Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Published: 1892
Genre: short story
If you have not yet read The Yellow Wall-paper, please do so before reading this analysis. It is a brilliant short story, really worth reading! If you have read it, please keep in mind that this analysis is my try of writing an essay, and is filled with subjective thoughts about the short story. Enjoy!
Understanding the Yellow Wall-Paper
The Yellow Wall-Paper was first published in 1892 and is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The short story enlightens mental illness among women in the Victorian Era through a story about a mentally ill woman and her husband. It is especially known for its many strong symbols. These symbols are crucial for our understanding of the story. In this essay my thesis statement will therefore be: “What effect do the symbols have on the readers understanding of the text?”. Because there are so many symbols in this short story I will be focusing on the wallpaper, the bed, the house and John.
Symbols are used on many occasions. The things and persons we call symbols have two functions. They function as what they actually are, but they also have a deeper meaning. They often function as an alternative way to comment on a phenomenon. One way of defining literary symbolism is that it is A word, phrase, or image that signifies an object or event which in turn signifies something, or has some sort of reference, beyond itself (Scherr. 2017).
The narrator of The Yellow Wall-Paper is a nameless woman, who is also the main character of the story. She tells the story from her point of view, in present time. The narrator might possibly be a writer, considering her wish of writing more, and her husband's prohibition against it. The Yellow Wall-Paper is a reaction and comment on how “hysteria” among women was treated and understood by the many male psychiatrists in the Victorian Era (Scherr. 2017). The point of view and the present time may be devices to enlighten this. Gilman struggled with mental illness and “hysteria” herself, and was on an occasion a patient of Silias Weir Mitchell, an actual specialist at the time mentioned in the text. The use of actual persons and institutions from the 19th century makes the story more credible, though it is a fictional text. Gilman is also known for writing feministic literature, a factor that might somewhat characterise our interpretation of the text.
The wallpaper seems to be the strongest symbol of the story. The short story has its name after this symbol, and the narrator of the story keeps mentioning “that horrid paper” (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p. 488) in different ways. The narrator spends most of her time in the nursery where this paper is. She describes the wallpaper in a negative way from the very beginning. The colour is described as repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow. Yellow is a colour that many today associate with life, happiness, hope and joy. However, the narrator claims it makes her think of old foul, bad yellow things (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p. 493). The pattern is described as One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin (The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 2013. p. 487). The pattern is hard to decide and is quite early in the story starting to give us reasons for associating it with jail or imprisonment. At times it almost seems alive, as if it knew what a vicious influence it had! (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p. 488). Every time the room is mentioned the reader feels a hint of what the narrator might be feeling as if we are trapped in the ugly, yellow nursery with her. The narrator wants to figure out the pattern and where it ends and gets more and more obsessed with this task throughout the story. A wallpaper in a square room, however, has no end, nor a start. The narrator develops ownership to the wallpaper and says I am determined that nobody shall find out but myself!, as if there were some sort of competition about finding out first (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p. 493). This task also gives her something to be excited about and to look forward to.
The narrator also talks about how the wallpaper keeps changing. The moonlight's effect on the wallpaper especially seems to catch her attention, and she is often awake examining it at nighttime. Behind the wallpaper she insists there is a woman trapped. This is where the narrator seems to really start losing her sanity and it gets harder for the reader to follow her thoughts. The woman behind the wallpaper is a symbol within a symbol. She definitely helps to strengthen the feeling of total lack of control in own life. The narrator is also trapped, just in a different way. She does what John decides when he decides it. She is hiding her writing because John does not like it, and he refuses her to visit Cousin Henry and Julia. In the end the narrator peels off the wallpaper. The woman behind the wallpaper and the narrator are suddenly much harder to tell apart. The narrator says I wonder if they all came out of that wall-paper as I did? (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p. 496). In this sense, it seems like the wallpaper might be a symbol of the narrator's condition, that keeps getting worse (Camp.2017). It was already ripped, ugly and unclean when she first entered the room, but gets worse as a parallel to the narrator's condition. In the end she seems delusional, even schizophrenic and she creeps around on the floor. The ripped wallpaper may in another way represent freedom. Especially if we focus on the woman trapped behind it. The narrator has broken the never-ending, prison-like, pattern and creeps freely around by the wall. The task of figuring out the wallpaper may be seen as the narrator trying to figure out herself and trying to take control over her own life and treatment. The reader feels the tension rising as the narrator gets more obsessed with the wallpaper. One is almost obsessed with the paper oneself, analysing every piece of information we get about it.
