Writing About Turn-Of-The-Century Fiction

Writing About Turn-of-the-Century Fiction

        “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate, and provoke study, and when you follow the lame, uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide—plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard-of contradictions” (Perkins Gilman 314).  The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the story of a woman, new wife and mother, in the 19th century who was being treated for her ‘insanity’ with rest cure. She was told to stay in bed all day to help her regain normality. In the narrator’s case it didn’t work. The wallpaper in her room drove the woman crazy, and ultimately helped her overcome the oppression she was subject to from her husband. Through the narrator’s imagery, tone, and point of view it’s evident that she has felt peeved by her surroundings, her husband, and her emotions.

The imagery the narrator created showed that she felt trapped in the room and her mind. Towards the beginning of this short story the narrator describes the room that she’s staying in. She described the windows, “the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls” (Perkins Gilman 314). The way that she sees the windows shows that she feels trapped in the room throughout the story. The room is a comparison to her mind. Her feelings are trapped in her head. The bars on the windows create the image or a prison which equates to her mind that has sentenced her ‘unusual’ thoughts to a life sentence. She then goes on to describing the wallpaper, “I never saw a worse paper in my life. One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” (Perkins Gilman 314). She really dislikes the wallpaper. It is very disorganized, just like her thoughts. She has ‘strange’ thoughts which seem so different to everything she’s ‘supposed’ to be thinking, or what her husband and society wants her to think. The whole time she’s living in this room she sees her odd thoughts portrayed in this odd wallpaper and she hates it throughout the book. She continues to describe the wallpaper, “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (Perkins Gilman 314). This description helps the reader see something quire unpleasant and it shows how uncomfortable the narrator was in this room and in her mind. Her emotions were different than the majority of women, during this time period and she had to suppress them and create a false sense of happiness.

The tone the narrator used created the feeling of discomfort. The narrator describes her husband as “careful”, “loving” (Perkins Gilman 314). She describes her husband as a very great man, but with her next words contradicted this. “and hardly lets me stir without special direction” (Perkins Gilman 314). The reader can see throughout the story that the narrator is different than the majority of women during her time, therefore it can be inferred that she doesn’t like being controlled by her husband. She feels trapped in the room and in her mind and she wants to break out of this imprisonment, this includes the way her husband has entrapped her. He wants her to be a certain way, and he will force her to be this way, and as a loving, obedient wife, she will do so. This isn’t the true type of woman that the narrator is, so this leads to much confusion on her part. In the narrator’s description of the wallpaper she says that the curves on the wallpaper, “commit suicide” (Perkins Gilman 314). This creates an unpleasant tone because the thought of suicide makes anyone gloomy. Her connection between the wallpaper and death, shows just how uncomfortable she was to be in this room. She goes on to describe the color of the wallpaper as, “repellent”, “smouldering unclean”, “faded” (Perkins Gilman 314). This creates a nasty tone. The wallpaper is disgusting to her, this would of course cause a feeling of irritation that continue on throughout the story.