The Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman, And The Story Of An Hour

In 1892, a short story by the name of “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a well-known author and feminist of the late 19th century. The story was initially inspired by her personal experiences and the actions that followed after. Although the story was correlated to actual events, many of the scenes described in “The Yellow Wallpaper” prove to be exaggerated in comparison to the author’s experience. Similarly, the author and narrator of the story (who goes by no name) both suffer from the same condition known as neurasthenia, misconstrued to be identical to hysteria. The story was created in spite to denounce the treatments prescribed to her, as well as to personify the misogynistic influence that lead to these treatments that pertained to women. Gilman represents the feminist position being oppressed by the swift judgements of their male counterparts to highlight the negligent idea that created such unusual treatments.

Today women in developed countries enjoy many freedoms from social stigmas and oppressions in the work force, although, they are still not completely equal to their male counterpart. There are still women being paid less than men doing the same job and there is the idea that prices for female products are raised slightly higher than it is for men for the same products; however, this does not compare to the kind of oppression women went through in the 1890s. Charlotte Perkins Gilman embodied the oppression of females in the 1890s in her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” which depicts a mother and wife going through postpartum depression while struggling with her male physicians and husband over her treatment plan. Critic Frances Baskerville sums Gilman’s intention for her story stating, “Her [Gilman’s] fiction was intended as a vehicle for her feminist and socialist themes, a means of persuading a general audience” (Baskerville line 2). Although one of the issues of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is dealing with postpartum depression, one of the main themes of the short story is female oppression and what everyday life was like for women in her time.

In the 19th century, the female gender faced limited opportunity and the widespread belief of inferiority to the male gender. Women were viewed as being frail, weak, and in constant need of a man to help her do even the most basic tasks. This resulted in devastating effects on the female psyche, including debasement of character and even catastrophic mental illness. Literature written by the women of the aforementioned time period conveys the isolation, humiliation, and agony experienced by the females of that time. The short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, serves as an excellent example of such a piece of literature. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” illustrates subordinate standing of the female role in the 19th century and how such social conditions can have a devastating effects impact on the human mind. (Wilson)

Women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex. Through history women have fought for equal rights and freedom. They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers and nurturers of the children. Only recently with the push of the Equal Rights Amendment have women had a strong hold on the workplace alongside men. Many characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men; society; and within a woman herself. Two short stories, “The Yellow Wall-paper and “The Story of an Hour, “ focus on a woman’s plight near the turn of the 19th century. This era is a time in modern society where women were looked as second class citizens. The two main characters in these stories show similarities, but they are also different in the ways they deal with their problems and life. These two characters have commonalities and differences. Although the two characters are similar in some ways, the woman in the “The Story of an Hour” is a stronger character based on the two important criteria of rationality and freedom.

The essay, "Why I wrote the Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was written primarily for the purpose of explaining the meaning and reasoning behind her semi-autobiographical short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper". Before stating these reasons, Gilman explains that she had been suffering from a "severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia--and beyond" (Gilman, 1913). After three years of this torment, she decided to go see a specialist in nervous diseases. The doctor she went to was named Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell advised Gilman to be put to bed and to apply the rest cure, along with living a domestic life with limited amount of intellectual interaction and to never "touch pen, brush, or pencil again" (Gilman, 1913). As intimidating as this sounded, Gilman took the advise of her doctor, and followed his every suggestion for about three months. She had reached a point of almost complete mental ruin at the end of these three months, that she had to cast aside the specialist's advice. Instead of following his instructions, she began to work again. Ultimately, this is when and where "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written.

“The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892, is a great example of early works pertaining to feminism and the disease of insanity. Charlotte Gilman’s own struggles as a woman, mother, and wife shine through in this short story capturing the haunting realism of a mental breakdown.The main character, much like Gilman herself, slips into bouts of depression after the birth of her child and is prescribed a ‘rest cure’ to relieve the young woman of her suffering. Any use of the mind or source of stimulus is strictly prohibited, including the narrator’s favorite hobby of writing. The woman’s husband, a physician, installs into his wife that the rest treatment is correct and will only due harm if not followed through. This type of treatment ultimately drives the woman insane, causing her to envision a woman crawling behind the yellow wallpaper of her room. Powerlessness and repression the main character is subject to creates an even more poignant message through the narrator’s mental breakdown. The ever present theme of subordination of women in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is advanced throughout the story by the literary devices of symbolism, imagery, and allegory.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story, The Yellow Wallpaper, the setting is very symbolic when analyzing the different the meanings of this book. The main character in the story is sick with nervous depression. In the story, John, her husband, and also a physician, takes his wife to a house in the middle of the summer and confines her to one room in hopes of perfect rest for her. As the story progresses, it is made clear that confinement, sanity, insanity, and freedom are all tied together and used to make the setting of the story symbolic.

