Gilman Exposed in The Yellow Wallpaper - 1290 Words

Gilman Exposed in The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, is the disheartening tale of a woman suffering from postpartum depression. Set during the late 1890s, the story shows the mental and emotional results of the typical rest cure prescribed during that era and the narrator’s reaction to this course of treatment. It would appear that Gilman was writing about her own anguish as she herself underwent such a treatment with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1887, just two years after the birth of her daughter Katherine. The rest cure that the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper describes is very close to what Gilman herself experienced; therefore, the story can be read as reflecting the†¦show more content†¦Mitchell’s treatment of the typical female seeking his world famous rest cure. Wagner-Martin states that the rest cure depended upon seclusion, massage, immobility, and overfeeding; . . . [it] had at its root complete mental inactivity (982). Carol Parley Ke ssler, in her essay on Gilman’s life, quotes Dr. Mitchell’s prescription to Gilman as, never touch pen, brush, or pencil (Kessler 158). Gilman subjects her narrator to the same prescription. You can tell from the story that the narrator wants to write and that she thinks that being allowed to do so would help her mental and emotional condition. She says, I think . . . it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me (Gilman 81). Kessler further explains that Dr. Mitchell’s treatment only made Gilman’s depression worse and that eventually she ceased to follow his regimen (158). The character she creates in The Yellow Wallpaper also fantasizes about ending her regimen saying, I wish I could get well faster (Gilman 81). Both seem to view the rest cure as an unwanted interruption in their lives. It should be no surprise then that Gilman draws from her own experience and Dr. Mitchell’s treatment. She even finds a way to incorporate him into the story as a kind of threat to the narrator. The narrator in the story is thinking about the reaction of her husband, who is also a doctor, to her slow convalescence, if I don’t pick up faster he shallShow MoreRelatedInterpretations of Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper1460 Words   |  6 PagesInterpretations of Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an example of how stories and the symbolism to which they are related can influence the perspective of its readers and alternate their point of view. 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Gilman, faced with the discriminatory and prejudiced challenges of her gender, her childhood shadowed and pelted on with poverty, and her mind plagued with the constant, deafening humming of nervous postpartum depression, unambiguously determined that she was going to raise her voice against constant chattering of chauvinist values. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is a direct echoRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism Essay901 Words   |  4 Pages In the short story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† which takes place in the late 1800s, focuses on the first person narrator who is an infatuated woman. The disheartening story concentrates on a woman who is suffering from postpartum depression, and as well had mental breakdowns. The narrators husband John, moves her into a home isolated in the country where he wants her to â€Å"rest† and get better from her illness. During the course of being confined in the room with the wallpaper, she learns new things andRead MoreThe Era Of The Feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman891 Words   |  4 Pagesfeminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This was a time when once married the wife became the husband’s property and catered to him, the house and the children. They had the economic power, which women lacked and with that gained all the power and made all the rules. Wives became vulnerable due to this and their lives were totally controlled by their husbands. For many, this resulted in loss of identity. Marriage simply equaled a gentl e kind of slavery. The â€Å"Yellow Wallpaper† by Gilman was based on her experienceRead More Women Being Controlled in The Yellow Wallpaper1091 Words   |  5 PagesThe Yellow Wallpaper Today, women have more freedoms than we did in the early nineteenth century. We have the right to vote, seek positions that are normally meant for men, and most of all, the right to use our minds. However, for women in the late 1800’s, they were brought up to be submissive housewives who were not allowed to express their own interests. In the story, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman is isolated from the world andRead More Imprisonment of Women Exposed in The Yellow Wallpaper1439 Words   |  6 PagesImprisonment of Women Exposed in The Yellow Wallpaper When asked the question of why she chose to write The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman claimed that experiences in her own life dealing with a nervous condition, then termed melancholia, had prompted her to write the short story as a means to try and save other people from a similar fate. Although she may have suffered from a similar condition to the narrator of her illuminating short story, Gilmans story cannot be coinedRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1312 Words   |  6 Pagesspecific meaning, or to bring light to certain issues in real life. The short story titled â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† was written in 1892 about a woman named Jane who is diagnosed with depression and given a treatment named the â€Å"rest cure.† Charlotte Perkins Gilman created this story based on her experiences with the â€Å"rest cure† and sent it to the creator of the treatment, S. Weir Mitchell, for criticism (Gilman 419). When read, this short sto ry is usually seen through a feminist critical lense, but it can