Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Essay Example for Free

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† Essay Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† in the late 1800’s while being treating by the very trusted Weir Mitchell. During this time women were commonly admitted into the care of doctors by their husbands without their given consent. At this time there was very little research concerning Post- Partum Depression. According to the A.D.A.M Medical Encyclopedia, Post-Partum is moderate to extreme depression women may experience after giving birth. The symptoms include fearfulness, restlessness, and anxiety- all of which are displayed by Jane in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper. † Gilman was advised by Dr. Mitchell to stop writing and rest, only partaking in â€Å"household† activities. She was not to visit with friends or go outside much. Contesting to these rules, Gilman ended treatment with Mitchell and wrote â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† with the hopes of shedding much needed light on the ineffectiveness of his strategies. The mental condition of many women often worsened due the general population’s lack of consideration involving a woman’s outspoken opinion involving the betterment of her own health. Carol Kessler writes in â€Å"Consider Her Ways: The Cultural Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Pragmatopian Stories, 1908-1913,† â€Å"The utopian fiction of Charlotte Perkins Gilman takes on as its cultural work the demonstration that women are not confined to one traditional mode of beingwife/motherhoodbut can fill as varied social roles as can male counterparts† (126). Kessler is stating Gilman’s writing is not only a statement against the mental health practices concerning women, but also includes other issues that were dominated by a patriarchal society. Denise D. Knight suggests in her essay â€Å"I Am Getting Angry Enough to do Something Desperate,† that Jane’s behavior at the end is â€Å"an expression of the tremendous rage she feels toward her husband, John† (78). This statement is evidence suggesting that women were well aware of the need for a change involving these matters. Gilman uses the yellow wallpaper to symbolize the psychological, sexual and creative oppression women experienced during Gilman’s contemporary times. Jane’s â€Å"condition† is revealed to the reader at the beginning of the story. Jane has just arrived at the â€Å"vacation† home and is writing secretly since John forbids it. She writes of John, â€Å"You see, he does not believe I am sick!† (Gilman 173). This quote indicates to the audience that Jane’s voice is of no importance next to John’s. Jane continues to voice her opinion about her illness and what she believes could cure her. John blatantly ignores any suggestions she may have concerning her own health, appearing heartless and cold. This is very clear when Jane initially voices dislike for the room with the yellow wallpaper, in which she is assigned to stay. Jane writes, â€Å"I don’t like our room one bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza †¦but John would not hear of it!† (Gilman 174). Gilman allows the audience a glimpse at the symbolism of the wallpaper at this point. Jane mentions her dislike of the room with the yellow wallpaper as soon as she is introduced to it. Upon bringing this discomfort to John’s attention she is sufficed with a promise to replace it. However, John later breaks his promise with the reasoning that they will only be there three months. The creeping feeling Jane experiences concerning the wallpaper symbolizes the mental instability she feels looming over her. John convinces Jane there is nothing wrong with the room and refuses to move her even though she requests he do so. When Jane persists she writes of his response to her, â€Å"But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take pains to control myself† (Gilman 174). Jane is forced to h ide her feelings and worsening condition, as well as her writing. This interaction between the two characters demonstrates how many women during this time period were not to have opinions or preferences. This scene displays the lack of self-expression and freedom women encountered. Creativity in women was not widely accepted in Gilman’s society and was often deemed improbable. In one of Jane’s entries she describes, â€Å"There comes John, and I must put this away he hates to have me write a word† (Gilman 175). This sentence is powerful because the written word is often more powerful than the spoken word. Women were rarely given the luxury of speaking freely, much less writing freely. John’s reluctance to allow Jane to write illustrates the narrow minded ideals men had concerning women. In â€Å"Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper,† Gilman writes that Dr. Mitchell, â€Å" concluded there was nothing much the matter with me, and sent me home with solemn advice to live as domestic a life as far as possible, to have bu t two hours intellectual life a day, and never to touch pen, brush or pencil again as long as I lived’†(51). Both Gilman and Jane were creative