"Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!" -The Yellow Wallpaper
A SHORT INTRODUCTION SUMMARY: "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is about an unnamed narrator who writes in a journal about her experiences while on bed rest after being diagnosed with a mental condition after having recently given birth to her first child. Her husband, John, is a physician and agrees with the doctor's diagnosis and treatment methods. It is recommended that the narrator get plenty of rest, which requires her to be secluded in a room in their temporary house that has yellow wallpaper with all kinds of patterns on it. The story follows her journal entries about a woman that she sees in the wallpaper as a result of her delusions. Everyone in her life, including her husband, becomes increasingly worried about her condition.
THE QUOTE: "If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency--what is one to do?" (Gilman, 2008).
THE QUOTE: "At first he meant to repaper the room, but afterwards he said that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous patient than to give way to such fancies" (Gilman, 2008). THE QUOTE: "And I know John would think it absurd. But I MUST say what I feel and think in some way--it is such a relief!" (Gilman, 2008). THE QUOTE: "At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candle light, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it as plain as can be" (Gilman, 2008). THE QUOTE: "I don't blame her a bit. It must be very humiliating to be caught creeping by daylight!" (Gilman, 2008). THE QUOTE: "I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did?" (Gilman, 2008). THE QUOTE: "I've got out at last,' said I, 'in spite of you...And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (Gilman, 2008). |
THE ANALYSIS: Here, Gilman is addressing the tendency that physicians had to diagnose just about any problem a woman had during the time period in which she was writing as a case of hysteria. She is also addressing the helplessness that woman commonly felt during this time. If a physician that the community highly regards as a great professional tells her that she has a temporary nervous depression, she is going to have to accept it, even if she may not believe it to be true about herself. There is no sense in arguing. Her own husband is a physician also, and he has told her the same thing. She realizes she must just follow the doctor's orders.
THE ANALYSIS: Here, Gilman is addressing the insignificance of the narrator's wishes because she is a woman who has been diagnosed with a "nervous condition". In all reality, the wallpaper has begun to bother the narrator because it is a bland and putrid yellow color with dizzying patterns. The narrator is trapped in the room with this wallpaper all day, everyday. But these types of things were not even considered during the time period. The narrator's husband simply believes that her hatred of the wallpaper has just become an unnatural obsession caused by her condition, and therefore he will not repaper the room because that would be giving into the narrator's wishes; when in fact, if the narrator were not on bed rest, she would not have time to stare at this wallpaper and become "obsessed" with it in the first place. THE ANALYSIS: Here, Gilman is addressing the fact that the narrator, being a woman, cannot freely speak with her husband. Women during this time were expected to keep up with the household chores and all things domestic, but were rarely, if ever, rewarded for any opinions or statements that they made. Women were more of a "to be seen and not heard" type of luxury for men of the time. Every time that the narrator tries to speak with her husband about anything that is resulting from her "condition," he brushes it off or attributes any of her fears or worries to her nervousness; because of this, the narrator decides to take up her writing in secret when John is not around. The narrator speaks to what a relief it is to be able to say what she feels and thinks, even if it is only in writing. In reality, getting her thoughts out aloud would be much more therapeutic, but this was a luxury and a right that most women just had to live without. THE ANALYSIS: Here, the narrator has begun to see the woman coming through the wallpaper at almost all times of the day. She is becoming accustomed to seeing the woman all around the room behind the wallpaper. With this particular quote, Gilman is addressing the way that women were kept in the dark about the changing society around them and were imprisoned within their own households. She is asserting her own ideas and opinions that women who are kept in the dark about their own society and other aspects of their life can suffer mentally and physically, just as the narrator is in the story. The narrator also serves as the embodiment of Gilman's idea that if women were able to be enlightened, so to speak, they could benefit greatly in health and in mind. These ideas would not have been warmly welcomed during the time period in which Gilman was writing. THE ANALYSIS: Here, the narrator has been seeing the woman creeping outside the house through her window in the room. The narrator says that when the woman sees her watching through the window of the house, she creeps behind the bushes and hides from sight. The narrator says that she does not blame her because she too would be embarrassed if caught wondering around outside during the daytime. Gilman is using this part of the story to address the idea that women were not to be outside of the house, especially during the day at the time she was writing the story. Women were to be in the house performing their domestic duties such as caring for the children, cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. They were not to be outside walking around leisurely. Also, the realm of the household was where the women of the time were confined to for the most part. The outside world was not supposed to be familiar to them. THE ANALYSIS: Here, the narrator in the story is speaking about how she has seen not one, but many women creeping about from behind the wallpaper. They wander around and creep about the room at all hours of the day and night. The narrator begins to see the women coming out of the wallpaper as representations and reflections of herself. She wonders if the women moving around the room have come out of the wallpaper just as she believes she has. Gilman uses this part of the story to address the idea that women of her time period were under enormous social constraint from doing what they wanted to and exploring their ideas, creativity, and potential for something greater than keeping up the household. Such an idea would not have been well received at the time, and it would have attracted plenty of negative attention and criticism. Gilman creates this part of the story in a way that embodies the narrator as the voice of oppressed women of the time, who wonder if women are able to escape their social constraints as she wishes to escape them. She also wonders if other women in her society think and wish the same things that she does. THE ANALYSIS: Here, the narrator has been creeping about the room herself, just as the woman has been doing the entire time she's been staying in the room with the yellow wallpaper. She exclaims the statement to her husband that she has gotten out of the wallpaper at last. She exclaims that she is now free from her constraints and the bars behind the wall. The narrator also stresses that she has pulled most of the paper off of the wall, and therefore cannot be put back into the wallpaper or her former constraints. Gilman is addressing the fact that many women during this time period felt oppressed and imprisoned by men and others in society who viewed them as weak, fragile, and unstable beings. Many women wished to escape their social constraints and go out into the world to see what it had to offer them. Gilman is also addressing the doctor who diagnosed her in her actual life with the same condition that the narrator has been diagnosed with. She uses the narrator as a sort of representation of herself. At the end of this story, she is fighting back against the physician and society in general. She is saying that although it may come as a shock to men and others in society, she wishes to break the norm and become what she longs to be - a woman with her own thoughts and opinions. |