This short story is an embellishment to illustrate the impact of the Rest Cure. “The story is not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman declared (Siegel, 2008). Similar to Lauren Hale, countless women are able to resonate with Gilman and “The Yellow Wallpaper” (2008). Lauren Hale explains being able to identify with the main character due to her own journey of motherhood and insanity thereafter. Charlotte Perkins Gilman successfully incorporated a realistic insanity into the main character of the short story as well as exposing the mental health diagnoses and cures for the 19th century.
Mental illness has been around since the days of recorded history. People such as Aristotle, Thomas Overbury, and Jean de la Bruyere have studied the personality disorders. However, through history, people with personality disorders have been shunned and feared because of who they are. Mental illness can be obtained by genetics or injury. “Examples of mental illnesses are schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, and etc.”
Mental illness is not commonly associated with gender issues and feminism; however, through this course we studied how throughout centuries gender and intersectionality played a crucial role in one’s treatment and diagnosis. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is one of the first texts we examined that correlated with the role of gender in medical treatment and diagnosis. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is an example of a husband controlling his wife’s treatment, and consequently, she is misdiagnosed and never receives proper treatment. Written in 1892, it successfully exemplifies how gender role’s dictated a woman’s treatment because during this time a wife was subordinate to her husband. Although Perkins continuously explained to her
While Plath fictionalised the account of her time in the mental institution in The Bell Jar, Sussana Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, set in 1967, is a memoir of Kaysen’s experience in the mental institution. There is a sense of ambivalence in the mental institution that seems to be oppressive yet liberating for Kaysen. In the beginning Kaysen describes a “parallel universe” which is a metaphor for mental illness and how easily one can slip into this universe that separates the sane and the insane, which is very strange. She highlights how this universe has a different set of rules and there is a cruel irony of how a person is aware that they have left reality behind and are aware of what is happening. When Kaysen is sent to the doctor for her failed
In the book Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, one of the biggest focal points is mental illness. Mental illness can be tough to talk about, simply because the phrase “mental illness” encompasses such a wide range of conditions and conjures up images of deranged people, but it is very important, especially in this book. There is a certain stigma that people who are put into mental hospitals because they have medical problems or are insane and a possible danger to society. While this is sometimes true, it is far more common for patients to need help for a disorder, but just don’t know where to go or what to do, and can end up putting themselves or someone else in danger.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story that was written in first person during 1892. This story depicts society’s attitude towards women with a mental illness at that time. Ultimately, the story shows how women were treated in the 19th century. “And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.
Charlotte Gilman’s short story, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, (1899) is a text that describes how suppression of women and their confinement in domestic sphere leads to descend into insanity for escape. The story is written as diary entries of the protagonist, who is living with her husband in an old mansion for the summer. The protagonist, who remains unnamed, is suffering from post-partum depression after the birth of her child and is on ‘rest’ cure by her physician husband. In this paper, I will try to prove that ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ acts as a subversive text by portraying the protagonist’s “descent into madness” as a result of the suppression that women faced in Victorian period.
Skip to content THEBLUMEBLOG Exploring Literature in a Digital Age Menu The Yellow Wallpaper Argument Essay Written by theblume The_Yellow_Wallpaper_by_kaitaro04011“The Yellow Wallpaper” is, on its surface, about a woman driven insane by post-partum depression and a dangerous treatment. However, an examination of the protagonist’s characterization reveals that the story is fundamentally about identity. The protagonist’s projection of an imaginary woman — which at first is merely her shadow — against the bars of the wallpaper’s pattern fragments her identity, internalizing the conflict she experiences and eventually leading to the complete breakdown of the boundaries of her identity and that of her projected shadow.
Insanity is a deranged state of the mind. Not everyone has the same experiences nor the same symptoms which lead to their mental disorder. In her story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents a peculiar case of insanity. The main character is put on bed rest to overcome her temporary nervous depression. However, while being stuck inside the room, the unreliable narrator increasingly becomes more and more symptomatic.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, raises many questions from readers and makes us think about what has really caused the narrator to become insane in her story. Due to her husband’s controlling nature as a physician, there have been many moments where he treats her like a child that should be kept away from the outside world, which eventually drove her to insanity. She says, “dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia.
Today there has been an increase in the awareness of mental health. In the sense that society has begun to take notice of how mental health effects each individual differently. The media has begun to incorporate a variety of illnesses to entertain to their audience. However, many have questioned if the media is accurately portraying these mental disorders. I chose to compare two popular movies Frankie & Alice and the 2007 version film Sybil.
When people hear the words, “mental illness,” they think of insane asylums and psychiatric wards, but that’s not necessarily the case. Yes, back in the 1800’s they did have asylums for people with mental disorders. But that was when doctors didn’t fully understand mental illnesses and disorders. But currently, doctors are able to comprehend illnesses and disorders.
According to New York Daily, about 42 million American adults suffer from mental illnesses, enduring conditions such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Mental health is a condition concerning one’s psychological and emotional well-being. People who are diagnosed with a mentally ill have major shifts in mood, thinking and/or behavior. Those who agree to seek treatment, consult with a counselor and agree to be labeled has mentally ill. This allows them to have access to medication, housing, counseling and money.
Mental illness is an important topic that is rarely spoken or taught in today’s society. About half of people in the world have a mental health disorder, yet most people don’t know what it really means to have a serious health problem. There are numerous theories on why these disorders happen; additionally, some disorders in the world are still a mystery to the science community and also millions of people share these personal experiences through writing. What is Mental Health and its comparison to Mental Illness
While the topic of mental health awareness has recently been introduced, the roots of mental illnesses run deep into history. Mental illnesses, also called mental disorders, are a wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. Many people with mental illnesses are now fighting to increase awareness of disorders like depression and anxiety, and some argue that the best way to educate about mental illnesses is to teach about it in school. By educating about mental illnesses in schools, activists are hoping to increase understanding about the topic and prevent teenagers who have mental illnesses from feeling alone.