor. The husband can be seen as father figure who overprotects her and make decisions for her. The wife had no freedom what so ever because John was always there to supervise. The wife suffers from depression and is prescribed