Better in Body Works of literature are most often written to be read alone, by themselves, without any other work to accompany it. However, in the case of some works such as “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, this is not true because additional reading is necessary to understanding and receiving the true impact of the story. Rather than a writing based around the slow growth of insanity in a woman, as a superficial reader may grasp, it is a message of warning towards those using the rest cure. It is only through the additional reading of works such as Gilman’s other piece “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” and S. Weir Mitchell’s “The Evolution of the Rest Treatment,” that this theme can be best pulled from the work and used…show more content… It was only after the additional reading of S. Weir Mitchell’s “The Evolution of the Rest Treatment” that it became obvious that the husband was a replacement figure for the physician. This can be translated by focusing in on the quote in the middle of the work that read: “her symptoms passed away one by one” (Mitchell 249). This can be comprehended because it is showing that the physician was more so fixated on the physical aspects of the illness and treatment, rather than any mental aspects that may exist in the patient. This isn’t too much of a surprise with the rest cure because of the original nature of its use on “acute exhaustion” and “pain in the extremities” (Mitchell 247). Through this mention of past treatments, the work established that the foundation, for which this treatment sat on, was centralized on the physical injuries and thus it was able to further progress the idea that this rest cure was not suitable for use on mental…show more content… While his part in the story was not as prominent as the description of the interchanging wallpaper design, it did help bridge the gap between the understanding of the focus and effects of the rest cure. This was especially true in this quote: “Better in body perhaps” (239). This is because it once again restates how her progress in physical health does not correlate with her progress in mental health, and that even the patient has come to realize this. It also is a moment that notes the intelligence of this woman despite the metaphorical handcuffs put on her mental exercise. The woman is shown to better cope with her illness while she is in his presence because she is being exposed to stimulation other than the design of the wallpaper. This goes to point out a major issue in the treatment, and this idea is then further proven by the directions Gilman, herself, was given by her own physician which was to “never to touch pen, brush, or pencil again as long as I lived” that nearly led her to insanity (Gilman 245). So in this way, the additional reading did wonders to further along the understanding from the original reading that mental stimulation is a key aspect of
