Category: The Yellow Wallpaper

Introduction

One of the reasons why Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper has traditionally been referred to as such that constitutes a high literary and philosophical value is that in it, the author succeeded in providing readers with an in-depth insight into what should be considered the emerging symptoms of one’s mental illness. Moreover, despite the fact that Gilman wrote this particular story at the time when psychology/psychiatry was remaining in an essentially embryonic state, in The Yellow Wallpaper she proved herself as a rather efficient psychologist, who never ceased being fully aware of what accounted for the conceptual deficiency of the late 19^th century’s psychiatric conventions (Quawas 36). In my paper, I will aim to explore the validity of this thesis at length.

Psychological aspects of the short story

The reading of Gilman story’s few initial lines suggests that the reason why the narrator and her husband John decided to spend the summer in a secluded mansion is that this was supposed to help improving the narrator’s mental condition, as she would be spared of socialization-related distresses. According to Treichler, “Her (narrator’s) physical isolation was in part designed to remove her from the possibility of over-stimulating intellectual discussion” (61).

Nevertheless, even though that John was aware of the fact that there was a certain abnormality to his wife’s behavior, he continued denying that her mental anxieties had to be taken seriously, “You see he (John) does not believe I am sick!” (Gilman 1). Partially, the narrator herself provides an explanation as to why, despite having been an accomplished physician, John nevertheless continued referring to his wife’s pleas for help in a thoroughly arrogant manner, “John does not know how much I really suffer.

He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (2). This narrator’s remark helps us to understand the essence of John’s failure to prescribe his wife with the conceptually appropriate therapy, which in turn created objective preconditions for her to keep descending into madness. Apparently, just as it used to be the case with the majority of physicians at the end of the 19^th century, John believed that the reason why some people tend to act in a clearly neurotic manner is that they simply do not apply enough conscious effort, while trying to suppress their visually observable mental angst.

The explanation for this is quite apparent – during the course of a given historical period, it never occurred to physicians that it is specifically the unconscious aspects of an individual psyche’s functioning that define his or her conscious stance in life, and not vice versa. Partially, this had to do with the fact that, throughout the course of this period, the discursive influence of Christianity remained comparatively strong. And, as we are being well aware of, Christianity promotes the assumption that there is a structural unity to one’s soul (psyche), which is why it cannot consist of mutually incompatible elements.

Therefore, there is nothing particularly odd about the fact in the late 19^th century, the majority of physicians still continued to regard the emanations of one’s mental instability as being of an essentially physiological nature, “(In 19^th century) Psychical factors came to be regarded merely as the products of certain yet-to-be determined neuro-physiological processes” (Caplan 7). This is why, even though that throughout the course of her stay at the mansion, the narrator was exhibiting more and more indications of her mental state’s continual deterioration, John could not come up with anything better but to prescribe his wife to lead a socially withdrawn lifestyle, as it was supposed to calm her down.

Apparently, John could never bring himself to consider the possibility that the worsening of his wife’s mental condition had nothing to do with purely environmental factors, which is why he continued insisting that the key to her rehabilitation was a plenty of food and sleep, “John says I mustn’t lose my strength, and has me take cod liver oil and lots of tonics and things, to say nothing of ale and wine and rare meat” (4). It appears that it simply never occurred to John that the reason why his wife was feeling progressively more disturbed is that she has been deliberately spared of an opportunity to lead a normal life.

The reading of Gilman’s story also suggests that there was another reason why John proved himself unable to properly diagnose his wife and to intervene the process of his loved one succumbing to insanity. This is because, while acting as a physician, who should have been trying to expand of his intellectual horizons, John never made even a single attempt to reconsider the legitimacy of his male-chauvinistic prejudices towards women.

In its turn, this explains why, despite the fact that he continued observing more and more signs that there was something definitely wrong with his wife; he refused to consider these signs’ possible significance. It simply could not be otherwise – in John’s mind, the narrator’s mental anxieties were simply confirming the validity of a male-chauvinistic presumption that, just as it being the case with all women, his wife was naturally predisposed to grow hysterical from time to time, “If… one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency – what is one to do?” (1).

In other words, John thought of his wife having been less human, as compared to what he believed was the case with himself, because she experienced a hard time, while trying to keep her irrational impulses under control (Cutter 153).

Hence, the ‘therapy’, with which the narrator was prescribed by her husband, “He (John) says no one but myself can help me out of it (depression), that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me” (5). It is needless to say, of course, that the application of this kind of ‘therapy’ could hardly produce any positive results, because it was based on a thoroughly fallacious assumption that the unconscious workings of one’s psyche can be subjected to a conscious control. Yet, contemporary psychoanalysts know that this is far from being the case. Quite on the contrary – one’s conscious attempts to suppress the unconscious workings of his or her psyche can only result in the worsening of the concerned individual’s overall mental condition.

This is exactly the reason why, as time went on, the narrator was becoming ever more delirious – the mere fact that, in full accordance with John’s advice, she tried to disregard the symptoms of depression, caused her mental despair to continue becoming even more acute. This is because, apart from experiencing depression, on the account of her inability to lead a socially productive lifestyle, she started to grow progressively worried about her self-presumed inability to live up to John’s expectations.

Predictably enough, it created yet additional precondition for the narrator to continue losing her grip on things, because without being able to articulate her own unconscious fears, she allowed them to accumulate deep inside her sub-consciousness – hence, making it only the matter of time before they would break out of their psychic confinement into the realm of the main character’s consciousness. After it happened, the narrator’s ability to indulge in a rationale-based reasoning sustained an irreparable damage, because at the end of Gilman’s story she started to behave as a maniacally obsessed schizophrenic, endowed with the fictitious sense of self-identity (Bak 44).

Thus, it will not be much of an exaggeration to suggest that The Yellow Wallpaper can be referred to as a particularly powerful indictment of what used to account for the 19^th century’s approaches to the treatment of mental illnesses in America. Apparently, besides having been scientifically illegitimate, these approaches were also perceptually arrogant. The fact that such an accomplished physician as John allowed his wife’s mild depression to develop into a full-scaled schizophrenia validates the appropriateness of this statement.

I believe that the earlier deployed line of argumentation, as to the fact that the story’s main character may be well considered a victim of the 19^th century’s healthcare conventions, is being fully consistent with the paper’s initial thesis. In its turn, this explains why, despite having been written in 1892, Gilman’s story continues to emanate an undermined literary appeal. This simply could not be otherwise, because in The Yellow Wallpaper, the author succeeded in outlining the discursive principles of what will later become known as the methodology of psychoanalysis, based upon the assumption that people’s behavior reflects the essence of their unconscious anxieties.

