In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman uses feminism to portray a society where males dominate over females. An inequality is shown towards women as they are displayed as weaker individuals in situations in relationships and outside forces. Later on in the story, the male and female roles change as the relationship between the inequalities of the two characters in the story. Gilman’s use of feminism sets the stage of the story as masculinity reigns over femininity in how the plot progresses. Male domination is displayed in the story by how John is this controlling figure in his wife’s life caging her inside this house with a room that has this tainted wallpaper. In their relationship, John dictates over what she is allowed and not allowed to do like taking away her freedom to do certain activities. In one instance, John’s wife had said that “he hates to have me write a word” showing that John takes away her freedom to express herself freely (Gilman 480). Along with her freedom, the narrator is also belittled by her husband as she is replied with responses such as “little girl” or “bless her little heart.” Being belittled by John portrays him not as a spouse, but as someone is taking care of her. With the conditions she lives in, the narrator has become a guinea pig experiment to John as she becomes an experiment of the “rest cure,” which contributes to how the narrator’s mental health starts declining into a psycho-state-of-mind. John authority over his wife’s living conditions makes the narrator suffer inside this caged environment. Near the end of the story, the male and female roles are reversed in the event where John’s wife tears down the wallpaper and locks John out of the house. John, who used to be this protective husband and leader, now becomes a little girl as he goes into a state of shock and collapses right in front of his wife. The narrator also changes her role from being a feminine figure into being a masculine figure as she has taken control of the authority that her husband had on her, making her the bigger person. Both characters go through dynamic changes in the end causing the role of genders to balance out.
The Yellow Wallpaper is the story of a Female narrator who is sentenced to bed rest by her caring but misguided husband. Through this story she is slowly driven insane by her isolation as she begins to see women trapped in her wallpaper. I believe her marriage was the trap that helped this take place. A tool used to force women under a never ending contract and to give men a legal form of ownership over them. Through this story, Charlotte P. Gilman has helped to display man’s arrogance and unwillingness…
seen as hysterical and nervous beings and the advised treatment was that of “Rest Cure” in order to monitor the condition. Was the problem post partum depression? Or was it the “female condition” that women experienced in society? The story, “the yellow wall paper” is centered on the descriptions of the wall paper and the woman interactions with it which reveals more to the reader than just a mere state of depression. The female condition was characterized by women’s attempt to identify…
Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper The Yellow Wallpaper is a collection of fictional journal entries written by a woman whose husband, also a physician, has confined her to the upstairs bedroom of a house, which he rents for the summer. As part of her “Rest Cure” treatment, she is forbidden from working and has to hide her journal from him so she can recuperate from what he calls a “slight hysterical tendency”, now known as depression, which was a common diagnosis to women in the late 19th century…
Carolina Rodriguez Sylvia Herrera English Literature 16 September 2014 Respond Paper: The Yellow Wallpaper The yellow wallpaper was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, this book is known for its feminists literary ties. The narrator wrote this during the Victorian Era. An era full of constrictment towards women.The story is a set of journals written from the point of view of a woman undergoing a -mental breakdown- defined as what we call "postpartum depression.” Gilman experiences oppression…
of The Yellow Wallpaper, used many literary devices to strengthen her story and develop the character of the narrator. The story is written in a first person point of view. The speaker/Narrator is portrayed as an anxious, depressed woman who is delusional. The author used the element of repetition in describing the yellow wallpaper, this shows that the wallpaper is of importance and how the speaker is paranoid and imaginative. The description of the wallpaper as “a smoldering unclean yellow...” helps…
Allison McDaniel April 19th, 2011 Lit 215 The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman The narrator starts her journal by marveling at the splendor of the ancestral hall and grounds her husband; John has leased for their private summer getaway. Once the couple finally moves into the house, she immediately senses something wrong with the place, but John scorns at her fears, which seems to be a recurring theme in their marriage. Her feeling that there is “something queer” about the mansion…
The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Yellow Wallpaper was first published in 1899 in America, this was the time when the feminists were gaining great momentum and the womens rightts were being addressed. his story is wrote in journal or diary form this makes it easier to relate and conect with the main caractor. The story can be seen as a narrative of Gilmans own mental health problems, it focuses on the wallpaer in her room which seams to ebe used as a symbol for her emotional…
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman has many times been seen as a victory for the feminist movement. It has exposed the mistreatment of women by those in the medical community. It has revealed the sexism that was still rampant in the late 19th century. It has also, in a way, given women a voice and forced the public to recognize the seriousness of these issues. Gilman's intent in writing "The Yellow Wallpaper" was, "...to save people from being driven crazy." She seems to have done…
Kayla Blue October 12, 2014 ENG 105 The Ins and Outs of the Yellow Wallpaper In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator and her physician husband, John, rent a mansion for the summer so that she can have some peace because her “temporary nervous depression” calls for her to use the “rest cure” treatment. For most, this might’ve seen very relaxing. For the narrator however, the house was all but relaxing for her. Although the house was beautiful, she was only limited to one…
The Yellow Wallpaper “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman reflects the struggle women had during the late 1800’s. It’s a story that shows us the mind and emotions of a woman suffering a slow mental breakdown – a breakdown paradoxically caused by attempts to restore her mental health. As the story unfolds, we see the reasons for her insanity connects to her husband, John. Although her madness may be to blame because of her medical condition. Her husband is to blame in aspects of his…