The Yellow WallPaper

Submitted By Kat-Hines

Words: 586

Pages: 3

Open Document

Women Oppression

In society men tend to exert their control over women. In the story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman she shares how she was diagnosed with what is called neurasthenia, a medical condition that can account for fatigue, headaches, and irritability that can cause a sudden mood swing, that almost made her to go insane. Her husband John is very controlling of her life and likes to tell her what to do and likes to control her treatment plan. An analysis of the story shows how the narrator is being oppressed by her husband by his controlling nature, him forcing her to stop writing, and they way he forces her to hide her own feelings due to his oppressive nature.

In the beginning of the story we learned that the narrator was neurasthenia, which is the reason why her and her husband John decided to rent a house for the summer to get away from everything. Her husband and her brother are both physicians and both state that she is just “temporary nervous depression”. On the other hand she knows that she is sick, but cannot do anything about it but take the medication and any tonics that he gives her. She is also forced to do exercise and forbidden to do work. While she thinks work would help because it has continuous change and excitement. By John forcing her to stop writing it leads her to create a secret journal.

In the 18th and 19th century women had to hide their work from their families much like narrator is doing with her journal. Despite her husband forbidding her to write she writes in a secret journal because John thinks her being creative and wring will drain all her energy and make her worse. By doing this even though he thinks it is good for her he is actually making her hide her creative and intellectual side of herself that come with writing and is turning her into a domestic powerless women who should do and follow everything that her husband says.

Finally in the house the narrator feels trapped and imprisoned due to they layout of the house. She tells us that the house is much like a prison with the locks, separate

Yellow Wallpaper

The wife in the yellow wallpaper is middle-aged and has just given birth to her first child. Forced to live in a nice home, she is secluded from all its pleasures and her child. She is a well-educated and aspiring writer who is struggling with more than just postpartum depression. The symptoms of postpartum depression match the client's case perfectly, such as mood swings, crying, appetite problems, and anxiety (Depression Information Postpartum from the Mayo Clinic by Mayo Clinic Staff). She also…

Words 1332 - Pages 6

The Yellow Wallpaper

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…

Words 782 - Pages 4

The Yellow Wallpaper

“The Yellow Wallpaper” "It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw – not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things.” - Charlotte P. Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced depression in a time that society failed to accept people with mental illness, nor did they recognize its symptoms as those of a true physical condition. In addition, the “epidemic” of depression and mental illness in…

Words 549 - Pages 3

The Yellow Wallpaper

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…

Words 1487 - Pages 6

The Yellow Wallpaper

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…

Words 1226 - Pages 5

The Yellow Wallpaper

Madness “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1899 details the story of a young woman’s descent into madness, showing clearly the symptoms that are attributed to mental breakdowns. There are many different psychological issues present within the story, including the narrator’s condition of “nerves” and the very real issue of postpartum depression, and as a result of both of these issues not being treated in the manner that is needed in order to resolve these afflictions, the narrator…

Words 993 - Pages 4

The Yellow Wallpaper

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…

Words 594 - Pages 3

the yellow wallpaper

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…

Words 1049 - Pages 5

The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper The story is about the narrator speaking of her own story and experiences. Kind of like reading her thoughts as she speaks to us. The narrator seems to be crazy and a bit insane which she is taught to believe of herself by the way her family, friends, and husband treat her. Story begins when the narrator and john move into a beautiful summer home. John has brought her out there so she can get better from a strong case of depression. He says you need the most rest you could possibly…

Words 634 - Pages 3

Yellow wallpaper

were treated? Have we, women, done anything wrong that we deserved all those sufferings? In the story—“The Yellow Wallpaper”, the writer directly portrayed the harsh, difficult life of women in the early 20th century. Through the insane women, the author reveals how women were trapped by the structure of marriage and society and how they were oppressed by their husband. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story written in the late 19th century by Charlotte Perkens Gilman. It is written in the 1st person…

Words 1023 - Pages 5