Yellow Wallpaper The Nameless Narrator
Name, Identity and Self in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents in the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" a narrator of dubious identity. If a reader infers that the reference at the end of the story to "Jane" is indeed self-reflexive, a dichotomy between the Jane of which she speaks and the character who creeps about the room becomes apparent. This division within the single heroine can be best understood when viewed as such: within this nameless speaker are in fact two women, and as the actions of one recede the other becomes dominant. Indeed, the reader sees two separate identities, or selves, within the narrator's captive body: the proper-Jane persona, the suitably-named, dutiful and lucid wife of Dr. John; and the nameless, savage and hysterical woman, a reflection of whom the raconteur sees lurking behind the wallpaper's exterior pattern. As proper-Jane's affectations dissipate, those of her unsociable doppelganger fluidly fill in the gaps in the speaker's psyche.The protagonist in "The Yellow Wallpaper" provides the reader with very few concrete details of her person. She is a woman: mother, daughter, sister, cousin, sister-in-law and physician's wif
John-this mother, this wife, this Jane-gradually discards the traits which adorn a decorous woman of society. In endowing her with the pet names "darling," "little girl" and "blessed little goose," he succeeds in perpetuating the separation of his wife's sense of self from her name and its corresponding identity. '" Once her names are stripped from her, the protagonist is left with no concise description of her personal identity. Explicitly, the contradiction between attempting to be secretive in broad daylight parallels that of becoming a different person within the same skin. It is apparent to the reader that these reflections signify a total transference of consciousness: Mrs. Due to the customs of the narrator's 19th century patriarchal society, her surname (which, of course, was her father's) was taken from her at marriage. In addition, John even goes so far as to address the speaker in the third person ("'Bless her little heart!' said he with a big hug, 'she shall be as sick as she pleases!'" ), effectively creating a split between his frail and proper wife, and the woman to whom he is speaking. "I suppose I'll have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard!" she continues. It follows that this defilement may be a cause in the narrator's creeping about, an act that is not only animalistic, but which places her physical self as low as her emotional self has been ordered. The trademark of a gentlewoman, her good name-upon which relies her reputation-is the first casualty of the speaker's progression into her second self. She attempts to give a name to her developing condition, her emerging self, and is halted mid-sentence by John.
Common topics in this essay:
John John-this,
Yellow Wallpaper,
Dr John,
yellow wallpaper,
proper-jane persona,
Perkins Gilman,
charlotte perkins,
character john,
unnamed woman,
Charlotte Perkins,
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Acceptance Essays
