The Yellow Wallpaper and To Build A Fire

A Critical Analysis of Formal Elements in the Short Story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman takes the form of journal entries of a woman undergoing treatment for postpartum depression. Her form of treatment is the “resting cure,” in which a person is isolated and put on bed rest. Her only social interaction is with her sister-in-law Jennie and her husband, John, who is also her doctor. Besides small interactions with them, most of the time she is left alone. Society believes all she needs is a break from the stresses of everyday life, while she believes that “society and stimulus” (pg 347, paragraph 16) will make

One similarity between the two works is the that we are limited on where we get our information. Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” we see everything through the eyes of the narrator. The entire story is told from her secret diary when she has the time to write as shown in the line, “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” (Gilman 527). Due to this, we can only make assumptions based on the information we get from her. She tells us she is in “A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate” (Gilman 526) and that she stays in “a big, airy room…It was a nursery first and then a playroom and gymnasium” (Gilman 527). However, once we reach the end of the story, with the

The Yellow Paper is a symbolic story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It is a disheartening tale of a woman struggling to free herself from postpartum depression. This story gives an account of an emotionally and intellectual deteriorated woman who is a wife and a mother who is struggling to break free from her metal prison and find peace. The post-partum depression forced her to look for a neurologist doctor who gives a rest cure. She was supposed to have a strict bed rest. The woman lived in a male dominated society and wanted indictment from it as she had been driven crazy by as a result of the Victorian “rest-cure.” Her husband made sure that she had a strict bed rest by separating her from her child by taking her to recuperate in

Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Fall of The House of Usher’ both serve a highly horrific purpose which is both good examples for the gothic. The strongest example of gothic is ‘The Fall of The House of Usher’ as it established the extreme horror intense and shows the gothic scene of the house.

In the “Yellow Wallpaper” the author uses imagery to describe what she is seeing in this “wallpaper.” This story is about a woman that is very sick, that lives with her husband John in an old house on a beautiful plot of land. The house might of been old and run down, however, was very thoughtful while being designed. In other words, it was very detailed and fascinating. While she was describing the house, she was also talking about how her husband wouldn't let her do anything because she was sick but she thought otherwise. She thought that she was capable of doing things on her own and that John didn't have to be there helping her with everything that she needed, “I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from

In society, there has always been a gap between men and women. Women are generally expected to be homebodies, and seen as inferior to their husbands. The man is always correct, as he is more educated, and a woman must respect the man as they provide for the woman’s life. During the Victorian Era, women were very accommodating to fit the “house wife” stereotype. Women were to be a representation of love, purity and family; abandoning this stereotype would be seen as churlish living and a depredation of family status. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Henry Isben’s play A Doll's House depict women in the Victorian Era who were very much menial to their husbands. Nora Helmer, the protagonist in A Doll’s House

In To Room 19 by Doris Lessing and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonists, Susan Rawlings and The Yellow Wallpaper’s narrator become increasingly isolated. What are the causes of this isolation? How did Susan and the narrator cope with their crisis, and what is the ultimate outcome of their isolation?

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," is the disheartening tale of a woman suffering from postpartum depression. Set during the late 1890s, the story shows the mental and emotional results of the typical "rest cure" prescribed during that era and the narrator’s reaction to this course of treatment. It would appear that Gilman was writing about her own anguish as she herself underwent such a treatment with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1887, just two years after the birth of her daughter Katherine. The rest cure that the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" describes is very close to what Gilman herself experienced; therefore, the story can be read as reflecting the feelings of women like herself who suffered through

In the short stories Hell-Heaven by Jhumpa Lahiri and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman both stories convey similar theme. Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, tells a story of a mentally unstable wife, while Lahiri’s short story, Hell-Heaven, informs us about a mother and daughters story from the perspective of her daughter. The characters from both stories come from different cultures but one thing they both have in common is their roles. They marry with the purpose of serving for household duties such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, and taking care of children if they have any. Also lets not forget another job they have is keeping the husband satisfied and happy! In both stories the marriages are in a way similar to

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Anna Gilman and “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen were both written in the nineteenth century. These stories were written in a time when women were under the male dominance. The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the play “A Doll’s House”, have similarities both portraying women who are in search of their identity and freedom while struggling emotionally. Both of these stories share feminist characteristics and belong to the same time period when women were considered oppressed by their husbands as well as society. Each writer examines the predicament of women during this time, with each female character having special circumstances that leads them to a moment of discovery.

"There comes John, and I must put this away -- he hates to have me write a

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

“He told me all his opinions, so I had the same ones too; or if they were different I hid them, since he wouldn’t have cared for that” (Ibsen 109). As this quote suggests Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and Henrik Ibsen, in A Doll House dramatize that, for woman, silent passivity and submissiveness can lead to madness.