The narrator in the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman narrates her own life. The reader never learns of her name and Perkins-Gilman takes the reader into the innermost thought of a women’s experience. The narration is an important literary element of any story, which lets the reader evaluate whether the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is credible and reliable. The narrator gives the impression that she is credible as the story begins, but as the story progresses and her mental state worsens, the reader may question her as a reliable narrator.
The Yellow Wallpaper" is written in a first-person point-of-view, with both present- and past tenses. The narrator writes in present-tense but recounts conversations and …show more content…
Her mental state seems to deteriorate rapidly and she begins to exhibit signs of paranoia and psychosis. She becomes so fixated on the wallpaper that, whenever someone enters her room, she is aware of when they look at the wall. This is best shown when she catches her husband John and Jennie looking at or touching the wallpaper. The narrator’s deterioration into psychosis is evident throughout the story. It is evident as she mentions the gnawing of the bedpost, the yellow stains on her clothing, and as she begins to see images in the wallpaper. “How those children did tear about here! This bedstead is fairly gnawed!... I tried to lift and push it and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner--but it hurt my teeth.” (Perkins-Gilman, 1899) Here, the narrator admits to biting the bedpost while blaming it also on past occupants. Her husband John finds that her clothing has yellow stains on them from rubbing against the wallpaper. As a reader, though, there is no clear indication that she has ever touched the wallpaper. These examples give a stronger case of the narrator being unreliable because the reader is not sure if the whole story is being
The Yellow Wallpaper" is written in a first-person point-of-view, with both present- and past tenses. The narrator writes in present-tense but recounts conversations and …show more content…
Her mental state seems to deteriorate rapidly and she begins to exhibit signs of paranoia and psychosis. She becomes so fixated on the wallpaper that, whenever someone enters her room, she is aware of when they look at the wall. This is best shown when she catches her husband John and Jennie looking at or touching the wallpaper. The narrator’s deterioration into psychosis is evident throughout the story. It is evident as she mentions the gnawing of the bedpost, the yellow stains on her clothing, and as she begins to see images in the wallpaper. “How those children did tear about here! This bedstead is fairly gnawed!... I tried to lift and push it and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner--but it hurt my teeth.” (Perkins-Gilman, 1899) Here, the narrator admits to biting the bedpost while blaming it also on past occupants. Her husband John finds that her clothing has yellow stains on them from rubbing against the wallpaper. As a reader, though, there is no clear indication that she has ever touched the wallpaper. These examples give a stronger case of the narrator being unreliable because the reader is not sure if the whole story is being