The Yellow Wallpaper
Women have been structured into given roles, roles that impose specific values on them in an effort to continually reestablish their “proper” function in society; these roles that have been given to women are restrictive and violating to the innate sense of individualism that makes up the separate personalities of the human community. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” responds to these issues and prompts the reader to consider the entrapment of the female narrator. This fascinating literary account is a metaphorical unearthing of the problems with a society that has placed individuals in specific molds of conduct and potential, and it creates a disturbing awareness designed to move the reader toward correcting these engrained fallacies.
Nevertheless, it is important to understand some of Gilman’s philosophies about the relations between men and women to fully ascertain what views “The Yellow Wallpaper” is responding to. There is an intricate correlation between her beliefs as expressed in Women And Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation Between Men and Women and her use of the literary forum in this short story that is undoubtedly a consistent assertion of her feminist values.
Particularly Gilman’s theory on what she has termed the “oversexed” condition should be utilized as a frame of reference. As part of this theory, she emphasizes that every activity, emotion, attitude, reaction, or pursuit has been defined as particularly masculine or feminine, with nothing purely identified as human (Women and Economics 149). Furthermore, some common fallacies of the centuries centered on the ideologies that proclaimed women were to be confined to the private sphere while men navigated the public sphere-although these divided spheres clearly involved the interests of both sexes. The woman, not permitted to be a voice in the public sector, did not develop in these areas of association because it was directed as a ‘masculine’ function. Thus, society had proved to mold the woman into an “unreasonable, subordinate” being and women have still retained a portion of the damaging residual effects of this mold in current understandings; Nevertheless, “The Yellow Wallpaper” picks up on this problem and presents a convincing literary argument for the reader.
Using this brief groundwork as a basal acknowledgment of the ideas that Gilman’s work responds to, there are many symbolic images in “The Yellow Wallpaper” which deal with the realization and rebellion of the imposed female mold and the struggles encountered if one desires to emerge as an autonomous individual.
The first symbol that arrives to the reader’s view is found in the house itself:
A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and
reach the height of romantic felicity-but that would be asking too much of fate!
Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it. Else, why
should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted? (1)
In the first few paragraphs of the story, the house is used to establish the traditional role of women; it is a colonial mansion, representing the values of a structured era that placed women in subordinate, less important positions in society. The narrator seems to be presented as overly “feminine” as she is beaming with a sense of wonder for this house with all of its romantic charm and quaint surroundings-a response socially expected of women rather than men. Undoubtedly, these were the first impressions of her fulfillment of the female role as she grew up with the labeled “feminine” characteristics, married, and moved into her position as a wife and mother. Nonetheless, even amidst receiving gratification of fulfilling her expected roles, she is assaulted with hesitance. She relays that there is something “queer” about the establishment, an apparent acknowledgment that something is not quite right with her functioning in this status. The role is ‘disquieting,’ “queer,” and doesn’t seem to fit her exactly. These feelings of discomfort reveal a layer of the narrator’s struggles to make sense of what she is expected to be and present an interruption in the complacency of mindlessly fulfilling the role; these sentiments foreshadow the disturbance that will magnify in the scenes to come.
She also begins to question why it has stood for such a long period of time “untenanted;” in this way the house functions as a representation of the female image-a lesser human being standing for centuries without sufficient protest. Furthermore, the narrator’s inquiry addresses the female voice in the public sector-vacant, nonexistent, and without purpose.
However, it is difficult to do anything about this discomfort when centuries of oppression have “poisoned the well” for women. The narrator points out “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” (1). She is aware her opinions mean nothing and she is obviously not going to be taken seriously; anything a woman does and experiences is less meaningful, infiltrated with the “unknown emotions and complexities” specific to women that become their own “demise.” Thus, societal expectations have “poisoned the well,” declaring a woman’s role in the private matters of household, but giving no credit to their intelligence or opinions as part of the human race. Therefore, how can a woman ‘easily’ refute and break from these long standing premises? Accordingly, the progression of the narrative continues to affirm little ease to the task.
The gardens become an intriguing symbol as well. The narrator admires the gardens, but even amidst the abundance of nature’s growth she discovers, “There were greenhousesâÂ?¦but they are all broken now” (3). This proves to be a startling symbol of the growth of her character. She is clearly placed in a state that holds the ‘order’ of her position together. John confines her to the bedroom where she is to remain in a static condition. The discomfort and inquiry provoked by the narrator in the description of the house seem to imply the waters of complacency were being stirred. Her confinement to the “rest remedy” suggests an effort, on her husband’s part, to regain surface contentment and bring her back to a functional level within the order of society’s proper view of women. She is like the greenhouses, broken down and unable to support growth; she had the nurturing potential for intellectual and individual growth like any other human being but with neglect and oppression becomes useless in this sense. Thus, the assertion that women are less capable beings becomes an absurdly self-fulfilling prophecy.
As the most prominent symbol, the wallpaper, of course, takes on many points of interest. It becomes obvious early on in the text that the unsightly appearance of the wallpaper is intensely disturbing to the narrator; she obsesses over it. In a literal sense, she is confined to mental and physical lethargy and thus would tend to have a critical eye for any visual disturbances. However, figuratively it can again be seen that this symbol represents her “compulsory role” as a woman; this is the disturbance of her position and the break down of her acceptance of it. Just as she is trying to buy into the role, by complying with John’s suggestions, this looming, ever-present wallpaper threatens her. Increasing exclamations of the irritation the wallpaper causes in the narrator intermittently breaks the narrative. The wallpaper is a physical manifestation of her own disturbance, “creeping” into her thoughts as a constant reminder that all is not well with her current status.