Treichler, Paula. “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 3.1/2 (1984): 61-77. Print.

The main idea that is being explored throughout the course of Treichler article’s entirety can be conceptualized as follows: the reason why John proved himself incapable of properly diagnosing the essence of his wife’s mental inadequateness is that, while assessing the significance of her depression-symptoms, he relied upon his rationale-driven masculine logic. Author attests that the very concept of ‘diagnosis’, in the traditional sense of this word, is by definition discursively arrogant, “(Diagnosis) is a male voice that privileges the rational, the practical, and the observable” (65).

In its turn, this has led Treichler to suggest that there is a symbolic meaning to John’s attempts to help the narrator to attain an emotional comfortableness with the room, in which she was confined – apparently, he wanted to make sure that his wife would never be in a position to challenge his patriarchal authority. Therefore, according to Treichler, John’s diagnosis of his wife’s mental condition can be discussed in terms of a ‘sentence’ – by prescribing her with the ‘therapy’ of bellyful idleness, John was unconsciously trying to deny the narrator her basic humanity.

I think that in her article, Treichler came up with a number of discursively relevant observations. The author also needs to be given a credit for making the line of her reasoning logically substantiated. At the same time, however, Treichler’s argumentation, in regards to the discussed subject matter, cannot be referred to as such that represents an undeniable truth-value. This is because in her article, the author made a deliberate point in representing herself as a hard-core feminist, which I believe undermined the extent of this article’s objectiveness.

Works Cited

Bak, John. “Escaping the Jaundiced Eye: Foucauldian Panopticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” Studies in Short Fiction 31.1 (1994), 39-46. Print.

Caplan, Eric. Mind Games: American Culture and the Birth of Psychotherapy, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Print.

Cutter, M. “The Writer as Doctor: New Models of Medical Discourse in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Later Fiction.” Literature and Medicine 20.2 (2001): 151-182. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper. Web.

Quawas, Rula. “A New Woman’s Journey into Insanity: Descent and Return in The Yellow Wallpaper.” AUMLA: Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association 105 (2006): 35-53. Print.

Treichler, Paula. “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 3.1/2 (1984): 61-77. Print.

Having been raised for centuries on the go, the issue of family relations in terms of hierarchical organization and distribution of authority is acquiring importance in modern society as well. Following the feministic booms of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there came an understanding that a woman is still a special constituent of the institute of family and that her role is complex and intricate. At different times, the scales of powers inclined alternately to the husband and to the wife, ascribing different functions, responsibilities and rights to them. And yet, the issue of who should be the leading party and whether it is for the husband to enjoy complete and inseparable authority is still unresolved. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper on the example of John the reader can observe an image of an unsuccessful husband, whose overprotection and excessive caution which might have been based on good intention nevertheless lead to the crushing of a woman’s inner world and her mental disorder as a result.

At first sight, it is standardly known that according to a deep-rooted family tradition the husband is supposed to take utmost care of his wife and to provide all the protection he can give to her in order to guard her against the dangers of the outer world. Being the brain and the intellectual reason of the family, the husband wisely guides the ship of his matrimonial unit through all the possible mishaps and traps and takes the necessary precautions in order to avoid the foreseeable evil. Supposedly possessing the adequate knowledge for resolving any situation, he becomes the herald of the absolute truth which cannot be dared to be opposed by the female party of the family. All the vital decisions originate from the husband, as he is endowed with unlimited powers and authority.

Notwithstanding a grain of truth in such considerations, one can nevertheless observe a situation when the husband, guided by such family code turns into a kind of domestic tyrant, taking individual decisions and not allowing for any intrusion into them or any suggestion made as for their appropriateness. All spheres of the private and public life of the family conform to his opinion and pitiable is the wife of that man for there is nothing left to her but silently and gratefully agree to anything her sovereign commands. In worst cases, the husband’s rule stretches even to such petty but important to the woman’s individuality areas as her thoughts, ideas, transient fantasies and small joys of the day. Being guided by the best intentions of preserving family harmony and the idea of husband and wife being an inseparable whole, by imposing on the wife the lifestyle and style of thought that may seem the only appropriate ones to the husband, he limits her personal space and deprives her of ways of self-expression that as a result may lead to an emotional and even mental breakdown. Such a case is observed in The Yellow Wallpaper, as John by his attitude eventually annihilates the personality of his wife.

Starting from the first pages and throughout the whole story, one cannot overlook the recurrent phrases that mark the narrative: “John says”, “John knows”, “John is right”, etc. (Gilman 1, 2, 3, 6). That cannot be ignored, as it marks the whole situation of male authority and dominance in the family and designates the way the wife worships and fully relies on her husband’s opinion. John’s decisions are those that constitute all the course of her life, from the way she should spend her days — he “hardly lets me stir without special direction” — to the choice of the room in accordance not with the emotional inclinations of his wife, but with the rational considerations of his own (Gilman 2). The wife describes John as being totally rational and “practical in the extreme” (Gilman 1). She sees him as a god who is eternally “wise” and cannot ever be mistaken, even if his opinion totally contradicts the natural urges and needs of his wife (Gilman 5). Significantly, the wife in the story is nameless: she is nobody, a life governed by someone else and thus representing no value of its own.

However rational John’s outlook and view of his wife maybe, in fact, she opens up in her (forbidden by his common sense!) writings as a truly striking personality with her own ideas, considerations, and pains that never find a response with her husband. The very beginning of the story already reveals the whole essence of their marital relationship; as soon as the wife starts having some fantasies or ideas about the world around her, she becomes John’s laughing stock: “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage”; and moreover, he “scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures (Gilbert 1). Being deprived of any possible means of self-expression, the wife has to resort to the last possibility of self-actualization by secretly writing an account of her ideas. The idea of taking up an occupation as a means of distracting from daily loneliness which she suffers as a result of John’s busy career is not even discussed. The living environment is limited to the yellow-papered nursery and short walks in the garden, and even occasional fantasies, the only retreat of a bored mind, is suppressed immediately under the pretext of causing nervous weakness to the wife, and so she silently obeys:

“I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making, a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I try.” (Gilbert 3).

While the wife’s emotional life is the flesh and blood of the story, John is represented from a purely practical side, as a skilled physician, a professional of his trade whose opinion is prevailing in matters of settling his wife’s discomfort. Being in the course of the period’s medical trends, he resorts to the only recommended way of treating mental disorders — that of full rest and inactivity. Concentrating on the outward symptoms of the illness, which he at first tries to overlook and does not acknowledge as any serious malfunction, John fails to understand that the ultimate reason for all the nervous distress lays in the scary emptiness that characterizes his wife’s existence. Even her baby is taken away from her, which she courageously accepts as the better way of things. Having nobody understanding to talk to, she is thrust into an abyss of oblivion as a personality, which eventually leads to mental catastrophe.

