Why Is The Yellow Wallpaper Oppressed
The Yellow Wallpaper
History has shown that women were considered second-class citizens for much of the nineteenth century, oppressed by the opposite sex for being “weak”. This oppression is not uncommon to literature; in fact, it has become usual to read about many of the societal obstacles that women had to surpass in order to advance to freedom. In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the protagonist—also the narrator—to portray the repression of women during this time period. The anonymous narrator begins the story by telling of her husband and their summer home. Initially all seems well, however the reader comes to find that the entire story is a compilation of writings that were written in secret; the …show more content…
But nobody could climb through that pattern—it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads” (p 325). Once again, the wallpaper is paralleled with the narrators need for escape, but unlike the woman behind the wallpaper, the narrator wishes to “climb through” the control of her husband. Yet, she knows that to overcome her husband is almost impossible, much like the deadly escape from the pattern. The “many heads” can be seen as the countless number of women who have fallen victims to their husband’s control, and wasted their lives trying to escape from this social “pattern.” The image of the woman shaking the bars shows the narrators desperate need for freedom. The narrator expresses in her secret journal, “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings!” (p 316) Here, the narrator is describing her desire for another room, one that is perhaps more alive with roses and one that feels more free. The narrator’s need for an open room suggests her feeling of entrapment. John's insistence to put his wife in this room where “the windows are barred…and there are rings and things in the walls,” seems to show he perhaps wanted his wife to feel captive to his rule (p 317). The “barred windows,” portray confinement, in this case for the narrator—her confinement to the four walls of the room. Also, the narrator’s obsession for the wallpaper only makes her feel trapped within her own home. This feeling is portrayed more clearly as she describes the woman she fancies behind the yellow wallpaper who, “in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard” (p 325). Much like the woman behind the wallpaper, the narrator is living trapped in a room surrounded by barred
History has shown that women were considered second-class citizens for much of the nineteenth century, oppressed by the opposite sex for being “weak”. This oppression is not uncommon to literature; in fact, it has become usual to read about many of the societal obstacles that women had to surpass in order to advance to freedom. In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the protagonist—also the narrator—to portray the repression of women during this time period. The anonymous narrator begins the story by telling of her husband and their summer home. Initially all seems well, however the reader comes to find that the entire story is a compilation of writings that were written in secret; the …show more content…
But nobody could climb through that pattern—it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads” (p 325). Once again, the wallpaper is paralleled with the narrators need for escape, but unlike the woman behind the wallpaper, the narrator wishes to “climb through” the control of her husband. Yet, she knows that to overcome her husband is almost impossible, much like the deadly escape from the pattern. The “many heads” can be seen as the countless number of women who have fallen victims to their husband’s control, and wasted their lives trying to escape from this social “pattern.” The image of the woman shaking the bars shows the narrators desperate need for freedom. The narrator expresses in her secret journal, “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings!” (p 316) Here, the narrator is describing her desire for another room, one that is perhaps more alive with roses and one that feels more free. The narrator’s need for an open room suggests her feeling of entrapment. John's insistence to put his wife in this room where “the windows are barred…and there are rings and things in the walls,” seems to show he perhaps wanted his wife to feel captive to his rule (p 317). The “barred windows,” portray confinement, in this case for the narrator—her confinement to the four walls of the room. Also, the narrator’s obsession for the wallpaper only makes her feel trapped within her own home. This feeling is portrayed more clearly as she describes the woman she fancies behind the yellow wallpaper who, “in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard” (p 325). Much like the woman behind the wallpaper, the narrator is living trapped in a room surrounded by barred