Preview

Analysis Of The Yellow Wallpaper: Undermining The Truth

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1132 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of The Yellow Wallpaper: Undermining The Truth
The Yellow Wallpaper: Undermining the Truth It’s no secret that gothic stories often use a combination of physical and psychological terror to evoke emotion into the reader. In The Yellow Wallpaper the combination of physical confinement in the room and emotional oppression serve to accelerate the deterioration of the narrator’s sanity. This creates an unreliable narrator which undermines the truth and adds to the gothic of the story. An intangible and uncertain reality makes the reader question the events and characters and creates a sense of uneasiness.
The beginning of the story has a relatively reliable narrator, nothing that is said or explained in these early paragraphs seem to hint that there is anything awry with reality or of the retelling of the story by the narrator. These early paragraphs also lay out the relationship between the narrator and the husband. The narrator’s condition is introduced as well as the remedy that is prescribed by her husband, and her physician “[I] am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well
…show more content…
She starts seeing a figure inside the wall paper and this is the point when the narrator becomes unreliable. “And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don't like it a bit. I wonder -- I begin to think – I wish John would take me away from here!”(Gilman 5). Once a figure shows up within the wall paper the narrator becomes unreliable because there isn’t actually a person there she’s just seeing a manifestation of her oppressed imagination. Immediately after seeing the woman behind the wallpaper she blames John and the place she is trapped in. There is an underlying truth in these words that show how the room and the yellow wall paper are to blame for the appearance of the woman when she says, “I wonder—I begin to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Cameron Jones Final Essay

    • 1914 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Gothic literature movement began in the late 18th century with Horace Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto” and was a derivative of the Romantic Movement. Writers of the Gothic Genre were focused on drawing on the emotions of the reader and creating an atmosphere of suspense, mystery, terror and dread. The writers also emphasized the supernatural, and how horror can be present in many everyday situations. Gothic texts also place emphasis on emotions such as agitation, hysteria, mystery, venerability, suspense and panic. Many Gothic texts are based in places that are decaying, deserted, abandoned, isolated or that have a have a history of death, war and family feuds. The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman relates to and explores these characteristics of the Gothic Genre but not only that, is used as a way to critique the male dominated society she lived in. While not the only gothic text with feminist symbolism, I would argue that it’s certainly one of the most influential, at least when compared to the other stories we’ve read this semester.…

    • 1914 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    At first glance, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wall-Paper may seem to be a fairly simplistic text, which outlines a woman’s struggles with postpartum depression; however, with greater investigation, it can be determined that a deeper meaning is present. The Yellow Wall-Paper, with further analysis, can be interpreted as having a meaningful message, as the oppression of women is profiled. This message is gradually exposed along with the development of the characters, namely the narrator and her husband John, throughout the text. As the narrator experiences visions of women trapped in her walls, is forced to conform to specific gender roles, and is unable to express or communicate her own feelings, the impact which oppression has on the individual, as well as the idea of patriarchal society, is demonstrated.…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are a variety of reasons why a person might feel trapped and suffocated, and why they might be trying trying to change their lives by escaping an oppressive society. During one's everyday life it is not easy to understand what might be putting someone down, but when reading a story, an author can leave hints on why a character or characters might be feeling trapped and why they might be trying to escape from an oppressive society. In Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper, the reader follows the narrator’s story through her diary, a woman wrongfully diagnosed and ordered to be locked inside a house by her husband, also being her doctor, and the events she goes through that reveal the narrator's descent into madness.…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The role of women in society has changed dramatically over the centuries from women being inferior to men, to women gaining autonomy. The issue of gender roles has also changed over time; where in the late 1800’s males dominated the workplace and home, to women now acquiring more independence and self-worth. This paper will discuss the similarities of themes between the two short stories of “The Revolt of Mother” by Mary E Wilkins Freeman and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Through each of these short stories the literary elements of style, symbolism, and irony will be discussed, impacting the theme in various ways. Over time, the role of women in society continues to change, shaping each individual into a new era of freedom and rights.…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During this movement many selections broke away from past standards and expectations, but one piece of literature the truly embraced this idea was the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The genera horror in which it was written in itself was unheard of, but by incorporating certain attributes that some might say are unsettling it broke from tradition in a very unique way. It used real life scenarios to enable fear almost incorporating elements of satire, for this story…

