{"id":14151,"date":"2021-12-06T14:53:05","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T20:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=14151"},"modified":"2021-12-06T14:53:08","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T20:53:08","slug":"literary-analysis-the-yellow-wallpaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2021\/12\/06\/literary-analysis-the-yellow-wallpaper\/","title":{"rendered":"Literary Analysis: The Yellow Wallpaper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever thought of being a woman? Well, perhaps you already are, but how about a woman\u00a0in an\u00a01880s\u00a0New England setting?\u00a0One particular short story, \u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper\u201d\u00a0by Charlotte Perkins Gilmore, follows\u00a0such a\u00a0story of a woman during this time\u00a0and place. She is\u00a0neglected from having her own opinions, as\u00a0with\u00a0most women of this time, by her husband, John.\u00a0She becomes driven into a nervous breakdown through\u00a0his\u00a0treatment of her condition.\u00a0Thus,\u00a0the narrator\u00a0is\u00a0forced to find her own freedom from societal and situational oppression through\u00a0a yellow\u00a0wallpaper.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the time period of the\u00a01800s,\u00a0women\u2019s roles in society were limited.\u00a0This is a time when women were subjected to house duties, childcare, and nothing more.\u00a0One article describes\u00a0the thought process then\u00a0as,\u00a0\u201cSocially, women were considered weaker hence unequal to their men counterparts,\u201d even going on to say, \u201cSome people would compare such a condition as slavery\u201d (\u201cWomen\u2019s Role in Society\u201d).\u00a0This is made apparent in the story when time and time again the narrator is neglected by the other characters in the story. Such an example can be seen when\u00a0the narrator is being subjected to her \u201crest cure\u201d, and she is being assigned her room by her husband.\u00a0She describes a beautiful room they pass which made her illustriously excited,\u00a0later\u00a0telling how \u201c…John would not hear of it\u201d (Gilmore\u00a0648)\u00a0or fancy the idea.\u00a0A simple request she is\u00a0asking is\u00a0not afforded.\u00a0Thus, she is left to a room where \u201cthe windows are barred\u201d (Gilmore 648)\u00a0and there is\u00a0the\u00a0wallpaper\u00a0initially mentioned as,\u00a0\u201cIt\u00a0is dull enough to confuse the eye…pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study,\u00a0and when you follow the lame uncertain curves…they suddenly commit suicide\u201d (Gilmore 648).\u00a0This is not a room where someone who is respected would be placed for recovery.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although there were many revelations and \u201ccures\u201d becoming hypothesized in the psychological world\u00a0during the late 1800s, some\u00a0of which made evident in \u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper,\u201d\u00a0none are helpful to the narrator. If anything, her condition worsens.\u00a0The\u00a0rest\u00a0cure limits her\u00a0to little or no stimulation. John assumes this will help as\u00a0on page 649 the narrator says, \u201cHe knows there is no<\/span>\u00a0reason<\/span><\/i>\u00a0to suffer, and that satisfies him\u201d (\u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper).\u00a0If John tried to understand the patient, his wife, more, he could understand stimulation is what she needs to stay sane. Her situation of being confined to a single room with no activity\u00a0is not inflicted because she is mad, but it is the catalyst driving her\u00a0mental state to\u00a0madness.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With the wallpaper in her room being\u00a0the\u00a0only sense\u00a0of stimulation within her life, this leads her to have no other options but to become fixated\u00a0upon it. Throughout the story, there is progression from hating\u00a0the wallpaper\u00a0to\u00a0becoming obsessed upon its existence. On page 650, she goes on to \u201csee a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that seems to skulk about behind that silly…front design\u201d (Gilmore).\u00a0The\u00a0narrator\u00a0was experiencing neuroses at this point\u00a0and\u00a0visualizing herself trapped in the wall as she\u00a0is\u00a0trapped in her life. Sigmund Freud,\u00a0famous\u00a0Austrian neurologist,\u00a0has explanations for this type of behavior as, \u201cFreud was convinced that neuroses…and other difficult-to-explain aspects of mental life were rooted in conflicting and usually unconscious desires rather than neurological malfunction\u201d\u00a0(\u201cFrom Nerves to Neuroses\u201d).\u00a0Her desires become\u00a0freedom manifested through\u00a0the woman who,\u201d in the very bright spots keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard\u201d (Gilmore 654). This example\u00a0of the woman in the wall\u00a0could be compared to the narrator\u2019s writing practices or also her unconscious desires to leave the confinement she has been subjected to. Afterall, at one\u00a0point she mentions, \u201cthat I must take care of myself for [John\u2019s]\u00a0sake, and\u00a0keep well\u201d (Gilmore 652). This proves her conscious mentality is still set on pleasing her husband and not on improving her own mental stability.\u00a0With her options limited and a maddening mind, her only solutions\u00a0seem\u00a0to be freeing the woman in the wallpaper,\u00a0herself\u00a0being that woman.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Through scarce resources and aid, the narrator found the liberty necessary to her through the only means imaginable by her because no one else was. This story teaches us the importance of the tender human condition through the story of a\u00a0woman in the late 1800s.\u00a0A woman with psychoanalysis needed but not received; a woman with respect\u00a0deserved\u00a0but met\u00a0with neglect.\u00a0\u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper\u201d is a necessary feminist piece that shows mistakes that should never be exercised again.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All Answers Ltd. \u201cWomen\u2019s Role in Society in the 1800s.\u201d Ukessays.com, UK Essays, 12 Aug. 2021, www.ukessays.com\/essays\/history\/womens-role-in-society-in-the-1800s-history-essay.php.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Nerves to Neuroses | Science Museum.\u201d Science Museum, 2019,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

www.sciencemuseum.org.uk\/objects-and-stories\/medicine\/nerves-neuroses.\u00a0\u200c<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins.\u00a0<\/span>The Yellow Wallpaper<\/span><\/i>. The New England Magazine, 1892.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever thought of being a woman? Well, perhaps you already are, but how about a woman\u00a0in an\u00a01880s\u00a0New England setting?\u00a0One particular short story, \u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper\u201d\u00a0by Charlotte Perkins Gilmore, follows\u00a0such a\u00a0story of a woman during this time\u00a0and place. She is\u00a0neglected from having her own opinions, as\u00a0with\u00a0most women of this time, by her husband, John.\u00a0She … Continue reading “Literary Analysis: The Yellow Wallpaper”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[172,299,300,298,301],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14152,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14151\/revisions\/14152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}