Analysis of Self-Expression in The Yellow Wallpaper - Book Report/Review Example

Analysis of Self-Expression in “The Yellow Wallpaper” In the text, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is a woman, who is married to a man named John. Using her great creativity, she composes a story that utilizes a yellow wallpaper as a symbol. In this part of symbolism, she talks about seeing a woman trapped by bars trying to escape the wallpaper, when she looked deeply into the wallpaper. This reflected the image of her marriage as she was trying to escape from her husband. In further narration of the story, the narrator discusses self-expression as a major theme. The whole story reflects the importance of self-expression, and how it has, recently, become a major issue in the society we are currently living. By the help of the symbolism connecting the wallpaper and the narrator’s life, a reflection of the importance of self-expression is portrayed in the whole story. This theme shows it is helpful in various ways to express the needs in a person’s heart as it affects the general lifestyle of an individual. It is also clearly reflected that freedom goes hand in hand with a good lifestyle. The beginning of this kind of freedom is self-expression. There is definite satisfaction in taking part while decision-making is being practiced and having things run in one’s desired way. Again, this is only achieved through self-expression. It offers one a chance to forward their opinions and influence the way things run around them. Self-expression is the act of facing one’s individuality boldly in addition to tastes and preferences, and making them known to the people that surround us. Self-expression can be done verbally or non-verbally. One can just go ahead and talk out how they feel things should be done, or actually, take the action of doing things in the way they feel it should be done. In the story, the narrator did not engage herself in self-expression, as the husband, John, always undermined her and assumed that he was better in making decisions without his wife, an assumption that kept pestering the woman’s emotions (Stetson, 649-651). The narrator always felt that she was wiser than the people around her including the husband. She was always silent and followed John’s instructions instead of being as vibrant as she was capable of being. This situation affected her although she opted to remain silent. She watched her husband misjudge and patronize her all through their lives as a couple. An analysis of these occurrences took place in her mind while she was staring at “The Yellow Wallpaper”. This clearly expressed her discomfort in the way she was being treated by her husband, to the extent that she developed feelings of hatred towards John. Had the narrator exercised self-expression throughout her marriage, these thoughts would not have been as disturbing as they were. The acts of her husband would have been different and she would not have suffered undermining from the people around her (Stetson, 648). Various benefits come along with self-expression. Firstly, it allows one’s growth and development in terms of talents and interests. A talent is an important gift that is worth practicing whenever one has time for it. This can only be achieved in an environment where the talented has freedom of expression and utilization of their talents. This is why it is always important to express oneself. Self-expression offers a platform through which people respect what one likes and supports them in achieving success (Athina and Scherer). In the story, it is narrated that the narrator’s husband did not allow her to undertake several activities, writing being one of them, yet she was greatly interested in it and she was good at it. The narrator did not take any action to express her interest in writing to her husband. Instead, she obeyed what the husband demanded and idled around without practicing her interests (Stetson, 649-654). Maybe if she expressed it to the world that she was good in writing, it would not have been a restriction anymore, and she would have grown and developed from through the writing skills. Secondly, self-expression helps one in being outgoing. This is a quality found in everyone, although there are different people, who are greatly talented in socializing as compared to others. Without this form of expression, people who are naturally outgoing feel unfairly treated and their freedom to socialize is not practiced. This causes discomfort among such people making them feel emotionally hurt. This suffering is not healthy and may lead to further health problems. To allow socialization, one must exercise self-expression (Athina and Scherer). In the narration, the narrator ended up idling all day by herself where she did not create a free relationship with even her husband. This keeps her away from being recognized by other members of the society, as she does not create any contact with them. This is an unusual behavior that made her feel uncomfortable. If she was vibrant enough in the sense of making self-expressions, the abnormality could have been taken care of, leaving her as an outgoing woman, like any other women in the society. Thirdly, self-expression helps one to enjoy the freedom of speech and expression. This is the freedom, which allows everyone to express what they feel, and to participate in decision-making about a specified issue (Sedikides and Stephen 331-335). This mostly influences the nearest environment of the affected individual. Freedom begins when things around one proceed as anticipated. This can only happen once they are involved in making decisions by the family members and friends. Freedom of expression also helps one to make complaints about something they are not pleased with around them. Without this freedom, therefore, one is forced to squeeze and fit in the environment that does not accommodate them in the right way. The victim may feel stressed and depressed, making them completely uncomfortable and with no chance to enjoy their lives. This importance of self-expression has been demonstrated in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by the narrator, when she was not involved in making of decisions by the husband. This led to discomfort at her place, as no decision made by the husband supported her survival. Sometimes she felt discriminated and oppressed by the conclusions that were implemented by the husband. However, she had no right of freedom and could not express her feelings towards anything that went on around her. Everything ran under the command of her husband because the wife lacked the zeal towards self-expression. She realized the bad situation prevailing in her life as she was observing the Yellow Wall Paper and interpreting her life. She also realized that self-expression would save her all the trouble (Stetson 653-655). Hence, self-expression is vital in practicing freedom of expression. Failure to practice self-expression causes some limitations in an individual’s life (Athina and Scherer). Firstly, there are several illnesses that could be caused by failing to express oneself. These are the depression related diseases such as chronic headaches, mental illnesses and more. This happens because one who does not exercise self-expression ends up engaging themselves in stressful thoughts and imaginations. This creates stress in the mind to the extent that the victim could end up insane, or simply mentally unfit. