Themes & Symbols

The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow wallpaper is a story about this woman who is suffering through depression. In the story she spends all of her at her summer home with her husband John. Her husband Johns tries to help cure her by locking her in this room. She spends everyday there and the only thing that she can do is look at the yellow wallpaper. She also notices that most of the wallpaper is torn up, and the floor is also ruined. To keep herself entertained, she stares at the wallpaper look for patterns. She notices and looks for patterns. One thing that she always finds is a woman in the wallpaper, and she is trapped behind the patterns, and trying to get out. She then gets a journal to write down her thoughts and the patterns that she finds, she would also sometime refer back to her childhood. From preventing John finding this journal she would hide it. Later on her interest for the wallpaper grow, and she spends less, and less time sleeping. She starts to refer to the woman in the pattern again, and she was noticing strange things. She said that she could smell the wallpaper throughout the house, even when she was outside. As the story begins to end she notices that the woman in the wallpaper is trying to get out, and she later escape briefly, and she tries to but an end to this. The nest night and day she tries to free the woman by ripping off the wallpaper. And then at the end she realizes that she is the woman in the wallpaper.

Themes

The main theme about this story is depression. In this story the woman has been suffering through depression for a while now in the early 20^th century, and she isn’t getting any help for it. She suffers from it everyday, and her husband pays little attention to her. The only thing that she can do is look at the wallpaper. That occupies most of her days, and that is the only thing that keeps her sane. Her husband does not know what to do about it, and he thinks locking her up in a room is suppose to help her. Eventually her condition gets worse and worse. She starts to notice a woman in the patterns of the wallpaper, who is trapped behind the pattern like bars. She would them realize that the woman needed to be free, and she was going to help. So she tears off the wallpaper, and that when she realize that the woman in the wallpaper was herself.

Another theme about this story is the lack of attention, and help that people get when they suffer through depression at this time. Her husband john believed that locking her his this room, isolated from the world would help her. They don’t socialize with her, and they do don’t let her out of the room. The only thing that she could do was stare at the wallpaper looking for patterns, which would eventually making her insane. She is basically begin treated as a second-class citizen.

Symbols

The 2 most key symbols in the story is the woman in the wallpaper, and the wallpaper itself. The woman in the wallpaper symbolizes herself, and the reason is because the woman in the wallpaper is trapped, and she can’t get our. The narrator says the she is also trapped behind the patterns, and that she is suffering. Then when she rips off the wallpaper, and she notices that the person inside was she all along.

The wallpaper itself is also a symbol because it symbolizes how she is locked up, and the she is getting very little attention. Since she spends everyday trying to solve the pattern, it basically symbolizes that she is trapped inside, and she can’t come out. It is something that haunts her everyday, and there is nothing that she can do about it. She also then refers to the woman that she sees. The woman is just like her, locked up behind bars and trying to get out.

Character map and analysis

The Narrator: 

She is the protagonist character in this story.

Personality: She is a woman of sensitive temperament and who is pretty alienated from her own treatment.  

Family & Problems: She married her husband John, who is a man that makes all her decisions for her and which really irritates her. She feels ill, but her husband does not believe she is sick and whenever she tells John that she feels worse and worse, all he replies is that her body is getting better and better. However, her illness has placed her in a weak position in relation to domineering John. She is a writer, but she is not allow to write. Because of her mental problem she is not allow to do anything, even take care of her own baby, John would not allow her. All she can do is just sit in a room with yellow wallpaper. Finally, because she sits in the room all day long, so she turns herself to the wallpaper. She starts to complain about how ugly, irregular and disgusting the wallpaper was.  

Revealing Quotations:

"And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way - it is such a relief!" (Pg.680)

From this sentence we can tell that the narrator has no freedom in front of her husband and her husband's sister, even at her own house. She is trying to put all her thoughts down onto a piece of paper to show that she wants more freedom.

"I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled of most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (Pg. 687)

This is the part at the very end. It tell us she is getting sick of her husband, and at last, she decided to run away from her husband. The reason why she pulled of most of the wallpaper is because she thinks that the wallpaper is blocking her way. She wants to get away from John, and his control.

John: 

He is the antagonist in this story. He is a high - ranking physician.

