...“THE YELLOW WALLPAPER” BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN Introduction In the late nineteenth century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1973) wrote “The Yellow Wall Paper”. This story can make a readers' mind think just by the way this story presents the main character of a woman and her ordeals as she lived a secluded life, as well as how her relationship with the man in her life is dealt. Some readers might think she is crazy and some may think she is depressed. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the story of a woman's descent into madness as the result of being isolated as a form of "treatment" when suffering from post-partum depression. The author, who is believed to be narrator as well, talks about her personal travel in to the world where an illness has brought her. All her thought and feelings are written in a journal and as she goes down in to the world that she has created in the confines of the room where she was kept. The story line presents that the narrator's mental condition is getting worse, leading to psychosis. Gilman explains the complexities of woman nature as she uses symbolisms to define the psychological realms of the plot. “The Yellow Wallpaper” The unnamed woman in this story (believed to be the author herself) fantasies about the yellow wallpaper are driving her mad. The protagonist experienced hallucinations and persistent thoughts over things. Crawling women, colorful artwork and a moving pattern depict the narrator's increased anxiety...
Words: 1426 - Pages: 6
...Analysis on “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut. Gilman was a writer and social activist during the late 1800s and early 1900s. She had a tough childhood. Her father, Frederick Beecher Perkins, but he abandoned the family, leaving Charlotte's mother to raise two children on her own. Gilman moved around a lot as a result and her education suffered greatly for it. Gilman married Charles Stetson in 1884 and the couple had a daughter named Katherine. Sometime during her ten year marriage to Stetson, Gilman experienced a severe depression and suffered a series of uncommon treatments for it. This experience is believed to have inspired her to the short story "The Yellow Wall-Paper" (1892). The story takes the form of undisclosed journal entries written by a woman who is supposed to be recovering from what her husband, a physician, calls a "temporary nervous depression”. This haunting psychological horror story chronicles the narrator's descent into madness, or perhaps depending on your interpretation, into freedom. The author’s use of setting, conflict and point of view, provide this short story with the drama needed to capture the reader’s attention. The author begins the story using the key element setting to keep the readers mind in a constant roam. The narrator's view of the setting is colored by her limited and troubled perspective. She sees the yellow wallpaper in the room as a mostly evil and troubling...
Words: 760 - Pages: 4
...Cameron Davidson Professor Dennis LAL 250 04 18 Sept. 2015 Writing Assignment: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives us readers a tale that leaves us confused. Jane, the story's main character has just had a child and is told by her husband John to rest, to not do anything. John's sister Jennie is there as their housekeeper, and the wallpaper, which seems to be very old, seems to be emitting something that perplexes not only the characters, but us as well. First, Jane discovers the smell of the wallpaper itself. Giving it personificational qualities, that is, like giving a tree a set of legs and telling it to walk to you. The problem is, we as readers...
Words: 590 - Pages: 3
...Yaqi Wan Instructor: Joshua Weathersby EN 210 September 20, 2015 Feminist For the first paper, I want to talk about a fiction called “The Yellow Wall-paper” which made a profound impression on me. This short novel is written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman who is a well-known American novelist and wrote so many works about feminist. She also made a huge contribution of feminist movement from 19 to 20 century. If we want to know well about a fiction, the first thing we need to do is to understand the experience or background of the author. According to the introduction of Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the book “The Norton Anthology American Literature”, she was born in Hartford, Connecticut and had an unfortunate childhood. When she was young, her father divorced with her mother. Then, she lived a hard life with her father. Maybe because of this reason, she showed a high degree of autonomy and independence in her young age. Gilman got married in 1884, and had a daughter. However, her marriage is not so lasting and it ended in 1888 (484). Housework always troubled her and made her almost breakdown. As for this fiction which called “The Yellow Wall-paper”, it was published in 1892 and this novel was written based on Gilman’s life experience. At the beginning, the heroine was send to a villa which was in a remote suburban for recuperating by her husband, because she suffered from mild postpartum depression. She was forced to accept medical treatment in this villa, and lived like...
Words: 1125 - Pages: 5
...can change the choices characters are able to make and the way society views the character’s actions. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner the time period and physical location confines characters and affects the outcome of the story. Gilman and Faulkner limit their characters in temporal and spatial setting to show the limitations of women in the physical, mental, and social aspects of life. First, Gilman...
