Yellow Wallpaper Fiction Essay
The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a young wife and mother who has recently began to suffer symptoms of depression and anxiety. She does not believe that anything is wrong with her but, John, her husband who is a physician, diagnoses her with neurasthenia and prescribes several months of “rest cure.” She is confined to the nursery in their rented summer home, the narrator is not allowed to write or engage in anything happening out of the house. She secretly writes in her journal and finds discomfort in the hideous wallpaper that covers the walls of the room. As a result of the narrators "temporary nervous depression" (221), her husband takes her to a secluded estate that is away from the road and the nearest town. In his efforts to help her, he decided that it would be best to keep her locked upstairs in a room that is called a nursery, although it resembles a room for an insane person that was perhaps kept there once before. And although she disagreed with his ideas and believed that "congenial work, with excitement and change, would do her good” (223), there was not much she could say to him directly. He "assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing wrong" (222) and manipulates the situation by making it seem that she is the one that is control, when really he is the character in the story who is making uncalled for actions. When the narrator talks about the house, she describes it as "the most beautiful place" (222) although she hates her room. She elaborates about the wallpaper, which later becomes another character in the story, perhaps her personality that has been split two ways. She describes the wallpaper as "one of those sprawling, flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin" (225) making it appears unattractive for a beautiful mansion and letting us know that she is rational at this time. She goes on to say that "it is dull enough to confuse the eye," (225) "constantly to irritate and provoke study," implying one could not
Cited: Johnson, Greg. “Studies in Short Fiction.” Gilman’s Gothic Allegory: Rage and Redemption in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Vol. 26 Issue 4: 521-530. Academic Search Complete. Web. February 18, 2011 Dear Sara, I am writing this letter to tell you what I thought about your character analysis essay over “Greasy Lake.” Over all the paper was very descriptive and gave the name of a “bad character” to the protagonist you were describing. You had good support and examples for every point you made. I understood the points you were trying to make about him and his friends. Although, the repetition used about the “character” was used quite often. Phrases such as “bad character” were used two or three times each paragraph and I believe that is too much. The structure of some of the sentences I circled were poor compared to some of the really good points compared. It was clear that you were talking about the protagonist in the story and what you thought the author was trying to make him look like. (The label that he made him and his friends look like.) Good job on this essay. I believe it does need a little work, other than the MLA style, which is good, but the points are understandable the reader of your essay. Madison Boatler