Introduction
This paper discusses how Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s narrator obtained triumph when she managed to tear the wallpaper, freeing the woman from the patterns of bondage. Understanding her inner feelings and desires helped her look at her situation differently rather than denying herself the pleasure of freedom. Despite being mad after these actions, the freedom and self-awareness that she attains is nothing compared to the feeling of oppression that she views the patriarchal-dominated society towards women. Her condition, however, is mainly linked to how the societal system treats women more than gothic oppression.
The Question of the Narrator’s Triumph or Defeat in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Paper in 1892, which has been admired ever since. Industrialization invested more in consumer product production during its production, based on a social structure dominated by men. Women were inseparable from markets and their homes as this formed part of their existence, secluded from the general patriarchal society (Monaghan para.1).
In The Yellow Paper, the narrator acquires a sense of triumph when she finally frees the woman behind the wallpaper despite this affecting her sanity. Women in this era had to have a private sphere that included security, domesticity, and stability. In Gilman’s writings, themes of rebellion, irrational fear, forbidden desire, and confinement are displayed, and the male repressive antagonist leaves the narrator distraught. This paper discusses how the narrator values the freedom and triumph she attains over the male-dominated society despite costing her sanity.
Freeing the Woman Behind the Wallpaper as a Triumph for the Narrator
Charlotte Gilman’s Narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper displays herself as a free woman yet imprisoned. In losing connection with her outer surroundings, she gets the opportunity to understand her life’s inner reality: triumph over defeat.” but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind… perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?” (Gilman 647) The narrator’s inner and outer reality is essential in understanding her suffering. The situations she faces may seem natural and innocent, but they represent oppressions she cannot express.
In the story, the narrator strives to prevent herself from acknowledging the effects of external oppression on her inner impulses. Through such, one is tied to understanding if the narrator is defeated or triumphant as she freed the hidden woman behind the wallpaper. The narrator strives to obtain a sense of independence and selfhood. She tries to earn a position in the patriarchy and finds herself. To find her way out, the narrator defies societal rules, regulations, and values.” These sexist gender roles and their inhibiting nature repressing women –the narrator is confined in a room resembling a prison” (Ghandeharion and Mazari 114). The narrator’s anonymous character indicates that this does not apply to a specific set of women positioned in a particular setting, but it cuts across women suffering in society.
As the story concludes, the narrator’s position changes, and she starts to creep and crawl into her confined room. Through this, she defeats his primary obstacle, which is her patriarchal husband, indicating a promising way to the beginning of her journey to selfhood. The determination and strength that came with the promising way made a new resolution to decide insanity and madness over depressed and oppressed life.
The narrator feels, for the first time, that she is free from the burdening chains of the patriarchal society and the masculine concept that had imprisoned her mind. “It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please!” (Gilman 656)The choice of freedom and insanity over a sad life sheds both positive and negative senses for the narrator: triumph and defeat. In the optimistic view, the narrator frees the woman behind the patterned wallpaper, and she obtains a sense of assertiveness and selfhood.
A society dominated and systemized by male characters views females as inferior characters in society; hence, the narrator manages to overcome men’s superiority (Bak 40). This is a triumph for the narrator’s side as she dominated and contradicted her husband’s truths and values that he believed in. The narrator conveys that women must embrace their freedom and avoid overreliance on men.
The insanity for the narrator is temporary, and being free means she has the opportunity to nurture and work on their mental health rather than not being free from a sad life. On the other hand, the narrator manages to free the woman behind the wallpaper, but it causes her sanity. Defying societal patriarchal norms and values results in madness linked to prolonged silenced sanity for the narrator.
According to Bak, one can gain one’s true identity only if one goes through an alienation process (39). The narrator’s identification with the woman trapped behind the wallpaper enabled her to observe that several other women are forced and hidden in domestic patterns, and they all need to be freed. “…And it is like a woman stooping down. and creeping about behind that pattern. I do not like it a bit. I wish John would take me away from here!” (Gilman 652). Losing oneself results in one understanding oneself. The sacrifice of untangling life patterns and freeing herself from the shackles of sad life is triumphant rather than defeat despite losing oneself.
