...“THE YELLOW WALLPAPER” BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN Introduction In the late nineteenth century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1973) wrote “The Yellow Wall Paper”. This story can make a readers' mind think just by the way this story presents the main character of a woman and her ordeals as she lived a secluded life, as well as how her relationship with the man in her life is dealt. Some readers might think she is crazy and some may think she is depressed. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the story of a woman's descent into madness as the result of being isolated as a form of "treatment" when suffering from post-partum depression. The author, who is believed to be narrator as well, talks about her personal travel in to the world where an illness has brought her. All her thought and feelings are written in a journal and as she goes down in to the world that she has created in the confines of the room where she was kept. The story line presents that the narrator's mental condition is getting worse, leading to psychosis. Gilman explains the complexities of woman nature as she uses symbolisms to define the psychological realms of the plot. “The Yellow Wallpaper” The unnamed woman in this story (believed to be the author herself) fantasies about the yellow wallpaper are driving her mad. The protagonist experienced hallucinations and persistent thoughts over things. Crawling women, colorful artwork and a moving pattern depict the narrator's increased anxiety...
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...The Yellow Wall paper One of the most fascinating things about growing older is that the older you get, the more observative you become. You begin to see things as time itself, a collage of memory and projected ideas. The essence of things becomes a quest, an adventure, even. The conquest is not minimized by the lack of strength of the victory; instead it is relished for the strength of the victor. Personal conflict can lend itself to improvising any number of scenarios to escape the reality, or at least to make it more tolerable. In the story of The Yellow Wallpaper, we read of one desperate woman’s struggle to endure an undisclosed and possibly fatal illness. Her tale echoes across the ages, and the many billions who have succumbed with only their heart and intellect still intact. Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, this short story is an interesting one which allows the reader to become so involved, so captivated in the author’s thoughts and feelings that you literally delve into her mind and become what she is, if only for a short time. As apparent as it may be that some believe this story should have never been written it is clear to see that there are many things we go through in our daily lives that this could become something that we might, at some point, have to deal with ourselves. We all know that there are things we could admire and things we could justly do without. In the story “The Yellow-Wallpaper” the actual wallpaper becomes a tormenting...
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...Postpartum depression can lead to many other health issues including one very dangerous illness; psychosis. However, in the case of Jane, the narrator in, “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” her problem was developed by other means. The narrator’s psychosis following her postpartum depression was developed as a product of her environment. This is proven through the yellow wall paper that she is forced to see everyday. Also, the way John deals with Jane is an element that effected her to become delusional. Lastly, the “resting treatment” and other ways her depression was treated lead Jane to psychosis. In conclusion, the ending mental state of the narrator, Jane, was not her fault at all, but instead the fault of exterior causes. The yellow wall-paper...