From the situation described in The Yellow Wallpaper, it is important to understand that however, undisputedly important the husband’s role in the family might be, it is still a unit of two people, two personalities. Abuse of one’s powers, even under the pretext of aiming for the greater good, inevitably leads to suppression and tragic destruction of the weaker side’s personality; thus, an extremely careful balancing of powers and rights is a must to be practiced by every family in all the times

Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte P. The Yellow Wallpaper. Boston, MA: Small & Maynard, 1899. Web. 2009.

Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is an example of work designed to expose the flaws of society and criticize them. The central theme of the story is the control of men over women, which gives rise to misconceptions about their mental health and, therefore, harmful treatment methods. Gilman uses such characteristic of naturalism as a sense of doom that permeates the entire story to draw attention to the problem and express aversion to treatment methods and control of men over women.

The peculiarity of naturalism is that it describes reality with an emphasis on the injustice of society and the environment. The main feature of this style is a sense of doom and often exaggeration to show the problems of ordinary people. The main character of “The Yellow Wallpaper” expresses a feeling of fear and destruction in almost every sentence, from the description of the creepy house and her room with bars to her unstable thoughts resulting from the “treatment” (Gilman, 2015). The husband had absolute control over the woman as he was also a doctor. As a result, the husband controls every movement of his wife and completely takes her freedom, which becomes the cause of her mental instability. Thus, this sense of non-freedom and doom is the central naturalistic element of the story.

Gilman uses this approach and an atmosphere of hopelessness to show the problem of oppression of women and mentally ill people prevalent in society. The author had a similar treatment experience, which almost drove her mind, so she decided to show this problem to the readers (Gilman, 2015). However, the author needed to describe this painful experience in the first person accurately and sensitively to convey the feelings of oppressed people that they cannot express themselves. Only this approach was able to push doctors and people in power to look at their attitude to mental problems, especially women’s emotions, and change methods of treatment. For this reason, naturalism is the most appropriate style for writing this story.

Reference

Gilman, C.P. (2015). The collected works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Benediction Classics.

Introduction

The point of view adopted by the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman in The Yellow Wallpaper is first-person. The narrator is a new mother, living temporarily in a house of unaccustomed lavishness.

She and her family come there to help her recuperate from a mysterious ailment, perhaps postpartum depression. This ailment seems to be both mental and physical because she gets so tired. She disagrees with her husband’s and brother’s handling of her health. Since she is nearly entirely hallucinatory by the story’s end, the reader starts to suspect the accuracy of her narrative.

However, her perception of her feelings is quite lucid. Thus, she is both reliable and unreliable as a narrator. The point of view of someone undergoing mental breakdown is ambiguous and forces the reader to question the facts while acknowledging her probable accuracy and insights about herself.

The Theme of Loneliness in The Yellow Wallpaper

The reader meets the narrator while she speculates about the house that her husband has rented. She demonstrates an active, inquiring mind as she wonders why the rent was so cheap (Gilman). She would like to believe that there is something otherworldly about the house and grounds, but she accepts that there was some sort of estate difficulty, which she readily accedes, “spoils my ghostliness” (Gilman).

This willingness to relinquish her fanciful interpretation shows that she has a vivid imagination, but retains her good sense. Thus, at least at the outset, she is entirely able to distinguish fact from fiction.

She retains her sense of “something strange about the house” (Gilman), showing that she has a mind of her own. Indeed, much is strange about her situation. She is being shut away from people, including her baby, in a room with barred windows, “rings and things” set into the wall, a nailed-down bed, and a “gate at the head of the stairs,” all suggesting mental asylum.

Furthermore, whoever was immured in her room was so distraught that they tore off the wallpaper, and even did so when, the reader infers, confined to the bed or shackled to the wall (Gilman). Thus, her perception is partially valid. These initial impressions show her to be acute, if naïve, observer, and in touch with reality.

As she lives for days and weeks in this room, her objections to her treatment increase, but she is still mainly in touch with reality. However, her observations of her surroundings begin, increasingly, to conflict with others’. John insists that the people she sees out the window do not exist (Gilman).

She is beginning to personify the wallpaper in her musings. She compares this to her childhood, imaginings that her nursery furnishings came alive. She remembers the “kindly wink” from her bureau knobs (Gilman). The narrator also begins to hide her activities, for example, her writing, from her family, especially her sister-in-law.

She distinguishes herself, as an aspiring writer, from Jane, who aspires only to housekeeping. (Gilman). Thus, while the reader begins to question her perceptions because they are drifting away from reality, she remains insightful about her relations with those around her, and about herself. Her characterization of John’s sister is acute, and she is accurate in her observation of her tendency to “cry at nothing and cry most of the time” (Gilman).

After the Fourth of July holiday, her obsession with the wallpaper begins to signal her retreat away from the concrete world, and her increasing unreliability as a reporter of fact. She says of the wallpaper, “It dwells on my mind so,” and recounts how she visually follows the pattern by the hour (Gilman).

However, she continues to be alert to her condition of mind, recounting how she tries to convince John that she should visit, but despairing that “I was crying before I finished,” and cannot “think straight” (Gilman). As she begins to see a woman’s figure in the wallpaper, it seems as though she is trying to broach the topic of her near-hallucinations with her husband. She agrees that she is, “Better in body, perhaps, -“(Gilman).

The reader can infer that she would have said that her mind was deteriorating, but her solicitous husband stops her with a look (Gilman). Shortly thereafter, she says, “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight” (Gilman) but does not connect this consciously with what Jennie calls “yellow smooches” on her clothes (Gilman).

Thus, while interacting unconsciously with the hallucinated female behind the wallpaper and experiencing an apparent olfactory hallucination (Gilman), she also comments with clarity on her mental state. As her condition deteriorates, and she begins to strip the wallpaper to release the imaginary woman, her hallucinations take over. However, she still retains her observant eye for the behavior of others, for example, commenting on the “professional questions” John asks Jennie about her (Gilman).

To nearly the end, she is lucid about people’s roles in her life. She fully acknowledges that she is the one doing the creeping only at the very last, finally identifying herself with the woman behind the wallpaper, “out in this great room” (Gilman). It is only when her husband faints in shock that she calls him the anonymous “that man,” not ‘John.’ She now seems fully disconnected from her former reality.

