The Yellow Wallpaper4
Throughout history people have always seemed to follow what notions that were considered “cool”. Though I doubt that “cool” was the word used to describe these notions they were still there in some form or another. One of the greatest farces ever committed in the name of these popular perceptions was medicine. At that time, medicine that was on the cutting edge seem to have always involved some sort of noxious chemical or a typically atrocious diet. Not to mention the fact that ninety-nine percent of the doctors were men. Women’s notions were immediately discounted on the bases of the preconception that women were not meant for such enlightened thoughts. No, men really knew what was best and women were meant to stand by what their husbands’ said. This brings one particular husband to mind and how he was responsible for his wife going completely and utterly insane. His name is John and he is the husband to a woman who was diagnosed with a temporary nervous depression, meaning a slight hysterical tendency. Through John's interference he turned what was considered a minor case of a chemical imbalance into to full blown schizophrenia.
accepted behavior of a woman as deemed by society, the woman was considered hysterical. When dealing with these patients, instead of seriously considering the consequences of their actions, they went along with obscenely stupid notions on how to deal with problems of the mind. The conventional course of action to take in the narrator’s case was the one of nothing. I mean literally, nothing. For the narrator was considered hysterical and slightly depressed and there was only one course of Unfortunately, her symptoms went unnoticed and untreated. At least properly, that is, unless you consider the rest cure to be appropriate. I find John in fault for this. He was her physician and her husband. Yet he didn’t have enough sense to see how his wife was suffering. Instead of treating his wife as his wife and not another patient, he would have noticed how wrong the conventional ideas were and done something that would actually help his wife. Everything he did was based on what other doctors thought. He did not try to go against what is, and always shall be, the most ludicrous way of treating the mentally ill. Because of his incompetence, he left his wife in a room with an obsession that proved to be too much. What was a treatable, mild case of mental disorder became complete insanity. All this was done at his hands and no amount of washing could ever cleanse them of his wrongdoing. action for such symptoms. That was one of complete rest. In those days the rest cure was very popular. It involved being set apart from anything that might have even the remotest possibility of stress in it. The main character of The Yellow Wallpaper was indeed set apart from all activity as directed by her husband. John dutifully followed the set path, not questioning any of the accepted methods. He set his wife up in a large, old house for the summer, kept all company that was thought to be
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Approximate Word count = 1289
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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