Even though “fiction” are stories that are not real, and many writers try not to have aspects of their life in their stories, you cannot deny that life; the environment one lived in, the orthodoxy that was accepted in the society at their time, one’s own belief, and many more, can influence what and how authors write a story. Gilman’s works are no different. We can see the “echoes” of Gilman’s life and the ideas the society in her time had in her well-known story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. This story is thought to be influenced by her own experience of a “nervous breakdown”, or what we call today as postpartum depression, and the unusual treatments for it. Treating this symptom should be done by supporting the mother to her needs, but
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They can give you new perspectives that you would have never thought before, or clarify and strengthen your own theories of the story. The critics of Gilman’s story state that her life experience does influence “The Yellow Wallpaper”, but it varies as to how much it does. The critic Elizabeth Ammons writes that the story “probably had deep roots in Gilman’s childhood” (453). This I concur, yet I am a bit hesitant of agreeing to her statement as to how deep it is. From Ammons’ criticism, I was able to make up a theory that would fit into my own view; a parent is an influential figure for a child, and Gilman’s mother was heavily repressed in how she showed her emotions. Perhaps this was a result of the patriarchal control her mother was held in, and with that theory and the image of her mother’s desire for her father may have influenced how she thinks about oppression against woman. However, I am not certain that I can assent to the argument that her mother is reflected in the main …show more content…
Critic Juliann Fleenor brings up an interesting view of the symbol of the story; that the wallpaper also represents “the physical self of the narrator”, and the theme is the “punishment for becoming a mother” (451). Sari Edelstein, an assistant professor from the University of Massachusetts Boston, points out that it is an allegory for Gilman’s hatred towards yellow journalism, hence the color yellow and extravagant patterns of the wallpaper. These perspectives are something I would not have thought up by myself. New theories that are pointed out can help the reader broaden their view, and sometimes can make them want to reread the story, keeping that particular view in the back of their mind to confirm it
They can give you new perspectives that you would have never thought before, or clarify and strengthen your own theories of the story. The critics of Gilman’s story state that her life experience does influence “The Yellow Wallpaper”, but it varies as to how much it does. The critic Elizabeth Ammons writes that the story “probably had deep roots in Gilman’s childhood” (453). This I concur, yet I am a bit hesitant of agreeing to her statement as to how deep it is. From Ammons’ criticism, I was able to make up a theory that would fit into my own view; a parent is an influential figure for a child, and Gilman’s mother was heavily repressed in how she showed her emotions. Perhaps this was a result of the patriarchal control her mother was held in, and with that theory and the image of her mother’s desire for her father may have influenced how she thinks about oppression against woman. However, I am not certain that I can assent to the argument that her mother is reflected in the main …show more content…
Critic Juliann Fleenor brings up an interesting view of the symbol of the story; that the wallpaper also represents “the physical self of the narrator”, and the theme is the “punishment for becoming a mother” (451). Sari Edelstein, an assistant professor from the University of Massachusetts Boston, points out that it is an allegory for Gilman’s hatred towards yellow journalism, hence the color yellow and extravagant patterns of the wallpaper. These perspectives are something I would not have thought up by myself. New theories that are pointed out can help the reader broaden their view, and sometimes can make them want to reread the story, keeping that particular view in the back of their mind to confirm it