John Ames Mitchell

The Role of a Woman The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is about a woman suffering from a temporary nervous depression as described by her physician husband, John, during the 19th century. After being diagnosed with this condition, the couple decides to stay in a mansion during the summer where the woman, who is also the narrator of the story, rests to be able to overcome her condition. Her husband constantly prohibits her from writing and isolates her…

stepped out, she was ridiculed by society and considered a godless woman; the pattern would, “strangle [her] off and…make her eyes white”(Gilman 675). The societal confines became torture as they restricted her to a private, silent realm. “At first [John] meant to repaper the room”(Gilman 668), and he also promised various changes in the room’s style and furnishings; but he decided against it to keep the speaker in check with reality. This is a picture of how society can make promises…

of women during a rest cure prescribed for nervous disorders by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell” (par. 1). In an indirect way she depicts her mental state as it diminishes over time and her plead for liberation towards the end. She expresses this in several ways, over time you can begin to see the obstruction of the way she writes in her journal. Her sentences start out strong, and have a happy tone to them, “There comes John, and I must put this away, - he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman87). She…

and her husband, John. This can be seen through the way John treats the narrator throughout the story, how the narrator allows John to keep the power in the relationship and how in the end the narrator refers to herself as ‘free’ after the wallpaper drives her into insanity. The relationship between the narrator and John became unbalanced due to the gender roles that were (customary) back in the time period that ‘the Yellow Wallpaper’ was set in. The relationship between John and the narrator…

Mental health is a wide topic that is a main element in the texts I have chosen. It can be argued that alongside the loss of sanity, comes isolation. Whether the isolation comes before or after, the isolation seems to act as a catalyst for the depletion of the mental health of characters. Shakespeare has used mental health in many of his works such as Macbeth and King Lear and this use of mental health as a subject matter is one of the reasons why Shakespeare is renowned now. Arguably, one of…

Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the main female character is diagnosed with a “nervous condition” and is forced to live in an isolated environment with only her husband and a select few people for the summer. Throughout the story, her husband John, who is also a physician, treats her much like a child because of her supposed illness. During the 1800s, psychology had not been defined as a modern social science. People, specifically women, who experienced some abnormal symptoms such as…

Jane moved to a new house with her husband while dealing with depression. John was her absolute everything. She rarely did anything without him and anything she needed, John was on task. However, shortly after their arrival, John’s company became less and less. At times in the day, Jane would speak of needing John or him being away and it was uncertain how long he would be gone. Jane was use to John taking care of her. He did things that were unnecessary and also did things for her she did not…

A Family Affair: Obsession in “The Dead Past” “Indeed, like a ghost that was afraid to materialize, she hesitated, her head down, eyes averted” (Pickard). In the exposition of her short story “The Dead Past,” Nancy Pickard introduces the deeply-troubled character Elizabeth Ouvray. Disturbed by the traumatic events of her past, Elizabeth seeks the help of renowned psychologist Paul Laner. Used to conventional psychology, Paul finds himself at his wits end and resorts to hypnotism to uncover…

that helps her through the story with both factors helping her gain control in her being able to break and feel free. To begin with, the narrator has no control over herself but seems to be okay, just with a little depression according to John, but she knows it is more than that, but because she is a women and women back then were just mainly meant to…

Journey from Insanity to Self Slaughter Insanity is the stage when women are credited with title of ‘Madness’ by the patriarchal society. Perkin’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening both the texts can be studied on the basis of effects or the impact that such a brutal society can have on females of society. Insanity, which further results in an attempt of suicide or self-slaughter. These are basically the ways of escapism used by suffering woman. These are the ways, which…