The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“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.

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

Charlotte Perkins Gilman starts “The Yellow Wallpaper” with the narrative of a character in first person perspective. Gilman writes in a style and attitude that is reflective of the character 's feelings towards her current situation. The character’s doctor who is coincidentally her husband decided it was best to move her into a remote house for some time away to get plenty of rest and to heal mentally. The character was moved into a nursery that was covered with yellow wallpaper and as time passed the character started to go insane from the seclusion. The character in the story describes her relationship with her husband, John, while explaining how she feels towards him after he excluded her. The character’s sanity transforms into an irrational mentality after her attitude transitions from positive to negative, from her husband’s condescending tone and excessive control, and when she is left constantly alone in seclusion causing her to hallucinate.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman addresses two distinct social injustices in her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” She discusses the 19th Century oppression of women and the treatment those with mental illnesses endured. Gilman herself has experience with both injustices, which is why her story is considerably semi-autobiographical. She conjures up fictional story with the help of the realities of society and some factual personal experiences. Gilman exposes the actualities of such injustices in a way that reveals their truths to her readers and condemns those who use and accept them. Charlotte Perkins Gilman parallels the character Jane in the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” through her own experience with and knowledge of women’s oppression and

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is about the internal struggle and confinement of a nameless woman. This woman confesses she is indeed not well and that her husband, John, who is a physician, diagnoses her with nervous depression. The treatment of said nervousness is where the story’s conflict arises. John decides his wife needs solitude in order to recover. He believes this solace will be found in an estate he rented. The narrator’s ultimate insanity is prompted by the isolation, denial, and self-judgment that she is forced into by her husband.

Depression is a rising topic nowadays, however it has been present in human history for a long time. It is highly important to treat this sickness properly, since it can have big repercussions in someone’s life and health. In class, we discussed the case of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This story is a clear example of a depression case treatment gone wrong. It illustrated the effects and consequences of negligence in the treatment of depression, centering on patients of the Victorian age. The “rest cure” was the common treatment given to women who suffered from depression or hysteria (Poirier 15). This treatment was not only ineffective but it was prejudicial to their mental health. In Gilman’s story, the narrator is diagnosed with nervous depression by her husband and brother, physicians of high standing. Her husband decides that the best way to treat her is making sure she rests, isolating her from everything that can harm her. She is left alone with nothing to do and no one to interact with, not even her own son. Additionally, the narrator was forbidden to express her emotions, especially through her writing, which ends up worsening her illness. A feeling of loneliness overcomes her and with nothing more than her room’s yellow wallpaper as a source of entertainment, she slowly falls into madness. The Yellow Wallpaper is the perfect example of how the treatment given to mentally ill women in the Victorian age was deficient, and in many cases

As a way to temporarily escape from their hardships, many authors write about their experiences in order to cope with their problems. They use their characters to represent themselves and their lives. Often, authors let their own physical and emotional characteristics leak into their literature, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman is no exception. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman uses her mental state and life experiences to parallel the narrator to herself. “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her life experiences, especially her depression, feministic views, and her desire to expose the dangers of the rest cure to compose her short story.

The nineteenth century was a time where men had a certain amount of control over women’s lives, to the point where they defined their roles in society. Women at this time suffered greatly because of this and in ways that lead them to depression, anxiety, who knows what else. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character, Jane, faces those terrible things that eventually lead her to becoming insane. The traits that make up who Jane is, provides the readers with the importance of her identity throughout the story and they also make up the context of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Trying to free herself from her nervous depression, Jane is propelled into insanity.

During the 19th century European and American women lived during a time in which was characterized by gender inequality. In the beginning of the century, women enjoyed only a few of the legal, social, or political rights that we now take for granted: they could not vote, and were barred from institutions of higher education. Women were expected to remain obedient to their fathers and husbands. Occupational choices were also tremendously limited. Middle- and upper-class women generally remained home, caring for their children and running the home. Lower-class women often did work outside the home, but usually as poorly-paid domestic servants or laborers in factories or mills. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s essay The Yellow Wallpaper addressed and portrayed these many issues that women faced during this time.

Feminism is one of the most controversial topics of our time or any time. Traditionally and incorrectly thought of as a system where women lord over men, Feminism in reality stands for the political, economic, and social equality of both sexes. One of the most famous feminist texts of all time is The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Telling a story about a woman’s private war against a male dominated world and against backwards thinking and societal expectations, this story stands out as one of the few feminist texts of its time. The story revolves around a nameless, female Narrator, who is driven mad by her husband John’s attempts to help and “cure” her alleged mental issues with the aid of the infamous rest cure. Through the feminist lens of the story, the reader can see how the established gender politics and medical sciences of Gilman’s time period could have devastating and horrific effects on women, irregardless of any good intention.

The citizens of the United States have progressed so much over the past few decades that it becomes hard to imagine what life was like before present day terms. Not only has it advanced so far technologically, but the women in America’s society have covered a substantial amount of ground especially in the middle of the 19th century. Feminism became a huge issue worldwide and America was no exception. Author Charlotte Perkins Gilman demonstrates why feminism is so important with her work, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by channeling her own experiences to show readers that without feminism, the life of a woman is very different.

The 19th century was a man’s world and it seemed that women just lived in it. Women were expected to fall into gender roles that society had created for them. While these gender roles are not as enforced today, they were the standard norms for the everyday man and woman in the 19th century. Due to these gender roles, women were heavily oppressed by society. Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced this oppression, especially while trying to deal with her post-partum depression. As a result, she was inspired to write the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” in which she tells the tale of a woman that has a severe mental break due to her mental illness. The narrator is also heavily oppressed by her husband and represents the society of her time. “The Yellow Wallpaper” expresses the oppression of women through the husband’s control over the narrator in which she is isolated, treated as a child, and forced to partake in a harmful treatment of her condition.

People are constantly changing, whether it is physically, emotionally, or entirely. Different events in a person’s life will cause them to change their character for the better or sometimes for worse. Most of the time one does not have control over the events that force them change, but one does have control over how they change. For Jane, it was the opposite. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jane’s final shift in character is brought about by external events and her susceptibility to a powerful paranormal being. Jane goes through a series of events that were beyond her control and combined with her weakened mental state cause a forceful shift in her character that was not in her control.

Learning about how an author lived/lives their life can really change the way that a story is seen. Without the background knowledge of the author’s life all the reader has to rely on is imagination to fill in the blanks between the story and writer. Wither or not the story is based off the writer’s imagination or not can really change the perceptive that a story is seen. Take for example my reactions to the tale “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. My reaction to reading the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” before knowing anything about Gilman is the first thing that will be discussed. Followed by some information I found during the research process and then how my views of work changed with the information I found. Ending with how I think that knowing the authors life can change the perspective which their writing is seen.

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