Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

817 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The yellow wallpaper symbolizes what

The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, exposes the horrid truth regarding the limited amount of expression allowed for female individuals and the toll it can have on them and their families. Gilman furthers the understanding of the reader concerning social standards for women by depicting a parallelism between the woman and a wallpaper. Instead of staying quiet, Gilman took action by creating a voice for the women of the 19th century-all through a simple piece of literature. The drastic difference between the standards of women and men caused many problems for women of that time. Mens words were far more valuable in everyone's eyes while women’s thoughts and opinions were often put off to the side and valued much less. They were expected to have the mind and actions of a proper housewife; it mostly consisted of cleaning, cooking, and taking care of the kids. Fortunately, in this time and age there are many more suitable alternatives to handle depression but, back then if a woman were to tell her husband about her irregular feelings, she …show more content…

No matter how much she would try to convey the severeness of her illness, he would laugh it off with no respect towards her. The severity of her depression oftenly is pushed off to the side along with her thoughts, opinions and rights. She was not able to do simple actions such as write, take a walk, or even visit relatives. The way she was treated led her to feeling as though she wasn’t allowed to have normal humane feelings, like anger, towards John. Her thoughts would be limited to an extent before she felt bad for things she shouldn’t have. John and his actions are all a representation of most men and their mentality towards women. Even in present day, women are not treated with equal respect and dignity within society as men

Show More
Related

  • The Yellow Wallpaper Mental Illness

    1526 Words  | 4 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a 19th century, journalist from Connecticut. She was also a feminist. Gilman was not conservative when it came to expressing her views publically. Many of her published works openly expressed her thoughts on woman’s rights. She also broke through social norms when she chose to write her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892, which described her battle with mental illness. These literary breakthroughs, made by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, help us see that the 19th century was a time of change for women.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Charolette Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

    359 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charolette Perkins Gilman, the narrator moves into a house which has a room that is filled with disgusting yellow wallpaper. The room in which contained this yellow wallpaper was a room for the children, changing over the years. Now the room was torn up and in rough shape because the children did many damaging things to it. I believe this room represents her life. “I think it is due to this nervous condition.”(Gilman 239). Towards the end of the story she says wallpaper beings to grow on her; I believe this brings her joy. Her husband gives her many restrictions on her life, making her feel very contained. I believe if her husband did not give her so many restrictions, she would find happiness much sooner.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    457 Words  | 1 Pages

    “There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!” The late 19th century hosted a hardship for women in our society. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman expressed a form of patriarchy within the story. Gilman never addressed the woman in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” by a name, demonstrating her deficiency of individual identity. The author crafted for the narrator to hold an insignificant role in civilization and to live by the direction of man. Representing a hierarchy between men and women in the 19th century, the wallpaper submerged the concentration of the woman and began compelling her into a more profound insanity.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wall Paper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although the narrator feels desperate, John tells her that there is “no reason” for how she feels, she must dismiss those “silly fantasies”(166). In other words, John treats her like a child and gives her reason to doubt herself. “Of course it is only nervousness”(162). She decides. She tries to rest, to do as she is told, like a child, but suffers because John does not believe that she is ill. This makes her feel inadequate and unsure of her own sanity.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Gilman

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    Narration is one literary element of a story that controls the meaning and themes perceived by the reader. The author uses this as a way of putting themselves in their writing; they portray a personal reflection through the narrator. We see this in pieces of literature, such as Charlotte Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, an intense short story that critics believe to be an autobiography. Charlotte Gilman wrote this piece in 1892, around the time of her own personal mental depression, after the birth of her child. This story invites the readers into the mind of a well-educated writer who is mentally ill, and takes you through the recordings of her journal, as her mental health deteriorates so does the credibility of her writing. The author uses the element of the narrators’ mental health to create a story with different meanings and themes to her audience. Gilman uses the role of an unreliable narrator to persuade the audience’s perception of protagonists’ husband John and create a theme of entrapment.

    Read More

  • Women In The Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a woman suffering from postpartum depression is prescribed a “rest cure”. She is forced to stay in a room with yellow wallpaper which She says is “committing every artistic sin” (Gilman 419). The woman convinces herself that there is a woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper, and it is her job to free and catch her. She begins to mix reality with fantasy and she unknowingly becomes suicidal and drives herself mad. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” uses dialogue, narration, and symbolism to show that women are not taken seriously when it comes to mental health.

