Every person in society sees the world in some abstract way. Some never lose that vision and their thoughts on the world only become more abstract. Each of those thought processes has a beginning though, whether it is through an addiction of some sorts or mental illness. The Yellow Wall-Paper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, creates a perception of a woman who is slipping from reality as every waking moment passes by. A wall that the character stares at shifts to where she starts to see a woman stuck within the wall-paper. The woman in the wall-paper, who is she? Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, The Yellow Wall-Paper portrays a woman who feels trapped within her own deteriorating mind, loses her life to male domination, and how perception is nothing
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The main character’s wall-paper is a depiction of her mind and the tearing that is going on within it. “‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I…” (Gilman, 656). She says this after tearing all the wall-paper off the walls and having a mental break. All the layers she ripped off shows the layers of her life and mind that she was trying to get back, but were too far gone. The woman on the other side of the wall-paper represented herself before she suffered from a mental illness. “The more the wallpaper comes alive, the less inclined is the narrator to write in her journal- ‘dead paper’.” (Treichler, 63). One can draw from this that she was like paper, so fragile and dead, but as her thoughts formed on this paper it made her stronger. Therefore, everything once thrown deep beyond the papers of the wall was now all able to …show more content…
Males clearly stated their dominance and women had a “supporting role” to them, not by choice. The Yellow Wall-Paper, shows steadily throughout the male superiority that John, her husband, and doctor has over her. “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.” (Gilman, 650). John has complete control in the marriage and thinks that his wife will get better on his terms. Meanwhile, it only appears to be driving his wife more ill. When she starts to get more paranoid around her husband, that is when the woman in the wall-paper becomes more apparent. “…by making her wallpaper, symbol of domestic confinement, into a mystery that she must devote every moment to deciphering.” (Delamotte, 11). The yellow pattern on the wall is just as confusing as her marriage, however, the main character cannot bare to look away and try to figure out the shadow that lurks behind it in her eyes. It wasn’t long till the woman on the other side became present enough that she started to talk back to her; possibly giving the character the comfort she longed
The main character’s wall-paper is a depiction of her mind and the tearing that is going on within it. “‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I…” (Gilman, 656). She says this after tearing all the wall-paper off the walls and having a mental break. All the layers she ripped off shows the layers of her life and mind that she was trying to get back, but were too far gone. The woman on the other side of the wall-paper represented herself before she suffered from a mental illness. “The more the wallpaper comes alive, the less inclined is the narrator to write in her journal- ‘dead paper’.” (Treichler, 63). One can draw from this that she was like paper, so fragile and dead, but as her thoughts formed on this paper it made her stronger. Therefore, everything once thrown deep beyond the papers of the wall was now all able to …show more content…
Males clearly stated their dominance and women had a “supporting role” to them, not by choice. The Yellow Wall-Paper, shows steadily throughout the male superiority that John, her husband, and doctor has over her. “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.” (Gilman, 650). John has complete control in the marriage and thinks that his wife will get better on his terms. Meanwhile, it only appears to be driving his wife more ill. When she starts to get more paranoid around her husband, that is when the woman in the wall-paper becomes more apparent. “…by making her wallpaper, symbol of domestic confinement, into a mystery that she must devote every moment to deciphering.” (Delamotte, 11). The yellow pattern on the wall is just as confusing as her marriage, however, the main character cannot bare to look away and try to figure out the shadow that lurks behind it in her eyes. It wasn’t long till the woman on the other side became present enough that she started to talk back to her; possibly giving the character the comfort she longed