Yellow Wallpaper: Gothic Fiction - Book Report/Review Example

Literary Analysis: Yellow Wallpaper Gothic Fiction The work named as Yellow Wallpaper is interconnected with the literary genre of Gothic fiction because the same is related to the narrator’s feelings on being forced to live in an old building. To be specific, the building is symbolic of imprisonment and alienation from the mainstream society. The narrator knows that she can overcome her illness, but the male dominated society does not allow her to take decisions on her own. So, she begins to imagine that the yellow wallpaper on the room’s wall is symbolic of imprisonment and domination. Thesis statement: The analysis of the theme of imprisonment in the Yellow Wallpaper proves that the author portrays prison imagery in the text to project the narrator’s feelings of being imprisoned and to attract the readers’ attention towards the problems faced by women under patriarchal power. Analysis Theme: imprisonment First of all, the author makes use of the theme of imprisonment to portray the female protagonist’s (Jane) personal life. To be specific, the female protagonist knows that involvement in daily life can help to cure her illness. Allison Pease stated that, “Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1891 short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator’s pleas of boredom are never taken seriously, most poignantly by the narrator herself” (27). But her husband (John) who is a physician by profession takes authoritarian decision on her illness and forces her to lead a lonely life in a rented home. One can see that loneliness does not help the female protagonist to keep herself away from illness. Instead, her illness becomes uncontrollable because she considers the rented home as a prison. Besides, the female protagonist knows that her husband loves her so much, but the same symbolic of imprisonment. For instance, the husband in the short-story is in need of a healthy homemaker who can deal with his family matters with ease. So, he tries his level best to save his wife from depressed mood. Within this scenario, his motive is under suspicion because he is not ready to live with his wife. Instead, he plans temporary visitations to her wife and allows herself to be alone. In short, the author depends upon the theme of imprisonment to go deeper into the female protagonist’s inner mind. Imagery: prison Similarly, the author depends upon prison imagery to develop emotional attachment between the readers and the female protagonist. One can see that normal people considers prisons as strange place where criminals are forced to undergo punishment. The author decided to make use of this image within the context of her short-story because she might have guessed that the same is suitable to portray the female protagonist’s condition. Besides, prison imagery conveys the message of loneliness. In the short-story, the female protagonist knows that her life in the rented house cannot solve the problems faced by her. Still, she is helpless to take independent decisions. For instance, the first person perspective in the short-story proves that the narrator is the main character in the novel, but she is not allowed to write or do anything related to her daily life. Besides, she writes everything, but is forced to hide from her husband. This proves that prison imagery is apt to portray the female protagonist’s feelings related to her lonely life in the rented home. Discussion: Imprisonment and madness One can see that the female protagonist knows that she is totally imprisoned in the rented house due to her illness. From a different angle of view, temporary depression can be seen among women after delivery. Still, most women indulge in daily routines and overcome this temporary illness. But the husband in the short-story is a physician by profession and he is aware of the problems faced by his wife. Still, he does not allow his wife to be within her private domain. In the work by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the storyteller stated that, “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus – but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad” (2). He knows that she is longing for her child and her interaction with the child may cure her temporary illness. Instead of allowing the female protagonist to overcome her trouble, her husband forces her to face imprisonment within a strange house. Within this context, the husband makes use of his authority to keep his wife under his control. But forced imprisonment did not help the narrator to be free from the clutches of depression because the same transforms her in the end to a mentally ill individual. Imprisonment as Gothic theme The author makes use of the Gothic theme of patriarchal power to prove that the patriarchal power in the 19th century was influential enough to transform women facing temporary depression into patients facing madness. Mary Ellen Snodgrass opined that, “The feminist lecturer and writer Charlotte Perkins GILMAN created the classic AMERICA GOTHIC tale of male-on-female domination and INSANITY in “The Yellow Wallpaper” ” (371). In the short-story, the husband (say, physician) is symbolic of patriarchal power trying to dominate womenfolk. For instance, the female protagonist is never allowed to visit her child because her husband considers that she is ill. Besides, the author makes use of the female protagonist to portray the pathetic condition of female patients facing depression. From a different angle of view, the female protagonist’s marriage with the physician is a trap. For instance, her madness in the end can be considered as her subconscious attempt to escape from the trap of marriage. So, the imprisonment of the female protagonist is interconnected with the Gothic theme of patriarchal power. Summing, one can see that the theme of imprisonment is inherent in the portrayal of different characters in the short-story. Besides, the author inculcates the imagery of prison as a symbol of suppression. The narrator feels imprisoned in the rented house because the same hinders her from indulging in her routine works. On the other side, the author projects the inherent patriarchal power in the husband’s character because the same is symbolic of the author’s reaction on marginalization. In short, the author makes use of the main characters to prove how patriarchal power is subduing femininity. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories. Mineola: Courier Dover Publications, 2012. Print. Pease, Allison. Modernism, Feminism and the Culture of Boredom. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Print. Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Print. Read More