How the Narrator’s Problem Is More Societal and Systemic Than Gothic Oppression
Theological, societal, and cultural features marked by race, oppression, dissolution, gender roles, and fear are all connected to Gothic traditions. We have seen the narrator choosing freedom and madness over a chained, sad, and oppressed life. According to Little, a woman’s sanity is influenced by and reflects society, and “Just as social conditions changed and shaped the nature of the female mental illness, theories about the nature of the disease also evolved” (p.2).
There is constant victimization and control of Gilman’s narrator’s feelings by individuals around her. Her husband, in particular, has played a huge role in demonstrating society’s various domestic limitations on women. The narrator’s problem is more societal and systematic than Gothic oppression.
In Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper, the yellow wallpaper symbolizes oppression to any female who feels trapped in society’s roles as a woman. John refers to the narrator as a little girl.” What is it, little girl?” he said. “Don’t go walking about like that. You’ll get cold.” (Gilman 652). Society has deprived women of creative self-expression. The rest cure prevents the narrator from writing, and she manages to write through a secret diary that her husband has no idea she has. Therefore, the Narrator’s problem is societal, as, despite the narrator’s psychological distress, confinement worsens the situation.
Feminists’ Position on Sanity and Freedom over Patriarchal Control and Oppression
From a feminist perspective, evading patriarchal control and achieving personal triumph despite succumbing to postpartum psychosis proves to be an achievement and the beginning of the narrator’s journey to selfhood. For one to build oneself, one also needs to lose oneself. In the story, the yellow wallpaper displays revolting and repellent. ‘The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (Gilman 649). The narrator tears the wallpaper patterns, overlooked by a patriarchal society, unveiling them.
The wallpaper plays a vital role in the short story The Yellow Wallpaper. At first, the narrator is uncomfortable, but later, she identifies patterns that represent prison and a woman trying to escape and free herself. The sub-patterns show the narrator developing her selfhood, and hence, she achieves a greater sense of self despite her state of sanity (Hedges 222). The narrator, therefore, managed to triumph over her husband and the male-dominated society and subvert her husband’s limited treatment. She does this symbolically by destroying the yellow wallpaper.
The fact that she cannot write does not limit her creative imagination; rather, she uses the wallpaper as a writing space to create meaning. This unveils the societal barrier against women gaining triumph over their husbands and society. Blocking the blankness of the wall and portraying text on it gave her a different perspective on developing selfhood.
Conclusion
In conclusion, by using the narrator’s perspective precisely, Gilman’s story, The Yellow Paper, ventures more toward the feminist struggles for women to be released from societal bondage. The writings display the process of saving women from societal and systemized insanity by helping them to know their position in the patriarchal society, hence preventing suffering and oppression. It should be noted, therefore, that in a society dominated by males, the females, as well as the males, are doomed. When set standards and norms are above average, the result only leads to destruction. Too much pressure and fighting to be free causes resistance, resulting in both men and women parting with something. In the case of this story, John loses his wife by confining her within the patriarchal walls, while the narrator loses her sanity while seeking freedom. However, the narrator sees this as victory compared to the sad life.
Works Cited
Bak, John S. “Escaping the Jaundiced Eye: Foucaldian Panopticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘the Yellow Wallpaper.” Studies in Short Fiction 31.1 (1994): 39–46. Print
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Other Stories. Dover Publications, 1997. Pp. 647-654
Ghandeharion, Azra, and Milad Mazari. “Women Entrapment and Flight in Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’” Revista Alicantina De Estudios Ingleses, no. 29, 2016, pp. 113–128., Web.
Hedges, Elaine R. “‘ Out at Last’? ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ after Two Decades of Feminist Criticism.” Critical Essays on Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Ed. Joanne B. Karpinski. New York: G. K. Hall, 1992. Pp. 222–233.
Little, Julianna. “‘Frailty, Thy Name Is Woman’: Depictions of Female Madness.” “Frailty, Thy Name Is Woman”: Depictions of Female Madness, Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU Scholars Compass, 2015, Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Pedagogy Pp. 1-8. Web.
Monaghan, Annabel. “The Main Issues of the Role of Women in Society, Which Are Elucidated in the Novel ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’” The Collegian, Web.