There is more than just the wallpaper that gives us the feeling of being controlled and trapped. The bed is nailed to the floor in the former nursery. The narrator spends much time in this bed due to her rest cure, though she is not sleeping much. This could be another way of describing how trapped and controlled he narrator feels. She can not even move her own bed. It might even be that the narrator, or someone who lived there before, was strapped to the bed. This we do not know, but when she describes her struggle to tear off the wallpaper we get the impression that it is not impossible (Camp. 2017). She also tells how the paper is stripped in great patches all around the head of my bed, as far as I can reach (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p.487). Through the story the relationship between John and his wife is not once described as intimate or sexual. Even though the couple sleep beside each other in the bed at night they never seem to touch each other or lie close. The bed may therefore be a symbol of the couple's poorly functioning relationship. Having said that, a marriage in the Victorian age is not the same as a marriage or relationship today. The relationship could be a way of describing the relationship between mentally ill women in the Victorian Era and many of the male psychiatrists. The bed may also be yet another symbol of the lack of freedom the narrator is experiencing. It is certain that the bed makes the room even less welcoming. Together with the wallpaper it gives the reader an uncomfortable feeling about the room the narrator is to spend three months in.
The nursery is the room we get to know the best, but the house is also described. The narrator says in the very beginning of the story that the house lies in the most beautiful place. Though she wonders how they got to stay there so cheaply, and thinks that there is something queer about it, she appreciates John's thought behind it. The house has many rooms, little houses for the gardeners, a “delicious garden” and seems to be the perfect place to relax and get healthy (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p. 486). One seems to have to be privileged to afford to live in a summerhouse like this. Still, all the narrator wants is to leave. Throughout in the story the house seems to become more and more creepy. It lies quite alone, standing well back from the road and has been untenanted for quite some time. The windows are barred and the narrator mentions that there is a weird smell in the nursery as well as great patches stripped of wallpaper. One can easily imagine that the house might have been used to something more than a family house and a gymnasium. After we get to know about the bed, the barred windows, the ripped wallpaper and the cheap price of the house the reader to start feeling that there is something queer about the place. When the narrator with her “hysteria” moves into the house it almost turns into a mental asylum. The house might have a sort of mirror effect towards the mentally ill narrator. It is pretty on the outside, but the more we get to know it the more uncomfortable we get with it. In the same way, the narrators head is almost like a haunted house that keeps getting worse. She can not escape from the house, nor can she escape from her mind. Once again the feeling of being trapped occurs. The feeling increases the more about the house we get to know. All creepy details we get described about the house, in addition to the deserted location, makes one's thoughts fly far away from a lovely and relaxing vacation in the countryside. The house is introduced in the very beginning of the story and gives the reader an increasing feeling that something odd is going to happen. If we choose to understand the house as a sort of mirror it also helps the reader understand the main character of the story.
