Being written in 1892, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is almost always spoken of as a feminist short story. With the fact that, the main character of the text raves that her role in society is limited, and her ability to express herself through writing is compressed. Using these facts, a reader might reckon Gilman is making a feminist assertion. This paper will discuss the importance of home in Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and what it says about the U.S during the 1800’s.
The anonymous narrator of Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” launches the story off with a description of the house that is her medical retreat. “A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house.” She also states “It is quite alone, quite three miles from the village, standing well back from the road,”(Gilman). This statement here shows how significant the setting is going to be throughout the entire story. It signifies the isolation to which women during the time period will be subject to, with a sense of imprisonment. The narrator also feels distaste for her room, and considers the one downstairs that has roses all over the window. Although her husband confines her to the room upstairs, which has bars on its windows and a disgusting “unclean yellow” wallpaper, which she says is the most disturbing …show more content…
Whenever her husband was present, she would portray herself as unemotional, just so that her husband would think she’s getting better. She felt like her personality was trapped, which as I said before is being represented by the bars on the window. “The bed is nailed to the floor’ and there is nothing left but that great bedstead nailed down, with the canvas mattress we found on it.”(Gilman) The bed being nailed down to the ground also symbolizes her as feeling/being trapped. The only place she could get her thoughts out was in the bedroom, where she would privately do her
The anonymous narrator of Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” launches the story off with a description of the house that is her medical retreat. “A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house.” She also states “It is quite alone, quite three miles from the village, standing well back from the road,”(Gilman). This statement here shows how significant the setting is going to be throughout the entire story. It signifies the isolation to which women during the time period will be subject to, with a sense of imprisonment. The narrator also feels distaste for her room, and considers the one downstairs that has roses all over the window. Although her husband confines her to the room upstairs, which has bars on its windows and a disgusting “unclean yellow” wallpaper, which she says is the most disturbing …show more content…
Whenever her husband was present, she would portray herself as unemotional, just so that her husband would think she’s getting better. She felt like her personality was trapped, which as I said before is being represented by the bars on the window. “The bed is nailed to the floor’ and there is nothing left but that great bedstead nailed down, with the canvas mattress we found on it.”(Gilman) The bed being nailed down to the ground also symbolizes her as feeling/being trapped. The only place she could get her thoughts out was in the bedroom, where she would privately do her