Introduction
“The Yellow Wallpaper,” a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was first published in 1892. It was written at a time when women’s roles revolved around maintaining the domestic sphere. They were to complete all house chores and act as agents of moral influence. Richardson and Willis described the woman of the 19th century as “pure, chaste, refined, and modest” (195). However, Gilman defied all the cultural confinements and stereotypes, expressing her ideas and beliefs through her own writings.
From a feminist perspective, “The Yellow Wallpaper” describes the narrator’s journey of growth, who doubles as the main protagonist. The story also details the narrator’s struggles to overcome the dominance of male power and the bondage of society’s patriarchal values. As a matter of fact, the narrator, towards the end of the story, evades the control of the patriarchy and achieves personal triumph by relinquishing all roles. Therefore, Gilman, through vivid psychological and psychoanalytic imagery, shows how the narrator triumphed over her husband by submerging herself into the woman behind the wallpaper and by giving herself completely to insanity and superior sanity.
Discussion
Gilman’s life from childhood through to adulthood paints a clear picture of a woman determined to break the shackles of patriarchy. As detailed in Özyon’s study, Gilman was “a bright child who, despite a lack of proper education, had a fund of knowledge through wide reading, to gain the attention of her librarian father” (115). Before she got married to Charles Walter Stetson, she wrote him a letter detailing how she preferred to be treated – she made it clearly known that nothing would stand in the way of her profession.
This is a clear indication that Gilman was not an ordinary lady – unwilling to surrender to anyone as she wanted to gain more out of her life (Özyon 116). In essence, Gilman’s decision to write “The Yellow Wallpaper” was inspired by the need to shed more light on the dangers embedded in social isolation related to the 19th-century rest cure (Perkins 265). The short story is partly a reflection of her battle with postpartum depression after giving birth to her daughter, Katherine.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is more of a Gothic story, filled with oppression and restrictive societal norms and values. However, Elain Hedges rediscovered and republished it years later, and, in the process, gave the story a new feminine perspective (Wolter 1). As elucidated by Wolter, the narrator serves as an accurate representation of the struggles women encounter in their quest for freedom (196). The journey to her eventual triumph began when she assumed the identity of the creeping woman. It is also symbolic of how the author uses “shake the pattern” to convey the narrator’s initial realization and urgency to escape (Gilman 652).
Similarly, since she lives in a submissive type of relationship with John, the only way to defeat him is to submerge fully into the woman behind the wallpaper. Ideally, the narrator’s identification with the woman in the wallpaper is symbolic of her association with the women of her social class (Barry 66). She understands that societal norms cannot accept her freedom and, as such, she opts to creep stealthily and hide in the shadows of the wallpaper.
Gilman presented the narrator’s insanity by allowing her to succumb to postpartum psychosis as a way of rebelling against medical practices. In doing so, the protagonist managed to break free from policies that confined women under male dominion at both the family and state levels. As revealed by Özyon, the majority of Victorian women suffered from relatively mild mental illness and neurosis. The author noted that this diagnosis was a result of their continued suppressed anger and their confinement to house chores (Özyon 120).
The male-dominated Victorian society was familiar with mental diseases, anxieties, and hysteria. Therefore, the very simple act of writing for and about women who had no identity is considered by many to be an act of defiance. The author employs dramatic irony to convey the idea of illusory care and love through the writer’s statement, “we came here solely for my account” (Gilman 648). The narrator’s triumph came after her husband placed her in a room with more windows to let in sunlight.
In line with the above, Gilman manages to take readers through the journey of growth and maturity of the protagonist despite being confined and controlled by society’s patriarchal values and norms. As elucidated in Barry’s book, the narrator is equipped with endless possibilities beyond those of the ordinary female hero (20). For instance, she achieves some form of liberation through self-realization. After realizing how oppressed she is, the narrator concludes that she must rely on herself.
She starts learning how to take care of herself and even disobeys her husband’s request to open the door. Having the guards instruct her husband to retrieve the key from the front to open the door is a clear demonstration of a woman slowly gaining control. The self-realization is demonstrated in the following lines: “But I am securely fastened now by my well-hidden rope – you don’t get me out in the road there! I don’t want to go outside” (Gilman 656). Towards the end of the story, she realizes that she is the woman trapped in the wallpaper.
The reality of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is that the narrator must first lose herself to develop a sense of self-realization. As presented by Gilman from the onset of the story, the narrator’s life requires some kind of rescue. While it is true that she has unraveled the mystery of her life, she has caused a great deal of damage not only to herself but also to those close to her. For instance, John, after breaking in on his wife, faints and goes unrecognized by his wife.
Gilman also provides a detailed account at the end of the story showing how much the narrator has sacrificed. During her final moments of regaining consciousness, the narrator says, “I’ve got out at last,” said I, “in spite of you and Jane?” (Gilman 656). The damage she caused is evident in her statement, “And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gilman 656). Critics argue that Jane is a misprint for the sister-in-law called Jennie.
On the whole, Gilman’s story provides an overview of the range of emotions the narrator is filled with but is unable to release due to restrictive societal norms. From the onset of the story, the wallpaper appears dull enough to confuse the eye in following its pattern (Gilman 648). Gilman’s decision to use visual and tactile imagery was aimed at ensuring the reader is fully immersed in the narrator’s life, allowing them to feel her emotions.
More specifically, vivid psychological and psychoanalytical imagery is employed to depict a slow yet steady breakdown of the protagonist’s evolutionary journey in the face of sorrow and agony (Barry 55). Additionally, the imagery presented through words such as “unclean yellow” suggests that she has sunk deep into insanity, combined with her desire for independence. Ideally, the readers can see the stages of the narrator’s awareness and eventual freedom.
Conclusion
“The Yellow Wallpaper” tells the story of its narrator and main character’s personal growth and journey. The narrative focuses on her struggle to overcome male dominance and the restrictive patriarchal values of society. By the end, the narrator successfully escapes the control of the patriarchy, achieving a personal victory by shedding all her assigned roles, including her identity as a wife and mother.
The narrator’s path to triumph involved adopting the identity of the creeping woman, a strategic move she believed necessary to overcome her oppressor. Her surrender to postpartum psychosis can also be seen as a form of rebellion against prevailing medical practices. Ultimately, her freedom is earned through self-realization. Recognizing her oppressed state, the narrator determines that self-reliance is her only option, prompting her to start standing up for herself and actively defying her husband, such as refusing his demands to open the door.
Works Cited
Barry, Debby. “Analyzing the Yellow Wallpaper.” CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2013).
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, (n.d.). “The Yellow Wallpaper.” n.d. Web.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “Why I wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’?” Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, vol. 17, no. 4, 2011, pp. 265-300. Web.
Özyon, Arzu. “A Journey of Feminist Rebellion through Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Short Story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Her Novel ‘Herland’.” International Journal of Language Academy, vol. 8, no. 5, 2020, pp. 115-124, Web.
Richardson, Angelique, and Chris Willis, eds. The New Woman in Fiction and Fact: Fin-De-Siècle Feminisms. Springer, 2019.
Wolter, Jürgen. “The Yellow Wallpaper”: The Ambivalence of Changing Discourses.” Amerikastudien/American Studies, vol. 5, no. 3, 2009, pp. 195-210. Web.