The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis
Rachel Aho
3rd Hour
1/30/14
Literary Interpretation
In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman is sick with cancer. The woman is confined to her room partly due to her sickness, and also due to her controlling husband. The woman was put into a room with dingy yellow wallpaper, which made her insane. The woman was cared for by her husband John. Soon, she began to regain her strength. Even as she was recovering, her husband kept tight control on her. He wouldn’t let her out of the room. The woman eventually went mad with rage and snapped at the end of the novel. The Yellow Wallpaper is a symbol of the restraint a woman faces in her everyday life due to men. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Perkins tries to show the unjust treatment …show more content…
"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," (Perkins 55). By writing this, Perkins is showing that the narrator has become fed up with how controlling her husband is. The yellow wallpaper in the room symbolized the control the husband had on his wife, because the narrator was confined in the room by her husband. Furthermore, in the novel the room in which the narrator is contained has barred windows. These were put in place by her husband John, and can also be interpreted as a way of restriction. "John is a representative image of the dominant sunlight, which in the story keeps the woman behind strict bars and prevents her from being free or creative," …show more content…
"John is a physician, and perhaps-(I would not say it to a living soul of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind-) perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see, he does not believe I am sick," (Perkins 2). For one, the narrator is terrified to actually voice an opinion to her husband. Her opinions are oppressed, as are many other women 's thoughts during this time period. Secondly, the narrators husband doesn 't believe that she 's actually sick. The husband doesn 't respect his wife 's thoughts, and believes that because she is lesser, she doesn 't know what she 's talking about. "Gilman’s portrayal of a woman who becomes mentally ill due to the conditions of her home life, only to become a misunderstood patient, does much to raise sympathy for the feminist cause. The fact that the story ends with the woman in a state of madness, suggests that a female who wished to emancipate herself in Victorian society had a serious price to pay for her freedom," (See). Perkins is also showing that women with mental illnesses are especially subject to bigotry and segregation. Perkins herself faced a life with cancer and was told to rest with no physical activity. “Live as domestic life as possible. Lie down an hour after each meal... with but two hours intellectual life a day. And never touch a pen, brush or pencil as long as you live," (See). The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper
3rd Hour
1/30/14
Literary Interpretation
In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman is sick with cancer. The woman is confined to her room partly due to her sickness, and also due to her controlling husband. The woman was put into a room with dingy yellow wallpaper, which made her insane. The woman was cared for by her husband John. Soon, she began to regain her strength. Even as she was recovering, her husband kept tight control on her. He wouldn’t let her out of the room. The woman eventually went mad with rage and snapped at the end of the novel. The Yellow Wallpaper is a symbol of the restraint a woman faces in her everyday life due to men. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Perkins tries to show the unjust treatment …show more content…
"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," (Perkins 55). By writing this, Perkins is showing that the narrator has become fed up with how controlling her husband is. The yellow wallpaper in the room symbolized the control the husband had on his wife, because the narrator was confined in the room by her husband. Furthermore, in the novel the room in which the narrator is contained has barred windows. These were put in place by her husband John, and can also be interpreted as a way of restriction. "John is a representative image of the dominant sunlight, which in the story keeps the woman behind strict bars and prevents her from being free or creative," …show more content…
"John is a physician, and perhaps-(I would not say it to a living soul of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind-) perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see, he does not believe I am sick," (Perkins 2). For one, the narrator is terrified to actually voice an opinion to her husband. Her opinions are oppressed, as are many other women 's thoughts during this time period. Secondly, the narrators husband doesn 't believe that she 's actually sick. The husband doesn 't respect his wife 's thoughts, and believes that because she is lesser, she doesn 't know what she 's talking about. "Gilman’s portrayal of a woman who becomes mentally ill due to the conditions of her home life, only to become a misunderstood patient, does much to raise sympathy for the feminist cause. The fact that the story ends with the woman in a state of madness, suggests that a female who wished to emancipate herself in Victorian society had a serious price to pay for her freedom," (See). Perkins is also showing that women with mental illnesses are especially subject to bigotry and segregation. Perkins herself faced a life with cancer and was told to rest with no physical activity. “Live as domestic life as possible. Lie down an hour after each meal... with but two hours intellectual life a day. And never touch a pen, brush or pencil as long as you live," (See). The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper