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The yellow wallpaper story analysis
The conflict of “the yellow wallpaper”
Critical essay on the yellow wallpaper
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” contain similarities and differences. They both have the common theme of deterioration of the main protagonist’s life and mind, as well as the theme of ostracism of outcasts in society. They also both deal with the main character gaining freedom through the demise of their previous lives. Both authors use symbolism to show the desires of the characters. Something that would set these two stories apart would be the nature of their transformation, while the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” had more of a pre- determined nature (meaning she was diagnoses) Gregor’s in “Metamorphosis” was more obscure and random. Also, these two characters seem to have opposite …show more content…
personalities, while the women are rebellious we see Gregor weak and scared. These stories are showing the transformation one may endure over time and what may seem like a bad situation can be brought to light as an escape from something. Throughout both stories the main characters, the narrator and Gregor, showed signs of deterioration whether it was emotional or physical.
The woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is slowly deteriorating in mental state. When she first moves into the room with the yellow wallpaper it repulses her but one soon realizes the fascination she acquires. Her fixation enhances and she grows obsessed, taking over all her time. She images the wallpaper moving and a woman trapped behind it. Her full blow deterioration reaches when she images herself as the women behind the wallpaper. Similarly, Gregor in “Metamorphosis” watches his life slowly deteriorate. After realizing his transformation into a bug, he fixated on things that drew him more into his human life, such as his job and making the bus on time. He soon begins to realize he cannot live his life the same way he used to. He began to lose all ties to his human life. He was not welcome in the family home anymore and decided that it would be best for everyone if he was …show more content…
gone. The portal of outcasts is relatively similar throughout the different stories. Both the women and Gregor face server isolation. Gregor was the supporter of the family throughout his life, and when the unthinkable happened and he transformed into a bug he was exiled to his room. This caused him to lose his will to live, which then resulted in his death. Also, due to the illness the women suffered from in “The Yellow Wallpaper” she was also exiled to a room with peculiar wallpaper. They are being punished for their illnesses, and through this they can overcome their illness and find freedom. Gregor’s death brings him freedom from his parents and the advantage they took over him and through the insanity the women endured she overpowered her husband and was free from his total control over her. Also, both stories use symbolism to put focus on something in their life, although they mean different things. In the metamorphosis, the picture Gregor clings to represents his desire to keep his humanity and one day return to his old self. The yellow wallpaper for the women fixation represents everything about her mental illness: family, tradition, and medicine and how she feels trapped in this world unable to heal. We see how both character become infatuated with these objects unable to let them go or ignore them. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Metamorphosis” bring different styles to the table.
While the women in “The Yellow Wallpaper” nature was pre- determining, she was diagnosed, Gregor’s in “Metamorphosis” was not. Since the women’s nature was pre-determined there was already a ‘treatment’ “…locking Gilman away in his Philadelphia sanitarium for a month, enforcing strict isolation, limiting intellectual stimulation to two hours a day, and forbidding her to touch pen, pencil, or paintbrush ever again (John S. Bak)”. Although this was pre-determined and deemed to work in that era it was highly ineffective. We see this when she begins to imagine a woman in the wallpaper, becoming more ill. Moreover, Gregor’s transformation was not pre-determined and was very radical. The transformation into a bug was a change for him and his whole family and adjustment was necessary. This adjustment made it harder for the family to see him as he was previously, therefore no longer saw him as a part of the family and only a burden. “Gregor indeed seems to test his family [ on whether they can accommodate to his changed self-], especially his sister, and his tragedy lies in their inability to pass the test, i.e., to recognize and love the son and brother in the monster (Walter H. Sokel)”. As Gregor progresses through his stages as a bug you see the family lose interest in him and his well
being. The two characters have two very different personality types. We see with the women she is very rebellious, her husband is the dominant one and tells her not to write, how to sleep, ect. yet we see her go against all his advised actions. We see the women fight for what she wants and what she thinks she needs, and in the end, she breaks free. While the women know her strengths Gregor doesn’t. He hides every time someone enters into his room and when he sees that he is not wanted anymore he gives up. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Metamorphosis” show the transformation of two characters over a period. Both characters endure deterioration, are outcasts in society, gain a freedom through the loss of an old life, and use symbolism to shape the characters. On the other hand, they differ in their transformation nature and the personalities obtained through the hardships they suffered. These two stories show how the shedding of an old life isn’t necessarily a bad thing and that you just need to embrace the change and be ready for what is to come
Similar to the woman in Gilman's story, Gregor, in "The Metamorphosis," watches as his life slowly deteriorates. He woke up one morning to find himself to have taken the shape of a bug. But early on he tried to continue in his normal activities; he focused on how he was going to make it to the train station so he did not miss his train, and how his employer would be upset with his absence from work. Then he begins to realize that he is a bug, and he cannot live his life the same way he used to. His sister begins to take care of him, and he loses touch with everything human that he used to know. His mother and father take away all of his furniture and other possessions. Gregor's family come to the agreement that the bug must be eliminated, it...
