The Yellow Walpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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.

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a creative woman whose talents are suppressed by her dominant husband. His efforts to oppress her in order to keep her within society's norms of what a wife is supposed to act like, only lead to her mental destruction. He is more concerned with societal norms than the mental health of his wife. In trying to become independent and overcome her own suppressed thoughts, and her husbands false diagnosis of her; she loses her sanity. One way the story illustrates his dominance is by the way he, a well-know and

“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.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story, The Yellow Wallpaper, the setting is very symbolic when analyzing the different the meanings of this book. The main character in the story is sick with nervous depression. In the story, John, her husband, and also a physician, takes his wife to a house in the middle of the summer and confines her to one room in hopes of perfect rest for her. As the story progresses, it is made clear that confinement, sanity, insanity, and freedom are all tied together and used to make the setting of the story symbolic.

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 grips of depression and the restrictions prescribed by her physician husband a woman struggles with maintaining her sanity and purpose. As a new mother and a writer, and she is denied the responsibility and intellectual stimulation of these elements in her life as part of her rest cure. Her world is reduced to prison-like enforcement on her diet, exercise, sleep and intellectual activities until she is "well again". As she gives in to the restrictions and falls deeper into depression, she focuses on the wallpaper and slides towards insanity. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story written from a first-person perspective about a young woman's mental deterioration during the 1800's and

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.”

Depression, Loneliness, and confusion engulfed the narrator of the wallpaper, confinement broke her. During the time of Charlotte Gilman, Postpartum depression was said to be “…temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency”(Gilman). With her illness, she was unable to perform her role as a mother nurturing her child or as wife tending to her husband needs, rendering her useless. Set in these roles, women at the time were seen as domestic and unable perform any other task. The yellow wallpaper clearly evinces the oppression by her husband, “I am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again… Personally, I disagree with [his] ideas . . .”, although she disagrees with the treatment, she has no say whatsoever when it comes to the matter of her illness, John does what he thinks is right for her.(Gilman) John decided that the best cure was the “rest cure”, meaning no brain stimulating activities while lying in a

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is about Jane who has a “nervous condition” (postpartum depression) and her journey to madness. Not only was her husband a doctor, but she went to see a doctor as well who prescribed the “rest cure”. The “rest cure” meant that she was not allowed to write, have company, or do very much of anything at all. Her bedroom was on the top floor away from everyone else and it had bars on the windows, this all made her feel isolated from the rest of the world. Something that we would today find depressing even today. Jane begins to have a fixation on the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom and she believes that she sees a woman trapped behind the wallpaper. She

In “The Yellow wallpaper”, the wallpaper is a metaphor that expresses women’s protest against the repression of the society and their personal identity at the rise of feminism. During the Victorian era, women were kept down and kept in line by their married men and other men close to them. "The Yellow Wallpaper", written By Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a tale of a woman, her mental difficulties and her husband’s so called therapeutic treatment ‘rest cure’ of her misery during the late 1800s. The tale starts out in the summer with a young woman and her husband travelling for the healing powers of being out from writing, which only appears to aggravate her condition. His delusion gets Jane (protagonist), trapped in a room, shut up in a bed making her go psychotic. As the tale opens, she begins to imagine a woman inside ‘the yellow wallpaper’.

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

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

The perception of the Other in literature can take on several forms and on one line of thought it is considered to be “an individual who is perceived by the group as not belonging; as being different in some fundamental way” (The City University of New York). The group sees itself as the standard and judges those who do not meet that standard. The Other is almost always seen as a lesser or inferior being and is treated accordingly. They are perceived as lacking essential characteristics possessed by the group. For an example, Charlotte Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” portrays a woman narrator as being the Other. The gender division, an important component of the late nineteenth-century society, is exemplified in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” much more significantly than in the typical “American” literary work. It attempts to shed light on the fierce alter egos and divided selves of the dominant tradition. However, the narrator seems to contradict the traditional feminine roles and becomes hysterical as her way of revolting. Gilman effectively uses the narrator’s intuition, obedience, and secret rebellion to challenge the authority John embodies as a husband and physician. This also engages the basic issue of late nineteenth-century assumptions about men and women. In this aspect, this essay aims to explore in detail the gender otherness present within the story and how this contrasts the central idea of what it is to essentially be “American”.

First published in 1982, The yellow wallpaper is an engaging narrative , written in first person in which the narrator suffers from some type of nervous disorder . Her husband who prefers to refer to her condition as a temporary nervous depression or a slight hysterical tendency recommends that the narrator seeks solitude so as to recuperate . The short story mimics the form of secret and private entries on journals by the author. The haunting short story chronicles that descent of the narrator and protagonist into maddened and paranormal activities. Some people however interpret it as her chronicles to freedom .The author effectively employs the use of literary

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is portraying a story of a woman suffering from postpartum depression. The story describes the mental and emotional outcomes of a distinct old therapy called “rest cure” that was prescribed to people. Which is what their prescribed Mrs. Gilman with. It appears that she was writing about her own suffering that she went through in the year 1887, two years after giving birth to child. From the story, it was obvious that Mrs. Gilman was writing about her own life experience which can now be viewed as a clear reflection of the feelings of women, like herself who have gone through these same treatments. In her words, “It is the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight.” (Gilman,487).