Women and Fiction in The Yellow Wallpaper

The home as a place of comfort does not exist for the narrator; companionship with her husband is lost. Her only real conversations occur on paper, as no one else speaks to her of anything other than her condition. She is stripped of her role as a wife, robbed of her role as a mother, and is reduced to an object of her husband's.

This yellow wallpaper is described by the narrator as grotesque and irritating, which mirrors her own self image and confusion on what she is feeling. As this narrator begins to study the patterns, Gilman first personifies the wallpaper through dark and gruesome actions the character is seeing within it, revealing the fragile mental state of this woman. The narrator sees what is characterized as “...lame uncertain curves…[that] suddenly commit suicide — plunge off at outrageous angles, destroying themselves in unheard of contradictions,” (Gilman 648). Later as the narrator becomes more consumed within the wallpaper that confines her, she starts to see human features “...where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at [her] upside down,” (Gilman 649). This counterpart of herself does not show the delicate and ethereal woman she is expected to be; it shows an opposite and somewhat appalling image of what she is beginning to come to terms with.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a nervous wife, an overprotective husband, and a large, dank room covered in musty wallpaper all play important parts in driving the wife insane. The husband's smothering attention, combined with the isolated environment, incites the nervous nature of the wife, causing her to plunge into insanity to the point she sees herself in the wallpaper. The author's masterful use of not only the setting (of both time and place), but also of first person point of view, allows the reader to participate in the woman's growing insanity.

The geographical, physical, and historical settings in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" were more than the primary character could handle. The geography would lead to think she could enjoy the environment, but she chose not to. The physical setting showed us the reader just how grotesque and unbearable it would be to live a room in which the wallpaper to over the narrators mind. Lastly, we looked at how historically women were not allowed to speak their minds about how they felt. Maybe now that John has seen his wife go completely insane for himself he will finally seek extra attention for

Through a woman's perspective of assumed insanity, Charlotte Perkins Gilman comments on the role of the female in the late nineteenth century society in relation to her male counterpart in her short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." Gilman uses her own experience with mental instability to show the lack of power that women wielded in shaping the course of their psychological treatment. Further she uses vivid and horrific imagery to draw on the imagination of the reader to conceive the terrors within the mind of the psychologically wounded.

The woman behind this work of literature portrays the role of women in the society during that period of time. "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a well written story describing a woman who suffers from insanity and how she struggles to express her own thoughts and feelings. The author uses her own experience to criticize male domination of women during the nineteenth century. Although the story was written fifty years ago, "The Yellow Wallpaper" still brings a clear message how powerless women were during that time.

With good intentions, John controls his wife's life and makes all decisions for her, whether she agrees with them or not. His wife is full aware of the restrictions that her husband has imposed on her, but she is recessive to his control and often agrees with him. However, she fails to see “signs of her confinement: the bars at the window, the gate at the top of the stairs, steel rings on the walls, and the nailed-down bestead” (Korb). Because she is unable to escape from the isolation that her husband has kept her in, the woman seeks relief from the yellow wallpaper and she creates an imaginary relationship it. In fact, the worst thing her husband should not of done is give his unstable wife an object that is not appealing to focus on. In doing so, he has given her an opportunity to let her mind wonder and create objects that no one else sees. John, however, does not give any thought to this because after all, he thinks he knows what is best for his wife.

Her husband restrains her from any social, physical and mental activity and allows little room for personal input or fulfillment. Longing for a voice and an emotional outlet, she begins writing in a secret journal, which she describes as a relief to her mind, also saying that her husband would think it absurd, but that she must write in it; it is her only outlet for what she feels and thinks (Gilman 340, 345). John exemplifies his role in society by being such a domineering force and keeping his wife constrained both physically and mentally, mentally being the worst for the protagonist.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents the narrator, being the main character, as an ill woman. However, she is not ill physically. She is ill in her mind. More than any chemical imbalance that may be present; the narrator's environment is what causes her to go mad.

Most women in America nowadays are lucky enough to consider themselves to be an independent individual, but females were not always guaranteed their freedoms. Throughout the early 1900’s, authors would characterize husbands to be controlling figures. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins demonstrates just how possessive the husband is to his wife in their marriage. This short story shows just how miserable the woman is to be in a marriage with John because John, thinks it would be best that his wife is isolated to get over her postpartum depression.“The Yellow Wallpaper” demonstrates how a male dominated society leads to the woman not being their own individual by using characterization, narrator perspective, and conflict between women and society.

One of the most prominent examples of the oppression of women derives from the narrator’s husband, John, who coincidentally happens to

Her passion is to write and by doing so we are able to follow her on a

In the “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, there are many of literary techniques that illustrates the theme to express the story. Irony, imagery and symbolism are some literary devices that is presented among the story.  “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 acceptance and how she struggles to express her own thoughts and feelings. The story appears to take place during a time where women were oppressed. Women were treated as if they were under one’s thumb in society during this period which is approximately the 19th century.

In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the wallpaper seems to encapture the woman's attention in trying to save someone who is trapped in the fold of the wallpaper unbeknownst to her she is trying to free herself due to the unstable mental state that she is in and no one is providing her with. The narrator’s idea of the house and the wallpaper began to transform from ordinary wallpaper, to the progression of her breaking out from her own shell. It is as if she was being caged by the people who did not believe her illness was real.

March is women’s history month and 2 women that are important women authors are Charlotte Perkins Gilmore and Kate Chopin. Kate Chopin wrote “Silk Stockings” as well as “The Tale Of An Hour”. Charlotte Perkins Gilmore wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”. These three stories are important to women’s history month due to the undertone and the way the stories portray the feelings and the lifestyle of most women in early times. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, “Silk Stockings”, and “ Tale Of An Hour” will be compared in this paper which will show the similarities in all three stories.