Yellow Wallpaper
The Yellow Wallpaper presents the tragic story of a woman's descent into madness and depression as a result of being oppressed by her husband.In the story, the narrator and her husband rent a colonial mansion for the summer to provide a place where she can recover from severe postpartum depression. The narrator's declining mental health is in part reflected by the oppression of her husband, as well as by the characteristics of the house in which she is trapped. The dominance of her husband, and her reaction to it, is reflected throughout the story. The narrator continues to submissively bow to her husband's wishes, even though she is unhappy and depressed. Her husband has adopted the idea that she must have complete rest if she is to recover. "So I...am absolutely forbidden to 'work' until I am well again" (Gilman, 247). Her husband does not even want her to write. "There comes John, and I must put this away - he hates to have me write a word" (Gilman, 248). The room her husband chooses for them to stay in is the nursery, which the narrator hates. The narrator describes the nursery as atrocious and having barred windows. The narrator's response to her husband's choice is a further e
The room, and particularly the wallpaper she hates so much, become the center of her would - her voice. Just as the room is used as a metaphor for her mental illness, the garden is used as a metaphor for the mental health she craves. "He says that no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me (Gilman, 252). The wallpaper, and the barrier it poses to the woman behind it, mirror the narrator's own thoughts about being confined in a room with barred windows. She realizes that she is the woman behind the wallpaper, and is finally able to break free. John's reference to his wife's mental illness as a "temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency" (Gilman, 247) further demonstrates his dominance over his wife. The more time she spends in the room, the more obsessed with the wallpaper she becomes. And what can one do? 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, 247). "I sometimes fancy that in my condition, if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus - but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad" (Gilman, 247). "I've got out at last, in spite of you. Her brother, also a doctor, "Says the same thing" (Gilman, 247). I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more" (Gilman, 248.
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