The Yellow Wallpaper, has an autobiographical element to it. It was
written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The piece of work concentrates
on many different aspects of literature.
"The Yellow Wallpaper," has an autobiographical element to it. It was
written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The piece of work concentrates on
many different aspects of literature. It can be evaluated with ten
different types of literary criticism: formalist, biographical,
historical, psychological, mythological, sociological, gender,
reader-response, deconstructionist, and cultural studies.
Formalist criticism regards human knowledge that needs to be examined
on its own terms. It concentrates around the style, structure,
imagery, tone, and genre. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the tone is quite
depressing. The main character is going through depression and she is
restrained from doing what she loves most, writing. She is trapped in
a room that she hates, which is covered in yellow wallpaper.
Deconstructionist criticism rejects the traditional assumption that
language can accurately represent reality. The author, Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, writes this piece in such a way that the reader must
read between the lines to get the true meaning of the story. For
example, the main character peels back the wallpaper every night in
her room not only because she is depressed but because she sees the
woman as being trapped. All she wants to do is free her from her
captivity. This resembles and shows imagery of the woman and her life.
This story is much more than a woman that is insane and is ignored by
her husband. She wants to escape her depression, and the woman she
imagines trapped behind the wallpaper is only an image of herself. The
struc...
... middle of paper ...
.... Her husband disregards her and
leaves her in the room alone to heal her depression without being able
to experience what she is going through.
Cultural studies focuses on understanding the social power encoded in
"texts." Cultural studies basically combines all the methods of
literary criticism. "The Yellow Wallpaper," Gilman demonstrates
symbolism, style, imagery, and the society throughout her work. The
story is a narrative that mirrors the author's life and experiences.
It also focuses around the time period and women's struggle during
that time.
"The Yellow Wallpaper," is a unique story written by Charlotte Perkins
Gilman. It is not just a story about a woman trapped in a room by
doctor's orders. It shows symbolism and has deep meaning once it is
analyzed and thought over. Gilman does an excellent job of including
issues of society in her work.
The bedroom is an overvalued fetish object that nevertheless threatens to reveal what it covers over. John's time is spent formulating the bedroom in a way that conceals his associations of anxiety and desire with the female body, but also re-introduces them. The bedroom's exterior, its surface, and its outer system of locks, mask a hidden interior that presumably contains a mystery--and a dangerous one. The bedroom in "The Yellow Wallpaper" generates this tension between the desire to know and the fear of knowing: on one hand, the enigma of the bedroom invites curiosity and beckons us towards discovery; on the other hand, its over- determined organization is seated within a firm resolution to build up the bedroom, so that what it hides remains unrealized. Mulvey writes, "Out of this series of turning away, of covering over, not the eyes but understanding, of looking fixidly at any object that holds the gaze, female sexuality is bound to remain a mystery" ("Pandora" 70).
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.
Yellow Wallpaper - Bedroom.. As the story progresses in, The Yellow Wallpaper, it is as if the space of the bedroom turns in on itself, folding in on the body as the walls take hold of it, epitomizing the narrator's growing intimacy with control. Because the narrator experiences the bedroom in terms of John's draconian organization, she relies on her prior experiences of home in an attempt to allay the alienation and isolation the bedroom creates. Recalling her childhood bedroom, she writes, "I remember what a kindly wink the knobs of our big, old bureau used to have, and there was one chair that always seemed like a strong friend. . . I could always hop into that chair and feel safe" (Gilman 17).
The story "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story about control. In the late 1800's, women were looked upon as having no effect on society other than bearing children and keeping house. It was difficult for women to express themselves in a world dominated by males. The men held the jobs, the men held the knowledge, the men held the key to the lock known as society . . . or so they thought. The narrator in "The Wallpaper" is under this kind of control from her husband, John. Although most readers believe this story is about a woman who goes insane, it is actually about a woman’s quest for control of her life.
would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper
When a person attempts to control someone else’s life, it only reflects the lack of control they have on their own. My mother always used to tell me “don’t let someone change who you are, to become what they need.” After reading the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman I thought of my mother’s saying. This short story is very interesting. It begins by the perspective of a women who is suffering from temporary nervous depression. The narrator begins by describing a huge mansion that she and her husband, John, have rented for the summer. John is a mysterious man who is also a physician. Their move into the country is partially motivated by his desire to expose his suffering wife to its clean air and calm life so she
Gilman expressed the roles of women through a concept of patriarchy. The narrator’s job was that of attending to her husband and fulfilling his expectations and requests. The concept of family belonging to the man is a large aspect of the storyline and its symbolism. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” The woman is sharing her arrogance pertaining to her husband’s view of her. He treats her as if she has entirely lost her awareness and considers her a belonging. John shows no understanding or backing towards his wife. Instead, John retorts by telling her it "was a draught, and shut the window". He disregarded her belief of her condition and vowed that it really was not anything worth discussing.
Karpinski, Joanne B. “An Introduction to Critical Essays on Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol 1. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 277-293. Print
Many critics question whether this story is meant as a personal documentation about Gilman or a reflection of women’s position in society in 1892. However, due to her creation of this unreliable narrator, it creates the allusion that this story has many meanings. The narrator generates the way we see John and the ironic theme of entrapment, through many different angles. The subject of the story changes from reality, to her obsession with the wallpaper and consumes the narrator’s tone and thoughts. The way Gilman used narration to manipulate the reader’s interpretation John and to convey the theme of entrapment makes this an effective piece of literature.
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.
In "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonist symbolizes the effect of the oppression of women in society in the Nineteenth Century. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the author reveals the narrator is torn between hate and love, but emotion is difficult to determine. The effects are produced by the use of complex themes used in the story, which assisted her oppression and reflected on her self-expression.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” tells the story of a woman who is trapped in a room covered in yellow wallpaper. The story is one that is perplexing in that the narrator is arguably both the protagonist as well as the antagonist. In the story, the woman, who is the main character, struggles with herself indirectly which results in her descent into madness. The main conflicts transpires between the narrator and her husband John who uses his power as a highly recognize male physician to control his wife by placing limitations on her, forcing her to behave as a sick woman. Hence he forced himself as the superior in their marriage and relationship being the sole decision make. Therefore it can be said what occurred externally resulted in the central conflict of” “The Yellow Wallpaper being internal. The narrator uses the wallpaper as a symbol of authenticy. Hence she internalizes her frustrations rather then openly discussing them.
Imagery in literature brings a story to life for the reader. It draws the reader in and surrounds them with the environment of the narrative. The use of imagery will make the reader fully understand the circumstances under which the characters of a story live. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator of the story often describes the wallpaper, each time giving more details. The vivid descriptions allow the reader into the psyche of the narrator, which illustrates her ever-deepening mental illness. The imagery presented in the wallpaper through the narrator's words show her descent into insanity coupled with her desire for independence.
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.
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.