Words: 1145 - Pages: 5
...information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ped/summary/v004/4.2murphy.html Access provided by SULTAN QABOOS UNIVERSITY (29 Dec 2014 03:14 GMT) The Pedagogical Possibilities of Covering Gilman’s Wallpaper Karla J. Murphy In his introduction to The Pedagogical Wallpaper, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock notes how the pedagogical diversity of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” prompted him to collect essays for this book. He goes on to explain that “given the ubiquity of the text within various academic settings, I was also struck by the absence of attention to the text within pedagogical contexts. Despite the large (and steadily growing) body of criticism to the story, very little of it explicitly addresses its importance as a tool to facilitate learning or various ways in which to make use of the text in the classroom” (3). As a collection, Weinstock’s The Pedagogical Wallpaper contains informed, detailed, and diverse analysis that attempts to shore up the absence of “pedagogical possibilities” concerning Gilman’s transgressive short story (9). Among the contributors are a MOO space specialist, a Gilman scholar, a queer theorist, an existentialist, a formalist, and several reader/student-response theorists. Because each essayist presents a distinct critical perspective on Gilman’s text, each essay is likewise concerned with “how the narrative teaches and how to teach the narrative” (5). Thus, it seems to me that Weinstock’s The Pedagogical Wallpaper resonates...
Words: 2869 - Pages: 12
...Lack of Creativity and Isolation in “The Yellow Wallpaper” In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents an unnamed woman who gradually spirals into a state of mental psychosis. Gilman sought to bring attention to the unfair treatment of women in the nineteenth century. She uses this story to reveal to the audience that the narrator’s insanity stems from her isolation from society, and her inability to be expressive and creative through writing. Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator is locked away in an isolated room, which was supposed to cure her mental disorder but instead it makes her worse. With the windows barred and the doors locked she is secluded from society. She wishes to go visit her cousin Henry and Julia, but John forbids her by telling his wife that “[she] wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after [she] got there; and [she] did not make out a very good case for [herself], for [she] was crying before [she] had even finished” (Gilman 92). The constant isolation causes her to focus only on the room in which she is living in, and more specifically the yellow wallpaper. She becomes obsessed with analyzing and examining the wallpaper and it causes her to become further insane. She says, “On a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind” (Gilman 93). The narrator realizes that the wallpaper is an annoyance to someone with a normal mind. However, for her, she...
Words: 1209 - Pages: 5
...allegory: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was published for the first time in 1892 and it is oftentimes referred as being a feminist, psychological or even a gothic story. From a feminist point of view, or women's liberation movement this story is taking into account the supposition that woman should have the same human, social and political rights as men, moreover, that they ought to have the same opportunities as men, and make their own decisions with respect to vocations, and legislative issues. In this story Gilman portrays a woman’s personal conflict with her unjust conditions. In the first place a feminist story is written by a woman, and it reveals...
Words: 1581 - Pages: 7
...Rachael Paige 6/14/15 Introduction to Literature Writing Assignment 1 “The Yellow Wallpaper” Analysis After reading the short story again, my views of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman have stayed mostly consistent with a few deviations from my original reaction. I’ve read the story with a more focused desire on understanding it much more in depth than the first time. I tried to pick up on some more literary details like the tools Gilman uses to tell the story; theme, irony and the symbolism. I’ve also looked into the character John, the narrator’s husband, once more to better understand him. “The Yellow Wallpaper” was a short story that showcased the troubles of women in marriage, the evils of depression, and the importance of independence. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses theme and symbolism in great volumes to portray her ideas. First, to break down the meaning of the title and essentially the room the narrator is “caged” into, the author uses great symbolism and imagery. The yellow of the wallpaper is very dingy and gross, the color yellow even symbolizes decay, rotting, violence, and approach of death. Choosing this color not only characterizes the way the wallpaper already appears, but foreshadows the way the narrator feels by the end of the story. The walls of the room are barriers both physically and emotionally for the narrator; walls are typically symbols of barriers between people or barriers that shut out the world. Together...
Words: 1221 - Pages: 5
...“All oppression creates a state of war.” ~ Simone De Beauvoir War can be a physical or an emotional battle, and as we see in “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” oppression causes the most severe and life altering war within Jane’s mind. The narrator, Jane, a new mother, battles depression and John, her husband, misdiagnosis her depression for hysteria. He then prescribes isolation and bed rest for her recovery, while she seeks healing and comfort in her writing. Jane feels that everyone is against her, even the ugly wallpaper and finding her freedom from it all is a fight to the end. In “The Yellow Wall-Paper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses symbolism to convey how gender division in marriages can cause men to oppress, and patronize women, but through this...
