Societal and Historical Connections

Gilman is Jane from the Yellow Wallpaper

"First appearing in the New England Magazine in January 1892, "The Yellow Wall-paper," according to many literary critics, is a narrative study of Gilman's own depression and "nervousness." Gilman, like the narrator of her story, sought medical help from the famous neurologist S. Weir Mitchell. Mitchell prescribed his famous "rest cure," which restricted women from anything that labored and taxed their minds (e.g., thinking, reading, writing) and bodies. More than just a psychological study of postpartum depression, Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-paper" offers a compelling study of Gilman's own feminism and of roles for women in the 1890s and 1910s." (edsitement.gov.) The author of The Yellow Wallpaper express her feelings towards society by writing this story to capture how women were treated in the nineteenth century. Jane represents the author, Gilman, and John represents every man in the 1800s. " Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" was written during a time of great change. In the early- to mid-nineteenth century, "domestic ideology" positioned American middle class women as the spiritual and moral leaders of their home. Such "separate spheres" ideals suggested that a woman's place was in the private domain of the home, where she should carry out her prescribed roles of wife and mother. Men, on the other hand, would rule the public domain through work, politics, and economics. By the middle of the century, this way of thinking began to change as the seeds of early women's rights were planted. By the end of the 1800s, feminists were gaining momentum in favor of change. The concept of "The New Woman," for example, began to circulate in the 1890s-1910s as women pushed for broader roles outside their home-roles that could draw on women's intelligence and non-domestic skills and talents."  (edsitement.gov). In the story of the Yellow Wallpaper, Jane grows very dependent on the yellow wallpaper as her insanity grows deeper. For instance, in the story she states how her husband works nights and barely spends time with his wife. Jane grows attached to the wallpaper by her stating, " It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as i please! I don't want to go outside. For outside you have to creep around on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow. But here i can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so i cannot lose my way." (Page 11) The narrator creeps around her room when she is alone and moves along the yellow wallpaper. She is feeling very deranged as she starts to feel as though she is trapped in the wallpaper and by society. Jane supposedly killed her husband at the end of the story and continued to creep along the wall. For she states, " I have got out at last!" (Page11). Meaning that Jane thinks that she has finally rebelled against society and has escaped the yellow wallpaper that represents women's insanity towards men. Gilman expresses her feelings towards society's view on women by writing this story to show how she feels towards the way she was treated in her lifetime. In "The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, author also expresses his feelings in a similar manor. For example the main character states, " You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye." ( Page 1). The main character also creeps in the story just like the character Jane, and also kills his victim, the old man, in the story so he can be sent free from his disturbance of the evil eye. Jane also rids her room from the yellow wallpaper so she can be let free from the bars that ground her into being an average housewife. Both authors describe in their own words of how life has treated them and by how others stood in the way of their sanity. For both Gilman and Poe they have experienced harsh treatment from others in society. Gilman was trapped in her marriage and Poe was trapped from being forbidden to love others and therefor expressed his emotions in the "Tell Tale Heart" through his mental disturbance in life.      

Definition of Category- Historical connections and Societal connections is the use of relating society and other literature work such as novels to connect one piece of literature to another.  

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/charlotte-perkins-gilmans-yellow-wall-papermdashwriting-women this link provides background information on the society connections involved in the Yellow Wallpaper.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/telltale.html this link contains the story of the tell tale heart by Edgar Allen Poe.

Symbolism

"Women are merely in Shadows. They are never to be heard from nor Seen."

