The Yellow Wallpaper By Herman Melville

While Poe focuses on the narrator being influenced by alcohol and superstition, the restriction society and John has placed on the narrator in “the Yellow Wallpaper” causes her to become paranoid about her reality and people around her. The more John represses the narrator, the more her mind starts to look for an outlet after having her creative thoughts and writing restricted. There is a scene where the narrator asks John if she can visit her cousins Henry and Julia which he denies and she starts crying and has to be brought to bed. The narrators crying is a physical manifestation of her frustration for her situation but there is evidence it has taken a toll on her mental state as well. After this event the narrator looks at the wallpaper

In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman discusses the oppression men have towards women through the story of a nameless narrator during the 19th century. In the story, the unknown narrator, a woman, is telling her struggle for freedom and her fight to escape from the subordination in her marriage with a physician. In the story, the narrator suffers an illness that prevents her from doing things she likes such as writing. Throughout her illness, the narrator slowly becomes aware of her situation and then starts to fight to change her living condition with her husband. Through the use of two major symbols established throughout the text, Gilman brings awareness of women’s struggle to end their oppression by men and their fight to change the way society is dominated by men. In addition, the symbols used by Gilman underline the way women suffrage awareness slowly began to spread during the 19th century.

“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.

By comparing both stories together, and the characters within them, it is clear that neither the narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper” or Harrison from “Harrison Bergeron” agree with the way they are being treated caused by their social, political and economic standpoint in society. In both stories they have opposing forces trying to dictate their life, and telling them who they are supposed to be. Within the story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is being authorized by her husband john and in the story “Harrison Bergeron”, Harrison is being oppressed by his government system. In both societies of the stories, the characters are treated differently for who they are. The people to have more power in their lives, decide who they are and what they can be. The ultimate outcome of their life is up to the forces controlling them. Both characters have no way to escape the labels given to them, without going against the people restraining their potential. The characters have many good attributes to them, but are confined to being what others tell them to be. The narrator has wonderful writing skills and an active mind which allows her to be creative and have an artistic personality, but her husband will not allow her to write or be who she wants to be because he has the capability to control who she is. Harrison is a genius and an athlete who could build upon his abilities to better himself as a person both mentally and physically, but the government will not allow him to

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

During the 19th century men considered themselves to be the superior sex. Without a valid reason or explanation, men were the providers, the politicians, and the physicians. Men had the power. The power to make the rules and set the guidelines of how things were supposed to be done and women were expected to follow without question. The 19th century was also the start of the women’s activist movement, more and more women were starting to realize that they had a voice and they wanted to be heard. Women were gaining the courage to speak up against the wishes of men and set their own guidelines. To stand up and tell men that contrary to what they believe, they are not always right. Among these opinionated women was Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe and the author of many short stories and books on gender inequality. Gilman is most known for her Short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” published in 1892, where she writes about a wife and now a new mother suffering from depression. Through her work she reveals the strength and influence men had over women, the lack of knowledge pertaining to mental health and gender roles present during the 1800s.

In the novella, Benito Cereno, Herman Melville demonstrates the conflicting issue of racism and how it has been a part of our society for centuries. In the novella, we go on an adventure with two captains of Spanish descent and an overpowering amount of African Americans slaves. Melville has captured the importance of the slave trade and the risks that have been taken over time by African Americans trying to earn some justice within their lives. As a reader, we are shown the heart wrenching experiences a slave trader and an African American must endure over the bloody trading seas. Melville creates a clear picture that Americans over history were not always the heroes. This novella, shows the morality of our American history and how race has created such a strong role within our culture.

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

The wallpaper became the narrator's best friend and enemy as she began to unravel the pattern's secret. The ripping of the wallpaper is a representation of the narrator escaping the treatment of society, her husband along with the suffering he has put her through. As an attempt to fight against the illness that controls her, she questions whether her husband, who is a doctor, prescribed treatment is right for her sickness. Though she has fully persuaded herself that John's treatment is harmful, she lacks self-esteem due to her unequal role in society. She develops the characteristics of a child and becomes fascinated by the patterns hidden within the wallpaper. John never took the time to listen to his wife cry for his support and understanding.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator of the text was seen as a woman who suffered from an illness that she identifies as real, but her blinded husband, John, thought she wasn’t sick and all she needed was to rest for a while. As the text progressed, the narrator began to connect to the yellow wallpaper in the nursery room she was staying at, seeing things move within the wallpaper and even seeing women trapped within it as well. The narrator’s illness progressively got worse as she had to stay strong and fight her illness by herself since her husband and his sister, Jennie, were no good for help and she would get judged harshly for showing any signs of a mental illness as a woman. Many symbols could be seen from the narrator seeing delusional things within the text, such as the women in the wallpaper shaking the bars within it like they’re in a prison and the women only being calm in the daytime, but restless in the evening. These symbols gave a strong rise to that fact that the narrator was actually sick and suffered a condition that would be called postpartum depression in today’s time, but due to her inability to talk to her husband and his sister about her illness and/or concerns and the fear of being harshly judged by society for being sick, her illness caused her to go insane from locking all the thoughts and feelings inside of her. Society, which included her husband and his sister, was to blame for the narrator going insane, since the

The narrator. She just had a light reading psychological depression symptoms at first, her husband John even did not ask her situation, then sent her to a beautiful, romantic felicity house for relaxing. She disagrees all her husband's ideas. In fact, she thinks congenial work can bring excitement and novelty which is a good thing for herself. She wants to write through it was permitted, and she did in secret. She was forced at the room, until she was almost mad.

This semester in English class, I did a research essay on a very interesting story and a presentation with a wonderful group of classmates. The research paper assignment was challenging like any other research essay, however I did learn from this experience. Reading scholarly articles was not easy at all. They were long and had many words I did not understand; it was actually the first time I had ever read scholarly articles. I choose the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper was a good story to write about because it was challenging and interesting.

She concludes that "Benito Cereno" is Melville's attempt to warn the United States of its

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