Charlotte Perkins Gilmanin The Yellow Wallpaper - Essay Example

Charlotte Perkins GilmaninThe Yellow Wallpaper Introduction Much has been written about the life and works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Most of these write-ups are centered on her most celebrated work, The Yellow Wallpaper – a story about a woman’s narrative journey into madness under the care and control of her husband. Over fifty years after its first publication, the novella was reprinted by the Feminist Press in 1973 and has sincebeen regarded as one of the important early works of American Feminist Literature. The story, which illustrates theviews on women’s physical and mental health in the 19th century, has been a subject of many interpretations, including it being a feminist work – written to deal with “sexual politics at a time when many writers are unable to do so”(Hedges, 1973). Since then, this ‘feminist classic’ has had its share of literary analysis ranging from being an illustration of an imaginative female personality (Conrad, 1985) to be a work that challenges patriarchal ideologies in the 19th century (Thomas, 1998). While these interpretations seem plausible and widely accepted, it is also significant to look at the story based on its biographical interpretation – that is, the work is interpreted based on the author's life experiences. Hence, this paper argues that The Yellow Wallpaper is written,not as a feminist propaganda, but merely as a reflection on a particular episode ofGilman’s life. More specifically, it aims to publicize herplight as a woman who once suffered from postpartum depression but received a failed therapy by her male physician. To establish this argument, accounts of Gilman’s biography will be closely examined together with the story. In this way, the connection between her life experiences and the story’s unreliable narrator will be established. As such, the aim of this paper is to allow readers to interpret the work closer towards Gilman’s original intention in writing it. An Observant Woman Born on July 3, 1896, in Hartford, Connecticut, Charlotte PerkinsGilman lived in a period where “men assigned and defined women’s roles” (Thomas, 1998). However, she grew up in the presence of her aunts who were writers and freethinkers during her time. Her aunts, Isabella Beecher Hooker,Harriet Beecher Stow,and Catharine Beecher respectively worked as a suffragist, writer, and educator. From this, we could imagine how the writer must be influenced by liberal ideas sought by her aunts. Relating this background to the story The Yellow Wallpaper, it cannot be said that the narrator was the typical 19th-century woman who, at all times, obeys and agrees with what her husband thinks. In fact, the story opened with journal entries from the woman who was observant, imaginative, and opinionated enough to write about her surroundings and her state of mind. For instance, she described the summer house as a “colonial mansion, a hereditary estate” by which she declared and questioned,“Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it (the house).Else, why should it let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted?”(The Yellow Wallpaper, p.1). Views on Marriage As both Gilman and her character share the impulse to observe their surroundings, a striking parallel of their views on marriage should also be looked upon. In 1884, Charlotte Perkins Gilman married the artist Charles Walter Stetson after initially declining his proposal because she fought the idea of conforming to the domestication of women. According to the article The Fictional World of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Lane (1980) described how Gilman thought that in marriage, “her thoughts, her acts, her whole life would be centered on husband and children.” This grim view about marriage is also shared by Gilman’s narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper who described women’s conformity to ideas prescribed by men. In the story, the narrator noticed that when she gave her views about the house, her husband seemed not to take her opinions seriously. She described, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” (The Yellow Wallpaper, p.1).Even when she started to reveal her anxieties through her writing, the narrator still expects her husband to act in the same unserious manner, as revealed in the following lines (The Yellow Wallpaper, p.2).: “And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way—it is such a relief!” “He (John) laughs at me so about this yellow wallpaper” It is clear that these lines wanted to convey the message that the narrator left her emotions unexpressed because she expects her husband’s ridicule and disapproval. This relationship between husband and wife was also undeniably present in Gilman’s society as it was in her life. Battle with Mental Illness While liberal ideasfrom her aunts influenced much of Gilman’s life, her family background might have also a lot to say about her subsequent battle against insanity. In her essay “An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman”, Kelly Gilbert (2011) noted how the lives of Gilman's aunts were characterized by a "history