Essay on Condemnation of a Patriarchal Society in Yellow...

Condemnation of a Patriarchal Society in The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman was crafty. Taken at face value, her short work, The Yellow Wallpaper, is simply the diary of a woman going through a mental breakdown. The wallpaper itself is the arbitrary object on which a troubled mind is obsessively fixated. The fact that Gilman herself suffered from a nervous breakdown makes this interpretation seem quite viable. This explanation is, however, dead wrong. The wallpaper is not merely the object upon which she obsesses. The madness that overtakes the narrator is not rooted in any nervous disorder that her husband diagnoses. The wallpaper is actually meant to represent a mould into which all women are supposed†¦show more content†¦They must be strictly supervised and given detailed instructions, else they would end up who knows where due to their stupidity. This is exactly what her husband, John, does. His wife writes that he hardly lets me stir without special direction, and that she is given a schedule of prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me (4). He also speaks to her with a condescending tone, using demeaning names for her such as blessed little goose, throughout the story. In fact, we never learn her proper name, which makes her seem even less of a human being. Gilmans use of architectural and design terminology in describing the wallpaper creates a strange building within which the female mind is supposed to be housed. She first refers to the wallpapers design as a kind of debased Romanesque . . . waddling up and down in isolated columns of fatuity (Gilman 8). The word Romanesque refers to romance as well as a highly ornate form of architecture that utilizes decorative columns to support vaults. This implies that a womans mind is filled with flawed romantic vaults supported by beautifully adorned columns of stupidity. In addition, she also depicts the pattern of the wallpaper as a florid arabesque (11). From this, it can be deduced that a womans mind also consists of fantastic interlacing patterns of pretty flowers. Gilman points out that a womans brainShow MoreRelated The Oppression of Women and The Yellow Wallpaper1514 Words   |  7 PagesThe Oppression of Women and The Yellow Wallpaper      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a fictionalized autobiographical account that illustrates the emotional and intellectual deterioration of the female narrator who is also a wife and mother. The woman, who seemingly is suffering from post-partum depression, searches for some sort of peace in her male dominated world. She is given a â€Å"rest cure† from her husband/neurologist doctor that requires strict bed rest and an imposedRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper And What It Has On The Position And Treatment Of Women2118 Words   |  9 PagesLeCompte 1 Shiyiya LeCompte Professor Susan Taylor English 1312 11 October 2014 â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and What It Has to Say about the Position and Treatment of Women at the Turn of the Last Century â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† tells a single story, with a tight focus on a specific fictional woman, but the circumstances it drew from for its depiction were widespread. The events it depicts, while they may not have occurred exactly in reality, were written in parallel to true conditions and treatments of