The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte P. Gilman examines women’s denied freedom of expression. The story reveals the role of women in the late nineteenth century society and how the gender division had the effect of keeping women in a childish state of ignorance and preventing their minds to flourish. The narrator has no say in even the finest details of her life, therefore she retreats into her obsessive fantasy. The symbols in this story illustrate that living a domestic life has devastating effects on the mental health of women.

The narrator is diagnosed with a “nervous disorder” and is ordered by her physician, who also happens to be her husband, to abstain from most activity and all intellectual work. The same treatment Gilman was forced to take part in. The narrator is deprived of any stimulus or outlet for thought or action, and she begins to obsess over the yellow wallpaper. Her discovery of the women trapped in the pattern in the wallpaper symbolizes the pattern of behaviors and practices that trap the female sex. For Gilman, the conventional nineteenth-century middle-class marriage, with its rigid distinction between the “domestic” functions of the female and the “active” work of the male, ensured that women remained second-class citizens.

Within the very first lines of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper,” the modern reader is slapped in the face with this off-handed remark, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage,” (792). Although the readers of today might not expect such belittlement in marriage, Gilman must have known that her contemporary readers would. Gilman published “The Yellow Wall-paper” in 1892, a time when all American women were expected to adhere to strict roles in society chosen by the men, who dominated society. Gilman’s contemporary readers would have indeed expected John’s actions. “The Yellow Wall-paper” is a work which addresses the effects of the lack of female agency in marriages during

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” she discusses some of the issues found in 19th century society such as women’s oppression and the treatment of mental illness. Many authors throughout history have written stories that mimic their own lives and we see this in the story. We see Gilman in the story portrayed as Jane, a mentally unstable housewife who cannot escape her husband’s oppression or her own mind. Gilman reveals a life of depression and women’s oppression through her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

During the nineteenth century, women and men played vastly different roles. While men had the free will to choose the life paths they desired, women lacked such privileges. Women, instead, were expected to tend to domestic responsibilities. Unlike men, they were unable to voice their opinions, instead, myriads of them lived monotonous lives with their, often condescending, husbands. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, portrays a woman in the nineteenth century descending into psychosis. After the birth of her daughter, the unnamed narrator presumably endures postpartum depression and is forced into bed rest as a cure. In her male-dominated society, the narrator often feels as though she is at a loss of control over her life. Despite what she believes is best for her own betterment, her husband, John, overrides her inputs. She is stripped away from the outside world and left with nothing more than her concealed diary entries and the horrid yellow wallpaper of her bedroom. Although John seemingly wants the best for his wife, his dismissiveness towards her mental state and solicitations necessarily cause her to become deranged; her breakdown is a result of feeling powerless as she is encaged in a house she does not care for, restricted from her activities, and her inability to communicate effectively.

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

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a feminist writer who wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” in the 1890’s. During this time period the woman were expected to keep the house clean, care for their children, and listen to their husbands. The men were expected to work a job and be the head of a household. The story narrates a woman’s severe depression which she thinks is linked to the yellow wallpaper. Charlotte Gilman experienced depression in her life and it inspired her to write “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The short story is based on a woman, not given a name in the text, who is very dependent on her husband. The narrator plays a gender role

The structure of the text, particularly evident in the author’s interactions with her husband, reveals the binary opposition between the façade of a middle-class woman living under the societal parameters of the Cult of Domesticity and the underlying suffering and dehumanization intrinsic to marriage and womanhood during the nineteenth century. While readers recognize the story for its troubling description of the way in which the yellow wallpaper morphs into a representation of the narrator’s insanity, the most interesting and telling component of the story lies apart from the wallpaper. “The Yellow Wallpaper” outwardly tells the story of a woman struggling with post-partum depression, but Charlotte Perkins Gilman snakes expressions of the true inequality faced within the daily lives of nineteenth century women throughout the story. Although the climax certainly surrounds the narrator’s overpowering obsession with the yellow wallpaper that covers the room to which her husband banished her for the summer, the moments that do not specifically concern the wallpaper or the narrator’s mania divulge a deeper and more powerful understanding of the torturous meaning of womanhood.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s work, “The Yellow Wallpaper” has several major themes that were expressed. In the nineteenth century, women were responsible for doing house chores, taking care of the kids, and obeying their husbands. A general concern regarding women’s inequality during the 19th century was painted by Gilman. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Gilman emphasizes the concerns in which society discouraged the women’s ability to self express themselves. Does the narrator listen to the man because he’s a physician or because he is her husband?

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story about a 19th century women who suffers from mental depression in which her husband, a supposed doctor, forces her to refrain from all stimulating activity. This depression is caused after the birth of her child, now known as postpartum depression. While it is now known what causes this illness, the people of the 19th century did not. This lack of knowledge led to an isolation or rest cure applied by her husband who simply locks her in a room, once a nursery, with hideous yellow wallpaper in which the narrator find hidden messages and later is driven to insanity due to the cure applied. Looking at Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper” through the historical/biographical and feminist lenses

“The Yellow Wallpaper,” a short story of a women’s deterioration into mental illness, is a representation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s view on the domination of males in the medical environment, and the patriarchal formation of the household in the nineteenth century. Gilman is informing the reader of the consequences of a male dominated society with fixed gender roles. The man is the authoritative working figure, while the women is confined to her household duties and obeys the authority of her husband. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a depiction of a narrator who is constrained to her gender roles, and develops a worsened illness because of it.

Many women tried every different way to reach women rights and equality. One off the author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” from her own experience life and many other liked her. This short story tells about a woman who has a mental and emotionally illness in during the 19th century. At that time women were much more restricted in their activities and also were governed by their husband. Gilman, in “The Yellow Wallpaper described the character as a married women with a newly baby. This woman also like to write and mixed with the society and going to work. But she was for bidden to practice her freedom. This women was struggling with unsymatic marriage, preventing from writing, and therefore she found a substitute outlet through the wallpaper.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is a story of a mid-nineteenth century woman placed into isolation as her husband’s cure for her diagnosis. However, the tale presents a much deeper meaning when analyzed through its historical context, and when Gilman’s own connections to the plot are explored. Gilman’s short story exhibits the consequences of fixed gender norms in a male dominated society where women had little to no authority. Such restraint and denial of self expression resulted in the emotional suffering and loss of individuality in many women, much like the narrator in the story.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a story about a woman with mental illness that only gets worse as time goes on written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The narrator’s husband, who is also her doctor, tries to help her but what he does only hinders her. This story is narrated by the mentally unstable wife, trapped in her home. She starts off by writing journals, even though her husband tells her not too. In The Yellow Wallpaper she becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in their bedroom. The theme of The Yellow Wallpaper is obsession and depression.

The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is an example of the depression and oppression Gilman felt while being a women and wife in the 1800’s. Gilman included life experiences along with a reflection of women’s struggle and how the rise of feminism affected independence. This short story is inspired by the severe depression of Gilman in the late 1800’s. While Gilman is a very successful writer she is an even more successful women’s rights activist. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses outstanding diction and symbolism to show the true conditions of women during her time. The short story is very powerful. It informs readers what household may have been like for women of that time.