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28, 2005
You crazy wallpaper-eater!
Gilman, ''The Yellow Wall-paper'' (1899) -- American Literature, 1800-1915 (EL 266)
"There comes John, and I must put this away,--he hates to have me write a word."
So..."The Yellow Wallpaper"...super creepy if you ask me. Reading this story gave me chills in a a way, because I could easily picture this poor, mental woman going insane and shredding this wallpaper.
But also, because this stort is told from a sick woman' perspective, it is very easy to point out gender roles in this story.
#1-She is not receiving the proper medical treatment beucase her husband is her doctor and he does not want to admit that his wife is suffering from a mental illness. Thus, he does not treat her and makes her deal with things that she claims make her crazy, like the wallpaper.
"It is an airy and comfortable room as any one need wish, and, of course, I would not be so silly as to make him uncomfortable just for a whim."
Even though the wallpaper makes her uneasy and crazy, she will not move rooms because it would make her husband unhappy. This is the perfect example of the typical perfect wife: submissive to her husband. The "he-makes-the-money,-I'll-do-as-he-pleases" attitude is very prevalent in this story.
the poor woman obeys her husband so much that she is driven to insanity and ends up tearing the room up, chewing the bed posts, and crawling over he passed out hubby. Are you kidding me? What kind of man would not listen to his wife, if she were showing signs like these? True, we are supposed to look at this from the gender point, and true, I do take the feminist side on a lot of issues, but this really is a feminist issue.
At least that's what I think.
Lemme know what you think.
PS-
"John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall."
Why does the narrator seem so scared an apprehensive about going to see this man?
Check out this website
http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/959.html
(Sorry, I couldn't get it to link using the trackback!)
Posted by LaurenEtling at 28, 2005 04:48
Comments
Lauren--
I definitely had the same interpretation. She's clearly going insane and her husband is pretending she's not. As for Weir Mitchell, I would venture to say that he is John's cohort and would give her no diagnosis other than she was a daydreamer. He probably has a much harsher way of approaching illnesses. The website you included was excellent! I checked it and it mentions his interests with hysteria and nervous disorders. This definitely could be what Charlotte was suffering from.
Posted by: Meredith Harber at 28, 2005 03:39
Lauren,
You have great character analysis, but I think in this case you need to look at the bigger picture. The role of women in this society was really on of subservient nature. This woman was imprisoned, not only by her husband, but by the social atmosphere around her. She is clearly trying to find an escape, because the room, the bed, the wallpaper, all of them represent the constant imprisonment of women as a whole. This story is so much bigger than who most feel is the main character. As important as she is, she is not the crucial element in this story.
In addition to that, women had no say. They stood by their husbands, and really were not allowed to express their own opinions. As much as the men loved their wives, they were "Better seen not heard." I did more research on this, here are two outside sources to check out:
http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman.htm#INSERT%201
http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/13766.html
I think you are looking too much into the character and not enough into what the elements in the story represent. The main character by the way is not the narrator, it is the room that imprisons her. Also, read the last lines again, I really don't think you are getting what happened. When she escapes, she escapes life. She hangs herself, and he faints, only to lay underneath of her swaying body.
I talked about it more in my blog...check it out...blogs.setonhill.edu/JasonPugh
Posted by: Jason Pugh at 28, 2005 03:42
Jay, the scholarly value of the "exampleessays.com" selection is highly dubious.
What evidence do you have that she the protagonist hangs herself at the end of the story?
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at 28, 2005 10:37
Jay- thanks for the lengthy comment...trying to build your blog portfolio?
about her hanging herself? never saw that, and i don't quite see it anyways...i'll have to look into that a little more.
Posted by: Lauren Etling at 29, 2005 02:10
Good point Jay, but I have no clue where you got the idea that she hangs herself. I think this could be a way of looking at it, but I don't think its the most obvious. I think she just goes totally crazy at the end and frees herself not by hanging herself, but by ripping off the wallpaper. Hmmm....
Posted by: Ashley Holtzer at 29, 2005 02:07