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Help me understand the yellow wallpaper
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1. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” to evaluate and review the role that women played in the eternal bond of marriage and also to shed light upon the fact that women of that period made none of their own decisions. Something that must be pointed out without foregoing any further analysis is that the name of the narrator is never revealed in full which, one can imagine, is a glimpse into the oppression women faced during this time. Without revealing the name of the narrator, Gilman deprives her of a true identity. This offers an underlying theme that, as the story matures, can be seen more clearly.
From the very beginning of “The Yellow Wallpaper” the reader is given a feeling of taboo with the secret diary which with the whole story is conveyed through. The narrator has been advised by her over bearing and arrogant husband to relieve herself of any intellectual stimulus as a remedy for an illness. She disagrees and thinks that “excitement and change” would be the perfect remedy (Gilman 1670). Her husband quickly sets her straight by explained that even the fact that she is pondering the idea is making her condition worse. This demeaning behavior drives her keep this secret diary in which she can expresses and relieve herself “in spite” of her husband (Gilman 1670). In the first entry into the secret diary, Gilman provides many symbols that will play a large role later in the story. Towards the end of the first entry the narrator gives a description of the walls of her new bedroom. Very frankly the narrator states, “I never saw such worse paper in my life.” (Gilman 1671) With this dialogue the narrator gives the reader a call for help, so to speak. The walls of...
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...Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 1669-1681. Print.
James, Henry. "Daisy Miller: A Study." Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of AMerican Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 1511-1549. Print.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Daisy Miller Theme of Hypocrisy." 11 November 2008. Shmoop.com. Web. 19 May 2014.
Shullo, Christin. "An Analysis of Mary E. WIlkins Freeman's A New England Nun." 15 April 2008. Yahoo Contributor Network. Web. 18 May 2014.
SparkNotes Editors. "SparkNote on The Yellow Wallpaper." 30 April 2014. Sparknotes.com. Web. 18 May 2014.
SparNotes Editors. "SparkNote on The Story of an Hour." n.d. Sparknotes.com. 18 May 2014.
Todd, Brittany. "A New England Nun by Mary E. Wilkins Analysis and Summary." 13 November 2013. Liveplan.com. Web. 19 May 2014.
Volume III: P-Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print. The. James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950.
Jeanne de Jussie, a dedicated Catholic nun, recorded events that took place in Geneva during the Reformation as the official chronicler for the Saint Clare convent. Although littered with biases, Jeanne de Jussie’s experiences reflect broader trends during the Reformation; therefore, The Short Chronicle is a valid source and not merely a personal attack against the Protestants. Her experiences and beliefs, including those concerning celibacy, reflected those of many members of the Catholic Church during the Reformation. Also, her categorization of Protestants as ‘heretics’ was consistent with the practices of the Catholic Church. Although biased, her fears about Protestant views on celibacy and marriage were legitimate and consistent with
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
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.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" Ed. Catherine Lavender; The College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, Fall Semester, Oct. 1997. (25 Jan 1999) http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/whyyw.html
...y uses anecdotes and stories of women in the 17th and 18th centuries to provide evidence to the reader and demonstrate the roles women filled and how they filled those roles. Furthermore, she illustrates the individuality in each woman’s story. Although in several of the stories the women may be filling the same roles, the uniqueness of the situation varies from woman to woman. Ulrich’s use of period stories helps add to the credibility of the arguments she makes. She makes the reader feel the weight of responsibility on the shoulders of colonial New England women. A sense of appreciation is gained by the reader for the sheer number of roles fulfilled by the women of New England. In addition, Ulrich’s real life accounts also give valuable insight to life as it was during this time period in American history and the silent heroes behind it – the wives of New England.
The Nun or Prioress is on page 218 of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, seventh edition volume one. Her passage discusses her impeccable manners.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The Story and Its Writer. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 462-473. Print.
Upon her arrival to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634, Anne Hutchinson was a much respected member of her community. As time went on, her dealings with the religion began to be...
Gilman, Charlotte. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Literature a World of Writing: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Ed. David Pike, and Ana Acosta. New York: Longman, 2011. 543-51. Print.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 2011. Print.
"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.
Kelley, Mary. Introduction. The Power of Her Sympathy. By Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1993.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 2011. Print.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper" The Harbrace Anthology of Literature. Ed. Jon C. Scott, Raymond E. Jones, and Rick Bowers. Canada: Nelson Thomas Learning, 2002. 902-913.