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The yellow wallpaper wallpaper symbolism
The yellow wallpaper wallpaper symbolism
Postpartum depression eassay
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The woman in The Yellow Wallpaper has an unknown illness. Her frantic behavior is proof that the woman is suffering from postpartum depression due to the birth of her child which is very common. Charlotte Perkin Gilman had a daughter in 2003 and suffered from the same illness that the woman is suffering in the story. I personally believe that the woman in the story relates highly to Gilman herself. Throughout the story the woman preforms many actions and says many things that show symptoms of postpartum depression. (PPD) Things that are noticed are hallucinations, mood swings, delusions and a few other actions that confirm PPD. To be able to be sure that the woman suffers from postpartum depression one must know what postpartum depression …show more content…
Throughout the story you can see the woman just becoming distant from John. In addition she slowly just gets weaker and more troublesome that her relationship deteriorates. The woman in the story suffers from what I believe to be post postpartum depression and is required to take a rest method. Her husband does not seem to understand she is sick. With John being a doctor he thinks what ever he say for her to do is the best. John is very egoistical and that with the mixture of the woman’s depression kills the relationship throughout the story. She even talks about how she hates Johns rules when she says "I don't like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it" (Gilman 470). By her saying that it could also be a sign of one of the symptoms for …show more content…
With PPD its important you pay attention to the relationship between the mother and the baby. In The Yellow Wallpaper you can see that the relationship between the woman and the baby is rough when she says ““It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I can not be with him, it makes me so nervous.” (Gilman 266) The woman is worried about her child way to much. On top of that it is known that she cant be with her child so the connection between the two will never grow and thats major. With this quote near the end of the story “‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I, ‘in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’ Now, why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!” (Gilaman 368) you can see a lot. Many people seem to believe that the woman compared herself to Jane. In addition you see that she finally is at ease after being stressed out the whole story. She feels some type of freedom that she has never felt before. After many comparisons I would personally say the woman suffers from postpartum depression. Her frantic behavior is proof throughout the story makes many connections with the symptoms. The author of the story suffered from PPD and is known for the connections she
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story about a woman’s gradual descent into insanity, after the birth of her child. The story was written in 1892 after the author herself suffered from a nervous breakdown, soon after the birth of her daughter in 1885. Gilman did spend a month in a sanitarium with the urging of her physician husband. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a story about herself, during the timeframe of when Gilman was in the asylum.
The narrator, a new mother, is revoked of her freedom to live a free life and denied the fact that she is “sick”, perhaps with postpartum depression, by her husband, a physician, who believes whatever sorrows she is feeling now will pass over soon. The problematic part of this narrative is that this woman is not only kept isolated in a room she wishes to have nothing to do with, but her creative expression is revoked by her husband as we can see when she writes: “there comes John, and I must put this away, - he hates to have me write a word (Gilman,
Jane describes an interaction between her husband, John, and herself after she asks to visit her cousins, and writes, “But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there; and I did not make out a very good case for myself, for I was crying before I had finished. It is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight. Just this nervous weakness I suppose” (Gilman 80). Jane is not someone who is able to stand up for herself. She is portrayed as weak, and bends easily to John’s will, giving up relatively easily, and just blaming it on the “nervous weakness” while putting herself down.
