A Comparative Essay on the Protagonists Isolation in “Yellow Wallpaper” and “Room19”
In the short stories To Room 19 by Doris Lessing and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonists, Susan Rawlings and The Yellow Wallpaper’s narrator become increasingly isolated. What are the causes of this isolation? How do Susan and the narrator cope with their crisis and what is the ultimate outcome of their isolation?
In To Room 19, Susan Rawlings becomes emotionally and physically isolated from her family after learning of her husband’s infidelity. Susan struggles with processing the affair because while intelligent Susan tries to ignore the affair and act like it didn’t matter “the whole thing was not important.” (866 Lessing), …show more content…
For Susan, faced with her husband’s infidelity and the adjustment of all the children going to school, she initially isolates herself emotionally from her family. Confused by her growing panic and unaware of her mental illness, Susan does not tell her husband of her thoughts “They were not sensible, she did not recognize herself in them. What would she say to her dear friend and husband?” (869 Lessing) Susan tries to cope with her perceived enemy- “irritation, restlessness, emptiness” (869 Lessing) by busying herself with responsibility, however Susan finds herself “possessed with resentment that the seven hours of freedom …were not free.” (871 Lessing) Susan physically isolates her self-retreating to the bathroom, spare room or garden, eventually removing herself completely from her family and finding herself in room 19. Conversely the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper seems aware of her depression “but these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing” (582 Gilman), she does her best to follow her husband’s order of rest and relaxation. She allows Mary to care for the baby and tend to the house. Overtime she becomes more obsessed and paranoid “the fact is I am getting a little afraid of John.” (587 Gilman) The narrator submerses herself into the yellow wallpaper of her room, at first seeing changes in the paper, then coming to believe that there is a woman trapped in the paper “At night in …show more content…
For Susan, her breaking point comes when her husband discovers her secret room. Rather than admit her truth, Susan tells her husband that she too is having an affair. When Susan’s husband suggests a foursome, Susan views this as the final straw, “sliding down into the hollow of the bed, for shelter against her own irrelevance.” (884 Lessing) In the end, Susan loses her life, “she was quite content lying there, listening to the faint soft hiss of the gas that poured into the room, into her lungs, into her brain, as she drifted off into the dark river.” (886 Lessing). While Susan lost her life, the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper loses her mind, eventually succumbing to her delusions. She becomes fixated on the yellow wallpaper, locking herself in her room and tearing the paper from the wall. Believing she has come from the wallpaper “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night…it is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please” (591
In the short stories To Room 19 by Doris Lessing and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonists, Susan Rawlings and The Yellow Wallpaper’s narrator become increasingly isolated. What are the causes of this isolation? How do Susan and the narrator cope with their crisis and what is the ultimate outcome of their isolation?
In To Room 19, Susan Rawlings becomes emotionally and physically isolated from her family after learning of her husband’s infidelity. Susan struggles with processing the affair because while intelligent Susan tries to ignore the affair and act like it didn’t matter “the whole thing was not important.” (866 Lessing), …show more content…
For Susan, faced with her husband’s infidelity and the adjustment of all the children going to school, she initially isolates herself emotionally from her family. Confused by her growing panic and unaware of her mental illness, Susan does not tell her husband of her thoughts “They were not sensible, she did not recognize herself in them. What would she say to her dear friend and husband?” (869 Lessing) Susan tries to cope with her perceived enemy- “irritation, restlessness, emptiness” (869 Lessing) by busying herself with responsibility, however Susan finds herself “possessed with resentment that the seven hours of freedom …were not free.” (871 Lessing) Susan physically isolates her self-retreating to the bathroom, spare room or garden, eventually removing herself completely from her family and finding herself in room 19. Conversely the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper seems aware of her depression “but these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing” (582 Gilman), she does her best to follow her husband’s order of rest and relaxation. She allows Mary to care for the baby and tend to the house. Overtime she becomes more obsessed and paranoid “the fact is I am getting a little afraid of John.” (587 Gilman) The narrator submerses herself into the yellow wallpaper of her room, at first seeing changes in the paper, then coming to believe that there is a woman trapped in the paper “At night in …show more content…
For Susan, her breaking point comes when her husband discovers her secret room. Rather than admit her truth, Susan tells her husband that she too is having an affair. When Susan’s husband suggests a foursome, Susan views this as the final straw, “sliding down into the hollow of the bed, for shelter against her own irrelevance.” (884 Lessing) In the end, Susan loses her life, “she was quite content lying there, listening to the faint soft hiss of the gas that poured into the room, into her lungs, into her brain, as she drifted off into the dark river.” (886 Lessing). While Susan lost her life, the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper loses her mind, eventually succumbing to her delusions. She becomes fixated on the yellow wallpaper, locking herself in her room and tearing the paper from the wall. Believing she has come from the wallpaper “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night…it is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please” (591