Before the transformation, Gregor was a human form of nonchalant reclusiveness. It’s almost as if it was crucial for him to go through the conversion so he could become more emotionally aware despite the irony of him not even being human but a bug. For someone who has been human for about 20 years with absolutely no experience of being an insect, then suddenly become more humane as a creature is odd and outlandish. Gregor’s care for his family increases and begins to worry about their loss of financial and emotional security. He fears that what “if all the peace, the comfort, the contentment were to come to a horrible end?” Gregor’s attitude towards his transformation is hopelessly mundane: he does not question why he has been transformed into a cockroach. Significantly, he fails to find the horror and the absurdity in the situation. Right before his death, Gregor feels all kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings about his family members. Despite his pathetic condition, he seems more humane than the rest of the characters. In a way, Gregor’s transformation and all of the events after that day illustrates both the rewards and sacrifices of defying social convention and living the extraordinary
This title holds more weight than what meets the eye. It is more than his actual metamorphosis from human to bug. There are many transformations that take place in this novel, even more than the obvious physical change. With the physical change of Gregors body, he also goes through a psychological change with it. When he was a human, his family depended on him. He quickly ended up depending on his family as he could not do anything on his own. His morale also diminishes throughout the novel. We were introduced to him as a very hopeful man who wanted to pay off his family’s debts. In the end, he loses hope and gives up on himself for the wellbeing of his family. Along with Gregors change in the novel, the title represents the change of other characters as well. From beginning to end, Grete transforms from a girl to a young lady. She also becomes more independent on herself by taking on more responsibility and getting a job. The family also must make some changes because they do not have Gregor to support them financially. This finally forces them to all get jobs and give up some luxury things they had
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is the story of Gregor Samsa, his turning into a bug, and his ultimate death. In the beginning of the novel Gregor wakes up as a bug and struggles to become used to his new body. Gregor is locked in his room and late for work; he is the only one who works in his family, so it is important that he shows up and earns money to pay off his parents debts. His office manager shows up wondering where he has been and everyone is shocked to see Gregor’s transformation when he finally makes his way out of his room. Upon seeing him, his father shoves him forcefully back into the room, scraping Gregor’s back. Grete, Gregor’s sister, is his primary caretaker throughout the book and she makes certain he is receiving the food he wants and is the only one to clean his room for him. Gregor’s mother and father do not pay much attention to him at all throughout the book. The mother occasionally checks on him, but can barely stand the sight of him. Eventually, Grete starts working and stops taking care of him too, leaving Gregor all by himself. Betrayal is evident in The Metamorphosis and contributes to
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper”, is a first-person narrative written in the style of a journal. It takes place during the nineteenth century and depicts the narrator’s time in a temporary home her husband has taken her to in hopes of providing a place to rest and recover from her “nervous depression”. Throughout the story, the narrator’s “nervous condition” worsens. She begins to obsess over the yellow wallpaper in her room to the point of insanity. She imagines a woman trapped within the patterns of the paper and spends her time watching and trying to free her. Gilman uses various literary elements throughout this piece, such as irony and symbolism, to portray it’s central themes of restrictive social norms
Throughout history, women have had to continuously fight for their rights and equality in society. Women have fought to separate themselves from their controlling husbands, fought to become independently accepted and have fought to create their own destiny. Within their short stories, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin address this search for freedom and independence. Chopin’s publication of “The Story of an Hour” in 1894 was not far behind Gilman’s publication of “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892. During this time period, women were starting to fight for more social rights and social equality. Both stories analyze the social standards of this time and the oppression of women by men.