Conclusion

By using a strict first-person point of view, Gilman keeps us guessing until the very end. The author uses this to make sure that the reader continues to believe the truth of the narrator’s emotional state, as she sees it herself, while the tangible facts of her life disintegrate. The narrator may become mad, by the world’s standards, but she is always on target about what she feels.

Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Print.

Are you looking for stories similar to The Yellow Wallpaper? Try The Story of an Hour! These two short pieces have plenty of resemblances and differences to write about.

Introduction

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman revolve around how men view women and their qualities. The short stories focus on women trying to conform to the standards of the society in their quest for freedom.

These two stories have similarities like using rest treatment by the doctors when dealing with the conditions of the women. The main characters in the two stories are similar in the sense that they are all in search of freedom. This essay will compare the two stories by discussing their similarities.

The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper Similarities

The first similarity between the ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and ‘The story of an Hour’ is that the main characters look for freedom in vain. In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ the main character undergoes mental depression. In her efforts to find a solution to the problem, she moves with her husband to live in an isolated mansion, but her problem is not solved. Her husband is to be blamed for her suffering because he forces her to stay in a particular room that she does not like.

He denies her freedom by forcing her to stay in a room without going out. In the ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ the main character, also a woman, is in search of freedom and stays in a room alone. She wants to be separated from her husband for her to live her own life. However, she is denied liberty during a period she needs it so much. Consequently, her denial of freedom causes her to die of a heart attack. The two stories are, therefore, similar in that the main characters are women who want freedom (Andrea 3).

The second similarity between these two stories is that the main women characters have patronizing husbands. In ‘The Story of an Hour,’ Louise confesses that since she got married, her life has been entirely different. When she is informed that her husband has died, she has a feeling of happiness when she imagines life without him.

She says that her soul and body are finally free. However, she gets disappointed after discovering that her husband has not died. Similarly, the woman in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ is also not given freedom by her husband. The husband prevents her from spending her time in the room she wants to stay in. He does not allow her to do what she wants to do and become the person she wants to be.

The third interesting similarity between “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” is that women are described through the perspective of a doctor. In the 19th century, few women became doctors since only men were expected to be doctors.

The authors of these two stories wanted to use doctors to bring out how men viewed women. The main character in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is the wife of a doctor. The doctor forces her to spend time in a rest cure because she is suffering from depression associated with a woman who has just given birth.

Putting a person in a rest cure was a common type of treatment during the early days where patients were not expected to engage in any activity. This form of therapy had been effective on men, but it was yet to be tried on women. It was not clear why men were psychologically different from women. The prescription that his wife is put in a rest cure does not work but instead affects the woman mentally (Schilb and Clifford 95).

The similarity of the wrong diagnosis is also evident in “The Story of an Hour.” In this story, Louise is a victim of heart failure, which consequently causes her death. The doctors argue that her death might have been caused by the untimely sense of relief and joy she experiences after discovering that her husband is still alive.

However, when the line of thought for the character before her death is analyzed, it is clear that the cause of her death is different. The doctors also make a conclusion that the depression Louise suffered from was because she was too dedicated to her husband. What kills Louise is her failure to manage the overwhelming feeling that engulfs her after finally getting freedom (Andrea 5).

The fourth similarity between these two short stories regards the thoughts that go through the minds of the main characters. In both stories, closed rooms are used to assist the reader in understanding private thoughts that go through the minds of the characters.

When they are not in the rooms, the actions of the women are in accordance with societal expectations. However, when they are confined in the separate rooms where they are not with their husbands, a big change is observed. The woman in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” experiences mental problems, and she is restrained from any activity.

When left alone in the room, her thoughts are only focused on the design of the wallpaper in the room until she becomes insane. At some point, she tries to free herself by destroying an image resembling a woman that she finds in the pattern. She attempts to find identity with the woman and tries to look for freedom, but she becomes insane.

In “The Story of an Hour,” Louise is also confined in a room which eventually acts as the platform that leads her to ultimate freedom. In the room, the reader can also understand what Louise is thinking about. Just like the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper,’ she exhibits different behavior in the room. The rooms in these stories serve as avenues through which the characters destroy themselves.

The final similarity between “The Yellow wallpaper” and “The story of an Hour” is that women are portrayed as people who achieve freedom by adhering to the societal norms. When Louise learns of the death of her husband, she confines herself in a room. While in the room, she experiences a feeling of confidence that she had not experienced before, as confirmed through her exclamations that she if free at last (Chopin 83).

She decides to change her life after being convinced that her husband is dead and could feel a sense of freedom by locking herself in the room. In ‘The wallpaper,’ this also happens to the wife of John, who is the main character in the story. Her sickness causes her to develop an abnormal obsession with the yellow wallpaper.

The image of a woman that appears in the wallpaper seems like a symbol of her own confinement in the room. She sees herself as sharing similar circumstances with the image and decides to free it by destroying it. The destruction she does makes her feel as if she has eventually attained freedom (Gilman 173). These stories are, therefore, similar in that the women are finally freed from their circumstances.

Conclusion

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and ‘The Story of an Hour’ describe the role of women in society and their lack of independence. The stories suggest that women are capable of living independent lives without interference from their husbands. They work effortlessly to achieve freedom, but their naivety causes them to fail eventually.

Both stories suggest a possible change where women will have power in society. This will enable them to live their own lives without being controlled by their men. The society today has not changed much since women face similar problems. However, women in the current world have tried to change marriage roles and more assertive.

Works Cited

Andrea. Short Stories: Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour. 2011. Web.

Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. New York: Perfection Learning, 2000. Print.

Gilman, Charllote. The Yellow Wallpaper. California: Forgotten Books, 1973. Print.

Schilb, John and John Clifford. Making Literature Matter. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.

Historical Background

The history of Western civilization, throughout the 19th-20th centuries, can be thought of as the continuous process of people associated with this civilization, growing increasingly aware of patriarchal morality notions’ out-datedness.

Whereas; by the beginning of the 20th century, it was considered entirely appropriate for women to be strictly concerned with taking care of purely domestic matter while simultaneously providing their husbands with an opportunity to have a sexual relief. By the end of the same century, the patriarchal view of women as ‘natural born housewives’ and the objects of men’s sexual desire, had lost the remains of its former validity.

However, such dramatic progress would not be achieved without intellectually advanced women actively contributing to the process of Western societies becoming increasingly secularized and less male-chauvinistic. Therefore, it will not be much of an exaggeration to say that the short story The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, provides us with the real insight onto technical subtleties of women’s intellectual awakening in late 19th century’s America.