In the 1950’s, women weren’t respected for doing anything besides being an outstanding wife and mother. Women and men weren’t on the same level when it came to rights in the eyes of the law. Also during this time, mental illnesses were not accurately researched, and since doctors weren’t fully aware of all the information about mental illnesses, patients did not always get the best treatment and were treated as freaks. In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, both of these elements are present. Gilman did a wonderful job portraying how women are not taken seriously and how lightly mental illnesses are taken. Gilman had, too, had firsthand experience with the physician in the story. Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's believes that there really was no difference in means of way of thinking between men or women is strongly. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story about a woman who has a mental illness but cannot heal due to her husband 's lack of belief. The story appears to happen during a time period where women were mistreated. Women were treated as second rate people in community during this time period. Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows the thought process of the community during the time period in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written. Using knowledge on equal rights between women and men, one can carefully study “The Yellow Wallpaper” by

There are many factors that can create a theme in a short story. Most of the factors are the elements of fiction, which include plot, setting, characters, symbolism, conflict, and point of view. The two stories that will be compared in this essay are “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Story of the Hour” by Kate Chopin. The elements that especially contribute to creating a theme for these short stories are the characters, point of view, and plot.

Immediately in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” readers are able to tell that the protagonist feels trapped in the room, in which she is being placed. The female narrator also mentions to us that her husband “John is a physician, and perhaps –– (I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind –– perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (Stetson 1892, 129). That is to say, this statement clearly indicates that science triumphs over the fantasy of religion. Therefore, John intellectually dominates his wife as a result of this view and his gender. Throughout the story, readers are able to observe themes from “The Yellow Wallpaper,” such as powerlessness, patriarchy, and lack of independence. As a result, Gilman 's protagonist does not have a room of her own. Despite, the struggles that the narrator faces in the room, “it makes [her] think of English places that you read about” (Stetson 1892, 130). Basically, the narrator tries to make herself feel comfortable while she is in the room and she is also able to express herself on paper, although her husband, John insists that she should not. According to Gilman’s protagonist, “I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal¬––having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (Stetson 1892, 129). This statement explains that the narrator expresses a need for independence by removing herself from the

Life during the 1800s for a woman was rather distressing. Society had essentially designated them the role of being a housekeeper and bearing children. They had little to no voice on how they lived their daily lives. Men decided everything for them. To clash with society 's conventional views is a challenging thing to do; however, Charlotte Perkins Gilman does an excellent job fighting that battle by writing “The Yellow Wallpaper,” one of the most captivating pieces of literature from her time. By using the conventions of a narrative, such as character, setting, and point of view, she is capable of bringing the reader into a world that society

treats her like a child and just like a child she is kept in this

Postpartum depression has the following symptoms: paranoia, hallucination, and sleep troubles. However, back when the “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the late nineteenth century postpartum had a different name which was insanity of pregnancy/ lactation. During the story the narrator notices a woman in the wallpaper and starts to think someone is on the other side. As soon as that happens the hallucinations start and the narrator 's imagination starts to wander. When the narrator starts to develop sleep troubles from countless hours looking at the wallpaper, things do not go well for her.As far as the paranoia the narrator could receive that from isolation due to the time in society, which it was in the late 1800’s. Because of the psychological fight from postpartum, this causes the depression to subdue the narrator and lose her fight with sanity.

It is very seldom that mere ordinary people live a life free of sorrow. For most of us, we experience patterns of sadness and psychological torment but in Charlotte-Perkins Gilman’s, The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is not simply suffering from a simple round of depression. Shortly after entering the world of motherhood, it was apparent that she was not feeling the way a new mother should. While suffering from what is now known to be postpartum depression, the narrator goes through a series of perceptional changes during the course of the story. Albeit initially starting with a disgust for the yellow wallpaper, she eventually builds an overwhelming fascination for its intricacies that leads to an escalating dissociation from day-to-day reality. In a mix of confusion, denial, and delirium, she moves to uncover more of what the ironic wallpaper has to hide. One will often begin to explore why they feel the way they do upon suffering from depression. Especially when what should bring great joy is amounting to nothing more than psychological hardship and internal struggle.

with a rest cure. The doctor in the story is much like the doctor that