book

Narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper

21 Pages 883 Words 1557 Views

“The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells the story of a woman who is living in a state of deep depression. The narrator’s husband thinks that it is best for her to do the rest cure. But little does he know that it will driver her mad! He makes all of the decisions for her and treats her like a little girl. He thinks that this is what is best for her. But, later in the story his decisions leads to her health going downhill. He puts her in a room with a dirty yellow wallpaper, and she cannot do anything but get rest. The wall paper begins to drive her crazy, and it will soon consume her. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written from a psychological perspective. Because her husband would not let her trade rooms, she became obsessed with the pattern in the wall paper. Her obsession lead to hallucinations and her hallucinations lead to bizarre behavior. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” has almost no say in her life about what she wants to do. The narrators’ husband makes all of the decisions for her and treats her like a child. When the narrator first arrives to the rest cure house, she knew that she wanted to get out of the room with the yellow wallpaper, but her husband insisted that they did not. The narrator says, “Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down to the cellar if I wished, and have it washed into the bargain” (Gilman 769). By call her a “blessed little goose”, this shows that he does not even take her seriously, he treats her as if though she is a little girl. But little does he know that his decisions and the things that he says to her will soon affect her health. John also makes the decision over what medications she takes, what she can and cannot do, things that HE thinks are good for her. It states in the story, “So I take phosphates or phosphites – whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and I am absolu

Read Full Essay