There is even a time where ... ... middle of paper ... ...pressing herself and her story of insanity. "The Yellow Wallpaper" presents readers with story of a woman's insanity. It tells how women were disregarded at times and treated like frail children at others. Ultimately, Jane realized that she held control over her own life. It was her responsibility to relieve her stress and tell her story.
When talking about her sister in law, Jane says, “[Jennie] is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which made me sick!” Jeannie is the image of the perfect woman at the time Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written, which was the 1890’s. This quote is an example of how women blindly pushed oppression onto other women. Jeannie believes what society has told her about other women, which to quote Amy Hudock from her article also titled “The Yellow Wallpaper”: “Physicians, who actually had little knowledge of the inner workings of the female body, presented complex theories arguing that the womb created hysteria and madness, that it was the source of women’s
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, feminist, was one of these women who used her writing to express the differences and hardships women went through. One of her more famous works, the Yellow Wallpaper, is known as both a feminist piece and a depiction of Victorian life and indifferences for women. It is a piece that can have controversial meanings that can be taken to heart to why Gilman ever wrote it. "The Yellow Wallpaper" has a simple enough story, the woman is taken to a rented house to recover from a nervous depression that she was experiencing. The depression was something common in women of the time, especially in more upper class women with little to do.
It is a criticism of a medical practice that was created solely for women, which is one reason for it being considered a feminist story. She was thought to be delicate and predisposed to emotional outbreaks. The story explains that the bed rest and the views that supplement such a practice, is what makes women hysterical. Gilman’s narration advocates the slow development into insanity and growing frustration that accompanies it. With each entry the woman writes, it was apparent as to how her mental pain she endured was taking over her mind and behavior as the days passed.
The Mistreated and the Mislabeled. Physicians who are gender bias tend to misdiagnose and mistreat patients because of their ignorance and poor communication. The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a captivating socio-political allegory expressing how cultural expectations can shape and effect the mind of a creative woman suffering from what could be assumed to be a severe case of postpartum depression. Gilman, uses a unique epistolary form point of view using the journal belonging to a character assumed to be by the name of Jane, who is the wife and patient of a physician named John. She provides a chilling and alluring setting to vividly depict the grave consequences of gender bias doctors who are mistreating and mislabeling
Women succumbed to the will of their spouses constantly. Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman uses symbolism, specifically the nursery and the wallpaper, to exemplify the inferiority women dealt with in society and how it inevitably drove some women to try and find their freedom. The theme of inferiority reoccurs throughout Gilman’s work. Throughout the story it seems as though men have the upper hand and the power in the relationship of husband and wife. The narrator’s husband, being a physician, prescribes medications to cure her hysteria.
Similarly, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, revealed the story of a women’s mental breakdown and her husband’s eventual diagnosis that kept her in chains. Although both texts represent the restrictive nature of gender roles that are tied to femininity. “The Yellow Wallpaper” demonstrates the encumbrance that women dealt with
After reading the semiautobiographical story, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an interest was taken in the rest cure. Rest cure was prescribed as a treatment when women had extreme cases of anxiety. It required the patient to be bed ridden for up to a few months. In this particular story, the narrator begins to feel anxiety and depressed after the birth of her baby. John, her husband, supportive of the rest cure, had high hopes that the treatment would be of help to his wife and restore her mental health.
“Many details, like the lack of a name, argue against her individuality,” (Ford 1). The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is told through a woman’s journal and shows first-hand what the path to insanity feels like. It is written in first person to better expose the narrator’s thoughts and feelings. ““The Yellow Wallpaper” is an example of a first person narrative because it is told exclusively from the viewpoint of th... ... middle of paper ... ...e who suffer from mental illnesses by creating an intriguing story that showed the injustices and lack of understanding present in the 19th century. Works Cited Ford, Karen.
This paper includes the life of Charlotte Perkins Gilman in relation to women rights and her contribution to literature as one of her best short story writings. "The Yellow Wallpaper" became significant not only in literature, but also socially, it was a current issue that Gilman was relating to at the time. Gilman sought medical help from the famous neurologist S. W. Mitchell for her slight depression. Mitchell, who prescribed his famous "rest cure", that restricted women from doing anything that labored and taxed their minds, and for Gilman, her writing. More than just a psychological study of postpartum depression, Gilman's "The Yellow... ... middle of paper ... ...f John, the husband, seems eerily inappropriate and restrictive, but was considered quite normal in the 19th century.