Paula A. Treichler from the University of Illinois analyzes “The Yellow Wallpaper” and its effects of the diagnosis given to the main character effectively in her article “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”. In her article, Treichler emphasizes the reasons why the main character was lead to believe her diagnosis from her husband and the other contributing factors that played a role in her hysteria, such as lack of social interaction and confinement. In the introduction to her article, Treichler gives the background of the story and hits on every area of importance. The diagnosis made by the narrator 's husband is highlighted by Treichler in her opening paragraph to illustrate the significance and informality of the diagnosis and its unreliability. She proceeds to explain the contributing factors of the narrator succumbing to her “disease” of hysteria which was isolation from social interaction and the restriction of her own thoughts. She points out that the narrator is confined to a simple square room with nothing to offer in terms of mental health therapy. The narrator’s lack of the ability to interact with anything or anyone leads to infatuation with the wallpaper, which turns out to be “the …show more content…
Treichler starts off her article by grabbing the attention of the reader adequately by presenting the controversial ideas of improper diagnosis by a domineering husband taking advantage of the time periods stereotype of hysterical women. She then persuasively depicts the setting of the story and adds some sympathy for the narrator who is being forced to accept her diagnosis. The introduction she gives is excellent because it provides the background information to the story and adequately prepares the points that she wants to get across to the
Instead of fulfilling her needs for social and intellectual stimulation, he forced her into isolation and prescribed mind-altering drugs. So instead of getting better, her mind became so focused on the yellow wallpaper in the room, that she imagined herself trapped behind bars and desperately needing to escape. This showed how insane she had become. This story showed how powerful the human mind can be, especially when the effects of drugs and spousal abuse are brought into the situation. When Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, it was in relation to her own Neurasthenia disorder, and the writing of this paper actually helped change the treatment process when Gilman explained, the story “saved one woman from a familiar fate - so terrifying her family that they let her out into normal activity and she recovered” (Gilman, Why I).
No wonder the children hated it!” , but with the constant medication and being confined to that room with nothing else to look at she began to start obsessing over it. At first it was just the abstract markings on the wall and how peculiar they were in shape and how they were so random in every way. Then after being medicated for weeks she started to see a women trapped behind bars that was hidden in the markings of the wallpaper“I didn't realize for a long time what the thing that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman”. It became her sole mission to free the women but figuratively she was just looking at herself in a mirror.
Mental disorders are extremely prominent in today’s society and need to be carefully handled. Depression is a very serious disorder, and doctors need to take proper care of their patients, which is clearly not the case in “The Yellow Wall-paper”. The narrator in this short story is subject to extended free time and progressively slips out of reality day by day while writing in her journal. This transition from reality to fantasy in the narrator is due to doctoral neglect and marital control as the inattention and disbelief of serious mental illness by John in “The Yellow Wall-paper” is what caused the narrator to slip out of reality and fall into psychosis. Malpractice in the medical world can be often fatal to patients, as incorrect diagnoses
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, symbolism and imagery are used creatively to examine the main character’s view of the wallpaper and how it changes throughout the story. The main character, also the narrator and protagonist of the story, was suffering from more than just postpartum depression, but also a possible case of schizophrenia. Throughout the short story, the narrator takes readers on a journey through how the psychosis, most likely caused by a possible diagnosis of PPD, and the yellow-papered room affecting her and her desire for freedom, using symbolism and imagery while slightly touching on point of view. The yellow wallpaper has become an obsession and fascination for the narrator, while she is becoming
The narrator believes the woman is trapped and is trying to free herself; therefore, she rips the wallpaper to help the woman she is visualizing. This shorty story was written as if the mentally unstable narrator was writing in her diary. The perspective of the narrator brings another level of depth to the metaphor that the wallpaper represents because the story is from her point of view so we watch the entire process of her losing her sanity due to being isolated from the world (she became lonely and helpless). Gilman brilliantly displayed how the narrator perceived the yellow wallpaper and allowed the audience to see how a mentally stable person perceived the yellow wallpaper at the end of the story. Gilman’s use of the narrator allows the audience to empathize and relate to the narrator and the struggles she faces throughout the story.