Personality: He is a nice man, but "he has no patience with faith and intense of horror of superstition". (Pg. 677)

Family & Problems: He married with the narrator, a woman who have a mental problems. Knowing she has mental problem, his decisions and opinions occupy most of the text as his wife defers to his wishes. (For example: Friends that she is hanging out, bedroom that she supposed to sleep in.) He thinks that he helps and makes the best for his wife, but his wife is actually sick with his actions. He doesn't believe what his wife has told him, but he believes in himself. He thinks everything he has done is the right thing, and he should keep going on with it.

Revealing Quotations:

"You know the place is doing you good," he said, "and really, dear, I don't care to renovate the house just for a three months' rental" (Pg. 678)

This is what John said after the narrator told him that she feels sick. This sentence shows that John doesn't listen and believe what the narrator have said, and he believes that he makes all the best decisions for her.

"What is it, little girl?" he said. "Don't go walking about like that - you'll get cold." (Pg. 681)

From this sentence, we can tell that John takes much care of her. He doesn't want her to get cold. But he said little girl, which showed us that he does not treat the narrator as his wife, but a little girl. Having a mental problem doesn't means that she is young. It shows that he is putting her beneath him and he also treats his wife as a patient.

Jennie: 

She is John's sister, the supporting character in this story.

Personality: She is the one who happily assumes all the traditional duties of a housewife.

Family & Problems: She is the housekeeper of Jane and John's house. She comes into their house everyday. She is also responsible to takes care of the narrator and her baby. The reason why John has sent Jennie to his house is because the narrator, she has mental problems and she cannot take care of the baby. John tells her to take care of his wife, so she did. She makes the narrator sits in her room all the day long, and there is not allowing to write. She reports everything has happened to John after he comes back to the house. However, John and herself are driving the narrator crazy.

Revealing Quotations:

"There comes John's sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing." (Pg. 679)

This sentence tell us that Jennie is very responsible to her job and she is a listener who always listens to her brother.

"So now she is gone, and the servants are gone, and the things are gone, and there is nothing left but that great bedstead nailed down, with the canvas mattress we found on it. (Pg. 686)

From this sentence we can tell that Jennie does not always listen to her brother, she also listens to the narrator at some points. However, this sentence tells us that Jennie starts to understand  the narrator more. 

Social Issue

   The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that was fist published in 1892. It is the story of a woman of the same time period who, after childbirth, enters a state of mental insanity and instead of receiving proper treatment she is merely placed in a room at her summer home. 

   What is depression and mental illness? Depression is an illness of the mind that interferes with a persons daily life and their routines, often ruining relationships of family and friends. It is categorized in many different forms, some being more serious than others and lasting longer periods of time. Some forms are; 

   -Psychotic Depression: a form of depression which occurs when a person already has depression and begins to experience different forms of psychosis, such as delusions and hallucinations. 

   -Postpartum Depression: a form of depression that many woman experience after giving birth due to the overwhelming responsibility.  

   -Seasonal Affective Disorder: This is a form of depression that is brought on by a change in seasons and occurs during the winter time. 

   Mental illness however, are assumed to be caused by many genetic and environmental factors. Some hypothesized causes are; 

   -Inherited traits: mental illnesses can usually be passed down throughout generations. It is found to be more common in those who have a family history of mental illness. 

   -Biological Factors: other factors can include outside forces, such as brain injury or exposure to toxins of viruses while in the womb. 

    -Life experiences: High stress, loss of family members or other loved ones, challenging situations and other such ordeals can affect a persons mental health. 

    -Brain Chemistry: In many cases, changes in the brain can also affect mental health, including a persons mood. Hormonal imbalances are a main cause in younger people that may bring on depression, distorted thinking and pessimism.  

   Depression has always been a major

  In The Yellow Wallpaper, we the social issue being portrayed by the nameless character, a woman, who is suffering from a form of Psychotic Depression that has most likely been brought on by Postpartum Depression. Postpartum depression is quite difficult to notice as many people just think it is the 'Baby Blues,' caused by lack of sleep, changes in hormones in woman after giving birth. However, Postpartum Depression is far more serious and affects up to at least 13% of woman after childbirth, usually appearing abut 3 months into motherhood. In the story this is showed by how the woman slowly begins going insane and having hallucinations after being locked in her summer home by her husband. 

