Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Language literature
Lilies of the field character analysis
Symbolism as a literary tool essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Language literature
The women in The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper attempt to
overcome their oppression by finding an outlet. They tried to find something or do
something that would comfort them. In The Story of an Hour, the window is the main
symbol. Correspondingly, in The Yellow Wallpaper, the wallpaper itself is the main
symbol.
In The Story of an Hour, the window is what symbolizes Mrs. Mallard’s
freedom in that she has new opportunities. She says that she is finally free, “free body
and soul.” She says this because she realizes that she is finally free from her husband. It
can be inferred from the story she was oppressed because she didn’t have any
opportunities in the past. The window is what releases her from her oppression by setting
her free and giving her new opportunities that were not available to her in the past.
In The Yellow Wallpaper, the wallpaper symbolizes her oppression in a way. In
which John’s wife sees a woman in the wallpaper. During the daytime the light makes it
look as if she is behind bars shaking them. However, during the night the woman in the
wallpaper creeps around. John’s Wife relates the woman in the wallpaper to herself by
saying that she creeps in the daytime when John isn’t around. However, during the night
she is quite still because John is around and he will notice her. John’s wife tries to
overcome her oppression by setting the woman free inside the wallpaper, in order to free
her oppression. Which the house itself is a prison for her since John won’t let her leave
and that he keeps telling her that writing will make her worse, while it was only
feels free and discovers many new things in life that she has not noticed before.
being free from “repression." She is no more able to staff off the feeling that
“The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out.” The woman had started seeing another female in the wallpaper, imprisoned behind bars and shaking the paper to be freed. The wallpaper began depreciating, and so did the conquering influence that male hierarchy forced on women. Women arose to reason out of line, be conscious of their overthrow, and conflict patriarchal statute. The development of the yellow wallpaper and the narrator, within the story, indicates to a triumph over John.
Ever since she has been entrapped in her room, the narrator’s vivid imagination has crafted fictional explanations for the presence of inconsistencies in the wallpaper. She explains them by saying “The front pattern does move! And no wonder! The woman behind shakes it” (Gilman 9). In the story, the narrator explains the woman mentioned creeps in and about the old house she and her husband reside in. Venturing towards the conclusion, the narrator becomes hysterical when thinking about the wallpaper, explaining to her husband’s sister Jennie how she would very much like to tear the wallpaper down. Jennie offers to do it herself, but the narrator is persistent in her desire-”But I am here, and nobody touches that paper but me-not ALIVE”(Gilman 10)! The narrator has realized the apex of her mental instability as the story
can be seen when she says to John 'Give me a word, John. A s...
At first the dirty old yellow wallpaper makes the narrator feel uneasy. For example, she writes in her journal that “the color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (3). However, as time passes and she has very minimal physical stimulation, it is clear that the endless solitary confinement drives her mind towards insanity. Subsequently, she later realizes that there is a sub-pattern in the wallpaper of a trapped woman who is trying to escape. Undoubtedly, this wallpaper is a direct representation of the domestic culture and tradition of docile women in 19th century society – the time in which this literary piece was published. Therefore, the narrator’s act of tearing down the wallpaper is a symbolic representation of women asserting their self-identity and “creeps” around to signify the initial stages of the feminist
The bars on windows, bedstead nailed down, and a gate at the top of the stairs suggest an unsafe place. The narrator’s preference for living in the downstairs room is undermined by John’s control over her. Furthermore, John puts his wife into an environment with no communication, making her socially isolated. The protagonist is home alone most of the time while John is at work. She is not allowed to raise her own baby, and Jennie, John's sister, is occupied with her job.
Her tense mind is then further pushed towards insanity by her husband, John. As one of the few characters in the story, John plays a pivotal role in the regression of the narrator’s mind. Again, the narrator uses the wallpaper to convey her emotions. Just as the shapes in the wallpaper become clearer to the narrator, in her mind, she is having the epiphany that John is in control of her.
She is free and seen as a more confident and tenacious woman. She begins to do things she never thought of doing. She begins to have more confidence in herself.
All sense of individuality and self worth is taken way from the narrator when her name is never revealed to the audience. Furthermore, John continues to belittle his wife by giving her the command to not walk around at night. Although the John thinks in his mind that he is looking out for the best interest of his wife, in actuality, he is taking away his wife’s abilities to make choices for herself. There is a possibility that John’s controlling personality is one of the factors that led to his wife’s psychosis. Such a controlling life style more than likely limited the narrator’s ability to live any life outside of the home.
The yellow wallpaper is a symbol of oppression in a woman who felt her duties were limited as a wife and mother. The wallpaper shows a sign of female imprisonment. Since the wallpaper is always near her, the narrator begins to analyze the reasoning behind it. Over time, she begins to realize someone is behind the wallpaper that is trapped and is struggling to come through it(Gilman). After the fact, she believes she is also trapped along with the figure behind the wallpaper. The narrator claims her husband John, whom sees his wife as a “little girl”, has trapped her inside the wallpaper also(Gilman). When the narrator tears the wallpaper down, she concludes the wallpaper was the oppression of masculine sunlight and has given her a new identity. As the woman inside of the wallpaper crawled around, the narrator must crawl around her room because the result of “feminist uprising(Feldstein).”
In conclusion, Jane has been through oppression and depression but she stands up for what she believes in. Jane gains her femininity, socialization, individuality and freedom. Her husband, who has been oppressing her for so many years, is no longer her prison guard. Jane defies her husband, creeps right over him and claims her life” so, that I had to creep over him every time” (Gilman 1609). Jane is now her own personal freedom through perseverance.
Her husband, John, keeping her away from others because of her nervous condition is one cause of her feeling trapped
Even though her husband treats her with what seem at first as love, it becomes clear she is nothing more to him than a piece of property. Every time he talks to her, he asks her to get better for his sake and the children's, and only after mentions hers interests. He doesn't think that she has any normal human feelings or worries and attributes her behavior to minor nervous depression. He doesn't see her true suffering since he believes "there is no reason to suffer" (574). He could never understand that a woman can be unsatisfied with the role imposed on her by society. Even though the heroine recognizes that her condition is caused by something other than John's theory, she is too scared to voice her opinion.
The narrator claimed that there was a woman trapped by bars in the wallpaper. It is like a prison that she is stuck in and coincides with the narrator as she is also forced to sit inside a room alone. It is also symbolic of John and his wife’s relationship. As the narrator looks deeper and deeper into the wallpaper she is really just observing her life. The yellow wallpaper really changes the narrator and her mind and she begins to dislike John. The narrator is dealing with postpartum depression and many people that are depressed are usually stuck inside their own minds. It’s like your vision is just a window you can see out of, but cannot escape. The narrator is seeing herself in the wallpaper and trying to escape because she is also trying to escape her depression. Close to the end of the story John’s wife starts to rip apart the yellow wallpaper and when she is ripping it is like she is helping the woman inside the wallpaper which is really her, to