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” story, the narrator went through a lot of mental stress, which could have been avoided if only she exercised some self-expression. It is said that she was maltreated by the husband and did not question him. Instead, she silently sat alone and thought through the subjections she went through. She pestered her mind with anxiety, and her imaginative power grew stronger with time. This kind of state would most likely lead to mental issues due to the stress (Athina and Scherer). If she practiced self-expression better, there was an opportunity of avoiding this state. Secondly, failure to practice self-expression creates division in gender. In the society, males are found to mistreat women more often, as compared to cases of women mistreating men. All the same, such type of a case creates and demonstrates gender barrier in the society (Athina and Scherer). If women in the society would practice more of self-expression, the gap would be bridged, as discriminative acts of men would cease. In the story, the narrator, who is a woman, happens to be maltreated by the husband and does not do anything about it. The husband believes in himself as more superior as compared to the wife and does not allow her to take part in decision-making or actions of development. Instead of the narrator doing something to boost her self-expression, she decides to take in her husband’s maltreatment and admit that he should be the one ruling. This expresses a gap between the male and female gender, which only self-expression from the female’s side could fill. Thirdly, lack of self-expression brings about degradation of an individual’s social life, as it is vital for human beings’ social development. Research indicates that self-expression is like breath in the individual’s social life. One will need to express themselves in order to relate perfectly with those around them. It is also indicated that without a well-built social foundation, human beings happen to be lonely and lead a boring life (Brown 108). One requires to keep communicating to the people around them about how they feel, express their opinions and needs in order to feel complete. Clearly, lack of self-expression blocks one’s access to a happy and a successful social life. In this process, one ends up living a lonely, cold and boring life, a situation that could be solved within less time by embracing and practicing self-expression. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” story, the narrator fall victim of this effect as she is said to live a poor social life. Right from her family circle, she is not social and does not open up enough towards her husband. She fears sharing her feelings with him and remains quiet for all the days of her life. Sharing her opinions is even out of question. Similarly, the same case is experienced in her relationship with outsiders and social members of her society. This makes her life lonely and cold every day. This could be avoided if the narrator is bold enough to express what she has within herself to the people around her. Lack of self-expression also evacuates the peace of mind and heart in one’s life. Someone practicing self-expression enjoys some sort of freedom, which brings about self-satisfaction (Moody 4-7). This way, one generally feels happy and appreciates life. Contrary, without the freedom and self-satisfaction, the individual feels uncomfortable and disturbed about the daily life they lead. With this kind of discomfort, depression comes about and life becomes hard for the victim, with possibilities of illnesses related to stress and depression. The fact that they have no people to share their stress and peace of mind with makes the matter worse. If relevant action is not taken and the situation does not change, the individual may end up in worse conditions leading to even death. This could be avoided by simply fighting the battle within oneself and speaking out what they have in mind, be it opinion or feelings. In the Yellow Wall Paper, the narrator, who failed to practice self-expression, suffered this consequence, as she did not have the peace and freedom that she always yearned for. This made her life quite difficult and depressing. The fact that she could not share her thoughts with anyone made her uncomfortable. Whenever decisions were made, she did not take part, hence the final verdict was never supporting her opinions. While observing the wall Paper, he interpreted her life and realized that she was leading a life that was contrary to her wishes. She realized she had discomfort deep down in her heart. Had she made a choice of speaking up and taking relevant action, she would not have suffered this type of discomfort. The value of self-expression, therefore, is influential and has a great impact on the society (Athina and Scherer). It influences the way of living that people embrace and determines one’s level of joy and happiness in their lives. Self-expression goes hand in hand with self-satisfaction, which is vital for growth and development. It is the action of self-expression, which helps people in making effective communications and achieving what they want. Research indicates that to achieve goals and accomplish missions, it takes an emotional attachment (Athina and Scherer). After the attachment, no further progress can be made without one having to exercise self-expression. This is also demonstrated in “The Yellow Wallpaper” story. The narrator was passionate about writing but did not engage in acts of self-expression. This was how she allowed her husband, John, to act as a barrier between her and the dream of writing. In addition, the emotional attachment to her dream caused her to develop emotional stress, as she could not take any further steps in making the dream come true. In conclusion, one of the major themes in the story, The Yellow Paper, is self-expression. Self-expression is the ability to express one’s feelings and opinions to others. The narrator has reflected moments and characters, which show the importance of self-expression in the society. This has been achieved by having the narrator as the major character. She indicates her failure of exercising self-expression, and the consequences she suffered. She allowed her husband to take advantage of her and maltreat her without expressing to him how she felt about it. Out of these actions of assumption, she ended up suffering emotionally and being stressed up. She did not exercise her passion in writing and could not make any developments. This clearly mirrored the value of self-expression and the importance of making the expressions to the people around the involved individual. References Athina, Cynthia and Scherer, Kemp. The Core Issue: Self-expression. 2015. Web. 6 Nov. 2015. https://www.desert-alchemy.com/info/article/self-expression/ Brown, Jason W. Self and Process: Brain States and the Conscious Present. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1991. Print. Moody, Cecil. Sometimes I Paint: Paintings by Cecil Moody. Bloomington: Trafford Publishing, 2012. Print. Sedikides, Constantine and Spencer, Steven J. The Self. New York: Psychology Press, 2011. Print. Stetson, Charlotte, P. The Yellow Wallpaper. Web 6 Nov. 2015. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/literatureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digitalDocs/The-Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf Read More