The Yellow Wallpaper A Stifling Relationship - 1551 Words

Husband-Doctor: A Stifling Relationship In Gilman’s â€Å"the Yellow Wallpaper† At the beginning of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, the protagonist, Jane, has just given birth to a baby boy. Although for most mothers a newborn infant is a joyous time, for others, like Jane, it becomes a trying emotional period that is now popularly understood to be the common disorder, postpartum depression. For example, Jane describes herself as feeling a â€Å"lack of strength† (Colm, 3) and as becoming â€Å"dreadfully fretful and querulous† (Jeannette and Morris, 25). In addition, she writes, â€Å"I cry at nothing and cry most of the time† (Jeannette and Morris, 23). However, as the term postpartum depression was not in the vocabulary of this time period, John, Jane’s husband†¦show more content†¦Also, the storys representative male, John, is described in the story as â€Å"practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures† (Bates, 53). John represents law and order and reality. As Janes physician-husband, he is identified as ruler or Jane in all domains, personal, professional, and social. Unfortunately for Jane, the methods by which John attempts to cure his wife are extremely rational and as structured as he is. A devout â€Å"empiricist† (Shumaker 591), he orders for Jane â€Å"a schedule prescription for each hour in the day† (Gilbert and Gubar) and bids her over and over again to maintain â€Å"proper self control† (Gilman) and â€Å"to use [her] will and good sense† (Hume, 478) to suffocate any imaginative or disruptive tendencies. The power of Johns medical diagnosis, as Treichler points out, goes far beyond the limits of loving advice, however, as Janes mental illness gets worse. John does more than merely diagnose the medical problem from which Jane suffers; rather, he â€Å"speaks to define womans condition† (Treichler, 65). Although this explanation of Jane holds some worth, it fails to take into concern the many instances in which Jane shows a strong fighting spirit against Johns condescending medical advice. While King and Morris recognize Janes behavior as showing â€Å"anShow MoreRelatedThe Yellow Wallpaper: a Stifling Relationship1609 Words   |  7 PagesHusband-Doctor: A Stifling Relationship In Gilmans the Yellow Wallpaper At the beginning of The Yellow Wallpaper, the protagonist, Jane, has just given birth to a baby boy. Although for most mothers a newborn infant is a joyous time, for others, like Jane, it becomes a trying emotional period that is now popularly understood to be the common disorder, postpartum depression. For example, Jane describes herself as feeling a lack of strength (Colm, 3) and as becoming dreadfully fretful andRead More`` The Yellow Wallpaper `` And `` It s A Girl ``1651 Words   |  7 PagesPerkins Gilmans, who wrote â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† to challenge the ideals of society and their treatment towards women. Gilman, faced with the discriminatory and prejudiced challenges of her gender, her childhood shadowed and pelted on with poverty, and her mind plagued with the constant, deafening humming of nervous postpartum depression, unambiguously determined that she was going to raise her voice against constant chattering of chauvinist values. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaperà ¢â‚¬  is a direct echo of Gilman’sRead MoreThe Witch Trail Of The Salem Witch Trails1529 Words   |  7 Pagesthis time, shows that although middle class women had the freedom to pursue domestic endeavors, they still remain subjugated by patriarchal standards. 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The story consists of a series of cleverly constructed short paragraphs, in which the author illustrates, through the unnamed protagonists experiences, the possible outcome of womens acceptance of mens supposed intellectual superiorityRead MoreCharlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"the Yellow Wallpaper†: the Use of Symbolism to Express the Psychological, Sexual, and Creative Oppression Experienced by Women in the Twentieth Century3480 Words   |  14 PagesAmber Gonzalez 12/6/11 English 2213 Melissa Whitney Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†: The Use of Symbolism to Express The Psychological, Sexual, and Creative Oppression Experienced by Women In The Twentieth Century Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† in the late 1800’s while being treating by the very trusted Weir Mitchell. During this time women were commonly admitted into the care of doctors by their husbands without their given consent. At this timeRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper and Feminism2126 Words   |  9 Pagesshortcomings that history has given them. In Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s short story, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† the dominance of a patriarchal society is exposed. The verisimilitude of Gilman’s imagery of the setting lengthily describes the isolation and confinement of the narrator and their effects on her. The house she is staying in is her own prison, and is a symbol of her isolation from society. Her room with the yellow wallpaper is another representation of the narrator’s oppression and her ambition to break