The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the late 1800's, focuses on a distressed woman with no place to turn. The woman narrates the story to give the reader an inside look at what she feels and how she reacts to her surroundings. She initially tums to her husband, John, as a doctor and as her companion and he dismisses the notion of mental illness as a "slightly hysterical tendency". He isolates her by taking her to a secluded house with no human contact outside of his sister and himself who both view her illness in the same way. Gilman makes a convincing statement about gender roles in this time period, the debate of mental illness vs. physical ailment, and the concept of freedom in insanity in her exquisitely written short story. By focusing on the male dominance over the narrator, Gilman shows that a troubled mind, with no outlet, has no defense but to retreat to its inner sanctum.
In order to understand the gender roles in Gilman's short story, we must first understand the era in which she was writing. The period of the late 1800's was a time when male dominance was prominent in society and women were meant to be seen, not heard. Women of the time did not defend their own opinions or beliefs by opposing their male counterparts, regardless of …show more content…
physical ailment Popular opinion of the doctors in this era is that mental illness simply does not exist because it is "not to be felt and seen and put down in figures." As a doctor, John"does not believe [she] is sick" and tries to make the narrator feel as if her illness is not real. He refuses to listen to her feelings on the issue instead of talking to her to find the problem. He isolates her and locks her away to dwell on her thoughts. She knows, from the beginning, that his treatment for her will not work and she wishes, to herself, that she "had less opposition and more society and stimulus", but John would not allow
In order to understand the gender roles in Gilman's short story, we must first understand the era in which she was writing. The period of the late 1800's was a time when male dominance was prominent in society and women were meant to be seen, not heard. Women of the time did not defend their own opinions or beliefs by opposing their male counterparts, regardless of …show more content…
physical ailment Popular opinion of the doctors in this era is that mental illness simply does not exist because it is "not to be felt and seen and put down in figures." As a doctor, John"does not believe [she] is sick" and tries to make the narrator feel as if her illness is not real. He refuses to listen to her feelings on the issue instead of talking to her to find the problem. He isolates her and locks her away to dwell on her thoughts. She knows, from the beginning, that his treatment for her will not work and she wishes, to herself, that she "had less opposition and more society and stimulus", but John would not allow