    Read More

  • ' The Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a confusing piece of writing; there were many hidden messages that leaves the reader wondering if the narrator/protagonist, who went unnamed throughout the story, suffers from some type of nervous depression, mental issues, or she just was living under society ways. The narrator showed signs of hallucination throughout the story; like having seen an imaginary woman in a wallpaper that she would later compare too . She was left going back and fourth contemplating whether to stay in the nursery that she placed in to help better her condition. While in the nursery, she discovered a wallpaper that she describes as "a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper

    339 Words  | 1 Pages

    In a female oppressive story about a woman driven from postpartum depression to insanity, Charlotte Gilman uses great elements of literature in her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Her use of feminism and realism demonstrates how woman's thoughts and opinions were considered in the early 1900?s.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 19th century society was from different from what it is today. Women were not in the workforce, could not vote, or even have a say in anything. Women were not permitted to give evidence in court, nor, did they have the right to speak in public before an audience. When a woman married, her husband legally owned all she had (including her earnings, her clothes and jewelry, and her children). If he died, she was entitled to only a third of her husband’s estate. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wanted to change this. She wanted people to understand the plight of women in the 19th century. In her short story The Yellow Wallpaper she tries to convey this to the reader not just on a literal level, but through various symbols in the story. In The Yellow Wallpaper the author uses symbols to show restrictions on women, lack of public interaction, the struggle for equality, and the possibilities of the female sex during the 1800s.

    Read More

  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

    317 Words  | 1 Pages

    "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman where we encounter the semi-autobiographical chronicle of a woman forced to undergo a "rest cure" prescribed for nervous disorders by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell. The woman is ineffective at voicing her own needs, as no one will listen. Her husband, John, moves her to a country house to recover from the nervous condition. Right of way she is conscious of the pompous arrogance of Dr. Weir. The woman is sequestered in an old nursery, cover in yellow wallpaper, against her will. The room as a cell room, limiting her like a feeble child, keeping her from any activities even reading and writing. First, the narrator objector being restricted by keeping a diary in secret. When John learns of her defiance,

    Read More

  • Internal Struggles in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are multiple possible causes for the internal conflict the narrator faces. The first being nervous depression and the other is the fact that her life is being controlled by her husband. Her husband is in full control because in the beginning of the story, John, her husband, influences how she should act. He decides the actions that should be taken in regards to her health and sanctity. Although she finds herself disagreeing with his synopsis, she is confined and does not admit how she feels to him. This also brings about another a major conflict that occurred in the 19th century, men being dominant and woman being categorized as inferior. Evidence can be found when the narrator states, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband assures friends and relatives that there is nothing the matter with o...

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Turned” are both short stories by the American author Charlotte Perkins Gilman, written in the late nineteenth century. Both stories are based on a particular incident in the lives of two married women.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1396 Words  | 3 Pages

    Society eventually began to see that Charlotte Perkins Gilman used the story to express her feelings towards men, society, and the Rest Cures treatment. It’s no surprise that women in the 1800’s were not treated equally. She uses a narrator and her journal to create a story to show women that they have to open their eyes and realize how they’re being treated. The narrator’s husband takes the blame for the condition and state of mind that his wife was in. Readers find him to be a very manipulative and controlling over his wife because of his high and prestigious work title. Ultimately, Gilman was trying to prove a point to women in her society, and in time we find The Yellow Wallpaper to be a feminist

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper in 1890 about her experience in a psychiatric hospital. The doctor she had prescribed her “the rest cure” to get over her condition (Beekman). Gilman included the name of the sanitarium she stayed at in the piece as well which was named after the doctor that “treated” her. The short story was a more exaggerated version of her month long stay at Weir Mitchell and is about a woman whose name is never revealed and she slowly goes insane under the watch of her doctor husband and his sister (The Yellow Wallpaper 745). Many elements of fiction were utilized by Gilman in this piece to emphasize the theme freedom and confinement. Three of the most important elements are symbolism, setting and character.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of The Yellow Wallpaper

    1306 Words  | 3 Pages

    Written in the 1890’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story which depicts many social problems that women in the late 1800’s faced. By using a first person point of view, she conveys a message that showed how women suffered from oppressive power that many men used on women. This story describes the narrator as a sick, mildly depressed woman, who is prescribed by her husband, a physician, to “rest” her cure. As she rests in her room, she begins to endlessly stare at the yellow wallpaper, and begins seeing things within the pattern. The story portrays the struggle of how women were dominated by men, and how the narrator is freed from John her husband, and sanity, in order not to be suppressed by men.

    Read More

More about Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

Open Document