Reflection On The Yellow Wallpaper

The outside pattern, I mean, and the women behind it is as plain as she can be”, (197). The reader may infer the narrator is feeling more frantic t by the (!) mark she uses in the sentence. And she is becoming more agitated about being alone in her room and the part of the quote, “it becomes bars”, implies she feels like a prisoner. In addition, the quote’s second sentence is more evidence of her illness getting worse; since she now sees a person trapped in the yellow wallpaper who she identifies with.

Here, Gilman exposes that the narrator is anxious to confront her condition because, she knows she is not well. She also, acknowledges that John neglects her wish to leave the house. The narrator also describes how, “The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out” (476). This means, that the narrator does want to recover and overcome her depression, but her inability to do so is rendered when she slips into this fantasy world; in which, she sees a trapped “woman” behind the wallpaper’s top pattern, which she describes resembles bars. This “woman” trapped within the wallpaper is a symbolic form of her dilemma, therefore, we can

Jane also seems to be fearful of her husband and even states so “The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John,” (Gilman 963). Jane also talks of how she is afraid... ... middle of paper ... ... John as “that man” symbolizing that by becoming Jeanie, the woman in the wall, she left her past life behind (Gilman 967). “The Yellow Wallpaper” speaks of a woman who struggled of more than mere insanity, but also the pressures of life. Her life continuously seemed to weigh her down and she felt trapped by what was expected of her along with her mental disease. Her environment, marital relationship, and desire to escape her illness thrust Jane deeper into insanity.

She wonders what has happened to make those marks, but the narrator soon reveals that she “can creep smoothly on the floor, and her shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall…” and “I got angry so I bit off a little piece at one corner” (Gilman 427-428). The woman is making these marks because she is not getting the treatment she needs and it is driving her mad to the point she is forgetting her own slips of insanity. Women still find it hard to get the treatment they need. Medication for depression is high-priced and doctors disregard women’s remarks of being depressed as the woman’s husband did

While she is in this room, her health gets worse and worse but her husband thinks she is getting better and that she is just imagining things. In John S. Bak’s article, he explains the room as a drain to the women’s life because she has locked is this room and has no options on leaving. Bak explains how the room with the wallpaper can, “reduce an artistic and articulate woman to be a beast, tipped entirely of her sanity and humanity and left crawling on all fours in circuits, or smooches about the room” (Bak 39-40). In his article, he explains how Elain Hedges on interpretation on feminist and how she portrays the wallpaper that is living inside the narrator as spirit. Hedges on view during 1973 that the “paper symbolizes her situation as seen by the men who control her and hence her situation as seen by herself (Afterword 51), a view echoed by later critics” (Bak 40).

She then begins to creep around the room, rubbing against t... ... middle of paper ... ...aper” was probably a shock for many people of this time period. Society viewed women who wanted to express their ideas of a culture in which women had rights, as hysterical. Gilman was even treated by a physician because she had become depressed by her lack of opportunities in society. Women were thrown into a state of depression because they thought their lives were lacking an important aspect. Gilman was able to express her thoughts and emotions, and in doing so, she made great strives to bring to light the oppressions that women were facing during this time.

"The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing (244)." The yellow represents her postpartum depression. She had gotten the depression after she had the baby and was locked in a room to treat her depression because that 's what they thought was best at that time. The yellow also represents jealously

In her writings, she explains that the more she became insane, the more the wall paper became a big issue to her that is why she smudged ultimately. Her attitude towards the wallpaper grew from bitterness to hate and she even feels that it smells. This symbolizes the hatred she had for the wallpaper because it highly contributed to her insanity.... ... middle of paper ... ...per suffered from psychological health problems and was to cope with it and also with the husband who has placed her in a solitary environment with the thoughts that it will facilitate her rehabilitation. In the end, instead of being cured, the narrator her mental state deteriorated and she became totally insane. Works Cited Hedges, Elaine R. “Afterward” to “The Yellow Wallpaper” Old Westbury, NY.

The wallpaper in itself could be a metaphor for the narrator’s own writing and how her husband does not support it, an example of woman vs. society. In the last pages of the short-story the narrator begins tearing the paper from the walls in a fit of angst, Gilman writes, “I’ve got out at last…in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gilman 328). The narrator feels liberated from pulling the paper off the walls, symbolizing that she is growing tired of the restrictions her husband (or society) places on her, and will not continue to follow them. An illustration of the conflict man vs. self as well as man vs. society; the narrator feels the unconscious desire and also her conscious thoughts that she is supposed to obey her spouses wishes that lead to the destruction of her rational self.

She is constantly feeling guilty and unappreciative for questioning her family's advice. This causes her to question her self-awareness and her own perception of reality. "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 about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad." She also faults... ... middle of paper ... ... it. The pattern also represents the limits society places on women and the resistance of society to women, such as her, who are trying to break free.