Oppression In The Yellow Wallpaper

After analyzing the pattern for awhile, the narrator witnesses a woman trapped behind bars. Eventually, we realize that the woman in the wallpaper is the narrator. Throughout the story, the narrator 's mental state continues to deteriorate. Being both the narrator 's husband and physician, John assumes that he knows what’s best for his wife. However, in this essay, I will argue that Gilman portrays John as an antagonist or “villain” in her story because, through his actions, he is the main reason for his wife 's descent into insanity which proves that he didn’t know what was best for his wife after all.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the female narrator is greatly troubled by the suppression of her imagination by her husband and her ultimate isolation due to this subordination. These feelings are reflected through the author’s use of setting as the narrator’s dreary and malicious descriptions of the house and the wallpaper mirrors her emotional position. Throughout the reading, the reader is exposed to the narrator’s in-depth loss of touch with reality as she sinks further and further into her own reality. As she becomes more isolated, her descriptions of the house become more abstract as she begins to focus on the wallpaper and starts to see herself as being hidden behind it. In the beginning of the story, she describes

The woman on the floor trying to take the wallpaper down would not let her husband in as he tried to knock the door down, but she does not realize she is doing it to herself. For example, Catherine Golden states in her article that, “The narrator seems detached from the bits of wallpaper on the floor next to her and John wallpaper fragments that could be read as a literal representation of the source of her insanity. The narrator’s hallucinations and action of tearing down the wallpaper to free the woman trapped behind the wallpaper pattern condemn her to madness” (60). The woman husband seems to not listen to her in what she has to say in the story about the wall in her bedroom. The man treats her more like a child and does pay any attention to her.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story set in the 1890s about a female narrator who struggles with postpartum depression. She moves into a home for the summer with her husband, John. Since she has this sickness, John forbids her from doing any sort of activities other than some houes work. If she was doing anything, her husband would want her to rest to help with her illness. This was a common "cure" known at the rest cure back then.

Patronized Depression Could it be that the cause of sin and madness is due to the limitation of the human mind? In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells the story of a young women who tends to distract herself by trying to free the lady inside the wall. However, this figure might not only be the thing Jane or the narrator might want to free, as she is clinically depressed, and is constantly being patronized by John her husband, who seems to limit Jane’s interaction with other people and her personal diary. The Yellow wallpaper is seen as a way to escape her depression. In this story the role of Jane is limited due to her “Condition,” and her ability to express herself.

This illness can arise from the combination of hormonal changes, psychological adjustment to motherhood, and fatigue. As the narrator becomes more fascinated with the wallpaper she moves progressively away from her normal day-to-day routines and lifestyle. When the narrator finally recognizes herself as the woman trapped in the wallpaper she screams at her husband "I 've got out at last," (Gilman 656) "you can 't put me back" (Gilman 656). She realizes woman are forced to hide behind the internal patterns of their lives and they need that she needs to be

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story told through diary entries of a woman who suffers from postpartum depression. The narrator, whose name is never mentioned, becomes obsessed with the ugly yellow wallpaper in the summer home her husband rented for them. While at the home the Narrator studies the wallpaper and starts to believe there is a woman in the wallpaper. Her obsession with the wallpaper slowly makes her mental state deteriorate. Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses many literary devices such as symbolism, personification and imagery to help convey her message and get it across to the reader.

In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Stetson writes a story about a woman name Jane treated for postpartum depression. On the contrary, in the article “How Extreme Isolation Warps The Mind” Michael Bond describes many different circumstances in which isolation engulfs the body and mind of people in close quartered areas. Isolation slowly creeps in and attacks the health of one’s body and mind in a confined area. While confined in a room, isolation depletes Jane’s health. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Jane suffers from postpartum depression.

A large theme within Bradbury’s writing is, people are dispensable. Mildred Montag, the protagonist’s wife, is a morbidly depressed woman who is one of the many victims at the heart of this truth. With not much of a connection to her husband, she turns to technology to help numb her. She is constantly listening to her “seashells,” our equivalent of earbuds, blocking out who and what is happening around her or engaging with the television instead of spending time with real people. When her and her friends meet, they sit in her parlor, in front of the technology, and socialize that way, which highlights another important theme.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” and Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” the two characters are consistently belittled by the antagonist in the stories. In “Sweat” Delia is an average housewife, but unfortunately she is in an abusive relationship with her husband named Sykes, who has a tendency to degrade Delia. Throughout the story, Sykes treats Delia horribly and towards the end of the story, Delia finally realizes that she has had enough of her abusive husband because he makes her feel as if she is not worth anything. Due to Sykes’ tendency to degrade her, Delia is considered to be a sympathetic character. The same kind of conflict affects the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado.” During the story, the narrator, Montresor, consistently gets put down by his friend Fortunato, who mocked the narrator’s family name.