Mental Disorders In Alice Walker's The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper had culture as one of its themes; one could see that through the narrator. The narrator seemed to have mental instability due to the fact that she was not allowed to visit certain people, or travel. This was mainly because her husband, who was also a physician, dismissed her mental issues on nerves and hysteria. Later on in the reading the narrator starts to see and imagine things vividly, mostly from not having anything to which occupy herself with. In today’s culture disorders such as anxiety, schizophrenia, and other mental issues are not usually taken very seriously or always regarded as an actual health condition. The narrators’ mental disorder may have come from a lack of attention or acknowledgement from her husband and family. She says in the …show more content…
Maggie’s mother hardly ever stood up for her or herself. Dee demanded that Maggie give her the quilts that their grandmother had made, the mother narrates “… like somebody used to never winning anything or having anything reserved for her”. Dee was first showed as a girl who loved being in style, from clothing to friends. However she was often too ashamed to even bring her friends over to meet her mother and sister. When she returns from college she seems to have adopted Hakim-a-barber’s culture, going as far as to change her name and become enthused with old fashioned items. Although, neither her personality nor attitude have changed, she still treats Maggie as a lesser being saying “Maggie’s brain is like an elephants”. Another theme that can be found is mainstream television. At the beginning of he reading the narrator describes what it would be like to be on television, while Dee embraces her. She goes on to mention how television shows were both parents and child embrace in an emotional way are popular. In today’s culture shows like that are very popular, such as Dr.Phil