Rest Therapy In John Steinbeck's The Yellow Wallpaper
The narrator is in conflict with her husband John, Jeannie, and herself. The narrator does not want her husband and Jeannie to find out what she does during the day and night causing a conflict with both, “…but I feel sure John and Jennie are secretly affected by it” (535). She is also in conflict with herself because she lets us to understand that she is the woman behind the wallpaper creeping, “…so that I had to creep over him every time!” (537).
Rest therapy is a therapy to not worry and separate yourself from the worries of everyday life. The physician prescribed rest therapy to the narrator so she can get better from her nervousness. She is taken by her husband to a rental home to be at peace with herself and nature, “He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get” (527).
During her rest therapy she was not allowed to write or do anything that would make her tired, “I did write for a while in spite of them…” (527). Not keeping her mind occupied in her writing or doing something else productive, the narrator started seeing objects on the wallpaper, “There are things in that …show more content…
The narrator also goes as far as explaining what the woman behind the wallpaper does all day long while she sleeps. She gives life to the wallpaper itself in a sense that she believes that a woman is prisoner behind it, “As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and rant to help her” (536). The symbolism the narrator used were of great significance because at the end it was the narrator feeling free. The wallpaper was her husband and Jennie holding her back from doing what she wanted, “‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I, ‘In spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’”
Rest therapy is a therapy to not worry and separate yourself from the worries of everyday life. The physician prescribed rest therapy to the narrator so she can get better from her nervousness. She is taken by her husband to a rental home to be at peace with herself and nature, “He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get” (527).
During her rest therapy she was not allowed to write or do anything that would make her tired, “I did write for a while in spite of them…” (527). Not keeping her mind occupied in her writing or doing something else productive, the narrator started seeing objects on the wallpaper, “There are things in that …show more content…
The narrator also goes as far as explaining what the woman behind the wallpaper does all day long while she sleeps. She gives life to the wallpaper itself in a sense that she believes that a woman is prisoner behind it, “As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and rant to help her” (536). The symbolism the narrator used were of great significance because at the end it was the narrator feeling free. The wallpaper was her husband and Jennie holding her back from doing what she wanted, “‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I, ‘In spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’”