Postpartum Depression Created a Human Activist Postnatal depression, commonly known as postpartum depression, is a clinical depression which can affect women after giving childbirth. Women continuously suffer from the disease without receiving any type of treatments and attempt to cure themselves. Having someone share their own experiences through writing can support one during the therapeutic process and hopefully make the recovering course less painful. The short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is an embellishment of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s personal experience after giving birth to her daughter Katherine.
As it is pointed out in Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in "The Yellow Wallpaper", nineteenth century medicine considered these illnesses as “women’s diseases” and were not taken seriously at all (Treichler 61). The narrator continues to write in her journal and it reveals how serious the situation becomes and how unhealthy her condition as
The story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is Charlotte Gilman’s interpretation of how women were treated and were thought that they were only useful in the home. The story follows the first person point of view of a woman who is struggling to break free from the irrational labels of being a woman that her husband is attempting to force upon her. The narrator dreams of being able to write freely and leave her home to be in the world she sees outside her window. However, John, the husband, convinces her that she has nervous depression, and that she is unable to leave the house until she is better. John, being a physician, believes that he knows exactly how her nervousness affects her and convinces himself and his wife that it is better for her to stay in the home until she is not “sick” any longer.
By analyzing the words chosen to describe the actions of the narrator and the wallpaper in her bedroom, the reader can fully grasp what makes the story suspenseful and why there are multiple interpretations of the ending. CP Gillman utilizes her story to discuss the ineffective treatment of mental illness in women during the early 1900 's (191), and
However as time moves on, and the woman in the wallpaper becomes more and more real to her, it’s clear that her mental state is rapidly depleting. Her first description of a figure in the wallpaper came when she stated that the wallpaper had a “recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down” (219). By the time the story ends, the narrator had turned into the
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, raises many questions from readers and makes us think about what has really caused the narrator to become insane in her story. Due to her husband’s controlling nature as a physician, there have been many moments where he treats her like a child that should be kept away from the outside world, which eventually drove her to insanity. She says, “dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia.
Freud’s discussion about the apathetic emotions towards hysterical patients by doctors is similar to how the husband overlooks his wife’s sickness in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” From further analysis, it is believed that these doctors, along with the husband, are threatened by hysterical patients because it makes them layman. In order to portray that idea into a well-written summary and response essay, all the rhetorical situations were considered. By doing so, it has also helped me accomplish aspects from the Course Learning Outcomes. The first thing I thought about when writing this essay is the rhetorical situation.
“The Yellow Wallpaper”, a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, is about a woman with a serious mental disorder. The story shows the decline of the narrator's mental state by the change in her actions throughout the story. The narrator makes an effort to do as she is told to do to try to get better, but unfortunately she just kept getting worse. No matter how hard the narrator tries, she gets distracted and turns away from following the instructions her physician gave her. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the improper prescription that the physician (who was also her husband) prescribes has a negative influence on the narrator's mental state.
One of the emotions the narrator undergoes is intimidation toward her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” it says, “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?” The narrator is a woman and has no say about her own medical condition, due to the fact that she is a female, but her husband can say and tell her whatever he wants to about her condition and that intimidates her. He can have complete control over the narrator because he is more educated than her and he has a higher standing in society than women did. Another example of the narrator’s intimidation for the husband is in “The Yellow Wallpaper” it says, “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes.
The story "The yellow wall-paper" briefly described the theme of gender inequality by telling us how did a normal female patient become crazy. In this story, the narrator has to follow the decisions which are all made by his husband, this makes her felt confusing and upset. Her husband has never listened to her ideas because he thinks that she has already had some kind of mental disease. The gender inequality problem and the conflicts come with it directly caused the madness of the narrator. Meanwhile, the conflicts between the narrator and herself, like she always tells herself that “John is professional in curing patients, he must be right”, and also the conflict between her husband and herself, like John often ignores her feelings, both perfectly illustrate the idea of “gender inequality”.