The Yellow Wallpaper Essay

Throughout history and cultures today, women have been beaten, verbally abused, and taught to believe they have no purpose in life other than pleasing a man. Charlotte Perkins Gillam uses her short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a weapon to help break down the walls surrounding women, society has put up. This story depicts the life of a young woman struggling with postpartum depression, whose serious illness is overlooked, by her physician husband, because of her gender. Gillman 's writing expresses the feelings of isolation, disregarded, and unworthiness the main character Jane feels regularly. This analysis will dive into the daily struggles women face through oppression, neglect, and physical distinction; by investigating each section

“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.

The surroundings which one is placed in can drastically contribute to their mental state. Deterioration and a lack of stimulation will be reciprocated within the mind of the inhabitant. “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892, depicts a young, unnamed woman who is suffering with post-partum depression. In this time period, the treatment of mental illness typically did more harm than good as electroshock therapy, and the rest cure were the classic treatments of choice. Similarly, William Faulkner, the author of “A Rose for Emily”, written in 1930, gives the reader an inside look upon an elderly woman experiencing mental distress. Although there are major signs of an issue being present within Miss Emily’s old, southern house, the town chooses to ignore and cover them up as to not disrupt the elderly woman who buys poisons without a reason and sleeps next to the dead corpse of her lover. Theme and setting play two very distinct and important roles within each of these stories allowing the reader to have a more complete understanding of the message the author is trying to convey.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860, in the city of Hartford, CT. She would later move to California. She would end her own life in 1935, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She fought for women’s rights and was an advocate of socialism. She wrote novels, poetry and short stories. She was a woman who was educated; her writing reflected her knowledge, relating to her strong thoughts on woman’s rights and independence and how women of Victorian times suffered from this lack of rights. In her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman conveys her views on feminism and how women are treated through characters who represent this treatment. The characters she uses help the reader really get drawn into her story;

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

In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the idea of “true womanhood” is challenged. The white woman portrayed in the story is prescribed what is known as the “rest cure” due to the overwhelming pressure of being the perfect woman, wife, and mother. Driven mad by the smothering of her husband and her inability to do anything for herself, the woman in this story goes crazy attempting to free herself from the constraints. In stark contrast to the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Sojourner Truth, a former slave, delivers a speech titled, “Ain’t I a Woman,” in 1851 that shakes people to their very core. A little before “The Yellow Wallpaper” was released, Truth shares a message that is astoundingly different from the

The yellow wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that takes place in the mid-1900s. This literary work shows how one person’s depression can turn into complete psychosis. My initial response to Charlotte’s story was one of confusion. As I reread the piece given the title “The Yellow Wallpaper”, I realized that the author Gilman uses the description and symbolism of the wallpaper to show how depression can spiral into complete madness. It gives an interesting insight into the mind of a mentally unstable person. But what caused her to reach into the mental unstable corners of her mind?

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

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story about a troubled woman who has a fascination with some old yellow wallpaper in her room. As the story progresses her interest and fantication with the wallpaper increases to the point where it could be considered an obsession. The woman in the story has some obvious mental health issues, this is reflective on the author's own life. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, stated that she suffered from “severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia”. Unfortunately in many cases melancholia, or melancholic depression, is considered treatment resistant, meaning that it often fails to respond to two or more consecutive medications.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was written in the late nineteenth century. In the time of the late nineteenth century, hysteria, “which is a psychological disorder when the persons symptoms covert from psychological stress into physical symptoms, selective amnesia, shallow volatile emotions, and overdramatic or attention-seeking behavior.” (Hysteria biography) Has also been defined as, “a state of mind, one of unmanageable fear or emotional excess” (Hysteria biography). Hysteria has been previously thought to be the condition that the narrator has in the story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, during the time it was written, because it was such a common diagnosis for symptoms such as these around that time. Personally, I think that the condition she is actually suffering from is postpartum depression, due to the extended amount of symptoms that she shows throughout the entire story. Which postpartum depression differs from hysteria because it’s “a complex mix of physical, emotional and behavioral changes that occur in a mother after giving birth.” (WebMD) “Most mothers who experience postpartum love their children but feel that they won’t be good at mothering.” (healthyminds) In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator says, “It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous” (Gilman 105). In this we see how the narrator doubts

Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's story "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written before the 20th century, which was a time when women 's roles were defined by men. Women living in a male dominated society at the time were portrayed as being unable to make their own decisions without a man 's consent. The cult of domesticity was an idea that women would be submissive and responsible for the home and family while at the mercy of her husband. Gilman 's story depicts the life of a strong woman who is the wife to her husband John and the mother to a newly born baby. While being passive and compliant under the rule of her controlling husband, she does not hesitate to take the role of a caring and nurturing mother. Unfortunately, unknown to society at the time our narrator suffers from depression and anxiety after giving birth to her child.

It seems as though our best writings are formed from personal experiences. Weather happy or sad, our emotions we feel, are the driving force of our actions that leads to our most intimate events from the heart. However, this can enlighten all, on a story that is filled with the upmost sincerity for its depiction of a mental debacle of one woman at the hands of her physician, her husband. The short story of The Yellow Wallpaper is a story of a woman who undergoes an illness and inevitably finds peace utterly in taking full part of her insanity. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author, did not have a loving and caring life growing up. Her perseverance through thick and thin helped in her growing, through it all it has made her stronger and without a doubt the writer she has grown to be. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is well known for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper, but also for her deep work in the feminist movement. Through her experiences in life and her own characteristics, they are seen incarnated in the character Jane our hero of the story.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote, “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892. She brings to light a typical agenda for a female in a patriarchal society. It presents the relationship between men and women. Women were only considered for marriage and motherhood. Men were suited to pursue education and have a career. Women’s roles in society robbed them of expression. This left no one happy. Women wanted the same opportunities. Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” to prove to readers that women have rights. Women shouldn’t be viewed as physically and intellectually weaker than men. They shouldn’t take the role of motherhood and only focus on the domestic work around the house. She wanted to change the traditional norm and encourage women’s independence.

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.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of the novel entitled, The Yellow Wallpaper significantly used the aspects of literature such as genre, stance, and register to express the social message concerning the sufferings that women undergo in their daily affairs. However, most of the females do not have control over the challenges that develop in their surroundings. Gilman also uses the book to entertain the society members thus providing relief to the readers. In essence, the author of the novel above used the literature aspects above to illustrate the gender roles in the ancient societies. For instance, the community conferred more powers to the males compared to the women. The application of various literary styles in a particular novel plays