Nevertheless, John refuses to change the unsightly decorum, declaring, “You know the place is doing you goodâÂ?¦ and really, dear, I don’t care to renovate the house just for a three months’ rental” (5). Of course, there are the literal points of logic to such an assertion but underlying the mundane aspects is John’s inability to view her requests as valid. In a broader sense, it also suggests a male-structured society’s lack of desire to reform the presence of distinct and repressive roles.
Furthermore, when she suggests that his method of “rest recuperation” is not as useful as activity would be to strengthen her, he responds:
My darlingâÂ?¦I beg of you, for my sake and for our child’s sake, as well as for
your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind! There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It
is a false and foolish fancy. Can you not trust me as a physician when I tell
you so? (12)
Here he rebukes the narrator, placing her back into her ‘role’ and reestablishes himself as dominant; he must redefine the role, appealing to her sympathies, when it is threatened by her autonomy and convince her that it is her own agency that keeps her in the role-realizing it to be intrinsically “good” or “morally right.”
First, it is for “his sake;” this implies the significance of male satisfaction as the primary goal of the female. Her identity is defined through her position as wife; just as the traditional marriage ceremony pronounced a couple “man and wife,” the man is always accredited as an individual while the woman receives her identity in relation to the man.
Second, he lists it is for the “child’s sake;” this is the next identity of importance in the hierarchy-her ‘duty’ as a mother. While it is a significant position, Gilman has pointed out “âÂ?¦we still are [prone] to consider the whole field of maternal action as one of instinct rather than of reason, as a function rather than a service (Women and Economics 167).” Without this paradigm shift the services rendered by a mother to her children are considered an expectation rather than an act of love. Thus, this proves to reduce the status of mother to a matter of business rather than an individual choosing to act out of genuine concern for a child.
This lack of understanding female individuality is consistent, for at the bottom of the hierarchy of significance John indicates that she must do it for “her sake.” This most appropriately reflects society’s refusal to acknowledge females as individuals. Gilman has written:
� this is a world of persons as well as of families. We are persons as soon
as we are born, though born into families. We are persons when we step out
of families, and persons still, even when we step into new families of our
own. (Women and Economics 197)
Gilman indicates that the personal identity of a human being is foremost to their entire identity; we are born first as a person and all the other roles we may take on in life do not negate that distinct first identity. Gilman seems to insist one should be considered a person before one is considered in a collective manner and this primary designation allows for a greater awareness and inclination for equality, ultimately combating damaging stereotypes and categorization.
Furthering these motifs, Gilman presents the reader with a significant metaphor in her descriptions of the wallpaper:
I lie here on this great immovable bed-it is nailed down, I believe-and
follow that pattern about by the hour. It is as good as gymnastics, I assure
you. I start, we’ll say, at the bottom, down in the corner over there where it
has not been touched, and I determine for the thousandth time that I will
follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion. (8)
This is a key passage to understanding many of the deeply rooted references meandering through this feminist text. The narrator starts in the corner where the wallpaper had not been touched-representing the “pure,” “unadulterated,” character of the woman; here she is untouched by the influences of society. Nevertheless, as she follows the pattern-metaphorically emulating a journey through life-she encounters the ideology she has been fed as a female living in a male-oriented society. Imposed on her as she progresses through the pattern (through life) are designations of what is “feminine” and thus what she is permitted to be; however, she can only utilize this template of existence and try to find meaning within the futile design, just as she must physically stare at the horrid wallpaper as her only frame of visual reference. She uses the hyperbolic phrase, “thousandth time” to emphasize that she has tried countless times to make sense of these imposed identities, but the pattern is still “pointless.” The italics emphasize that she “will” find meaning in it as a statement of both determination and frustration. As she is ‘exiled’ and ‘trapped’ in one room to ponder the meaning of the values she has been taught, that she was beginning to feel discomfort regarding, she is determined to find reason in it. This is why the search for purpose becomes increasingly difficult, for rejecting all of the teachings of one’s upbringing is nearly impossible to do even if they are grossly incorrect.
However, there is something she can make sense of; she discovers that there is a line between innately attributed characteristics of the human and those designated as specific to gender. She enforces the concept of learned behaviors through the following selection:
I know little of the principle of design, and I know this thing is not arranged
on any laws of radiation, or alternation, or repetition, or symmetry, or anything
else that I ever heard of. It is repeated, of course, by the breadths, but not
otherwise (8).
She proceeds to detail the appearance of the wallpaper with inexhaustible precision. The role is forced, practiced, learned, or “repeated by breadths,” but not innately inside her. Although this may be at first comforting, it is startling to the reader to continue to see the narrator fall prey to a societal produced hysteria.
Clearly, Gilman had many points on her agenda in expressing her feminist views through literary argument. She presents the fallacies she believes have become problematic and engrained into society that have limited female expression of individualism. Particularly her philosophies voiced in Women and Economics allow the reader to better orient themselves to the specific fallacies against women that she wished to address in the literary forum; thus, allowing a greater measure of insight into her intellectual musings on the condition of female oppression. Consequently, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is an agonizing read, paralleling the intense struggles of confronting centuries of absurd and unfounded female molds. However, due to this maddening characteristic of narrative the reader is drawn into the text and allowed to experience the injustices and eventual degeneration of the female narrator; a feature which was apparently foremost in the author’s mind.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings. New York:
Bantam, 1989.