Who is Jane in The Yellow Wallpaper?

Gilman’s story begins with the narrator telling readers about the way, in which her supposedly highly educated husband John (a physician) had decided to treat his wife’s mild depression.

After having realized that something needed to be done to improve his wife’s mental state, John could not come up with anything better but suggesting that there was only one effective way for the narrator to address her mental anxieties. That is, indulging in bellyful idling while remaining intellectually inactive for the duration of a ‘treatment’: “I take phosphates or phosphites – whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am forbidden to “work” until I am well again” (1470).

Although the author initially tried to express her growing weariness of a ‘treatment’ to John, she pleads remained ignored: “John does not know how much I suffer.

He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (1471). Just as most socially established men of the era, John never ceased thinking about his wife’s mental anxieties as essentially the irrational expressions of her female psyche. That is the reason why, despite possessing a degree in medicine, John could never realize the cheer seriousness of the narrator’s depression, while brushing her complaints aside as childish.

As time went by, the narrator’s mental state continued to deteriorate rather exponentially, which predetermined her mounting preoccupation with observing ‘hidden’ motifs contained in the room’s yellow wallpaper.

Eventually, the narrator had grown mentally unstable to such an extent that she became utterly withdrawn from the objectively existing reality. At the same time, she came to realize that the ghostly image of a creeping woman, which always lurked behind wallpaper’s yellowish distastefulness, was indeed real: “Through watching so much at night, when it (wallpaper) changes so, I have finally found out.

The front pattern does move – and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!” (1479). Even though the story ends on a tragic note – the narrator had yielded to madness, there are clearly defined liberating overtones in how she positioned herself, after having realized the ‘truth.’

Apparently, the narrator started to think of her marriage to John as intellectual imprisonment preventing her existential psyche from being able to actualize itself socially. And the creeping woman behind the wallpaper became a ghostly extrapolation of her true-self. Therefore, the act of ripping the paper off the wall, on the narrator’s part, should be seen as the metaphorical act of liberation from the constraints of an oppressive marital relationship: “I’ve got out at last… in spite of you and Jane.

And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” (1481). As Treichler (1984) had put it: “Defying the judgment that she (narrator) suffers from a ‘temporary nervous depression,’ she has followed her own logic, her own perceptions, her own projects to this final scene in which madness is seen as a kind of transcendent sanity” (67).

Moreover, it should also be seen as the ultimate proof of the narrator’s courageousness, because she was only able to attain liberation at the expense of deciding to get rid of her identity of a subservient housewife. In her case, this meant being deprived of identity altogether.
In its turn, this explains the seemingly odd mentioning of the name ‘Jane’ in this particular narrator’s remark. Even though many critics suggest that by referring to Jane, the narrator was referring to John’s sister Jennie, there are good reasons to believe that ‘Jane’ is the narrator herself.

As Thrailkill (2002) had pointed out in her article: “The narrator recognizes the woman in the paper as herself, and suddenly sees her embodied, observing, recording self as the enemy, referring to her in the third person as “Jane.” It is the reconstituted narrator, now, who completely enters the text” (551).

Just as the heroine in Kate Chopin’s Awakening, the main character in Gilman’s story came to realize the fact that there was only one way for her to attain existential freedom and self-respect. That was proving to male-chauvinistic society that psychologically, she was more of a male than her rationalistic but boorish husband, whose ignorance prevented him from seeing its wife as anything but ‘blessed little goose.’

It is not by a pure accident that in the story’s final scene, John faints. Apparently, Gilman strived to show that one’s formal affiliation with a ‘strong gender’, does not automatically endows him with ‘manly’ virtues of courageousness, rationalism, and intellectual integrity: “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!” (1481).

Despite being a fragile woman, the narrator had proven that, within the context of pursuing a marital relationship with John, it was she who should have been wearing pants.

Themes of The Yellow Wallpaper

Thus, The Yellow Wall-Paper is best referred to as the story of an intelligent and sensitive woman turning her descent into madness as the ultimate instrument of confronting patriarchal oppression, sublimated in her ‘loving’ husband’s unwillingness to think of her as his intellectually equal life-partner.

That is the reason why, ever since its publishing, Gilman’s story never ceased being discussed within the context of the 20th century’s feminist discourse. In his article, Jean (2002) had made a good point, while stating: “Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” valued not only for its intrinsic aesthetic merits but also as a site for all manner of feminist debate during the last quarter-century” (399).

Nevertheless, it would be quite inappropriate to refer to The Yellow Wall-Paper as being driven solely by Gilman’s aspirations of feminist liberation as ‘thing in itself,’ but also by author’s rather acute understanding of what represents initial stages of woman’s descent into madness and how such descent should be dealt with, in order not to let it to become irreversible.

As it appears from the story, the narrator’s mental anxieties were perceived by John as the by-product of his wife being exposed to overly intense emotional experiences. This was precisely why he recommended her not to think much, not to write and to sleep for as long as possible: “John says it is good for me, and to sleep all I can. Indeed he started the habit by making me lie down for an hour after each meal” (1477).

It never occurred to John that, while being left alone in the huge mansion during his leaves, his wife would not only be sleeping and ‘breathing fresh air’ but also thinking. And, as psychologists are well aware of – once a person grows preoccupied with too much introversive thinking, it becomes only a matter of time before the extent of his or her mental adequacy would be undermined.

The irony lies in the fact that John’s ignorance of his wife’s full humanity derived not out of his consciously defined and deliberately malicious sense of male-superiority but out of his genuine intention to relieve the narrator’s mental insecurities. Yet, it did not help the matters a whole lot.

Gilman was able to show that, just as it is the case with women being subjected to intentional dehumanization, their love-based unintentional dehumanization (such as that of John’s) leads to essentially the same set of negative consequences – women become socially withdrawn. In its turn, this creates objective preconditions for them to go about achieving self-actualization in a variety of strongly subjectivized but clearly abnormal ways.

As it was rightly noted by Crewe (1995): “The Yellow Wallpaper was read as revolutionary in the somewhat ambiguous sense that the oppression represented in the story is not overtly cruel, lawless, or despotic.

Crucially, the oppression consists in the woman’s subjection to an ostensibly caring yet abjecting regime in which male conjugal and medical authority fully coincide” (277). Thus, it will not be an exaggeration to suggest that, apart from representing a high literary value, The Yellow Wallpaper represents high scientific value, as well.

The reading of this particular Gilman’s story leaves no doubt as to the fact that, in order for physicians to be able to help women who suffer from depression, these physicians can never think of their patients as being somewhat inferior, in the intellectual sense of this word. The fact that Gilman’s story conveys an earlier articulated message with perfect clarity can serve as yet an additional proof as to the author’s political progressiveness.