They both feel trapped by certain parts of their former lives and become isolated because of their predicaments. While Gregor’s barrier comes with his inability to communicate with his family, the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” experiences entrapment because of her toxic marriage and her husband’s patriarchal nature. Although these characters may seem identical from the outside, the way that they each cope with their transformations varies. As the story progresses, the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” becomes increasingly irrational in her thoughts, driving her to the peak of insanity. On the other hand, despite the fact that Gregor has been transformed into the lowest of all creatures, he actually is more human in his thoughts and feelings than any of the other
...haracter, Gregor, transforms into a cockroach in the beginning. Throughout the story, Gregor is portrayed as a “helpless bug” and is treated unfairly and poorly by his own family. His parents are more astonished than pitiful when they first see Gregor. Later on, his mother faints at the sight of him. His father throws apples at him because his mother fainted from the way he looks. Grete, in the beginning of the transformation, is nice and takes care of him. Later, she changes her mind about Gregor, quits taking care of him, and comes up with the idea to get rid of it. ‘If it was Gregor, he would have long ago seen that it’s impossible for human beings to live together with an animal like that,’ (139). Kafka, throughout the story, tries to get the reader to feel sympathy towards Gregor in many scenes, and it works because his family doesn’t show sympathy towards him.
“It has to go”, cried his sister. “That’s the only answer, Father. You just have to try to get rid of the idea that it’s Gregor. Believing it for so long, that is our real misfortune. But how can it be Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that it isn’t possible for human beings to live with such a creature, and would have gone away of his own free will” (Kafka 52). The relationship between family member’s in Kafka’s Metamorphosis is an interesting theme addressed, and somewhat distressing subject. Why is it so hard to accept that this monstrous bug is Gregor? Is it so bad for him to want to stay and be near his family- the only thing he’s ever had and known? For the sister to even come out and say these words seems somewhat selfish. Why can’t it be turned around to a viewpoint through which we have a family loving their son, unconditionally, regardless of what state he’s in? The word love is definitely one which is not seen in close companionship with the Gregor family. And we can see that this lack of affection carries on to be one of the driving forces behind the theme of alienation in the novel.
Overall, both characters in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Metamorphosis” incorporate “irreal” elements that alter the characters’ lives to describe their internal conflicts, as well as the escape from reality that was necessary to regain their happiness and motivation to deviate away from their families’ desires. Both characters became a part of their surroundings, allowing readers to enhance their understanding of the real elements, such as the motives behind the characters in the works and read it from the character’s point of
In both The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, the authors develop detailed yet ambiguous stories riddled with common themes, clever symbols, fitting settings and dramatic conflict, creating classics we can not only glean from, but also enjoy as an entertaining read. When analyzed, the two short stories seem to mirror each other’s purpose through a mutual theme communicated in each story. This, however, does not stop at just that. It actually carries over to not only the general setting, but also the conflicts at hand and symbols used by the pair of writers, creating a great example of two literary works that can be compared successfully
MacPike, Loralee. "Environment as Psychopathological Symbolism in 'The Yellow Wallpaper.’” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg, vol. 201, Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com.gmclibrary.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=mill30389&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1420082948&asid=562f132388d74c4bd92439b5842a2fe7. Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.
In The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s evolution to an insect symbolizes the loss of thorough communication, representing the disconnection of the individual from his family and his surroundings. Through this metamorphosis, the once loving family begins to remove itself from any past interactions with Gregor. In addition, the setting and surroundings of Gregor completely overcome him and persuade him to lose hope. The family and surroundings, not the change to an insect, lead Gregor towards death. Not only do the uncontrollable surroundings change Gregor, but so does the family.
People today live in an absurd world, where they are constantly working and on the go, they forget what matters most to them like their dreams and aspirations and become work zombies. That is why the stories of the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy speak to me, they comment on the absurdity of mundane daily life and tasks that we have become accustomed to and make you think about the life that you are living. The main characters of the two stories, Gregor Samsa and Ivan Ilych, become overwhelmed by the amount of pressures that they put on themselves and by their families. The two characters epitomize what the workers of today have become and the worst part is they never realize how unhappy they have become until it is too late. I know many of us feel the burden of working to much and not living the way we want to. These stories are very bleak and don't offer hope for the main characters, they failed to adapt and perished because of it. The stories make you feel that as if there is no escaping the absurdity of life, as is the
The Metamorphosis is said to be one of Franz Kafka's best works of literature. It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka's diary entries that depict him imagining his own extinction by dozens of elaborated methods. This paper will look into the text to show how this is a story about the author's personal life portrayed through his dream-like fantasies.