In the " Yellow Wallpaper" the wall decoration not only represents how women are trapped in marriage in the 1800s, but it also symbolizes how every women in the nineteenth century were treated like and felt like both emotionally, mentally, and romantically. The narrator states in the story, " On a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind. The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing. You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turns a back somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. it is like a bad dream" (Page 5). The wallpaper describes the emotion of love as a painful, surprising feeling. In the narrator's case she feels her relationship with John is only causing her to go insane. The narrator goes on to state, " At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the women behind it is as plain as can be" (page 5). Since John mentally isolates his wife, the main character starts to feel as though the yellow wallpaper is a prison with many other women that feel the same way she does. The narrator becomes mentally disturbed by the wallpaper and her husband is not affected by it. The women behind the wallpaper are causing the narrator to become very disturbed by night and this causes her to become very tired in the day. For only the main character can witness the torture the wallpaper represents because she is a women. John is a man and in the 1800s, husbands had the right to do anything. Women were only used as housewives. Even Jennie notices the torture behind the wallpaper. The narrator says, " She didn't know i was in the room, and when i asked her in a quiet, a very quiet voice, with the most restrained manner possible, what she was doing with the paper--she turned around as if she had been caught stealing, and looked quite angry--asked me why i would frighten her so." (Page 6) Jennie also knows the feeling of becoming isolated from society because of her gender and therefor she too can see the prison that lies behind the yellow wallpaper. The narrator also states, " The front pattern does move--and no wonder! The women behind shakes it" (Page 8). The women in the wallpaper want to escape the harsh role in life they experience and want to escape from being shadows of reality. The narrator also says that she notices the women from the wallpaper creeping in the day time. " I see her on that long road under the trees, creeping along, and when a carriage comes she hides under the blackberry vines. I have watched her sometimes off in the open country, creeping as fast as a cloud shadow in a high wind" (Page 7). ''The women in the wallpaper hide from society in the shadows when they are seen for they are afraid that they will be judged as insane creatures outside of their belonging territory that is the home. "The fact that women were not supposed to be caught creeping in the daytime clearly means that women were not to be seen nor heard from" (Liselle Sant). So the women in the wallpaper try to roam free in the open country away from all of their worries and are finally free to express themselves at last. "The yellow wallpaper stands for every women in the world that feel as if their role in society is the wrong position for them in life. Every women wanted to escape the chains that grounded them in the role of an average housewife" (Lone Star College). Freedom was the main goal for all girls in the world that could not express themselves freely and the yellow wallpaper clearly represents every women's thoughts and beliefs towards marriage and society.

Definition of Category- Symbolism is the use of symbols and signs to represent ideas.

  

http://www.lonestar.edu/yellow-wallpaper.htm This link provides deeper information of the Symbolism involved in the story.http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/liselle.htm This link gives more background information of symbolism and details of what the yellow wallpaper represents. 

Protagonist

"He Hates to Have me Write a Word."

Throughout the story of " The Yellow Wallpaper", the audience mainly focuses on the mind of the narrator. We explore and witness all of the main character's problems and transformations in the first person point of view. For example, in the story the narrator states, " John does not know how much I really suffer. he knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him" (Page 2). This text is written in the first person point of view through the narrator's thoughts. This quote also tells the audience that the antagonist of the story is the narrator's husband, John. " He is constantly a primary obstacle standing in the way of the narrator’s desires to pick her own bedroom, spend her time writing, and hang out with friends" (Shmoop.com). The narrator also states, " I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more" (Page 2). The narrator is told to take medicine on a daily basis by her doctors and husband. So she is primary a prisoner within in the relationship of her marriage. The main character is faced with a constant feeling of intimidation towards her husband. For instance, the narrator states, " There comes John, and i must put this away,--he hates to have me write a word" (Page 2). The narrator also says, " John says if i don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But i don't want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once, and she says he is just like john and my brother, only more so" ( Page 4). The narrator explains that John, the antagonist, threatens her if she does anything he thinks is insane. He treats her like a  machine that would need to be repaired every time there is an error and did not meet the users needs. In " Yellow Wallpaper"  it is very clear that the narrator is the protagonist of the story based on the way the story is written and how other characters affect her emotionally. 

Definition of category- Protagonist is the main character of a story. Antagonist is the opposing character of the main character in a story.

      

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/yellowwallpaper/facts.html This link provides the textural structure of "The Yellow Wallpaper"

http://www.shmoop.com/yellow-wallpaper/protagonist-antagonist.html This link provides all the character roles in the story.

Theme

"The Yellow Wallpaper symbolizes Imprisonment."

