Locked away in a physical and mental prison, the protagonist in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” represents the struggles faced by females in the 19th century patriarchal society. While it is possible to read this story thinking it’s simply about a woman who is being swallowed into lunacy, most people will see the underlying meaning of the story which is that the story is criticizing the state of women in the 19th century. The theme is made evident through the characterization of her husband, John, the way she is submissive to him, and her surroundings.
John’s continued oppression of the protagonist, and her reaction to his manipulation and dominance give us the female perspective of the power relationships in gender roles during the 19th century. Despite any feelings of doubt or frustration as she is oppressed, the female protagonist often slips into submission of John’s orders, because she is struggles to break free from societies views which tell her that she should submit and be thankful that she has a husband. Even if she desires freedom from John, she often submits to John rather than challenge gender roles. Despite John’s continued oppression and denial of pleasures to the narrator, she often finds herself wishing for freedom and questioning his motives, but ends up reflecting the blame for her unhappiness back onto herself, and feeling bad for John because she feels she is inadequate by the standards of the time. He orders her around and gives her strict directions in everything she does; she says he “hardly lets me stir without special direction.” (2). Rather than fighting the complete control that John takes over her, even though she does not believe what he is saying is always right, the na...
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...art of the story, is that she has “pulled off most of the paper, so [John] can’t put [her] back!”(10). This is the first time that the name Jane is introduced, and it is also the first time that the narrator states that she is indeed the woman behind the wallpaper. These two introductions, are very important to the story as a whole. Throughout the story we have no clue what the name of the character is until the end, when we notice that the narrator's name is Jane. But Jane is only a small part of the narrator, specifically the part that didn’t notice the oppression of women. This Jane part of her is a symbol for all of the women that aren’t noticing how they are being oppressed, and just let it happen. That is why the protagonist says that she is free in spite of her, since in the end she was one of the only things keeping her from seeing the truth and being free.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” was a groundbreaking piece for its time. It not only expressed feministic views through the defiance of a male but also discussed mental illness and the inefficacy of medical treatment at the time. This fictional piece questioned and challenged the submissive role forced upon women of the 19th century and disclosed some of the mental struggles one might go through during this time of questing. Gilman shows however that even in the most horrific struggle to overcome male dominance, it is possible. She herself escapes which again shows a feminist empowerment to end the
She analyzes the significant languages, images, and symbols used in the text. After Barbara analyzed the short story, it basically pinpoints that Gilman’s was trying to make a feminist statement. Suess also goes into details about the representation of patriarchy in society and she tied it to text. The article showed that a form of patriarchy is introduced in the story, and that Gilman used John to represent a patriarchy and society. Barbara stated that in the story, John is a clear representation law, order, and reality. The article revealed that John 's suppression of Jane 's efforts to gain control of her own life through her choice of medicine and the opportunity to write reflects the more general oppression of Jane, as a woman and as a mentally ill person. I believe this article would be beneficial for my research paper because it goes into details about the story and talks about specific symbols used in the text that point towards my theory of how Gilman is making a feminist statement in the
The stories “Shouldn't I Feel Pretty?” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” feature a dynamic protagonist who undergoes a character development which reveals the consequences of oppression caused by societal standards. Gilman crafted the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” with the purpose of exposing the tyrannical role of gender roles to women. In the story, the narrator suffers a slight postpartum depression in the beginning, but her condition gets progressively worse because her husband John believes “that there is nothing the matter with [her] but temporary nervous depression-- a slight hysterical tendency” (331). He concludes that the best treatment for his wife is for her to be “absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until [she is] well again” (332).
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
“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.
Trapped. Stuck. No way out. Faced with these insurmountable obstacles, a character may deny their perilous situation. Some may try to escape. However, in the late 1800s, there often was no way out. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator is vacationing with her controlling and prescriptive husband, who is also a respected physician. Suffering from mental health issues, the only cure offered by her husband is bedrest and isolation. While the narrator descends into solitary madness, she becomes more and more unstable, leading to the story’s dramatic conclusion. Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator shows that she is rebellious, imaginative, and eventually, psychotic.
