Tasmiha Hassan
Mrs. Bevan
ENG 3U0 - H
17 October 2014
Reading In Between the Lines of Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The fight for gender equality and mental illness awareness is still an ongoing campaign in the twenty-first century, however this battle had begun nearly two hundred years ago by whom some would consider as one of the first pioneers of feminism and an advocate of mental illness. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an outspoken writer, feminist, and social activist who was impacted by the political, economic, and social influences of the nineteenth century. Her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” mocks the influences of her time as it is following the journal of a married woman suffering from depression, and in order to help improve her
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Gilman was a devoted feminist and social activist who worked towards ending gender-discrepancies by demanding the government to give women the same educational opportunities as men. Standing firmly on her beliefs, she stated, “In my judgment, 'the woman question ' has hardly been asked, much less answered. We have had the struggle for rights, and all this uproar about sex, but hardly any study of the biological and sociological effects of the aborted development of half the race” (Loyola University New Orleans n.pag.). Charlotte Perkins Gilman accused the government of delaying the intellectual advancement of women, and preventing them from being heard on the same platform as men were. Throughout her short story, Gilman placed satirical comments about feminism where the personal views of the narrator, a young, upper-middle-class woman, are being overlooked by her family and friends in comparison to her husband’s because he is of a higher intellectual background. The narrator, Jane, confessed that, “If a physician of high standing, and one 's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but …show more content…
Gilman wished to help other women who had faced the same predicaments as her by guiding them through her own experiences. On page 85 of The Abridged Diaries of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a journal entry on January 1st 1885 described her symptoms of depression worsening, where she wrote, “I have been far from well. I do not know that I am better in any way. [...] Ambition sleeps. I make no motion but just live” (qtd. in Loyola University New Orleans n.pag.). From the perspective of society today, this entry evidently shows signs of severe depression where modern treatments would be to encourage her to engage in activities. Nevertheless, during her time period this would be considered as nothing but, “a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 2) that was brought by too much mental activity and not enough rest, the opposite of present day regimens. The society in which Jane is being raised in, similar to Gilman’s, presumed that if someone has no visual symptoms of illness, then their case is not considered as serious because it is all in the head and is only a matter of rest. Relieved that her case is nothing to be worried about, the narrator writes, “John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious. I’m glad my case is not serious” (Gilman 3)! Being assured
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” has opened many people’s eyes since it was first published in 1892. In the beginning readers only acknowledged Gilman’s story as showing how women with mental illnesses were treated by physicians during the 1800’s. They overlooked the deeper meaning the text contained, and it was not until later that readers discovered it. Eventually, “The Yellow Wallpaper” became known as feminist literature. Gilman does a great job showing how women suffered from inadequate medical treatment, but above that she depicts how nineteenth century women were trapped in their roles in society and yearned to escape from being controlled by males.
In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman includes a variation of elements for the reader to try to comprehend the story. However, sickness and gender are associated together. Gilman is a woman from the 19th century that suffered from postpartum depression. Also, back in the 1800s society viewed women as the weaker sex. Carmine Esposito states that: the behaviors women experienced in the 1800s would not be viewed as an illness in men (“Illness”). Therefore, women were more prone to diseases such as the infamous nervous depression. As a part of the cure physicians prescribed that patients stay completely isolated from events that would actively stimulate the brain. According to Esposito, requirements for the “rest cure” stated that patients should avoid physical activity and be completely isolated from the tendency to overthink (“Illness”). Likewise, in “The ...
... the liberation of women everywhere. One can easily recognize, however, that times were not always so generous as now, and different women found their own ways of dealing with their individual situations. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s character created a twisted image of the world in her mind, and eventually became mentally insane. While most cases were not so extreme, this character was imperative in creating a realization of such a serious situation.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman writes “The Yellow Wallpaper,” to show how women’s mental illness is addressed in the time. Women were treated as the lesser or weaker sex. Women’s mental illness was highly misunderstood and misdiagnosed. “The Yellow Wallpaper,” illustrates a feminist approach to mental disease. Gilman uses this work to reach out to others to help them understand a woman’s treacherous descent into depression and psychosis. There are many contributing factors to the narrator’s illness and it is easy to see the effect the men have on her. Women were treated very differently and often outcast if they did not meet a certain norm. Mental illness is one of the main factors men believe
Charlotte Perkins Gilman lived a life full of ambition and revolutionary ideas; she contributed to many movements that helped change history. Gilman also battled with Bipolar disorder and experienced a psychotic breakdown brought on by postpartum psychosis. Her mental health suffered the greatest during her time living in a domesticated style, as a wife and mother. She thrived during her periods of writing, participating in radical movements and being able to live without dependents.
