What is the narrator's illness in the Yellow Wallpaper?
The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" begins the story by discussing her move to a beautiful estate for the summer. Her husband, John, is also her doctor, and the move is meant in part to help the narrator overcome her “illness,” which she explains as nervous depression, or nervousness, following the birth of their baby.
How does the narrator feel about the wallpaper in the story?
The narrator and her husband move into a large room that has ugly, yellow wallpaper that the narrator criticizes. She asks her husband if they can change rooms and move downstairs, and he rejects her. The more she stays in the room, the more the narrator’s fascination with the hideous wallpaper grows.
What happens at the end of the Yellow Wallpaper?
Her mental state gradually deteriorates, along with her relationship to her husband, until she suffers a complete breakdown into madness at the story’s conclusion. The The Yellow Wallpaper quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator or refer to The Narrator.
What is an unreliable narrator?
An unreliable narrator is someone who we as the readers can’t fully trust, usually because of their personality, obvious bias, or in the case of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a mental illness. Any reason that would cause us to question the validity of a narrator's opinion within the context of the story might be filed under unreliable.
What treatment is prescribed for the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper?
Gilman was treated with the “rest cure”, devised by Mitchell, as is the protagonist of the story; like an infant, she was dosed, fed at regular intervals and above all ordered to rest. Mitchell instructed Gilman to live as domestic a life as possible “and never touch pen, brush or pencil as long as you live”.
How does John treat the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper?
John is dismissive of the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper." He is her husband and also acts as her doctor, and in her first journal entry,...
Why is the rest cure prescribed to Jane?
In addition to narcotics, Mitchell prescribed a rest cure to calm them and limit movement that would keep them from healing. The cure involved four basic elements: bed rest, force-feeding and overfeeding, massage, and electrical stimulation of the muscles.
What does the doctor prescribe for the protagonist in The Yellow Wallpaper?
We see this method applied to our protagonist, who is forbidden to “work” until she is well. She is given phosphates and tonics and is prescribed not to think of her situation.
How does Jennie treat the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper?
Jennie acts as housekeeper for the couple. Her presence and her contentment with a domestic role intensify the narrator's feelings of guilt over her own inability to act as a traditional wife and mother.
In what ways is John treating the narrator like a child?
John again treats his wife like a child by talking to her as if she were a child. He uses phrases such as “a blessed little goose” (438) to refer to his wife. This phrase could easily be used to address a child. He continues to use his words to address his wife as a child saying, “Bless her little heart” (442).
Who was prescribed rest cure?
Abstract. This essay discusses the rest cure, a popular treatment for nervous illness pioneered by Philadelphia neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell in the 1860s and '70s.
What did the rest cure do?
The rest cure was a strictly enforced regime of six to eight weeks of bed rest and isolation, without any creative or intellectual activity or stimulation. It was often accompanied by massage and electrotherapy, as well as a fatty diet, rich in milk and meat.
What does the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper suffer from?
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the female narrator goes through a temporary nervous depression due to childbirth; in an attempt to help, her husband prescribes for her a treatment where she is confined to an old nursery room with yellow wallpaper for three months.
How does the narrator's husband treat her in The Yellow Wallpaper?
The narrator insisted to her husband that she was sick, but he never took her serious instead, he confined her in an isolated place away from home and her child.
How does John in The Yellow Wallpaper treat his wife?
He cares for his wife, but the unequal relationship in which they find themselves prevents him from truly understanding her and her problems. By treating her as a “case” or a “wife” and not as a person with a will of her own, he helps destroy her, which is the last thing he wants.
What are phosphites in medicine?
Phosphates are used as dietary supplements for patients who are unable to get enough phosphorus in their regular diet, usually because of certain illnesses or diseases. Phosphate is the drug form (salt) of phosphorus.
Why does the narrator turn to the yellow wallpaper?
The narrator, because she doesn’t have anything else to think about or other mental stimulation, turns to the yellow wallpaper as something to analyze and interpret. The pattern eventually comes into focus as bars, and then she sees a woman inside the pattern . This represents feeling trapped.
Why does the narrator put her journal away?
On more than one occasion, she hurries to put her journal away because John is approaching .
When did Perkins Gilman write the Yellow Wallpaper?
The couple separated in 1888, the year that Perkins Gilman wrote her first book, Art Gems for the Home and Fireside. She later wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" in 1890, while she was in a relationship with Adeline Knapp, and living apart from her legal husband. "The Yellow Wallpaper" was published in 1892, and in 1893 she published a book ...
What does the narrator feel after hosting family?
After hosting family for July 4th, the narrator expresses feeling even worse and more exhausted. She struggles to do daily activities, and her mental state is deteriorating. John encourages her to rest more, and the narrator hides her writing from him because he disapproves.
What is the Yellow Wallpaper?
" The Yellow Wallpaper" is often cited as an early feminist work that predates a woman’s right to vote in the United States. The author was involved in first-wave feminism, and her other works questioned ...
Why was writing so revolutionary?
Writing itself was revolutionary, since it would create a sense of identity, and was thought to be too much for the naturally fragile women.
When was the Yellow Wallpaper published?
Publication. "The Yellow Wallpaper" was first published in January 1892 in New England Magazine. During Perkins Gilman's lifetime, the role of women in American society was heavily restricted both socially and legally. At the time of its publication, women were still twenty-six years away from gaining the right to vote .
Introduction
One of the reasons why Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper has traditionally been referred to as such that constitutes a high literary and philosophical value is that in it, the author succeeded in providing readers with an in-depth insight into what should be considered the emerging symptoms of one’s mental illness.
Psychological aspects of the short story
The reading of Gilman story’s few initial lines suggests that the reason why the narrator and her husband John decided to spend the summer in a secluded mansion is that this was supposed to help improving the narrator’s mental condition, as she would be spared of socialization-related distresses.
Works Cited
Bak, John. “Escaping the Jaundiced Eye: Foucauldian Panopticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” Studies in Short Fiction 31.1 (1994), 39-46. Print.
The Narrator Quotes in The Yellow Wallpaper
The The Yellow Wallpaper quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator or refer to The Narrator. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ).
The Narrator Character Timeline in The Yellow Wallpaper
The timeline below shows where the character The Narrator appears in The Yellow Wallpaper. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
What was the gender role of the yellow wallpaper?
During this time period the woman were expected to keep the house clean, care for their children, and listen to their husbands. The men were expected to work a job and be the head of a household.
What is the Yellow Wallpaper based on?
” The short story is based on a woman, not given a name in the text, who is very dependent on her husband. The narrator plays a gender role that is degraded by her successful husband, who is a doctor, because she is a female.
Why does the narrator say "I cannot be with him it makes me so nervous"?
This makes her feel as if she failed her role as a female because she was not able to perform the most common trait known to a woman. She is also not able to clean, cook, and keep the house up as a woman is supposed to do.
What does the wife's description of the wallpaper and room which it is in make it seem like?
The wife’s description of the wallpaper and room which it is in makes it seem like she lives the life of a prisoner unable to escape the yellow wallpaper. The criticism of Wang states, “The narrator lives a life like a prisoner who is being gazed and observed all the time” (53).