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s bodies of work, Gilman highlights scenarios exploring traditional interrelations between man and woman while subtexting the necessity for a reevaluation of the paradigms governing these relations. In both of Gilman’s short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Turned”, women are victimized, subjected and mistreated. Men controlled and enslaved their wives because they saw them as their property. A marriage was male-dominated and women’s lives were dedicated to welfare of home and family in perseverance of social stability. Women are expected to always be cheerful and good-humored. Respectively, the narrator and Mrs. Marroner are subjugated by their husbands in a society in which a relationship dominated by the male is expected.
At the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” she was considered a prominent feminist writer. This piece of background information allows the readers to see Gilman’s views on women’s rights and roles in the 18th century; “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggests that women in the 18th century were suppressed into society’s marital gender roles. Gilman uses the setting and figurative language, such as symbolism, imagery, and metaphors to convey the theme across.
...man controlling the life of the woman who must accept it, until the very end. At the end of the story, the narrator says, “I have escaped in spite of you and Jane, and I’ve pulled of most of the paper so you can’t put me back!” (Gilman, 1892, p.193). At this point the narrator made the connection between her and the woman she sees in the wallpaper and explains how she has finally escaped, suggesting her breaking out of the bars that controlled her. She shows rebellion against John when she does not open the door and makes her own choices, which not only makes her free it destroys the sense of the gender roles in the relationship, as she pretty much emasculates her husband.
In a female oppressive story about a woman driven from postpartum depression to insanity, Charlotte Gilman uses great elements of literature in her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Her use of feminism and realism demonstrates how woman's thoughts and opinions were considered in the early 1900?s.
As the reader knows, Jane does most of her sneaking around at night when her husband is not around because she knows he would not approve. Jane begins to make it her life’s mission to free the woman trapped behind the pattern of the wallpaper, which could be interpreted as society holding the woman back from freedom. Jane becomes rather obsessed with the wallpaper and taking it down from the walls. She becomes very sneaky and secluded to the room where she watches for the woman to appear behind the
“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman explores the oppression of women in the nineteenth century and the constant limitation of their freedom, which many times led to their confinement. The short story illustrates male superiority and the restriction of a woman’s choice regarding her own life. The author’s diction created a horrific and creepy tone to illustrate the supernatural elements that serve as metaphors to disguise the true meaning of the story. Through the use of imagery, the reader can see that the narrator is living within a social class, so even though the author is trying to create a universal voice for all women that have been similar situations, it is not possible. This is not possible because there are many
The Yellow Wallpaper, Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is comprised as an assortment of journal entries written in first person, by a woman who has been confined to a room by her physician husband who he believes suffers a temporary nervous depression, when she is actually suffering from postpartum depression. He prescribes her a “rest cure”. The woman remains anonymous throughout the story. She becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in the room, and engages in some outrageous imaginations towards the wallpaper. Gilman’s story depicts women’s struggle of independence and individuality at the rise of feminism, as well as a reflection of her own life and experiences.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” to express her opinions about feminism and originality. Gilman does so by taking the reader through the terrors of one woman's psychological disorder, her entire mental state characterized by her encounters with the wallpaper in her room. She incorporates imagery and symbolism to show how confined the narrator is because of her gender and mental illness.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" motivated the female mind of creativity and mental strength through a patriarchal order of created gender roles and male power during the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. While John represented characteristics of a typical male of his time, the yellow wallpaper represented a controlling patriarchal society; a sin of inequality that a righteous traitor needed to challenge and win. As the wallpaper deteriorates, so does the suppressing effect that male hierarchy imposed on women. Male belief in their own hierarchy was not deteriorating. Females began to think out of line, be aware of their suppression, and fight patriarchal rule. The progression of the yellow wallpaper and the narrator, through out the story, leads to a small win over John. This clearly represents and motivates the first steps of a feminist movement into the twentieth century.