Words: 655 - Pages: 3
...Jenna Canam Dr. Rhoda Zuk ENGL 1170 2 February 2016 Gender Roles and Social Class in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and “Revelation” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” illustrates the hardships that woman suffered during this time period, physically and mentally. John is the perfect example of what a dominating spouse is like, a man who is in complete control over his wife. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” (Gilman 3). John laughs at his Wife’s ideas and thoughts, he never took what she had to say in a serious matter. It is clear by Jane’s statement that this is what what was expected in society during that time period. The authors views on feminism are shown through both the dialogue and thoughts of Jane. Jane’s need to express her thinking breaks through some social barriers during this time period, “I did write for a while in spite of them” (Gilman 3). Jane feels depressed when she is unable to express her thoughts through writing, as writing was the only way she felt free of those thoughts. She feels tired of hiding from her husband and society, but Jane also feels societies pressure to remain under the care of her husband. “He takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more” (Gilman 4). Even though John has eliminated all control from Jane’s hands, making her feel like a prisoner, she feels societies pressure to worship him and agree with his way of thinking of being in complete control. ...
Words: 868 - Pages: 4
...Gilman with The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman writes this depressing short story called The Yellow Wallpaper that really explores the views of the medical world during the 19th century and how male doctors looked at woman with the postpartum depression as if it was no worse than the simple cold. Gilman uses Jane, a young woman, in her story to help express her own views of the feminist world. Along with these views Gilman uses her own journey and experiences through life to depict how painful and unproductive the rest cure actually was for women that male doctors diagnosed them with. As Jane is locked away in this room she begins to discover the woman inside the wallpaper and as she begins to peel away the paper it’s a way she becomes...
Words: 2050 - Pages: 9
...Contradictions: Through the scope of formalist criticism, it is apparent that the setting in James Joyce’s Araby and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper affects the main character’s mental and physical state” “Araby” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” are both remarkable short stories, but the thoughts conceived after reading it are everything but short. Araby, written by, James Joyce is about a young character that lives in a neighborhood that appears to be dark and gloomy based solely on the author’s description of the houses and such. “An uninhabited house of two storeys at the blind end…” suggests that this neighborhood isn’t in paramount condition. On the other hand, the author makes several references to religious faith. For example, the Christian Brothers’ School, where the young character attends, or the Priest who has died prior to this story taking place, evokes this idea of purity. It is quite contrary that in a short story where the author paints a vivid image of gloom and despair, there are religious references that cause readers into a world of contradiction. In the same way Charlotte Gilman Perkins, author of The Yellow Wallpaper seeks to evoke a message of individual expression and successfully does so by recording the progression of the illness, through the state of the “yellow” wallpaper. Apparently, the bulk of the setting of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is in a room that the unnamed narrator has been forced to stay in by her husband, John, so that she...
Words: 1551 - Pages: 7
...Gender roles have always existed, but Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” shows how these gender roles had extreme consequences for women in the 1900’s. “The Yellow Wallpaper” addresses several topics in De Beauvoir and Gilbert and Gubar’s texts by illustrating the passivity forced onto women, the aura of mystery that subsequently surrounds the feminine, and the mental illness that inevitably follows. Gilman’s text is a tale that warns of the dangers of forcing inactivity onto women. The narrator’s husband, a physician named John, diagnoses her with a “temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 648). He prescribes for her uninterrupted isolation: a “rest cure.” This was a common treatment for hysteria...
Words: 1039 - Pages: 5
...Judy Champion Mrs. Patty ENG 252 17 April 2014 The Struggle for Equal Rights Throughout history women have fought against the stigma of being considered fragile creatures incapable of rational thought and in need of male guidance and protection. Women continually fight for common rights not controlled by gender guidelines. In fact, groundbreaking progress has been made over the past one hundred years. It is not always a winning battle but women continue to witness the growing acceptance within many of the previously male dominated professions, such as author, poet, and journalist. One noted writer, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in her short story “The Yellow Wall-paper”, told of the insensitive treatment of women’s mental health by medical professionals during the 1800’s. Some of the most notable examples of inequality are vividly evident in the basic rights and privileges we enjoy in the 21st century. Rights that were denied women in the US in the 1800s such as the right to vote, the right to retain ownership of her property upon marriage, and competent medical treatment. Women’s right to vote was a long, difficult battle. Early leaders of women’s rights like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony began their work as abolitionist with the intention of stopping slavery and obtaining basic rights for the Negros. Likewise, they began to realize how few rights women actually had and decided to take on the challenge to change things; “This growing understanding of...
Words: 1169 - Pages: 5