women that used writing as therapy to express what others around them could not understand. Jane’s journal and her writing symbolize the creative talents and intelligence many women were capable of but were forced to conceal. Gilman contradicts the idea of women being married to make great â€Å"mothers† with the statement, â€Å"And yet I cannot be with him† (Gilman 177). Jane is referring to her infant son. The possibility that a woman could want more from life other than to marry and have children was an almost impossible notion at the time. In â€Å"Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper: A Centenary† Linda Wagner- Martin writes, â€Å"Of these many conflicts inherent in womens trying to lead acceptable female lives, perhaps the most troublesome is that of motherhood, its attendant responsibilities, and its almost inevitable loss of self-identity† (52). The A.D.A.M Medical Encyclopedia suggests that a common cause of Pos t-Partum Depression in women is the decreasing amount of time they have to themselves after having a child. Women of brighter minds were often misplaced in this type of society. Many artists feel an undeniable obligation to their work, often taking time away from their families. It was impossible for artistic women to prosper when their prime purpose in life was to marry and have children. Knight writes, â€Å"Gilman demonstrates how stifling the cult of domesticity was for intelligent women† (78). Jennie, Jane’s caretaker, represents this idea. Jane writes of Jennie, â€Å"She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession† (Gilman 178). Jennie’s characteristics and tendency to stay out of Jane’s business resembles a fear felt by many women. While it was common for many intelligent women to become depressed due to creative and psychological oppression, fear often quieted any desires for change. It was widely understood that any woman who tried to live otherwise would just as easily end up in Jane’s predicament. Martin writes of the matter, â€Å" The point, obviously, is that society expects women to be fulfilled through motherhood, and that women who question their roles as mothers, who complain or are angry about those roles, are suspect if not beyond human comprehension† (63). In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† Jane’s behavior often reflects this idea that women longed for the opportunity to choose their life occupation, rather than being assigned it. Sexual oppression of women is also touched on in this piece. John often goes away for a work and even when he visits, there is minimal physical contact between him and Jane. Judith A. Allen writes in â€Å"Reconfiguring Vice: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Prostitution, and Frontier Sexual Contracts,† â€Å"Gilman shared in a common, international, late nineteenth-century feminist critique of marriage and of other sexual economic contracts† (173). Gilman’s very opinionated statements regarding women’s freedoms clearly extended to their sexual needs as well as emotional needs. While it was often expected for women to stay behind and tend to the children while the men were away at work, it was often overlooked how these physical absences affected them. It was socially acceptable for a man to appease his sexual appetite with other women while he was away, but not for his wife to do the same with other men. This was taxing on many women. When John is visiting Jane one night, he simply scoops her up and takes her to bed, where he reads to her until she is tired and ready for bed. Jane appears to be too ill to confront her sexual desires like many women of the time. Her relationship described with John is surfaced. Since there is a lack of a physical relationship between the two, there appears to be no relationship at all. This clarifies the belief that women were married off to produce children and please their husbands. Once Jane begins taking notice of the wallpaper itself, the tone of the story takes a dive. While the tone of the story begins somewhat light hearted and seemingly harmless, there is still a hint of foreshadowing. It is when Jane becomes obsessed the audience becomes aware of how terrible her condition truly is. It is almost used as a mockery of John’s ignorance throughout the entire story. The narrator writes, â€Å"There are things in that paper that nobody knows about but me, or ever willâ €  (Gilman180). This is when Jane is realizing the figure in the wallpaper in fact is a woman and she appears to be behind bars. The symbolism here is that no one can understand how Jane is feeling, including the other women around her. As time goes on John tells Jane things such as, â€Å"You are gaining flesh and color,† and â€Å"I feel much easier about you† (Gilman181). Rather than asking Jane how she feels, he is telling her. The irony is Jane’s willingness to accept being told how to act, feel, and live. Based on the mockery provided by the narrator, John does not truly understand what Jane needs, considering he, like everyone else involved, does not view women as people capable of reasoning and complex feelings. This idea was prevalent to the society throughout that time