Even though she lived in time when women suffered from being exposed to different forms of social oppression, it never affected Gilman’s ability to promote the cause of women’s liberation as such that has been dialectically predetermined by the laws of history. Although Gilman wrote her story well before the concept of psychology had attained a full academic validity, she had proven herself insightful enough to endorse the view onto the workings of one’s mind as being environmentally rather than biologically defined.

This is the reason why story’s subtle exploration of the concept of gender egalitarianism can be best referred to as an indication of author’s perceptional insightfulness – just as it was the case with other promoters of feminist cause of the era, Gilman was able to show that subjecting women to social oppression should be discussed in terms of an overall efficiency of society’s functioning being deliberately undermined.

References

Treichler, Paula “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 3.1/2 (1984), 61-77. Print.

Crewe, Jonathan “Queering The Yellow Wallpaper? Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Politics of Form,” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature14.2 (1995), 273-293. Print.

Shawn, Jean “Hanging “The Yellow Wall-Paper”: Feminism and Textual Studies,” Feminist Studies 28.2 (2002), 396-415. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” In G. McMichael et al. (Ed.) Concise Anthology of American Literature, 7th Edition. (pp. 1470-1481). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2010. Print.

Thrailkill, Jane “Doctoring “The Yellow Wallpaper,” ELH 69.2 (2002), 525-566. Print.

Introduction

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an intriguing story of a sick woman, Charlotte Perkins, confined in a room for treatment by her husband, a physician.

Charlotte is suffering from neurasthenia. Cared by his overprotective physician husband, but instead treats the care and concern as unfair for confinement and a twenty-four hours bed rest prescription. Charlotte’s sickness makes her realize that nobody can listen to her ideas; she resorts to writing secretly in her daily journals as a way of expressing her compliments to somebody.

On a few occasions is she allowed visiting other people. Those she visits are her husband’s suggestion, who are generally usual close family relatives, those she suggests her husband turns them down. There is an apparent misunderstanding of care, love, and concern between the patient and the physician.

The Yellow Wallpaper: Themes

The fact that the patient is the physician’s wife ought to portray a picture of mutual agreements and understandings rather than subjecting one’s decision to the other with a reason for care and protection. A small inclination to the husband’s decisions is better, but a usual put off to charlotte’s ideas causes misunderstanding. However, she pursues the wallpaper, finding to get a clear clue of what is affecting them all, especially her husband, the sister in law.

With the nervous breakdown, all the ideas and suggestions that charlotte comes up with, with a view of a positive response, are against his husband’s final decision “…. there is something strange about the house — I can feel it. I even said so to John one… but he said what I felt was a draught, and …” (Gilman, 2001, p.2). The husband is thinking out of prejudice, which is the real cause of misunderstandings in the context.

Although the misunderstandings brought about by the idea that she might be suffering from brain disorders, it does not mean that she is wrong all the time. She comments that even the reader succumbs to when she says, “I disagree with their ideas. I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman, 2001, p.1). With such a sickness, one can show care by undertaking suitable work with the patient, but the husbands see it as very wrong.

The physician portrayed with a domineering character has shown negligence in her wife’s psychological support. That is from the misinformation of how sick Charlotte is. She believes that she is not very ill. Yet, her husband knows she is in a critical condition that does not allow her to think or give compliments “… but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad” (Gilman, 2001, p.1).

The misunderstanding is portrayed again when Charlotte is awake all night long. Her husband does not talk to her most of the time. He thinks she will be stressed and worsen her situation. On the other hand, Charlotte has always longed for days when they will have some excellent talks and discussions with her husband. When she tries to bring up a topic to shift houses, she is put off with an excuse that it was not the time for such a discussion. She goes back to bed but does not sleep. Rather she stares at the moonlight (Gilman, 2001, p.8).

The Yellow Wallpaper: Symbolism

Gilman has given well-elaborated insights on the meaning of the Yellow Wall-Paper. “She has done this in a slow yet steady pace to release the metaphors that are a clue to the Yellow Wallpaper as a symbol of her husband’s authority and dominance” (Gwynn & Zani, 2007, p.71). It just begins with the main character’s fascination with the ugliness of the Yellow Wall-Paper. The use of imagery has been well-tuned to bring out the aspect that is feminism.

While one might argue that too much use of this has made the story complex and hard to understand, it has helped bring home the intended agenda. “One of the images found in the paper tends to change with different lighting” (Gwynn & Zani, 2007, p.71). It aims to depict her husband as inconsistent in handling matters, especially those that directly affect her.

Conclusion

The plot and characters in the story confirm that the misunderstanding is caused by the misinformation of the patient’s real status. This is also affected by the fear of his attention to involve her in anything other than the treatment. No wonder Charlotte goes after her pursuit secretly, to get the creeping woman. If she attempted to reveal to anyone, then she could not realize it. She even keeps her daily journal secretly for the same reason.

The use of the first-person narration has worked well in bringing home the main theme. It evokes the reader’s emotions to empathize the following thesis: the husband’s love misunderstood for confinement in the room and care mistaken for deterrence from involvement in other activities and thoughts that may worsen the condition.

References

Gilman, C. (2001). The Yellow Wall-paper. Ragged Edge Online. Retrieved from http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/0701/0701lostclass1.htm

Gwynn, R.S., & Zani, S.J. (2007). Inside literature: Reading, responding, arguing. New York: Pearson Longman.

What Makes to Feel That This Is an Unreliable Narrator?

In the story, “the yellow wallpaper” the narrator exhibits poor narration skills, which make the story hard to follow or understand. The narrator is thus unreliable and the audience cannot fully rely on her narration. One of the things that make this narration unreliable is the level of inconsistency displayed in the story. The narrator begins well by describing a major event, which includes a summer vacation and a brief description of the scene (Gilman 5). She, however, diverts from the main topic and brings in other elements that make the story complex and confusing.

Her style of narration is haphazard and not easy to be followed. This can be confusing to readers since the narrator presents many facts related to the story randomly. Readers can therefore be lost and fail to know the direction of the flow of the story. Due to these levels of inconsistency, knowing the exact plot of the story is quite difficult for the reader may not find it easy to relate the various facts. This aspect makes it difficult for the audience to predict or have a clue about what is likely to transpire as the story progresses. As a result, the reader becomes passive (Chase and Plaine 13). In addition, the narration talks about a “yellow wallpaper,” yet the narrator takes long before making an introduction to the subject of the story, hence bringing an element of confusion on what the subject is in the story.

