The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Triggering the Hidden Part of the Human Subconscious Through Inanimate Objects Many individuals fear where the line between sanity and insanity blur together as an amount of trauma creates hallucinations in the subconscious. During humanity’s earlier days, mental illness could not be determined by a physical diagnosis. The concept of how a sane person can turn insane brings wonders, yet curiosity into the subconscious. These possibilities were expressed through the works of literature where little to no knowledge could burst into bountiful amounts on the subject of insanity. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the main character goes through an experience that causes her to reach her breaking point from a caged fragile creature to a free animal. Gilman explores the hidden parts of the mind where illusion and reality collide as one by using the wallpaper as both a trigger and curse in allowing the main character reveal her inner self that was locked away from society. As the plot of the story finally
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“The woman behind shakes it! Then in the bright spots she keeps still, and in very shady spots she takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard. And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern. I think that is why it has so many heads”(Gilman 11). Gilman’s inclusion of the heads symbolizes high authority of society as a lock on the traditions and ideals on how everything should be from social rank to actions. During the day the narrator is oppressed by society’s regulations, compared to the night where no prying eyes could see her try and break free from the chains society had laid out for her. Moreover, the day symbolizes the reality the main character is in where she follows society’s constitution with no freedom of expression. Whereas in the night, she has the freedom to be who she is and allow her fantasy to liberate her from
“The woman behind shakes it! Then in the bright spots she keeps still, and in very shady spots she takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard. And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern. I think that is why it has so many heads”(Gilman 11). Gilman’s inclusion of the heads symbolizes high authority of society as a lock on the traditions and ideals on how everything should be from social rank to actions. During the day the narrator is oppressed by society’s regulations, compared to the night where no prying eyes could see her try and break free from the chains society had laid out for her. Moreover, the day symbolizes the reality the main character is in where she follows society’s constitution with no freedom of expression. Whereas in the night, she has the freedom to be who she is and allow her fantasy to liberate her from