period. The phrase â€Å"dear John† is mentioned throughout the story, indicating the importance of John to Jane. As Jane’s condition and obsession with the wallpaper worsen, her strength d ecreases as well. She is forced increasingly rely on others, including John. She writes of John, â€Å"Dear John! He loves me very dearly and hates to have me sick† (Gilman 180). The irony is how little of importance Jane appears to have in John’s life. He has a routine written for Jennie and Jane to follow throughout the day while he’s away. One of the nights he is visiting, Jane writes, â€Å"He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had† (Gilman 180). These words have an empty meaning. If Jane were the only thing John had, he would have paid more attention to her and realized she was not getting better in the least. This supports the then popular belief that women would be content with simply being told what they want to hear. In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† there are statements made against the male physicians that were so highly admired among communities during Gilman’s time. Jane writes, â€Å"John is a physician and perhaps that is one reaso n I do not get well faster† (Gilman 173). Jane is admitting that a woman’s duty to submit to her husband gets in the way of her need to be persistent concerning her health. This observation is ironic and bold. It argues the mockery in the situation. John, as a doctor, is held up to such high standards, yet he has no idea what is really going on with this woman. The story is ridiculing society’s idea of â€Å"intelligence.† John makes the mistake of treating Jane as if something is wrong with her. However, the humor is in the doctors’ inability to figure out that women are simply composed of the same emotional capabilities as men. It is also necessary to pay special to attention the symbolism of name choice in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper.† John and Jane can allude to â€Å"Jane Doe† and â€Å"John Doe.† If this is the case, both could be identified as of no particular importance to the audience. A Jane or John Doe are unidentified people. Gilman did not feel the need to give the se characters any specific names that would identify them with a particular characteristic or trait. Their situation is unidentified, and their situation was very common for that time. John’s disregard for Jane’s claims of her slow descent into a worsening mental condition was a common practice for doctors regarding women. Often when a woman needed or wanted something, she had no other choice but to acquire the assistance of her husband. In the instance of Jane needing alternative means of medical care, her only hope would have been John. Naturally John did not listen to her protests. Gilman is stating that both men and women should have an equal say in marriage. Kessler writes, â€Å"The ‘partnership’ society that Eisler defines seems already to have been present in the pragmatopian imagination of Charlotte Perkins Gilman as revealed in her turn-of-the-century fiction, especially the short stories: the alternative or partner-oriented gender roles she depicts could be realized or attained then or in the present-day society that we know† (126). There were also many marriages lacking the understanding John clearly does not display. This coincides with the idea that many women who were married to many men at that time experienced the oppression Jane feels and were met with the same ignorance John displays. At the end of the story Jane writes, â€Å"For outside you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow† (Gilman 188). This has a childlike feel to it. Earlier in the story, when Jane is trying to talk to John about how she is feeling he replies with, â€Å"What is it, little girl?† (Gilman 181). The last scene of the story describes Jane as this crazy woman, but it has her creeping around the ground like a child. In â€Å"Environment as Psychopathological Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper,’† Loralee MacPikew writes, â€Å"The fact that the narrators prison-room is a nursery indicates her status in society. The woman is legally a child; socially, economically, and philo sophically she must be led by an adulther husband† (286). One day when Jane is stuck in her room alone, she reverts to her childhood while staring at the wallpaper, giving a description of a vivid memory. She writes, â€Å"I never saw so much expression in an inanimate thing before, and we all know how much expression they have! I used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of blank walls and plain furniture than most children could find in a toy-store† (Gilman 177). These behaviors revert to the idea that even as children, females were facing emotional neglect. It also supports the idea Jane was often treated like children by their husbands, posing the question how could she be expected to be a â€Å"good† mother if she herself was not permitted to act like an adult. Gilman’s decision to make the wallpaper yellow as opposed to any other color is interesting. Yellow is often viewed as a neutral color concerning gender. This may be connected to