Examples Of Parallelism In The Yellow Wallpaper

“The Yellow Wall-paper” is a fictional narrative that is powerful for its broad implications for women. The main character suffers from a “temporary nervous depression” and throughout the short story is physically and mentally suppressed by the “rest cure” that her physician husband, John, prescribed. She is not allowed to walk around the house and is confined to her bed for long periods of time. Charlotte Gilman 's short narrative was written during a time that was defined by "domestic ideology" that characterized the family home as the specified sphere of woman. It was dominant thinking and the belief that “women were innately weaker and less capable of taking care of themselves” that allowed male physicians to keep women suppressed and in

Parallelism is a repetition of words, phrases, or sentences that have the same grammatical structure or that state a similar idea. We first see the phrase “what can one do” when the main character describes her husband’s insensitivity toward her sickness. She says “You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?” She continues to describe how her husband has reassured relatives that she has a “temporary nervous depression—A slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?” Finally, she opens up about her disapproval of the treatment and insensitivity but changes her mind and goes on to say “but what can one do” (Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper" 1)? The repetition of the phrase creates an emotional effect on the readers particularly those who are women. Gilman uses the repetition of such a phrase to create a sense of helplessness and to show how much John has an effect on the main character’s mind. Throughout the passage, the reader can constantly see the main character desiring one thing then changing her mind. She repeats phrases like “but John says,” or “but John laughs.” (Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper" 2). A clear example of this is shown when the narrator says “I sometimes fancy that in my condition, if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus – but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think