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...《黃色牆紙》 夏洛特•佩金斯•吉爾曼著 楊曉照譯 注1：該文本英文版由1973年對1899年初版的再版掃描成電子文本。該1973年版本由女權出版社出版。 注2：該手抄本最初用于史蒂芬•雷頓教授1997的春季課程“1865年以來的美國文學”。 第一章 像John和我這樣的普通人竟保護著祖傳的夏季禮堂，這真是件稀罕事。 這是一所殖民地豪宅，世襲財産，讓人感受到浪漫的幸福，然而卻幽藏著太多的未知命運，我想說那是一座鬧鬼的豪宅。 我還敢大膽地宣布那裏必定有些什麽怪事發生。 不然為什麽這麽廉價就出租這豪宅？又為什麽這麽久了仍無人問津？ John為我的多慮而嘲笑我，婚後還巴望那些怪事發生。 John實際上是一個極端主義者，他對信仰的事情毫無耐心，把它們當作迷信一起的恐懼。他公開嘲諷那些形而上的抽象言論，因為它們既看不見，也摸不著。 他是個內科醫生，可能（我本不想把這些告訴一個活人，但這是死亡的文書，況且說出來對我也是精神上的安慰）這就是我無法早點重拾健康的原因。 你看，他甚至根本不相信我是病態的！ 可我又能怎麽辦呢？ 如果一個人的親丈夫是一個自視頗高的內科醫生，他對那個人的親朋好友確信地說那個人並無大礙，只是有些精神衰弱，有那麽一點點歇斯底裏。那個人又能怎麽辦呢？ 我哥哥也是個內科醫生，同樣自視頗高，他對別人說了同樣的話。 因此我開始服用磷酸鹽、百憂解之類的，不管它是什麽，說它是滋補品也隨你便。隨之而來的還有旅行、新鮮空氣、足夠的體操鍛煉，我已被禁止任何“工作”，除非變成健康人。 其實我覺得他們的想法是錯的。 其實我覺得適意的工作，帶來刺激和新鮮感的工作，對我是件好事。 可我又能怎麽辦呢？ 不管他們樂不樂意，我已經寫下上面那些話。可就是這麽一點文字也讓我覺得身心疲憊不堪，我的心承受著如此重壓。 我時常幻想像我這樣的人如果多些社交活動和刺激的事該會多好，John卻告誡我，對我來說最糟糕的事情就是幻想自己的處境。我也承認這幻想讓我痛苦。 所以我們還是談談房子吧，讓那些幻想飛走吧。 這是個極美的地方，我們的房子孤獨地遠離公路，遠離3公裏外的村莊。這裏讓我想到小說中描繪的英國，一排籬笆，城堡周圍環繞著高牆，鐵門緊鎖，園藝工和農民住在分散的小木屋中。 多麽甜美的花園！廣闊的花園中樹影蔭翳，小徑交錯，藤蔓回環伸展，葡萄藤悄悄爬上涼亭，擁抱著廊柱。 本來還有花房，但現在全成了廢墟。 這豪宅有些法律上的麻煩，是關于繼承人的紛爭，由于無法做出最終決斷，房子已經空了好幾年。 這讓我心中的幽靈有些不安，雖然害怕，但我不在乎，我能察覺這屋內的異樣。 在一個月光灑落的夜晚，我向John傾訴我的不安。他卻告訴我一切異樣都是一陣風引起的，旋即拉上了窗門。 有時我對John不合情理地發怒，可過去我並不是這麽敏感易怒的人，也許都怪我的神經衰弱吧。 John說我該學著適當地控制自己，于是我忍痛在他面前盡量這樣做，之後，疲憊蹂躏著我的心。 我不喜歡自己的房間。我常想，要是有一節可愛的短樓梯連接我的閣樓，有叢玫瑰擁簇在我的窗口，有老式印花布挂在屋內，那該多美妙啊。可John是不會理睬這種建議的。 他還說這只有一扇窗戶，也沒有地方放兩張床，更沒有多余的房間了。 他很細心，也算愛我，沒有特殊指導，他是不會讓我到處走動的。 他給我制定了一張精細到小時的作息表，處處都照顧著我。如果我還不滿意的話，反倒會譴責自己多麽不領情，多麽忘恩負義。 他...
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...“All oppression creates a state of war.” ~ Simone De Beauvoir War can be a physical or an emotional battle, and as we see in “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” oppression causes the most severe and life altering war within Jane’s mind. The narrator, Jane, a new mother, battles depression and John, her husband, misdiagnosis her depression for hysteria. He then prescribes isolation and bed rest for her recovery, while she seeks healing and comfort in her writing. Jane feels that everyone is against her, even the ugly wallpaper and finding her freedom from it all is a fight to the end. In “The Yellow Wall-Paper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses symbolism to convey how gender division in marriages can cause men to oppress, and patronize women, but through this...
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...Charlotte Gilman's demented short story “the yellow wallpaper” uses first person point of view to emphasize the narrator's progression of mental insanity throughout the story. The reader is lead first hand along the character's slow creep from a lucid nervous women to a delusional, untrusting, psychopath. In the beginning of the story Gilman describes the narrator as a lucid weak minded character that is well aware of her own nervous condition but is averse to the treatments enforced by her husband John. The narrator is mindful of her condition and would “fancy if it had less opposition and more society and stimulus.” The narrator yearns for less people trying to conceal her in attempt to fix the condition but instead wants to have more interactions with the outside world, she believes that will be a far better plan of treatment for herself but john disagrees. This leads the reader to believe that narrator is confident in her opinion towards her condition but their view of the narrator is changed when she continues on saying “— John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition” but she is forced to because she has no one else to talk to since john concealed her in the room. The narrator interrupts her own train of thought by recalling johns instruction, this shows the husband's authority over her very own state of mind. Gilman allows the reader to connect with the narrator through first person, bringing forth the realization of the narrator being physically...