Gilman’s outcry of the belief that women ar e inferior to men concerning creative, emotional, and intelligent capability. Once Jane begins to acknowledge the wallpaper, her descriptions of it become more detailed. She describes it, â€Å"looked at in one way, each breadth stands alone; the bloated curves and flourishes- a kind of â€Å"debased Romanesque† with delirium tremens- go waddling up and down in isolated columns of fatuity† (Gilman 179). The words â€Å"delirium tremens† (Gilman 179) indicate how the wallpaper concurs with Jane’s worsening condition. Colors have often been known to manipulate a person’s mood. Following this belief, yellow is known to promote communication. This is an ironic symbol, considering John did not listen to Jane in the least. There are many times he overlooks her feelings or statements. At the beginning of the story Jane claims to feel something strange about the house. When she brings this to John’s attention he says what she â€Å"felt was a draught, and shut the window† (Gilman 174). Clearly John’s inability to listen to Jane discourages her to speak of anything at all to him. In â€Å"Consider Her W ays,† Kessler writes, â€Å"By refusing to accept definitions of traditional male and female roles, and instead of offering clear alternatives to such mainstream notions, Gilman forces readers to question boundaries defining behavior assumed acceptable on the basis of gender† (126). This statement supports the notion that Gilman believed that both men and women should share all household responsibilities, including working and raising children. The satirical symbolism at the end of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is astounding. It does a great job of surprising and shocking the audience. It leaves this image imprinted of a crazy lady taking a bite out of a bed and creeping around her husband. Once Jane believes she is the lady inside the wallpaper, she writes, â€Å"and I don’t want to have anybody in, till John comes. I want to astonish him† (Gilman 187). At this point her anger is apparent. The narrator is clearly pointing fingers at who is to blame for her current predicament. She is comparable to a child throwing a tantrum. It’s almost as if Jane is assuming the behaviors of a role she has been given, which is no different than what she does from the beginning of the story. She does what she is told. However, John often refers to her as everything but a woman. Naturally this mentality was bound to catch on. Jane also had no other means of escape from her world. John refused to allow her to go anywhere. It was almost as if she were a child being grounded. When children are forced to stay inside they use their imaginations as entertainment. To do this is human nature, and Jane is no exception. There is also attention to be paid to the bars described in the wallpaper. Jane writes, â€Å"at night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars!† (Gilman 182). The bars symbolize all the oppression felt by Jane. As the progression of Jane’s condition worsens, the appearance of the bars becomes more prominent. Once Jane discovers the bars, she notices the woman in the wallpaper, â€Å"The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be† (Gilman 182). This quote refers to the unawareness John and other men of the time displayed concerning women. Gilman is making a statement against how obvious it is that Jane knows what she needs more so than her husband. This scenario was common among many women during that time period. It is also an outcry against a woman’s inability to practice self-expression. Once Jane decides to try and help the woman escape from the wallpaper (and becomes the woman herself), she peels off all the paper so she cannot be put back. Once John gets into the room she says to him, â€Å"’I’ve got out at last,’ said I,† in spite of you and Jane! And I’ve pulled of most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’† (Gilman 189). This statement could be interpreted as Gilman’s creative self being defiant against the rules set up by a patriarchal society. While this last scene can be understood as haunting and disturbing, it almost seems as if Jane is getting the last laugh in the end. Her husband who is â€Å"successfully† a physician has failed his own wife. Jane’s road to insanity was brought on by her husband’s â€Å"trusted† tactics. Shortly after the story was published, Weir Mitchell was forced to re-evaluate his tactics used on â€Å"mentally unstable† women. There were many patriarchal barriers facing women when â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† was written. Gilman does an extraordinary job of displaying the horrors that resulted from this complex and delicate subject. The image of a woman behind bars in yellow wallpaper could not be more appropriate to convey such an important message. This short story demonstrates the feeling of entrapment and misplacement many creative and intelligent women felt during Gilman’s time. The yellow wallpaper is a strong symbol of a declaration of independence, creativity, and self-expression in a society where such notions were much too often withheld from the female population.