In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the wallpaper the narrator observes through the story is a symbol of the feminist imprisonment of the subject of marriage. In the story the narrator states, " It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions" (Page 2). The wallpaper describes marriage through the use of feminist decoration. Marriage has many ups and downs and is often a roller coaster ride. The narrator also states that, " the wallpaper connects diagonally, and the sprawling outlines run off in great slanting waves of optic horror, like a lot of wallowing seaweeds in full chase. The whole thing goes horizontally, too, at least it seems so, and i exhaust myself in trying to distinguish the order of its going in that direction." (Page 5) The narrator starts to accept the yellow wallpaper as time goes on, however this could symbolize that she is accepting her fate as an ordinary housewife and she would rather blend in completely into her unfavorable marriage than to do things that really are important to her such as writing. The narrator's husband, John, tries to restrict the narrator's talents by telling her she is very paranoid and delusional. He assigns her to mental therapy by Dr. Mitchell who is also a man, and prescribes the narrator with tonics and medicine. The narrator feels trapped into the yellow wallpaper and is feeling more connected with it day after day. She starts to accept herself as mentally sick. John's character is fully recognized when the narrator states, " I suppose John never was nervous in his life. He laughs at me so about this wall-paper! At first he meant to repaper the room, but afterwards he said that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous patient then to give way to such fancies." John then continues to say in the story, " You know this place is doing you good, and really dear I don't care to renovate the house for a three months' rental." " Then he took me by the arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said we would go down to the cellar, if i wished, and have it whitewashed into the bargain" (Page 3). John obviously treats the narrator like a child who can not stand up on her own two feet (Major themes). In the 1800's women barely worked at all besides cooking and cleaning at home. The narrator explains how she uses writing as a stress reliever and how John stands in the way of her future goals. In conclusion, the moral of the story is to not let anyone stand in the way of your dreams, don't be taken down by people's words or actions. Try to stand out from the rest of the crowd and don't feel trapped in some of life's situations. Try to brake through the barrier of the status of average, and don't let obstacles in life ( marriage, people, or family) get in the way of your success. 

Description- The theme of a story is the lesson or moral learned from a piece of literature such as a story.

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-yellow-wallpaper/study-guide/major-themes/ Click this link to explore more themes of "The Yellow Wallpaper")

http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman.htm Click this link for the actual story of the "Yellow Wallpaper"

        

Gilman's Background

Meet The Author 

"Only as we live, think, feel, and work outside the home, do we become humanly developed, civilized,  and socialized."  These are the spoken words of the inspirational writer and women rights advocate,  Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She was born on July 3, 1860 in Hartford Connecticut. Gilman grew up in a time of depression and discrimination of women. In her lifetime she witnessed the Civil War, Industrial Revolution, and the Women's Movement. The US was still trying to develop freedom and equality in the 1800's (Lane Herland and Beyond). Gilman had a tragic childhood, her mother Mary A. Fitch, and her father, Fredrick Beecher Perkins got divorced. Her father abandoned the family when she was at a young age. Gilman got married to a man by the name of Charles Stetson in 1884. During their relationship, they had one daughter by the name of Katherine. Gilman soon enough realized that marriage was like a prison. She received unequal treatment by her husband and soon developed depression. That is when she published a story in 1899 called," The Yellow Wallpaper" where she delved deep into her emotions of how she feels towards her husband and to her psychiatrist Dr. S. Weir Mitchell.  Much like the great author of the "Tell Tale Heart", by Edgar Allen Poe she reveals the insanity she went through in her lifetime. Gilman had  rough life experiences from her romantic life to her own well-being, and in the nineteenth century women were to be stationed in their homes and were told not to write, work, or even express themselves in any means necessary without being told they were delusional by men in general. " The idea women was not only assigned a social role that locked her into her own home, but she was also expected to like it, to be cheerful and gay, smiling and good humored" (Lane, To Herland 109). Gilman went above and beyond by being a writer of many stories such as " Women and Economics", " The Forerunner", and " The Home: It's Work and Influences."
In the early twentieth century, Gilman got married to George Gilman and then committed suicide in 1935. She was diagnosed with cancer in the 1930's and she stated " I would rather take chloroform than cancer." She died on August 17, 1935. Her work is highly appreciated now and " The Yellow Wallpaper is a testament to Gilman's own life experience and in reading it there is a feeling of tough decisions she made in her life both emotionally and mentally. Never again did she write anything so
deeply involved with her emotions." Gilman stated," That the female of the genus homo is economically dependent on the male. He is her food supply." She proved that women can be just as successful as males. Her legacy will live on forever (Webster.EDU). 

Definition of Category: Life background information used with facts, statistics, or autobiographies.

http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-perkins-gilman-9311669 This link gives information on Gilman
http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/gilman.html This link gives deeper elaboration on Gilman as an author.
http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman.htm Quotes and Facts on Gilman