Theme Of Oppression In The Yellow Wallpaper

  “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a symbolic tale of one woman’s struggle to break free from her mental prison.  Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows the reader how quickly insanity takes hold when a person is taken out of context and completely isolated from the rest of the world.  The narrator is a depressed woman who cannot handle being alone and retreats into her own delusions as opposed to accepting her reality.  This mental prison is a symbol for the actual repression of women’s rights in society and we see the consequences when a woman tries to free herself from this social slavery.

     Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is as a wonderful example of the gothic horror genre. It was not until the rediscovery of the story in the early 1970’s that “The Yellow Wallpaper” was recognized as a feminist indictment of a male dominated society. The story contains many typical gothic trappings, but beneath the conventional façade hides a tale of repression and freedom told in intricate symbolism as seen through the eyes of a mad narrator.

     The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a fictionalized autobiographical account that illustrates the emotional and intellectual deterioration of the female narrator who is also a wife and mother. The woman, who seemingly is suffering from post-partum depression, searches for some sort of peace in her male dominated world. She is given a “rest cure” from her husband/neurologist doctor that requires strict bed rest and an imposed reprieve form any mental stimulation. As a result of her husband’s controlling edicts, the woman develops an obsessive attachment to the intricate details of the wallpaper on her bedroom wall. The woman’s increasingly intense obsession with

  The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman can by read in many different ways.  Some think of it as a tragic horror story while others may find it to be a tale of a woman trying to find her identity in a male-dominated society.  The story is based on an episode in Gilman's life when she suffered from a nervous disease called melancholia.  A male specialist advised her to "live a domestic a life as far as possible.. and never to touch a pen, brush or pencil..."   (Gilman, 669).   She lived by these guidelines for three months until she came close to suffering from a nervous breakdown.  Gilman then decided to continue writing, despite the physicians advice, and overcame her illness.

"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 Story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a great expression of women’s oppression in the 19th century. The story introduces readers to a woman frustrating in her life and suffering from a nervous depression and her marriage as the yellow wallpaper is causing her a real insanity. Having a background about the timing and the setting that the story is written in helps the reader to internalize the whole meaning of the story and understand its important details. The story is told by a narrator using an anxious tone, and she is being angry and sarcastic at the same time. The woman mentions that her husband has taken her to a summer vacation. So, the story takes

In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman, portrays the main character as a victim of oppression. Oppression is defined as being heavily burdened mentally or physically by troubles or adverse conditions. John’s wife along with other women during the 1800’s, were subject to the stricter laws of society. The narrator, known as the main character, was applied with less rights and privileges. An example on how the narrator was subjected to oppression is the husband, the wallpaper, and the mansion.

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.

and "gates that lock". At the top of the stairs is a gate that keeps

An Oppressed Society The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman takes the reader on an evocative journey through the mind of an unnamed female protagonist. This enthralling short story accurately displays the portrayal of women during the nineteenth century, with a society driven predominantly by the male character. With an already mentally troubled narrator, her tragic mental breakdown is channeled heavily through highly disorganized thoughts and hallucinations towards the outer realms of the universe, along with the societal oppression prevalent during this time period – internally and externally.

As man developed more complex social systems, society placed more emphasis of childbearing. Over time, motherhood was raised to the status of “saintly”. This was certainly true in western cultures during the late 19th/early 20th century.  Charlotte Perkins Gilman did not agree with the image of motherhood that society proposed to its members at the time. “Arguably ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ reveals women’s frustration in a culture that seemingly glorifies motherhood while it actually relegates women to nursery-prisons” (Bauer 65).  Among the many other social commentaries contained within this story, is the symbolic use of the nursery as a prison for the main character.

“If women want any rights more than they's got, why don't they just take them, and not be talking about it.” This quote by Sojourner Truth implies that women talk more about gaining rights than actually working towards them and that only words will not change anything. Two short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, closely relate to this quote, showing the oppression that women faced in their daily lives. The stories show that women cannot gain rights, for society’s norms and expectations trap them in their place. The dialogue of the two short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Sweat”, qualifies Truth’s quote because although words do not help the women in the stories gain

Originally published in 1892, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” during a time when women were fighting for their rights and challenging the social standards as part of the women's rights and suffrage movement. Women during this age fought eagerly due to the harsh boundaries they were forced to and accept. Normal life for a woman in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries consisted of male domination. With men holding all power legally and emotionally, women did not have the right to vote, own property, or make any financial or political decisions. Men also often made decisions about women's health as well as their everyday life.

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

In this story, the author uses many different literary devices to express the ongoing theme of feminism and the oppression of women. During the Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman develops a narrator to achieve her goal who once revealed her feelings but is also recumbent to decrease her own evaluation. She also develops a not trustworthy narrator, which allows her to conduct serval different emotions as her charter mood develops. This allows Gilman to put her two theories about her main character; either one is insane or one is having discomfort from these feelings of oppression. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman perfectly use of symbolism, conflict, and setting presents her theme of feminist suppression.