This story demonstrates a prime example of a patriarchal society in which the degree of influence by Dr. John in the decisions of the marriage, which ends up in his wife’s dementia. In the story right after Jane gave birth to her child she gets into a deep depression so her husband and her brother, two respected physicians ordered her rest. The house where they live is away from town and she only had contact with her husband and her nurse. "[The house] is quite alone standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people." Gilman, Charlotte
After giving birth, women will have hormonal oscillations (Rosequist). In the meanwhile, their bodies are getting back to their normal state, however if that “blues” does not go away, it can evolve in a deep depression. As she recalls, saying: “And yet I cannot be with him, it make me so nervous”(Gilman), it is obvious that Post-Partum depression is the cause of her poor attachment with the child; the mother can be hazardous to the baby; mood swing occur, and in extremes circumstances, about 1 in 1,000, it can bring psychotic indications (Hilts). If this condition if left untreated, it can cause serious psychological and physical damages. Treatment would include anti-depressants and therapy. This can also trigger other types of mental
The narrator finally achieves an authoritative position in her marriage, with John unconscious and her creative imagination finally free of all restraints. Her continual “creeping” over his prone body serves as a repeated emphasis of this liberation, almost as if the narrator chooses to climb over him to highlight his inferiority over and over again” (Harrison). John was a weak person, Jane suffered from a nervous disorder which was made way worse by the feelings of being trapped in a room. The setting of the nursery room with barred windows in a colonial mansion provides an image of the loneliness and seclusion she experienced. Periods of time can lead to insanity. Maybe her illness wasn’t that bad but he made it worse on her part because he was a sick husband. Some critics have argued “Is the narrator really liberated? We’re inclined towards saying “no”, given that she’s still creeping around the room and that her psyche is broken”
Jane's treatment leads her to insanity. When this story was written, there was neither the medicine nor the treatment methods that we have today. If Jane was in today's
It is clear that in their marriage, her husband makes her decisions on her behalf and she is expected to simply follow blindly. Their relationship parallels the roles that men and women play in marriage when the story was written. The narrator’s feelings of powerlessness and submissive attitudes toward her husband are revealing of the negative effects of gender roles. John’s decision to treat the narrator with rest cure leads to the narrator experiencing an intense feeling of isolation, and this isolation caused her mental decline. Her descent into madness is at its peak when she grows tears the wallpaper and is convinced that “[she’s] got out at last, in spite of [John] and Jennie… and [they] can’t put her back!”
When the narrator got up in the middle of the night to see if the yellow wallpaper was moving John said to her, “What is it, little girl?” he said. “Don’t go walking about like that—you’ll get cold” (Gillman). Throughout the entire story, the woman or her husband never reveals her name. The woman is referred to names that carry a subordinate connotation, such as “little girl.” 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. Towards the end of the story, the narrator exclaims, “"I 've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane” (Gilman). The woman had escaped her gender role as being subservient to men, and is possible that the narrator’s real name is Jane. If this is true, then she had relinquished that identity associated with the struggles that she had during her relationship with John. Her
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.
Because her husband, John, does not take her illness seriously and neglects to get her out of the house, her mind cannot take it and she loses her sanity. It should be clear to the reader, since she thinks she and the imaginary woman has worked together to pull the wallpaper down that she believes the women in the yellow wallpaper and she are both trapped and are both working together to escape. (200) Likewise, when she tells John, “I got out at last”, and, “in spite of you and jane! And I pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back”, By her saying this to John tells you she thinks she is free, because she has torn down the yellow wallpaper. She is no longer saying anything about a woman being in the wallpaper, because in her mind, she is now the
John comes home to discover his wife circling the room removing the wallpaper. John faints at the sight of his, clearly, insane wife. It is notably; interesting that Gilman has John faint. Other literally works of that time often describe females fainting. It was a stereotypical “female” behavior. As John’s unconscious body lay on the floor, the narrator is forced “to creep over him every time” (Gilman. 803) She is quite, literally stepping over John and all his patriarchal ideals; as a woman she has finally freed herself. She explains at the end that she came out of the paper (Gilman. 803).
In the final moments of this story, the woman’s husband returns to see her. She writes, “He stopped short by the door. ‘What is the matter?’ he cried. ‘For God’s sake, what are you doing!’ I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder. ‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I, ‘in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’ Now why should that man have fainted, but he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!’” This final passage shows that, when this woman rebels, and “escapes the wallpaper”, it is not highly looked upon. The woman made a power statement, by telling her husband that she had, in essence, found a new role in life, and he can not push her back. When he can not handle her actions, she continues her new ways right over him.
The story begins with two characters: the woman and her husband John. John’s occupation is a doctor while the woman is a stay at home wife.The woman explains early on how she is suffering from mental illness. According to her husband she has “temporary nervous depression.” In the beginning, the couple is not home; they are renting out a mansion while their house is being remodeled. The husband thinks that it is best if his wife stays in her room alone, in which she does not like. Automatically, this shows that she is limited and restricted in what she can and cannot do. This also demonstrates that this plot is taking place in a much older time because the woman is taking directions from her husband.
She starts to focus on the wallpaper in her room to the that extent that she sees a “woman behind shakes it” (Stetson 654). This drives her even more insane as time progresses. John never allowing her to do anything causes her to lose her mind which causes him to pass out from shock when he finally sees her. This harmful relationship is typical of the gothic genre as it is showing what is wrong with certain familial relationships and overall the state of families. Marriages like this were normal during the 1900s and as such this short story brought that to light.