Two Separate Worlds
In the short stories "Shiloh" by Ann Mason, "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the couples have marital disharmony. In both stories one of the characters has a medical problem that has caused problems in the relationship. The problems include those of not knowing the partner very well and not wanting to deal with the issues of the problems. The relationships are suffering severely and might have some affairs involved that the reader has to guess on.
In "The Yellow Wallpaper" Gilman had the narrator's husband, John, is a cause of her increasing madness. While she claims that "He loves [her] very dearly" (Gilman 436), John treats his wife as a child than an adult in the need of medical attention. He has childish nick names for her such as "blessed little goose" (Gilman 433) and "little girl" (436). John thinks of his wife as a possession, he says, "[she] was his darling and his comfort... and [she] must take car of [herself] for his sake" (Gilman 437). Her relationship with her husband proves as a form of restriction and imprisonment imposed on her and is one of the first signs of the reader obtains that indicates a troubled relationship. John always has to leave and says she cannot write.
The writing seems to be the only thing she is calm with. John says that she needs to relax and get some fresh air so she can get better. He is making the whole illness seem like it is her fault. John has taken her baby away from, but maybe she has Post Partum Distress Syndrome. If that is the case John did the right thing by taking the baby away but treating her like a little girl is making things worse. The yellow wallpaper with the lady is resembling her trying to get out and be free. She is stuck and keeps being put back to a worse stage. She tries to talk to John as adults but he just calls her "little girl" (Gilman 436) and will not let her speak up. Because of her illness she cannot get to know her husband very well. This is causing much distress is the relationship.
John has a job and has to work every day. His wife cannot do much because of her illness and that causes John not to be able to talk to her very well.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman recounts, by means of Jane’s journal, the story of Jane and her husband John, following the birth of their baby. Like Gilman, Jane suffers from post-partum depression, and, her husband, who is a physician, locks her in the nursery on the top floor of their summer home. After the first few weeks of her summer in isolation, Jane hides her journal, which contains her true thoughts, so that John will be unaware of...
While on vacation for the summer, the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is, at the most, depressed at the beginning of their visit to a colonial mansion. Her husband John, however, thinks there is nothing wrong with her except temporary nervous depression (pg 391) and has her confined to a bedroom upstairs. I believe John loves her very much and is trying to help her get well, but he won’t believe there is an illness unless he can read about it or see something physical with his own eyes. "He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures." (pg 391) During the time of this writing it was the norm that men dominated women. Women were to be seen but not heard. They were not to argue with men, so she was forced to do as he said. Her husband has forbidden her to "work" until she is well again. (pg 392) She is held prisoner in her bedroom and has nothing to do to keep her mind active except stare at the wallpaper, although she did sneak in writing in her journal when possible.
"There comes John, and I must put this away- he hates to have me write a word" (p659). As evident by the above quote, Gilman places the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" as secluded as she could be; she is placed in a large house, surrounded only by her husband and by little help (Jennie), when it is unfortunately clear that her relationship with her husband is based on distance and misunderstanding: "It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so"(p 663). Gilman further confines her narrator as it becomes clear that the poor soul has absolutely no one to talk to; that is, no one who can understand her. The narrator is cornered by her loved ones, she is isolated from the world under her husband-doctor orders, she is thus physically confined to her shaky mental realm.
The narrator is trying to get better from her illness but her husband “He laughs at me so about this wallpaper” (515). He puts her down and her insecurities do not make it any better. She is treated like a child. John says to his wife “What is it little girl” (518)? Since he is taking care of her she must obey him “There comes John, and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word”. The narrator thinks John is the reason why she cannot get better because he wants her to stay in a room instead of communicating with the world and working outside the house.
The Yellow Wallpaper is a story, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Although the work is short, it is one of the most interesting works in existence. Gilman uses literary techniques very well. The symbolism of The Yellow Wallpaper, can be seen and employed after some thought and make sense immediately. The views and ideals of society are often found in literary works. Whether the author is trying to show the ills of society of merely telling a story, culture is woven onto the words. The relationship between the narrator and her husband would be disagreeable to a modern woman's relationship. Today, most women crave equality with their partner. The reader never learns the name of the narrator, perhaps to give the illusion that she could be any woman. On the very fist page of The Yellow Wall-Paper, Gilman illustrates the male dominated society and relationship. It was customary for men to assume that their gender knew what, when, how, and why to do things. John, the narrator's husband, is a prominent doctor and both his and his wife's words and actions reflect the aforementioned stereotype: "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage," (9). This statement illustrates the blatant sexism of society at the time. John does not believe that his wife is sick, while she is really suffering from post-partum depression. He neglects to listen to his wife in regard to her thoughts, feelings, and health through this thought pattern. According to him, there is not anything wrong with his wife except for temporary nerve issues, which should not be serious.
"The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts a woman in isolation, struggling to cope with mental illness, which has been diagnosed by her husband, a physician. Going beyond this surface level, the reader sees the narrator as a developing feminist, struggling with the societal values of the time. As a woman writer in the late nineteenth century, Gilman herself felt the adverse effects of the male-centric society, and consequently, placed many allusions to her own personal struggles as a feminist in her writing. Throughout the story, the narrator undergoes a psychological journey that correlates with the advancement of her mental condition. The restrictions which society places on her as a woman have a worsening effect on her until illness progresses into hysteria. The narrator makes comments and observations that demonstrate her will to overcome the oppression of the male dominant society. The conflict between her views and those of the society can be seen in the way she interacts physically, mentally, and emotionally with the three most prominent aspects of her life: her husband, John, the yellow wallpaper in her room, and her illness, "temporary nervous depression." In the end, her illness becomes a method of coping with the injustices forced upon her as a woman. As the reader delves into the narrative, a progression can be seen from the normality the narrator displays early in the passage, to the insanity she demonstrates near the conclusion.
