A critique of Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wall-Paper

A detailed Summary of A critique of Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wall-Paper

A critique of The Yellow Wall-Paper

Charlotte P. Gilmans', The Yellow Wall-Paper, written in the early part of the 1900's, is an excellent example of the common belief during that time which held that women were too weak to handle stress and as a result, often collapsed under it. During this time, society frowned on women who did anything besides cleaning house and raising children. It was believed that they could not handle anything else. If, however, a woman fell victim to a nervous breakdown, the only remedy was shutting her up inside her home, which in Gilmans' view only worsened things. The Yellow Wall-Paper is a fictitious account of a time when Gilman herself suffered a nervous breakdown. Her husband, solitude, and her hallucinations, drove her to disconnect from reality, which in turn, lead to her independence.

Charlotte's husband, is the first element that drove her to disconnect from reality, which in turn, lead to her independence. Although well intentioned, John takes away what little power she has by regulating everything she does. Charlotte is presumed to be weak, unable to cope with normal activities. She is not even allowed to write, and says that, "he hates to have

In addition to her husband, solitude also drove Charlotte to disconnect from reality, which in turn, lead to her independence. Not only does John take control of her life, he also does not allow her to see friends. John instructs her that, "he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now." He feels that having people around would make her condition worse, so she is left to recover all by herself for three months. She does not even have John around for he "is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious." Because of her lack of interaction with people, she begins to find solace in the wall-paper, the only stimulating object left. She states that, "it keeps me quiet by the hour." Over the course of the story, her tone becomes more excited as she interacts with the wall-paper, and becomes completely preoccupied with it. For example, she remarks that, "Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be. You see I have something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch." She feels she is the only one who understands the wall-paper, and it becomes an ally to her. She starts to personify the wall-paper as well. She speaks about the "bulbous eyes" and says that "it slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you" if you try to follow its pattern. It is obvious that she is making a desperate attempt to connect with some tangible thing as she looses grip with reality. The wall-paper, in her disillusioned mind, is the only thing that she feels gives her freedom to explore and is solely hers, through this, she finds a piece of independence.

Finally, hallucinations drove her to disconnect with reality, which in turn, lead to her independence. As the story continues, Charlotte's disillusioned state worsens, and she begins to have hallucinations. Charlotte notices that she "didn't realize for a long time what the thin

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Approximate Word count = 1304
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English