FREE ESSAY ON THE YELLOW WALL-PAPER

THE YELLOW WALL-PAPER

The Yellow-Wallpaper as a Social Criticism
Traditionally, men have held the power in society. Women have been treated as a second
class of citizens with neither the legal rights nor the respect of their male
counterparts. Culture has contributed to these gender roles by conditioning to these
gender roles by conditioning women to accept their subordinate status while encouraging
young men to lead and control. Feminist criticism contends that literature either
supports society's patriarchal structure or provides social criticism in order to change
this hierarchy. "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts one women's
struggle against the traditional female role into which society attempts to force her and
the societal reaction to this act.
From the beginning of this work, the woman is shown to have gone mad. We are given no
insight into the past, and we do not know why she has been driven to the brink of
insanity. The "beautiful…English place" that the woman sees in her minds eye is the
way men have traditionally wanted women to see their role in society. As the woman says,
"It is quite alone standing well back from the road…It makes me think of English
places…for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate
little houses for the gardeners and people. There is a delicious garden! I never saw such
a garden—large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long
grape-covered arbors with seats under them." This lovely English countryside picture that
this woman paints to the reader is a shallow view at the real likeness of her prison. The
reality of things is that this lovely place is her small living space, and in it she is
to function as every other good housewife should. The description of her cell, versus the
reality of it, is a very good example of the restriction women had in those days. They
were free to see things as they wanted, but there was no real chance at a woman changing
her roles and place in society. This is mostly attributed to the small amount of freedom
women had, and therefore they could not bring about a drastic change, because men were
happy with the position women filled.
This creates a despair, of hopelessness and of downheartedness. The woman, on multiple
occasions, wrote down, "And what can one do?" This lets the reader know that women as a
whole were very oppressed in this time. They had a role, and had to stick to it. In fact,
their roles were so minor that at one point, she writes, "He is very careful and loving,
and hardly lets me stir without special direction." In this, one may begin to realize
that men had such a high ranking over women, that the small amount of freedom a woman had
was basically dictated still by her husband.
Men often times did not know much about their wife, or care to sit down and talk with
her. They did not take great care to know how she was doing, or why she was feeling the
way she was. The woman says, "John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there
is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him." The woman is showing a small amount of
frustration towards her husband, because he does not concern himself with such "small
things".
The role of women in society was displayed quite clearly by the entrance of John's
sister. The woman writes, "There comes John's sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so
careful of me! I must not let her find me writing. She is a perfectionist and
enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks
it is the writing which makes me sick!" John's sister is representative of the typical
woman. A woman who is pleased with her life, and wishes for no more. John's wife,
however, is rebelling on her place in society by writing. This is why she includes the
statement; "…I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which makes me sick!"
Women were quite noticeably looked down upon in years past. The quote from the woman's
writings states, "I got up softly and went to feel and see if the paper did move, and
when I came back John was awake. 'What is it, little girl?' he said. 'Don't go walking
about like that—you'll get cold'". The inclusion of him saying "little girl" shows
that no matter what she does, she will not be considered equal.
Soon into the story, the woman begins to see a reflection of herself. Besides the
psychological factors of her thinking it is REALLY a woman trapped in the walls, there is
a social criticism. This woman is trapped in the walls, which represents the typical
woman, and how the narrator feels. The woman does not want to go back into the walls
where the other women are. She feels that the other woman wants to free herself from the
bondage of the walls. The woman in the walls will claw at the paper trying to free
herself. This is a task that, no matter the effort, is almost always useless.
The cell becomes more of a jail than a vacation home to the woman by the first few weeks.
She writes, "At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candle light, lamplight, and
worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman
behind it is as plain as can be. I didn't realize for a long time what the thing that
showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman." This passage
depicts how she is feeling that her "traditional place" is not enough, and it is becoming
trapping, instead of freeing.
The woman begins to creep at times, but only by the nights. The woman writes, "…she
is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight." The pressure of a society
is weighing down heavily on our protagonist now, and she is breaking free, but only when
no one is around to see her rebellion.
In the final moments of this story, the woman's husband returns to see her. She writes,
"He stopped short by the door. 'What is the matter?' he cried. 'For God's sake, what are
you doing!' I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder. 'I've
got out at last,' said I, 'in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the
paper, so you can't put me back!' Now why should that man have fainted, but he did, and
right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!'" This
final passage shows that, when this woman rebels, and "escapes the wallpaper", it is not
highly looked upon. The woman made a power statement, by telling her husband that she
had, in essence, found a new role in life, and he can not push her back. When he can not
handle her actions, she continues her new ways right over him.
In conclusion, this story, "The Yellow Wall-Paper", provided a great social and
psychological criticism. It shows the reader how women have progressed so far in the
recent years. This woman was the start of many, which finally led to making men and woman
more equal, and this is the society that this woman wanted.