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper, the main character is a symbol for all repressed women of her time. Throughout the entire story, her name is never mentioned, alluding to the fact that the women of her era simply lacked their own personal identity. Her husband treated her as a frail and incapable being. He laughed at her fears, and disregarded her concerns as frivolous worries. She recognized this as nothing beyond the normality, and accepts it because that is what her society deems standard. When commenting that there must be something queer about a house so large and beautiful, yet rented to them at such a reasonable price, she continued “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in a marriage” (1). John continually tells her that her illness is psychological, and encourages her to try and get more fresh air, for her own efforts will be the best for a quicker recovery. However, on the one occasion she asks him for permission to visit her Cousin Henry and Julia, he denies her so, leaving her in tears and telling her she could not handle such a trip.
John is a physician, and he feels like he knows the best treatment for her depression. Even though he feels like there is nothing really wrong with her and constantly reminds her of this. The treatment ultimately is to be locked away in the old nursery with yellow wallpaper and bars on the windows. Loralee MacPike writes a piece titled “Environment as Psychopathological Symbolism in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’,” to illustrate the impact of setting and environment. MacPike makes the point that “The woman is legally a child; socially, economically, and philosophically she must be led by an adult—her husband; and therefore the nursery is an appropriate place to house her.” This is a very valid point showing that women are considered lesser and unequal to their male counterparts. MacPike is trying to trying to explain the male role in keeping the women oppressed and isolated. Because the narrator is suffering from postpartum depression, the old nursery is the perfect prison for her. The yellow wallpaper is just one more thing to push her over the edge. She was already suffering from postpartum depression and the isolation merely makes it worse. Postpartum depression already makes many feel very inadequate, so the isolation in a nursery just makes the narrator spiral more and more into
The narrator’s words play a strong role in displaying her being the inferior gender in society. Judith A. Allen states that, “Gilman's early brush with madness, fictionalized in her famous short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," resulted not from a doctor's prescription of the rest cure as the story might suggest, but from the excruciating miseries--sexual, economic and otherwise--of her first marriage” (Allen). One way the narrator shows that her husband was of higher rank is by saying, “There comes John, and I must put this away… he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman 801). Writing in a journal shows her desire to express her thoughts, but if she does she will be punished by her husband. The n...
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator is told that she cannot have the more adult room downstairs that opens up into the garden but that the nursery upstairs would better suite her so that she could be monitored at all times(Gilman 474). When she protests, begs to see her cousins and begins to cry he calls her “A blessed little goose” and carries her back upstairs and reads to her until she clams down just like one would do to a child only to further solidify his views of his wife’s condition is due to the fact that she is a woman and not due to her depression. As for her prescribed treatment she is not permitted to leave the confines of the house, while her husband has all the freedoms of a man to come and go as he pleases. He sometimes stays gone all night leaving her alone with this yellow wall
Likewise, in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the wallpaper is used as symbol of the character’s imprisonment within the domestic sphere. Throughout the story, the wallpaper becomes the narrators’ imagination and appears as a female figure. The narrator’s husband, John, who has a higher
In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Gilman's point of view is expressed through first person narration, which provides her readers with brief glimpses into the other characters' perception of her and her perceptions of them (which essentially enlightens readers), as well as the main character's active dissemination of what is occurring in her mind. First person narration can at times be considered biased or naive within the context of their perceptions and projections of other characters. Not so with the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper." She seems to offer an almost unbiased perspective of husband John, which the reader notes from the beginning as she goes back and forth from justifying his attitude and behavior towards her--"Dear John! He loves me dearly, and hates to have me sick" (324)--to eventually becoming mistrustful of him: "The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John" (326). One ends up viewing John as completely oblivious yet superior in his lackadaisical attitude and treatment of his wife. Therefore one has little sympathy for John in the end (which I believe is also intended), when he finally realize...
Finally, the yellow wallpaper presents perspectives of how men control females. As stated previously, In the story, John uses his power as a doctor to control his wife. He encaged his wife in a summer home, placing her in a room filled with barricades and many faults. As a human she is deprived of her rights and her ability to form house duties is taken away so she can rest as he calls it. Without a doubt, she fell into insanity because of the situation she was placed in. When she ripped the paper off the wall, it was a sign of freedom from her husband, and the bars that held her captive for weeks. Certainly she has a vivid imagination and being placed in bondage and unable to write which in turn lead her to mental health problems.
In the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; a central conflict centers between the narrator and her husband, John. The husband uses his power as a doctor to control her; he forces her to behave how he thinks a sick woman should. The husband can be seen as a father figure who overprotects her and makes decisions for her.
The character of the husband, John, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is introduced as a respected physician and a caring husband who strives to improve the mental health of his wife, the narrator, who is diagnosed with temporary nervous condition. John tries throughout the story to apply professional treatment methods and medications in his approach to helping his wife gain strength. However, his patient, his wife, seems to disregard John’s professional opinions and act as if she is following his advices only during his awakening presence with her. The narrator seems to be in need of John’s positive opinion about the status of her mental condition in order to avoid the criticism even though she disagrees with his treatment methodology. John, without doubt, cares for his wife and her wellbeing, but he does not realize how his treatment method negatively impacts their relationship his wife’s progress towards gaining strength. Although John was portrayed as a caring and a loving physician and husband to the narrator through out most of the story, he was also suggested as being intrusive and directive to a provoking level in the mind of the narrator.