The narrator also seems to be controversial and shows mixed reactions to various situations presented in the story. With this style of narration, it is hard to control the mood of the audience. Furthermore, knowing whether the text makes any meaning to the audience is quite difficult since the narrative language used is quite complex and does not depict freely the events under discussion. The story lacks uniformity in that the various ideas presented do not closely relate to each other. For instance, the narrator talks about how the marvelous building would make their summer holiday fun and romantic. As the story progresses, she expresses her disappointments with the vacation place. At some point, she looks at her husband positively, but later on, she turns negative.

When Does the Reader Start to Question the Validity of the Narrator’s Point of View?

The reader starts to question the validity of the narrator’s point of view the moment she begins to present information that seems contradictory. For instance, she talks about going on vacation only to mention later on that she is a captive to her bed all through. The unfolding of events in this scene tends to raise many questions for instance, how would she go for a vacation yet she is chained to her bed due to illness? At the same time, it is quite absurd that her husband is a doctor, but cannot give her the right prescription for her illness.

Moreover, the validity of the narrator is questioned when she brings in various aspects of the story through affirmative and negative responses. The important issues arising from the narration do not come out vividly; rather, she has clustered all the events together and only brings them out randomly. The flow of events should be consistent and she must have a firm opinion regarding the prevailing issues. For instance, she begins the narration by informing the audience how pleasant it is for ordinary people like John and herself to get such beautiful apartments for summer. However, after the above words, she complains about how antique and lonely the building is. She then hurls a few complaints at her husband despite having praised him before. This non-uniformity of agreeing and denying simultaneously makes the story sound disorganized and not true or relevant to the reader.

How Does the Reading Experience Change/Become More Complex When the Reader Begins to View the Narrator as a Liar or as an Unreliable Source of Information?

Once the reader realizes that the narrator is a liar or presents a mixture of points, which are poorly coordinated, their attention begins to drift. In most cases, one would literally stop reading the passage and begin concentrating on other things (Chase and Plaine 22). Consequently, the urge to read more of the story disappears because any sign of deceit instantly kills the trust that the reader had developed from the beginning. It is therefore paramount that the narrator gives the story a proper and reasonable flow that will enable the reader to capture all the significant points and facts presented therein.

Lack of confidence in a story makes it develop complexity as one continues to read through the lines. Such complexities arise from improper use of grammar, poor word selection, and use of facts that are contrary to each other. For instance, stating how good and beautiful the environment is, and then criticizing the same. This attribute is a complete turn off and often makes readers not to complete the stories they begin to read.

Works Cited

Chase, Mary Ellen, and Frances Kelley Plaine. The art of narration, New York: F.S. Crofts & Co., 2009. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The yellow wallpaper. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, 1999. Print.

Introduction

One of the reasons why the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman has traditionally been referred to as such that constitutes a high literary and philosophical value is that it contributed towards advocating the legitimacy of psychiatry as a newly emerged medical science. At the same time, Gilman’s story represented a powerful critique of the discourse of male chauvinism – hence, the sheer progressiveness of this story’s themes and motifs. In my paper, I will aim to explore the validity of this suggestion at length.

The Narrator’s Mental Condition in the Story

As it appears from the novel, the reason why the narrator and her husband John decided to spend their summer vacation in a secluded mansion is that this proved beneficial to the narrator’s mental condition. For the vacation’s duration, she would be unlikely to experience any socialization-related distress.

As Treichler noted: “Her (narrator’s) physical isolation was in part designed to remove her from the possibility of over-stimulating intellectual discussion” (61). This suggests that, prior to the couple’s relocation, John was already aware of his wife’s mental condition.

Nevertheless, he continued to deny that her mental anxieties had to be taken seriously: “You see, he (John) does not believe I am sick!” (Gilman 1). Partially, the narrator herself provides an explanation as to why, despite having been an accomplished physician, John nevertheless could not help referring to his wife’s pleas for help in the thoroughly arrogant manner: “John does not know how much I really suffer.

He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (Gilman 2). This narrator’s remark helps us to understand the essence of John’s failure to prescribe his wife with the appropriate therapy, which, in turn, created the objective preconditions for her to keep descending into madness.

Apparently, just as it used to be the case with many physicians in the 19th century, John believed that the reason why some people exhibit mental angst is that they do not apply enough of a conscious effort while trying to suppress their unconscious anxieties. The explanation for this is quite apparent – during the historical period in question, physicians remained utterly unaware that it is precisely one’s unconscious, which defines the workings of this person’s rational psyche, and not the other way around.

Partially, this had to do with the fact that by the end of the 19th century, the discursive influence of Christianity remained comparatively strong. In its turn, this religion has always been concerned with promoting the assumption that there is a structural unity to one’s soul (psyche), which is why it cannot consist of any mutually incompatible elements.

Therefore, there is nothing particularly odd about the fact in the late 19th century, the majority of physicians continued to regard the emanations of one’s mental volatility, as having been physiologically (externally) triggered.

Even though while staying at the mansion, the narrator continued to show her mental state’s continual deterioration, John could not come up with anything better but to prescribe his wife to lead a socially withdrawn lifestyle. John could never bring himself to consider the possibility that the worsening of his wife’s mental condition had nothing to do with the purely environmental circumstances.

This is the reason why he continued insisting that the key to her rehabilitation was a plenty of food and sleep: “John says I mustn’t lose my strength, and has me take cod liver oil and lots of tonics and things, to say nothing of ale and wine and rare meat” (Gilman 4). Being an ego-centered male, John never thought of the possibility for his wife’s mental troubles to have been the direct consequence of her socially imposed inability to lead a normal life.

Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper

The reading of Gilman’s story also suggests that there was another reason, as to why John proved himself unable to properly diagnose his wife and to prescribe her with the proper therapy. Apparently, while acting as a physician (who by definition should have been trying to expand his intellectual horizons), John never made even a single attempt to reconsider the legitimacy of his male-chauvinistic prejudices towards women. In its turn, this explains why although John continued to observe many signs that there was something wrong with his wife, he nevertheless refused to give much thought to what should have been considered these signs’ actual significance.

In John’s mind, the narrator’s mental anxieties were seen confirming the validity of his male-chauvinistic presumption that, just as it is the case with all women, his wife was naturally predisposed to grow hysterical from time to time: “If… one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency – what is one to do?” (Gilman 1).

This, of course, implies that, despite having been in love with his wife, John nevertheless could not help patronizing her as someone who did not have what it takes to be able to keep its irrational feelings under control.