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...Through out Yellow Wall Paper, the narrator seems like she is an average woman with mental instabilities of her time. As the story progresses it shows that the story is actually her getting over the death of her husband by solving the issue she has with the room she is mentally trapped in. The house and grounds are actually portraying the inside of her mind. The house is actually her mind and the grounds are the healthy vibrant portion of her psyche as she say’s “there is a DELICIOUS garden! I never saw such a garden- large and shady, full of box- bordered paths, and lined with long grape- covered arbors with seats under them” (Gilman, Charolotte. YELLOW WALL PAPER. PG 1). This describes a vibrant, lush environment which would be the healthy portion of her mind. She then goes on to describe the house by saying “the place has been empty for years. That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don’t care- there is something strange about the house” (Gilman, Charolette YELLOW WALL PAPER.. PG 1). She seems to describe the house as a negative, which would be the negative section and memories in her brain. It was important to show that there is a healthy side to her psyche so that through the story it is clear that the issues she has in the house “her mind” progressively are solved and comes to except them. Once she gets into the house and is settled into her room she is confronted by the memory of her husband which is represented through the horrific yellow wall paper in her room...
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...Yaqi Wan Instructor: Joshua Weathersby EN 210 September 20, 2015 Feminist For the first paper, I want to talk about a fiction called “The Yellow Wall-paper” which made a profound impression on me. This short novel is written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman who is a well-known American novelist and wrote so many works about feminist. She also made a huge contribution of feminist movement from 19 to 20 century. If we want to know well about a fiction, the first thing we need to do is to understand the experience or background of the author. According to the introduction of Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the book “The Norton Anthology American Literature”, she was born in Hartford, Connecticut and had an unfortunate childhood. When she was young, her father divorced with her mother. Then, she lived a hard life with her father. Maybe because of this reason, she showed a high degree of autonomy and independence in her young age. Gilman got married in 1884, and had a daughter. However, her marriage is not so lasting and it ended in 1888 (484). Housework always troubled her and made her almost breakdown. As for this fiction which called “The Yellow Wall-paper”, it was published in 1892 and this novel was written based on Gilman’s life experience. At the beginning, the heroine was send to a villa which was in a remote suburban for recuperating by her husband, because she suffered from mild postpartum depression. She was forced to accept medical treatment in this villa, and lived like...
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...In the “The Yellow Wall-paper,” the author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, writes about a struggling mentally ill woman, named Jane, trying to work through her individuality and her own depression. This story is centered around her bedroom, her mental state, and the yellow wall-paper on the walls in her room. The reader can easily feel the pain, anguish, despair, and struggles of a woman going through a depressive state. Gilman writes about the individual succession of the woman’s mental state through the disarray of the patterned yellow wall-paper. The theme of feminism is exposed by the main characters use of language, her feelings of inferiority, mental struggles, and anger. The language of the narrator in this story is repressive to women, from the beginning and all the way to the end of the story. In the beginning of the story, the language of the narrator appears in a few ways. The ill woman is forbidden by her husband to write in her journal until she is well, to compensate for the loss of work. She feels constricted by her husband to speak freely and writes in a hidden journal. Gilman writes “I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind” (808). Sad and true, but she doesn’t feel that she can tell her husband how she really feels and “the only safe language is dead language” (Theichler 61). The language of male judgment and control is predominant in the beginning of the story too. Her husband and brother both are physicians...
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...Karla J. Murphy Pedagogy, Volume 4, Issue 2, Spring 2004, pp. 337-343 (Article) For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ped/summary/v004/4.2murphy.html Access provided by SULTAN QABOOS UNIVERSITY (29 Dec 2014 03:14 GMT) The Pedagogical Possibilities of Covering Gilman’s Wallpaper Karla J. Murphy In his introduction to The Pedagogical Wallpaper, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock notes how the pedagogical diversity of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” prompted him to collect essays for this book. He goes on to explain that “given the ubiquity of the text within various academic settings, I was also struck by the absence of attention to the text within pedagogical contexts. Despite the large (and steadily growing) body of criticism to the story, very little of it explicitly addresses its importance as a tool to facilitate learning or various ways in which to make use of the text in the classroom” (3). As a collection, Weinstock’s The Pedagogical Wallpaper contains informed, detailed, and diverse analysis that attempts to shore up the absence of “pedagogical possibilities” concerning Gilman’s transgressive short story (9). Among the contributors are a MOO space specialist, a Gilman scholar, a queer theorist, an existentialist, a formalist, and several reader/student-response theorists. Because each essayist presents a distinct critical perspective on Gilman’s text, each essay is likewise concerned with “how the narrative...
