Imagination and Practicality in the Essay

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Jane's lessening of her introspection as the story progresses indicates how much further she has sunk. She doesn't question this fantasy of hers about the woman behind the wallpaper -- she obviously accepts it as fact. it's entirely possible that everything Jane has offered us in the way of details of her life in that house could be utterly fabricated (Gilbert; Snyder). Since she is our only witness, however, it is impossible to tell what is real and what is not.

Taking this idea one step further, we have to admit that it is possible that John isn't actually a real person. The alliteration of the names could be an indication that these characters are all simply the human manifestation of Jane's many facets of personality. John represents the practical side, while Jane is the imaginative side. it's possible that what we are witnessing in this story is not the struggle between man and wife, or patient and physician, but the struggle of one psyche to maintain a balance between her imagination and the demands of her practical life. Jane has failed to find a middle path between these two facets of her personality.

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Whether or not these two opposite interests exist within the same mind or within the same house, the message is relatively clear. This message is that practicality and imagination coexist in a state of a fragile balance. If that balance is disrupted and one side begins to win over other in a dramatic fashion then a serious struggle will ensue. Both traits must give way to the wisdom of the other without overwhelming it -- very much like the classic yin-yang symbol. If only Jane were allowed to write, it could have operated as a release valve in her mind. Just as a hyperactive child will run himself ragged and collapse into a sleeping heap when the energy has run its course, imagination will eventually be spent and the capabilities of practicality will resume. "The Yellow Wallpaper" shows us that this is not a reciprocal process, however, and that practicality must allow the hyperactive child of imagination run wild on occasion or else it will lead to spontaneous mental combustion.

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