vernacular, Charlotte Perkins Gilman deftly and sensitively describes the complex condition in her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The story describes the prevailing attitudes towards women and their narrowly defined roles in society. White, upper middle class women like the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” could not easily express discontent with their position as wife and mother. The narrator’s husband—a physician—believes there is “nothing the matter” with his wife except “temporary nervous depression” and “a slight hysterical tendency,” (Gilman 648). Noting her brother is also a physician, the narrator exclaims, “But what is one to do,” when one is just a woman, and therefore a subordinate… Continue Reading...
Medical Misunderstandings and Gender:
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a brief psychological study of a woman slowly going mad over the course of an imposed rest cure, prescribed by her physician-husband. The story illustrates the extent to which limited knowledge of the female psyche and a refusal to treat women as intelligent, independent beings ironically produces the types of behaviors the psychological treatment of the era was supposed to prevent. Both women and men are guilty of limiting women’s voices when women attempt to escape… Continue Reading...
Depression or Oppression: The Yellow Wallpaper
\\"The Yellow Wallpaper\\" is an amazing piece about Charlotte’s descent into mental impairment. Presented in diary form, the text recounts the experiences of Charlotte who is diagnosed with a nervous condition (i.e. hysteria) and is advised by her physician husband that she ought to be exposed to minimal mental stimulation in her path to recovery. Towards this end, she is essentially barricaded in her bedroom – a room wrapped in yellow wallpaper. While Charlotte is at first diagnosed with depression and supposedly put on treatment for the same,… Continue Reading...
Jar," (Ames 1) and "Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." (Gilman 1) The study develops personal connection and similarities between the two characters and their mentally unstable characteristics. Based on the biographic aspects of both women, their mental health deteriorating, and they committed suicide despite that their societal effects and literary accomplishment that allowed them living on.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman is best known for her book titled "The Yellow Wallpaper." "The Norton Introduction to Literature" (Gilman 1). Gilman was known for her contribution to her feminist intellectualism and crusade journalism who pioneered the women rights. Typically, Gilman was… Continue Reading...
The short story entitled the “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman both approach the subject of female sanity and wellness from different angles. Both stories suggest that society and those closest to the woman have really no idea about the inner life of the female, nor what is best for her mental health and overall well being. The incorrect assumptions of those around them are precisely what contribute to the ultimate tragedies and unraveling of mental states present within each story.
Chopin’s famous “Story of an Hour” demonstrates the ill-conceived presumption that so many of the… Continue Reading...