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...Name: Course: College: Lecturer: Date: The Yellow Wallpaper Paper: A Story Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860 and was a prominent American social reform lecturer and writer of short stories, novels and poetry. She was an ideal feminist in a time when her achievements were exceptional for women. For this reason, she acted as a role model for future generations of feminists owing to her nonconformist concepts and lifestyle. This means she was an activist for women’s rights. She is today remembered for her semi-nonfictional short story, The Yellow Wall Paper, which she wrote after a difficult period of post-partum depression. She wrote the book in early 19th century when feminism was rather revolutionary. The book is a true impression of a strong woman reacting to adversity. The Yellow Wall Paper is a short story that describes the suffering of a woman confined to her home after subjection to post-partum depression. She appears as a woman who is totally submissive to her husband. While suffering from acute depression, she has to spend her days restricted to her house. However, there is a frightful wall paper in her bedroom that she keeps staring at day in day out. This yellow paper drives her totally insane, and she eventually tears it down. She feels alone in her little world. Unfortunately, her husband does not give her any support despite her sickness and does not want her to write. She also cannot visit or interact with family and friends and is confined...
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...Justin Weber Professor Stover English 1302 Paper A/ 3:00 05/03/2014 “The Yellow Wall-Paper” “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story about a woman who moves to a house with her physician husband, John, who orders her to rest to help with her “nervousness.” After a while of being alone, she begins to see a woman coming out of the mysterious wallpaper and becomes obsessive. Near the end of their rental, she locks herself in the room to pull down the wallpaper and free the woman trapped inside. As John arrives and unlocks the door, he faints upon seeing his wife. The story concludes with the woman circling the room, stepping over her husband. The central idea is to show how when one is oppressed and denied the opportunity to be free, it can often have dangerous side effects. "The Story of an Hour" "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin is the story of Mrs. Louise Mallard, a woman with a heart condition, whose sister has arrived at her house to inform her of the death of her husband, Brently. Mrs. Mallard immediately bursts into tears crying into her sister's arms before retreating by herself to a vacant room. Once inside the room, Mrs. Mallard becomes overwhelmed with joy at the thought of the freedom she will now have. As Mrs. Mallard leaves the room, the front door is opened and Mr. Mallard unexpectedly walks in, unaware that he was thought to be dead. Mrs. Mallard, at the sight of her husband, is overcome by her heart condition and dies...
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...Philipps-Universität Marburg FB 10: Fremdsprachliche Philologien Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Class: Academic Writing | Instructor: Dr. Johanna Heil The House in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Ambivalence or Brilliance? Name: Anas Asmaeil Module: Literary Studies: History Semesters Studied: 1 Address: Adam-Krafft.7, 35039, Marburg Email: Shoqarqwa@hotmail.com Date of Submission: February 29, 2016 Student ID: 2739275 Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 1 2. [Main Part I] 2.1 Gothic Element 2.2 Feminism 3. Conclusion 1 [Bibliography] 1. Introduction: “All meanings, we know, depend on the key of interpretation.” By Georg Eliot It goes without saying that the more one ponders upon the masterpiece written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the more compelled one finds themselves to, not only reverence what she brought forth, but to also acclaim the diverse interpretations one can come up with of a text written well over a century ago. The story talks about a woman who is diagnosed with "temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency" (Gilman 1) and thus is sentenced by her physician to a rest cure. Following her husband’s and doctor’s orders, her suffering grows worse and worse and signs of depression, anxiety and dissociation manifest, quite the opposite of what was supposed to happen. Having the ability to scare and horrify the reader, this unique story had been considered as a classic...
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...The Yellow Wallpaper When reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, one may notice the true complexity of this short story. It is told in an odd, but very intriguing way. The story is told in a strict first person point of view, which includes a lot of personal thoughts from the narrator. The narrator Jane, who is also the main character, is suffering from nervous depression. As her cure, John, her husband physician, prescribed rest and solitude in a bedroom of a summer house. While confined to a yellow papered bedroom, the narrator takes us through her declining mental journey. Left all alone, Jane’s innocent mental state becomes an obsessive delusional survival situation for freedom, which leads to her mental demise. The narrator starts her writing by describing the beauty of the house her husband has taken her for their summer vacation. Her description is in romantic terms as an aristocratic estate or even a haunted house and wonders how they were able to afford it, and why the house had been empty for so long. This description of the house, initiates an uneasy feeling with the reader. She is lead into a discussion about her illness from a feeling she expresses that there is “something queer” about the situation (315). Jane suspects something is wrong with her, but she does not recognize what it is. She is diagnosed with “nervous condition.(316) She expresses that her doctor husband ignores the magnitude of her illness and any of her concerns in...
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...The woman from the yellow wallpaper was aware of her sickness. She spoke about her condition, (perhaps not understanding the severity of her illness) she went into detail of both her off-color physical and mental state. No matter how often people around her knew and talked to her about her dilutions still took over her mind anyway in the end....
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