Worldwide one in four women will experience domestic violence sometime within their life. Domestic violence is defined as a pattern of controlling behaviors where manipulation and force are used to gain power over a partner. Yet, many victims do not step forward or speak out against their abuser, possibly because they believe that they deserved it, or nothing positive would come from speaking out. Women who experience domestic violence have affected mental, physical, and emotional health. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, seems to suggest that mental health is a crucial aspect to an individual’s sanity, but actually represents how martial isolation is damaging. John, the narrator’s husband, manipulates the narrator’s environment,
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One day, the narrator sees: “[a] faint figure behind [that] seemed to shake the pattern as if she wanted to get out”(173). Since the narrator spends a majority of her days in her room, she stares at the wallpaper that irritates her, but can see a figure struggling behind it. This figure reminds her of herself because everyday she struggles with her illness and being isolated from most everything. The narrator adds: “she is all the time trying to climb through”(177). Although the narrator believes the woman is trapped behind the wallpaper, she parallels herself because she is also trapped, not only physically by living in an extremely controlled environment, but also mentally because she is so isolated. Yet using the word “climb” the narrator implies that the woman is trying to escape and overcome the obstacles in front of her, similar to the narrator who wishes to have more freedom in her own life. An option the narrators thinks of to regain her freedom is: “to jump out of the window…, but the bars are too strong to even try”(179). The narrator is so desperate to escape from the constricting life she lives, that she thinks about committing suicide, but the room is dictated to live in discourages her idea. At this point in the story, John controls almost every aspect of the narrator’s life, so she looks for any way to regain control of her life. The woman she sees behind the wallpaper reminds her how trapped and isolated she is, and therefore by freeing the woman, she can also free herself. After tearing all of the wallpaper down, the narrator says to John: “‘I've got out at last,’ …, ‘in spite of you and Jane’”(180). It is unclear what actually happened, but it can inferred that the narrator kills herself therefore is free from John and even herself, Jane. After living under John’s manipulation and control, she finally realizes that she is sick
One day, the narrator sees: “[a] faint figure behind [that] seemed to shake the pattern as if she wanted to get out”(173). Since the narrator spends a majority of her days in her room, she stares at the wallpaper that irritates her, but can see a figure struggling behind it. This figure reminds her of herself because everyday she struggles with her illness and being isolated from most everything. The narrator adds: “she is all the time trying to climb through”(177). Although the narrator believes the woman is trapped behind the wallpaper, she parallels herself because she is also trapped, not only physically by living in an extremely controlled environment, but also mentally because she is so isolated. Yet using the word “climb” the narrator implies that the woman is trying to escape and overcome the obstacles in front of her, similar to the narrator who wishes to have more freedom in her own life. An option the narrators thinks of to regain her freedom is: “to jump out of the window…, but the bars are too strong to even try”(179). The narrator is so desperate to escape from the constricting life she lives, that she thinks about committing suicide, but the room is dictated to live in discourages her idea. At this point in the story, John controls almost every aspect of the narrator’s life, so she looks for any way to regain control of her life. The woman she sees behind the wallpaper reminds her how trapped and isolated she is, and therefore by freeing the woman, she can also free herself. After tearing all of the wallpaper down, the narrator says to John: “‘I've got out at last,’ …, ‘in spite of you and Jane’”(180). It is unclear what actually happened, but it can inferred that the narrator kills herself therefore is free from John and even herself, Jane. After living under John’s manipulation and control, she finally realizes that she is sick