of manic-depressive illness and nervous breakdown ranging from suicide to short-term hospitalizations".In the same way, Gilman experienced the feelings of “nervous exhaustion that immediately descended upon” following the birth of her first child in 1885 (Ceplair, 1991). According to Gilman’s biographer Kelly Gilbert (2005), it is important to note how this mental affliction, now commonly known as postpartum depression, fell upon Gilman during the time when was believed “these cases were associated with hysteria and emotional problems of the female hormonal system”. This battle with depression became a pivotal part of Gilman’s life that she described the feelings of mental anxiety in the story The Yellow Wallpaper: For outside you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow. But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch on the wall, so I cannot lose my way. (p.1) Just like Gilman, the female narrator expressed her feelings about her marriage, family, and motherhood through writing. The activity became a refuge for expression and freedom, both for Gilman and her narrator in the story. Treating Women’s Mental Health In her essay “Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper” (1913), Charlotte Perkins Gilman admitted how she “suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia--and beyond”. Because of this condition, she sought the help ofDr. Silas Weir Mitchell, a renowned neurologist who specialized in nervous diseases of women (Lane, 1980).However, she was appalled when the physician advised her to: 1.)live as domestic a life as far as possible; 2.) have but two hours' intellectual life a day; and 3.) never to touch pen, brush, or pencil again as long as she lived. For three months in 1887, Gilman obeyed this advice which caused her to come “near the borderline of utter mental ruin” (Gilman, 1913). However, she later “cast the noted specialist's advice to the winds” and vehemently opposed to what Dr. Mitchell said by going back to her writing works. The same opposition can also be read in The Yellow Wallpaper when the narrator objected to the treatment by writing: “But I don't want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once, and she says he is just like John and my brother, only more so!” (The Yellow Wallpaper, p.4) Finding Solace in Writing Because she objected to the physician’s advice and treatment, Charlotte Perkins Gilman found herself recovering from her illness. Soon enough, she wrote the “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892 as a way of “rejoicing by the narrow escape” and “to reach Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and convince him of the error of his ways” (Gilman, 1913). She admitted that she was “helped by a wise friend” to abandon the treatment and continue with her work. Later, in The Yellow Wallpaper, she described this person in the form of a woman who “creeps” behind the yellow wallpaper which enabled her to sink deeper into madness or liberation from her current condition. Conclusion Ultimately, it is clear Charlotte Perkins William’s purpose in writing The Yellow Wallpaper is directed to inform about the failures of her physician to treat her condition. While there are feminist ideals reflected in the story, it is mostly because of her experiences having grown up with women who thought of liberal ideas. In this case, the reader cannot disregard the importance to know the author’s purpose in writing the story. For Gilman, the goal was to publicize the conditions of women suffering from postpartum depression during her time. The parallelism of Gilman’s life to that of the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaperis a testament that biographical interpretations of fictional works remain to be relevant because readers are able to have a closer interpretation of the writer’soriginal intention in writing the story. References Ceplair, Larry. “The Early Years.” Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Non-fiction Reader. Ed. Larry Ceplair. New York: Columbia UP, 1991. Print. Gilbert, Kelly. “An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman”. American Literature Research and Analysis Website. Web. 20 June 2011. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper". The Forerunner. October 1913. Web. 20 June 2011. Hedges, Elaine R. "'Afterword' to The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Old Westbury (NY): Feminist Press, 1973. Print. Lane, Ann J. “The Fictional World of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader. Ed. Ann J. Lane. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980. Print. Thomas, Deborah. "The changing role of womanhood: From true woman to new woman in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper" 27 July 1998. Web. 20 June 2011. Seigel, Jennifer Semple. “Charlotte Perkins (Stetson) Gilman, The Critics, and The Yellow Wallpaper: Fiction "With a Purpose" vs. Literary Interpretation of the Subtext--The Need to Know the Rest of the Story”. 14 April 2008. Web. 20 June 2011. Shumaker, Conrad. "'Too Terribly Good to be Printed': Charlotte Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'" American Literature,1985. Print. Read More