The Yellow Wallpaper (Reflective)

The story of The Yellow Wallpaper is quite a disturbing one. The intimate details and thoughts given through the narrator's journal increase in insanity as the story goes on. Since it is written from her perspective, in her own writing, it becomes more personal and easier to grasp the thoughts that are going through her head. The narrator has, what appears to me, a serious case of depression, but nor her husband John or her brother, who is also a physician, will believe her. She is kept in a childish state by her husband who is constantly belittling her health. John’s believes that because he is a physician that he knows what is best for his wife, and that is keeping her hid away in a room without any real treatment.  He patronizes and dominates his wife, and claims that it is all in the name of “helping” her. The narrator has no say in even the smallest details of her life, and so she consumes herself with delirium and a foolish fantasy about the wallpaper in her room. She is forced to become completely passive and forbidden from using her mind in any way. Writing, she says, is especially off limits, and John warns her that she must use self-control over her imagination, which he fears will “run away with her”.  Yet, she is constantly yearning for an emotional outlet, which is why she begins her secret journal, which she refers to as a “relief” to her mind. 

At some points The Yellow Wallpaper also appears to be subtlety ironic. In the beginning of the story the narrator states, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” Obviously, no one expects their partner to laugh at them, at least not in a healthy marriage.  But in the narrators mind that appears to be perfectly normal. This leads back to what I previously stated of her husband putting her in a childlike state. Typically one may laugh at their child for saying something foolish, but not their spouse. I also find interesting that she believed her room to have once been a nursery, also something that is child related. Not only that, but there are bars on the windows, which to me symbolizes that fact that she is trapped in her state of mind. Later, she goes on to say, “I am glad my case is not serious,” at which point it is beginning to become very clear to the reader that she is suffering from a very serious case indeed. She is alone, and longing for someone to understand her, that is why I believe she found some sort of comfort from the women inside of the wallpaper. She could relate to her because she was also a trapped woman. Ultimately, John’s course of treatment backfired on him and worsened the depression that he was trying to cure, which actually endued up driving his wife insane. Wallpaper is something that a person would typically relate to a nice, domestic household, which I find to be the most ironic thing of all.  Something that symbolizes home is used represent the narrator’s nightmarish thoughts that ultimately take hold of her. This “hideous” paper is very symbolic of the domestic life that trapped so many women in the era in which this story was written. The narrator does gain a type of power and insight, but only by completely losing her self-control and reason.