Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” explores the androcentric dominance that engulfed the nineteenth century. Trapped in the mind of the narrator, readers can not help but wonder whether she is in fact mentally ill or simple the product of her confinement. A specific branch of biology, ecology, implies that the latter explanation is a valid conclusion. Gilman constructed “a tale truly infatuated with the adjustment between an individual and her physical surroundings” (Scott). Conventional to the late eighteen hundreds, the female protagonist of “The Yellow Wallpaper” undergoes treatments she did not agree with that ultimately drove her mad.
Webster’s dictionary defines ecology as “a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environment” (“Merriam-Webster.”). This directly correlates to the ideology that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is rooted upon. As time marches on and the imprisonment progresses, the pool of fallacy the narrator is drowning in deepens. Despite the constant …show more content…
However, one may also take into account that, as she unlocks new layers of judgment in regards to the wallpaper, the narrator is inevitably going through an inward realization. Initially she sees the pattern of the wallpaper as “a flamboyant pattern committing every artistic sin.” (CITE BOOK) This idea evolves into the narrator professing that as she follows “the lame uncertain curves” they “suddenly commit suicide- plunging off at outrageous angles, destroying themselves in unheard of contradictions.” (CITE BOOK) As she delves deeper into unraveling the design that adorns the walls of her room, she begins to withhold her emotions from her husband. Through this, one can infer that she is becoming more soundly reliant on herself and less concerned with the approval and help of those around