Question 5: The Yellow Wallpaper
The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The New England Magazine first published this book in January 1892 (Dock 4). Readers regard Charlotte’s book as the most creative work of literature that illustrates the attitudes towards women’s mental and physical health during the 19th century. Charlotte Perkins presents the book in the first person to describe the problems she undergoes under the control of her physician husband. The author’s husband forbids her from working and bars her from accessing the rest of the house. The story depicts the implications of this confinement on the author’s mental health and the descent into psychosis. There is nothing in the isolated room to stimulate her; this is why she becomes obsessed by the color and pattern of the yellow wallpaper. The Yellow Wallpaper illustrates the revolution of women and American culture at the turn of the 20st century. Charlotte describes the process of defeating the patriarchal culture represented in the attitudes of tyrannical husbands.
American women were not deified during early civilizations. Men viewed women as inferior for a long time. Feminist critics interpret The Yellow Wallpaper as one of the milestones of condemning androcentric hegemony of the 19th century medical profession (Dock 20). The narrator’s most interesting part is about her recuperation of the husband’s patriarchy. She proposes that she should better work instead of resting, and engage with society to avoid unnecessary isolations. The author expresses her interest in being a mother and opposes any attempt of entire separation from her own child. The feminist interpretation draws on the concept of the domestic sphere that held women during the 19th century. The objective of the author is to transform the status of women and American culture to suit the needs of the 20st century. The restrictive character of John is viewed as inappropriate in the 20th century; however this was considered normal during the 19th century.
The Yellow Wallpaper describes a woman as an isolated member of the society. The wallpaper traps the narrator’s mind, and John confines her physically. John refuses to assign the narrator any activity to do, and this drives her to the wallpaper to seek some kind of intellectual activity. The husband’s confinement is clearly indicated by the author’s words, “There comes John, and I must put this away because he hates seeing me write anything” (Dock 11). This implies that John’s intention was to separate her from the intellectual world so that she cannot realize the merits of freedom. The author assigns the wallpaper human attributes such as “staring bulbous eyes” (Dock 18). The narrator is discouraged with her loneliness and lack of stimulation; the factors that make her animate the vicious nature of the wallpaper. The author’s husband is insensitive to her plight as he denies her company with the objective of getting her “really well.”
The metaphors and images in The Yellow Wallpaper portray a feminine character that has the power to break out in triumph over dominance of male characters (Dock 19). The author finally succeeds in the writing career and finds a way out of the norms and against the traditions of the society. Gilman promotes new ideas while challenging old ideas to uphold the position of women in the society. Gilman is a representative of society heroines that strive to overcome all forms of oppression and exploitation in order to find opportunities for personal choices. The Yellow Wallpaper portrays the women as the sources of change agendas and illustrates their struggle to seek equal opportunity in the community. The woman in the 20th century is actively fighting to break the chains of being a true woman and transforming to a free woman (Dock 16).
The end of the short-story depicts the process of the wife defeating the patriarchal character of her husband. Gilman locks herself in the imprisonment room in order to strategize the best way of stripping the remains of the yellow wallpaper. When John arrives home, Gilman does not open the door. John goes and finds the key to the room. He returns with the key and finds Gilman creeping around the room. John is amazed to find her circling the wall while touching the yellow wallpaper. Gilman shouts, “I have got out at last.” This exclamation makes John to faint (Dock 17). Gilman does not stop circling the room. She begins stepping over her body each turn she passes the circle. Since the husband has become inert, the narrator breaks the chains of imprisonment and claims her freedom. Some interpreters argue that the narrator has killed her husband, and she is crawling on his body. The book, however, uses symbolism of the dead body to represent the tools of change that women can use to overcome the traditions of patriarchy without causing harm to their husbands (Dock 18).
Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper represents the plight that the American women faced under their over-protective husbands. The book portrays women as isolated from the society and prevented from accessing intellectual stimulation. The author is interested in striking the balance between true womanhood and women’s rights. Gilman’s act of crawling over the body of her inert husband reveals that women have the strength to overcome male dominance. The Yellow Wallpaper is an excellent representation of a woman’s transformation from the 19th century oppression to the freedom of the 20th century.
Works Cited
Dock, Julie B. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the History of Its Publication and Reception: A Critical Edition and Documentary Casebook. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. Print.
