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Notes on The Yellow Wallpaper

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?Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” starts out with a woman, named Jane, who is suffering a nervous condition that is driving her insane. Gilman writes, “John is a physician, and (I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (Gilman 1). Jane’s husband, John, is a successful physician just like her brother, and they go by the book as far as cure/treatments are concerned which makes them completely ignorant to the fact that the “rest” cure was not helping Jane and only worsens her condition. ?Furthermore, Jane writes, “If a physician of high standing and one’s own husband assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression a slight hysterical tendency -what is one to do?” (Gilman 1). Clearly, Jane disagrees with the “rest” cure that her husband prescribed for her nervous condition. The narrator writes mostly about Jane’s main conflict, which is the “rest” cure, followed by her being imprisoned for months on end without being able to see her baby or socialize with anyone, not even her own family. It is also mentioned that Jane’s brother is also a physician and he agrees with her husbands’ diagnosis. Jane writes, “So I take phosphates or phosphites- whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well” (Gilman 1). Gilman refers this as to how women were treated in the late 1800’s, they were forbidden to work or to have any rights, in other words treated like puppets. ?Jane keeps stating “what is one to do?” when writing about her problems and is trying to display that there is not much she can do when her thoughts and opinions do not even count. Her husband John laughs when Jane tries to confront him about how she is feeling and begging to stop making her rest since she knows it is only making her condition worse. I think Gilman’s goal was to let her audience know how oppressed women were when she wrote this short story, for example she writes, “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus- but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad” (Gilman 1). The narrator’s status of society is reflected by her role in society being very limited, as it was during that period of time. It is ridiculous of how women

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