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.
Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells her readers the story of a woman desperate to be free. Gilman’s use of symbolism is nothing short of brilliant in telling the story of a new mother suffering from postpartum depression and fighting her way through societies ideas of what a woman should be. When her husband, John, also known as her physician, tells her nothing is wrong with her mind, at first she believes him because she knows that society tells her she should. However, with her husband’s misdiagnosis, or attempt to keep his wife sane for the sake of their reputation, comes a short journey into madness for his wife, Jane. Jane’s downward spiral, as one may call it, turns out to be not so downward when the reader
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in Hartford, Connecticut in1860. Her father the grandson and the nephew of Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe deserted his family shortly after her birth. During her lonely childhood, she tried to establish a relationship with him. (Gilman) After becoming a tutor and a brief stint at Rhode Island School of Design, she took a job designing post cards and began to write, publishing a short newspaper article in 1883. From 1889 to 1891, she edited the Pacific Monthly in Los Angeles, and during the 1890s she toured the nation lecturing on women rights. In 1900 she married her first cousin, George Houghton Gilman, who shared many of her
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a 19th century, journalist from Connecticut. She was also a feminist. Gilman was not conservative when it came to expressing her views publically. Many of her published works openly expressed her thoughts on woman’s rights. She also broke through social norms when she chose to write her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892, which described her battle with mental illness. These literary breakthroughs, made by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, help us see that the 19th century was a time of change for women.
Gilman herself suffered from post-partum hysteria and was treated by a famous doctor of the era, one who prescribed his famous "rest cure", the same cure the female narrator cannot tolerate and defies in The Yellow Wallpaper. In this story the narrator remains nameless and there is good reason for it. She feels as if she has no identity or control over obtaining fulfillment and unity and satisfaction in life. Her husband is a doctor who also prescribes complete rest for her and is opposed to her doing the one thing that seems to give her a unique voice, writing. Thus, the narrator defies her...
Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” to express her opinions about feminism and originality. Gilman does so by t...
...ble to see that it actually incorporates themes of women’s rights. Gilman mainly used the setting to support her themes. This short story was written in 1892, at that time, there was only one women's suffrage law. Now, because of many determinant feminists, speakers, teachers, and writers, the women’s rights movement has grown increasing large and is still in progress today. This quite recent movement took over more then a century to grant women the rights they deserve to allow them to be seen as equals to men. This story was a creative and moving way to really show how life may have been as a woman in the nineteenth century.
"If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression -- a slight hysterical tendency -- what is one to do?" (Gilman 1). Many women in the 1800's and 1900's faced hardship when it came to standing up for themselves to their fathers, brothers and then husbands. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator of the story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", is married to a physician, who rented a colonial house for the summer to nurse her back to health after her husband thinks she has neurasthenia, but actually suffers from postpartum depression. He suggested the 'rest cure'. She should not be doing any sort of mental or major physical activity, her only job was to relax and not worry about anything. Charlotte was a writer and missed writing. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is significant to literature in the sense that, the author addresses the issues of the rest cure that Dr. S. Weir Mitchell prescribed for his patients, especially to women with neurasthenia, is ineffective and leads to severe depression. 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.
Advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men, Charlotte Perkins Gilman speaks to the “female condition” in her 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by writing about the life of a woman and what caused her to lose her sanity. The narrator goes crazy due partially to her prescribed role as a woman in 1892 being severely limited. One example is her being forbidden by her husband to “work” which includes working and writing. This restricts her from begin able to express how she truly feels. While she is forbidden to work her husband on the other hand is still able to do his job as a physician. This makes the narrator inferior to her husband and males in general. The narrator is unable to be who she wants, do what she wants, and say what she wants without her husband’s permission. This causes the narrator to feel trapped and have no way out, except through the yellow wallpaper in the bedroom.
The two common threads that connect Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the narrator in her story are depression/postpartum depression, and entrapment within their roles as of women. Specifically, Gilman and the narrator are trying to escape the function society has placed on them. First, after fulfilling their expected duties as wife and mother, both Gilman and the narrator become depressed after the birth of their child. It is this depression that leads them to the infamous rest cure...