   Throughout history we see many accounts of people having been affected by depression and mental illness, and over time we see the treatments changing, thankfully for the better. In the 19th century, when Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, the main medical treatments for people that had been diagnosed with any form of depression would be to have them get some 'fresh air' and to remove the original reason of stress. In our time, technology has improved greatly and now people are even looking into treating depression with electrodes in the brain, stimulating a certain area of the brain in order to target the depression. Edi Guyton, a woman who suffered from depression for over 40 and who had tried to take her life twice, had volunteered in the 90's for the experimental treatment. After extensive trials she had claimed that the treatment did in fact work. 

   On the other hand, people that suffered from mental illness in the 1800's were usually thrown into prison cells in asylums and no major efforts would be made to help them. In present time, however, we have taker greater steps in helping people, offering verbal treatments such as therapists and councellors.  Getting people to also interact in society has also been proven to be quite helpful.  

  

Works CIted

Works Cited

Ioana Cheptea:

BBC. Woman's Hour -Depression and childbirth in the 19th century. n.d. Web. 17 October 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2004_29_wed_02.shtml>. (This source helped me very much with narrowing in on what form of depression the narrator was affected by.  Skimming through the paragraphs I found the beginning quite helpful as it told of the troubles that motherhood brought women in the 19th century.)

CNN. Mental illness. n.d. Web. 18 October 2012. <http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/mental-illness/DS01104.html>. (I found this site very helpful as it was organized and easy to find information on. It gave a lot of helpful information on the symptoms, causes and risk factors of depression.)

DailyLit: The Yellow Wallpaper, book by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. DailyLit. n.d. Web. 18 October 2012. <http://www.dailylit.com/books/yellow-wallpaper>. (I barely used this site, only looking to find the year in which the story was written.)

Dryden-Edwards, Roxanne R.D.E. Postpartum Depression (PPD) Symptoms, Treatment, Research ... n.d. Web. 19 October 2012. <http://www.medicinenet.com/postpartum_depression/article.htm>. (I used this site to continue my research on Postpartum depression. It was very helpful as it focused more in-depth on the issue and gave many examples and facts.)

Gupta, Sanjay S.G, and Andy A.S Segal. Treating depression with electrodes inside the brain - CNN.com. n.d. Web. 17 October 2012. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/14/health/battery-powered-brain/index.html>. (I found this source very interesting and it was it's title that attracted me to it at first. It was a very interesting article that wrote of the information for treating depression with electrodes inside the brain. This was also the second source I took from CNN, so i found it very useful.)

NIMH Depression. n.d. Web. 18 October 2012. <http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml>. (I found that this site was not as helpful as the others due to the fact that it contained most of the information that other sires had. However

Cristina Pan:

"The Yellow Wallpaper." Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. <http://www.shmoop.com/yellow-wallpaper/summary.html>.

"And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way - it is such a relief!" (Pg.680)  

 

I found this quatation very helpful, because it tells us about the narrator's feeling.

 

"I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled of most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (Pg. 687)

 

I found this quatation important, because the narrator figured out that she must stand for herself, and she must run away from John's control.

 

 

"You know the place is doing you good," he said, "and really, dear, I don't care to renovate the house just for a three months' rental" (Pg. 678)

 

I found this quatation important, because this sentence shows John's personality.

 

"What is it, little girl?" he said. "Don't go walking about like that - you'll get cold." (Pg. 681)

 

I found this quatation important, because we can tell that the relationship between John and the narrator is quite different than it says in the story.

 

 

"There comes John's sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing." (Pg. 679)

 

I found this quatation important, because we can tell the relationship between John's sister and the narrator, and how do they treat the narrator.

 

"So now she is gone, and the servants are gone, and the things are gone, and there is nothing left but that great bedstead nailed down, with the canvas mattress we found on it. (Pg. 686)

 

I found this quatation important, because from this stence we can tell that Jennie starts to understand the narrator.

Anky Guo: 

Johnson, Greg . "EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page."EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. EBSCOhost, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=2&hid=11&sid=bab3a7a8-6168-4c4f-b80b-43952f52c117%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNp

Johnson, Greg. "EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page."EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. EBSCOhost, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=2&hid=11&sid=7b0302f6-1655-4390-8021-05626c90f12f%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JnNpdG

Photographs: 

Talsman, Isabel. The Yellow Wallpaper. 2012. n/a, Michigan. Isabel Talsman. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.

DeviantArt, asunnyspirit on DeviantArt. John The Doctor. 2010. DeviantArt, n/a. DeviantArt. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.