Just like the house, the way the reader sees John, and eventually also the narrator, changes when we get to know him. At first, he seems to be a loving and caring husband. He takes care of his mentally ill wife and does what he thinks is best for her. They spend three months in the summerhouse so that the narrator may rest without disturbance. Her baby is also taken away. She has no responsibilities. John represents men and husbands, but being a physician he also represents the male physicians in the late 1800s. John is in charge of everything in his wife's life. The narrator several times expresses her wish to visit Cousin Henry and Julia, but her husband refuses her to leave claiming she is too ill. Other than John, John's sister is the only one the narrator sees in the three months they are living in the summerhouse. She is also the one taking care of the narrator's baby. John comes and goes as he pleases, but the narrator never leaves the house, she barely leaves her room. It is an odd and interesting choice of John to place his wife in a nursery with barred windows. It definitely makes it seem like he thinks of his wife like a child more than an equal partner. It could be that John is a bit embarrassed by his ill wife. At times we certainly get the impression of it. Towards the end of the story, the narrator may remind the reader of “the madwoman in the attic” (Camp.2017). She is obsessed with the wallpaper, especially the never-ending pattern, and believes there is someone behind it, which is impossible. At the end, she also tares it apart and creeps around on the floor. Hearing about hysteria one understand that mental illness was tabu and misinterpreted. It was very likely something that one would be ashamed of and something that was to be hidden. Being a physician married to a mentally ill woman one could also imagine that John must be feeling a lot of pressure to cure his wife and to appear professionally without her. When they first arrive at the summerhouse she appears to be somewhat easy to deal with. Whatever John does she excuses him, and she seems to believe everything her husband says in a naive and childlike way. However, the narrator's relationship with John changes throughout the story. She gradually seems to understand how he treats her and how much power he has over her life. At one point she says The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p. 493). She also keeps secrets from John, for example how she feels about the wallpaper and that she is writing. As mentioned earlier John and his wife do not seem to have an intimate and close relationship, but rather a hieratic one. The narrator eventually gives the impression of understanding that John has no right treating her like a child. In the end of the short story John faints when he finds his wife creeping around on the floor. Many have discussed whether this ending is a victory or a loss for the narrator (Camp. 2017). In one way the narrator has finally taken control in her own life. She has defied John's rules and destroyed the wallpaper that bothered her and made her feel trapped. However, the narrator's condition seems to be worse than ever, and not even her husband is able to help her anymore. Through John, the reader gets a look at not only this fictional relationship, but also the Victorian Era society. We can to a certain degree understand why John behaves the way he does because he is characterised by the society, and the profession, he is a part of. This idea is also backed up when the narrator tells about her physician brother who “says the same thing” as John (Baym. N. Levine. R.S. 2013. p. 486).
The Yellow Wall-Paper is full of symbols. The symbols characterise how we understand and read the text. Without them, we would have to do with an interlay different story. It would be harder to understand the message, if there would even be one. The symbols are not given information, we have to work to understand them, but when we do the story is suddenly much richer. The whole story builds on how the reader understands the wallpaper. It almost gives the reader a little inside information about how it feels to be mentally ill. The wallpaper can be seen as a symbol of the narrator's worsening condition. When she, in the end, tares the wallpaper apart the prison-like pattern is broken and so is John's control over her. The reader is in a way told two stories. One about a married couple renting a summerhouse and one about what society was like for mentally ill women in the Victorian Era. Our feelings, imagination and empathy are connected both to the narrator in the fictional story and the mentally ill women who lived in the Victorian Era. Symbols such as John helps to get through a message in a way that is easier to understand. By telling a simple story about John and his ill wife the author may indirectly criticise the way society treated woman struggling with mental illness. However, since this is a fictional short story no one can accuse Gilman of doing exactly this. Readers of the short story in the late 1800s will, of course, have read it differently than readers do today. Though this situation is now in the past, readers today may learn something about the history of society's view on mental illness and women, and how much it has changed in the last hundred years.
Sources:
Camp. A. (18.10.17) [The Yellow Wall-Paper] University of Oslo.
Scherr. R. (13.09.17) [Hawthorne and Melville] University of Oslo.
Scherr. R. (27.09.17) [Jacobs and Gilman] University of Oslo.
Baym. N. Levine. R.S. (2013) The Norton Anthology, American Literature. Volume 2, 1865 to the present. Shorter eighth edition. p. 485-497.
Picture: http://www.sffaudio.com/librivox-the-yellow-wallpaper-by-charlotte-perkins-gilman/
