In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, women’s systemic oppression in the 1800’s is revealed to her audience. In Gilman’s time, a girl was born into a world constructed to keep her out of certain spaces; a world that would consistently seek to control her and reduce her to a status far below the man beside her. A woman lived in a system of power hierarchies that sought to silence her. In her short story, Gilman spoke to an audience that would outlast her forever. Gilman spoke specifically to a cultural characteristic of her time- a trend of systemic and cultural oppression against women and illuminated a path towards freedom. The first area that Gilman uses to reveal this is in the speaker’s relationship with
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When first describing the wallpaper in her journal she explains that, “they have used…”(Gilman 671), different breadths or outlines, revealing intentionality within the paper’s construction and design. Although the paper is lacking in, “arrange [ment] on any laws of radiation, alternation or repetition,”(Gilman 670), its design and creation was intentional. The wallpaper’s design and society’s construction, “commits…sin”(Gilman 667), and refuses to follow patterns of logic or even ethics. The concepts of containment and restriction of women are not only nonsensical but also morally wrong. The wallpaper was designed to trap and entangle the woman who would seek to escape from its confines. It, “slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you”(Gilman 673). The culture of the time was designed to restrain women to the home, to live behind the wallpaper. If a woman stepped out, she was ridiculed by society and considered a godless woman; the pattern would, “strangle [her] off and…make her eyes white”(Gilman 675). The societal confines became torture as they restricted her to a private, silent realm. “At first [John] meant to repaper the room”(Gilman 668), and he also promised various changes in the room’s style and furnishings; but he decided against it to keep the speaker in check with reality. This is a picture of how society can make promises …show more content…
The world around her doesn’t approve of women working and considers such activity dangerous and over stimulating for her. But the speaker claims that writing is, “a relief”(Gilman 671), and that she, “must say what [she] feels and thinks in some way”(Gilman 671). Writing, to the speaker, is her way to move about behind the paper. She spends her days writing, surrounded by the bulging eyes and strangled heads of those whom the system has destroyed and silenced. The speaker’s capacity to work outside the home and to move beyond the wallpaper was outside the socio-political norms of the day and this made her a threat to the system. Therefore, she was forced to, “creep by daylight”(Gilman 675), just as the woman behind the paper would often, “get out in the daytime”(Gilman 675). When John left the house for work, she was free to move about or “creep” as she pleased; but as soon as he returned for the night to be with her, the paper turned back into bars that she had to creep behind. She claims that John often, “thought [she] was asleep”(Gilman 672), but her mind was wide-awake. She would stay up analyzing and considering the patterns- contemplating the system’s very existence. This is what, “shake[s] the pattern”(Gilman 672), and gives her movement behind the paper, even at night with
When first describing the wallpaper in her journal she explains that, “they have used…”(Gilman 671), different breadths or outlines, revealing intentionality within the paper’s construction and design. Although the paper is lacking in, “arrange [ment] on any laws of radiation, alternation or repetition,”(Gilman 670), its design and creation was intentional. The wallpaper’s design and society’s construction, “commits…sin”(Gilman 667), and refuses to follow patterns of logic or even ethics. The concepts of containment and restriction of women are not only nonsensical but also morally wrong. The wallpaper was designed to trap and entangle the woman who would seek to escape from its confines. It, “slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you”(Gilman 673). The culture of the time was designed to restrain women to the home, to live behind the wallpaper. If a woman stepped out, she was ridiculed by society and considered a godless woman; the pattern would, “strangle [her] off and…make her eyes white”(Gilman 675). The societal confines became torture as they restricted her to a private, silent realm. “At first [John] meant to repaper the room”(Gilman 668), and he also promised various changes in the room’s style and furnishings; but he decided against it to keep the speaker in check with reality. This is a picture of how society can make promises …show more content…
The world around her doesn’t approve of women working and considers such activity dangerous and over stimulating for her. But the speaker claims that writing is, “a relief”(Gilman 671), and that she, “must say what [she] feels and thinks in some way”(Gilman 671). Writing, to the speaker, is her way to move about behind the paper. She spends her days writing, surrounded by the bulging eyes and strangled heads of those whom the system has destroyed and silenced. The speaker’s capacity to work outside the home and to move beyond the wallpaper was outside the socio-political norms of the day and this made her a threat to the system. Therefore, she was forced to, “creep by daylight”(Gilman 675), just as the woman behind the paper would often, “get out in the daytime”(Gilman 675). When John left the house for work, she was free to move about or “creep” as she pleased; but as soon as he returned for the night to be with her, the paper turned back into bars that she had to creep behind. She claims that John often, “thought [she] was asleep”(Gilman 672), but her mind was wide-awake. She would stay up analyzing and considering the patterns- contemplating the system’s very existence. This is what, “shake[s] the pattern”(Gilman 672), and gives her movement behind the paper, even at night with