Hence, the ‘therapy’ that her husband prescribed the narrator: “He (John) says no one but myself can help me out of it (depression), that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me” (Gilman 5).

It is needless to be mentioned, of course, that the application of this kind of ‘therapy’ could hardly bring about any positive results, because it was based upon the idea that the unconscious workings of one’s psyche can be subjected to conscious control, on this individual’s part. Yet, contemporary psychoanalysts know that this is far from being the case. Quite on the contrary – one’s conscious attempts to suppress its unconscious anxieties only result in the worsening of the concerned individual’s overall mental condition.

This is exactly the reason why, as time went on, the narrator was becoming ever more delirious – the mere fact that, in full accordance with John’s advice, she tried to disregard the symptoms of depression, caused her mental despair to continue becoming even worse.

Moreover, apart from experiencing depression, on account of her inability to lead a socially productive lifestyle, she started to grow progressively worried about her self-presumed inability to live up to John’s expectations. Predictably enough, it created yet additional prerequisite for the narrator to continue losing her grip on things, because without being able to articulate her own unconscious fears, she allowed them to be accumulated deep within – hence, making it only the matter of time before they would break out of their psychic confinement into the realm of the main character’s consciousness.

As a result, the narrator’s ability to indulge in the rationale-based reasoning sustained irreparable damage. The validity of this statement can be illustrated, in regards to the fact that at the end of Gilman’s story, the narrator started to behave as if having been nothing short of a schizophrenic, endowed with the fictitious sense of self-identity.

Thus, it will not be much of an exaggeration, on our part, to suggest that The Yellow Wallpaper can be referred to as a particularly powerful indictment of what used to account for the 19th century’s approaches to treating mental illnesses. Apparently, besides having been scientifically illegitimate, these approaches were also perceptually arrogant. The fact that John did allow his wife’s mild depression to be transformed into schizophrenia validates the appropriateness of this statement.

Conclusion

I believe that the earlier deployed line of argumentation, in defense of the suggestion that the story’s main character can be best defined as a victim of the 19th century’s healthcare conventions, correlates well with the paper’s initial thesis. This once again emphasizes the fact that, just as it was implied in the Introduction, the literary significance of The Yellow Wallpaper cannot be discussed outside of the story’s ability to stimulate readers intellectually.

This simply could not be otherwise, because, in The Yellow Wallpaper, the author succeeded in both: outlining the discursive principles of what will later become known as the methodology of psychoanalysis, and helping to promote the cause of women’s emancipation.

Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. 1892. 647 – 656. PDF file.

Treichler, Paula. “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 3.1/2 (1984): 61-77. Print.

Introduction

This essay aims to examine two short stories: A Rose for Emily, written by William Faulkner, and Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. Both authors examine the relations between physical and psychological confinement. It is possible to argue that Faulkner and Gilman show that physical confinement can be primarily explained by psychological or social alienation an individual.

This is one of the central themes to which both writers attach importance. However, there is a critical difference that one should identify. In particular, William Faulkner describes the experiences of a person who voluntarily chooses seclusion as a way of escaping reality. In contrast, Charlotte Gilman focuses on the life of a woman forced into isolation by other people. That is the main thesis of this paper.

A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper: Main Characters

First of all, it is essential to examine the experiences of both characters. Both of them are physically isolated from other people. For example, Emily Grierson, who lives in a fictional town named Jefferson, does communicate her neighbors. She decides not to maintain any contacts with her neighbors, even though she is financially dependent on them. One should note that Emily belongs to an old Southern family that was prominent during the Antebellum Period.

However, these people cannot adjust to the new social, political, and economic environment. For instance, she says that Colonel Sartoris freed her from taxes without realizing this man died more than ten years ago (Faulkner 527). The narrator describes this person as “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation” (Faulkner 526).

To some extent, this woman is an object of curiosity because of her self-imposed seclusion (Faulkner 527). The main character of Gilman’s story is also isolated from other people. She cannot leave the upstairs bedroom. Moreover, her husband does not let her work or see other people. He only insists that she should stay within the house. This seclusion eventually proves unbearable to her. That is one of the issues that should be taken into account.

Furthermore, much attention should be paid to psychological confinement. This issue is particularly important if one speaks about the unnamed narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper. She is denied the opportunity to interact with others. That is one of the reasons why she becomes so obsessed with the patterns of the wallpaper.

For example, she believes that these patterns begin to move; moreover, the narrator is convinced that there is some “woman behind” who shakes it (Gilman 735). To some degree, this behavior can be explained by the fact that she cannot communicate with any person except her husband. A similar argument can be made about Emily, whose mental problems manifest themselves thoroughly only after her death.

In particular, her neighbors learn that she kept the corpse of her lover in the house. Overall, it is possible to say that these short stories show that physical confinement is closely related to psychological isolation. Furthermore, they eventually result in mental impairments. That is one of the main dangers that people should be aware of.

However, several differences should be taken into consideration. First, it should be noted that Emily Grierson is not forced to live in complete seclusion. She does not want to accept the fact that the world of her youth disappeared completely. She kills her lover, Homer, in an attempt to retain him forever.

So, by living in isolation, she tries to turn a blind eye to reality. So, her physical isolation originates from her escapism or unwillingness to face the changes undergone by the society. One can say that Emily’s psychological confinement is the central theme which William Faulkner explores. This is one of the details that can be singled out.

In contrast, Charlotte Gilman describes a person confined against her will. This short story symbolizes the confinement of women in the domestic sphere. In many cases, they did not have an opportunity to participate in public life.

As it has been said before, the main character of Charlotte Gilman’s story is not allowed to work. Such situations were prevalent in the nineteenth century. So, her physical and social isolation eventually leads to her insanity. In turn, the author depicts the destructive effects of this ideology on an individual. This is one of the main points that can be made.

Conclusion

On the whole, these literary works show how different people can struggle with psychological and physical confinement. William Faulkner’s short story indicates that the physical isolation of a person can be explained primarily by social and psychological alimentation.

In contrast, Charlotte Gilman pays attention to the feelings of a person whose physical confinement turns into psychological alienation and madness. However, it is important to remember that these writers depict the life of people who are completely separated from public life. These are the main aspects that can be identified.

Works Cited

Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Literature: The Human Experience. Ed.

Richard Abcarian, Andrea Lunsford, and Marvin Klotz. New York: Macmillan Higher Education, 2006. 526-533. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte. “The Yellow Paper.” Literature: The Human Experience. Ed.

Richard Abcarian, Andrea Lunsford, and Marvin Klotz. New York: Macmillan Higher Education, 2006. 729-738. Print.