    • 1507 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    yellow

    • 1442 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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.…

    • 1442 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    After I read both of two story, I am really conscious of woman’s status got very fall in a patrilineal society. Woman’s rights have long been ignored, repressed, and they can’t escape from the patrilineal that lead to they are all got sad ending. There are two persons I want to talk about it, one is Emily who is in “A Rose For Emily” was wrote by Faulkner and the Jane is in “The Yellow Wallpaper”.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The narrator has finally, after months of toiling over her obsession with the yellow wallpaper in the room where she was kept while ill, realized the relevance and meaning of the gloomy decoration. I chose this passage form the short story because it proves to the readers that the narrator is actually mentally ill and reveals her feelings and perception of the yellow wallpaper. This passage, in my opinion, is one of the most important parts of the short story due to the correlation of the woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper and the women in the story. This passage also clearly reveals that the narrator of the story is mentally ill, bringing the story to an abrupt and formidable ending.…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Yellow Wallpaper Essay

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman explores the oppression of women in the nineteenth century and how this led to the limitation of freedom, leading to confinement of many women during this time. It illustrates the male superiority over the female and the elimination of a voice and a say for these women regarding their own lives. The short story is structured to appear a bit creepy and horrific, but within this method the author created a strong female character who, even though is slowly deteriorating psychologically, is trying to fight the pressure that society in the nineteenth century is placing on her and also the pressure of her own husband. The style that the author was trying to create is clear through her use…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Yellow Wallpaper” was one of the most fascinating short stories I ever read. It was…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Their mental illnesses may have been misdiagnosed, and their feelings often overlooked, but the stressors of their life triggered an outbreak of madness. For example, Mrs. Mallard was known for her pre-existing heart condition, yet excerpts from “The Story an Hour” suggest underlying insanity that was prompted by the realization of her desire for freedom. Moreover, the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” experiences levels of insanity through her imagination. Both protagonists experience delirium and brief freedom, but their desire for freedom leads to literal death and figurative death of each character.…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Yellow Wallpaper

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages

    According to a well known scholar named Greg Johnson, he suggests that “The Yellow Wallpaper” contains Gothic themes such as "confinement and rebellion, forbidden desire and 'irrational' feart . . .…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman engages the audience into the inner self of a young mother and wife throughout the story. The story has grown from a remedy to depression to a female defiance to a male society. Gilman’s purpose in writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” shows the courage a woman had to demonstrate a positive change in her self-identity and free her from the social, domestic, and psychological confinement that were placed on women in the 1800’s. By writing the story from a first-person feministic point of view the narrator shows the struggle of women’s independence and individuality in a male dominated society through gender stereotype that exist between the society and the protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”…

    • 3424 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The author explains that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is not merely categorized in the genre of gothic, but of the sub-genre female gothic. Davison goes on to state that the primary factor that makes female gothic different than gothic is that, firstly, the story revolves around a female character, and secondly, revolves around the foremost message “not all marriages are created equal.” Davison explains the difference between gothic and female gothic by explaining to the readers, “Drawing upon the Gothic genre in general, which explores the dark underbelly of modernity, the Female Gothic advances a gender-aware commentary on modern institutions by way of a point-blank portrait of domestic relations.” (Davison, 7).…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight. … I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once. And John is so queer now, that I don't want to irritate him. I wish he would take another room! Besides, I don't want anybody to get that woman out at night but myself.”(Gilman, 1899).The woman tried to free the woman behind the wallpaper, which the narrator freeing herself and is trying to gain her own identity from her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the lady only gained mental control over her life when she freed the lady trapped behind the wallpaper. The lady trapped behind the wallpaper, represented the woman feeling trapped in a marriage and wanting to be free. By the women escaping, she ends up losing her identity still because she ends up mentally destroyed. “I’ve got out at last…in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gilman, 1899).Gilman used setting in, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, to give the readers a visual of how the character ends up trying to find herself, but still losing herself in the…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays