Examples Of Oppression In The Yellow Wallpaper

In the Bosom of Oppression “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who suffered from depression. The story begins with the narrator, Jane, explaining her husband, John, has taken her to a country estate to rest. John, a doctor, feels Jane is experiencing a temporary nervous condition after recently giving birth and should have complete rest from all physical and mental stimulation. Jane feels she would better benefit from some stimulating work. John strictly forbids Jane from any writing, so Jane writes in secret. Jane feels she must defer to John’s judgement since John is her husband and a well-renowned doctor. Jane is immediately uncomfortable in the house, and John insists the couple sleep upstairs in the yellow wallpapered, old nursery which is fitted with bars on the windows. From the lack of stimulation, Jane becomes obsessed with the pattern on the wallpaper. John continues to insist the only problem Jane has is her own desire to be sick. Jane is descending into insanity from the lack of stimulation, yet John tells Jane she is better. Jane now sees a woman behind bars in the pattern of the wallpaper and starts peeling the wallpaper off to free the woman. On the last day in the house, Jane has gone completely insane creeping along the floor like the woman behind the wallpaper. John walks into the room and sees Jane creeping. He faints, no longer …show more content…
Evelyn Cunningham stated, “Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.” Character, setting, and conflict reveal oppression of