Thursday, January 8, 2009

"The Yellow Wall-paper"



Melanie Freeman
English 48B
January 8, 2009
Journal #2 Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"The Yellow Wall-paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story that describes the unraveling of a woman's mind due to being treated with the "rest cure".  "Hysteria" now more commonly viewed as anxiety or depression was a condition that was thought to be much more prominent in women.  This mental break down was severely mistreated and the "rest cure" often caused more harm then help.  "The Yellow Wall-paper" was based on Gilman's own personal experience with the "rest cure" and provides a strong argument against the treatment.  In "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wall-paper'?" Gilman answers that "it was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy...(820)."

"On a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind. (815)"

Summary:
This moment in the story occurs during the time when the speaker's condition truly starts to decline.  Her obsession with the wall-paper becomes more intense and her description of it begins to dominate her entire journal entries.  She has studied that pattern so thoroughly that images begin to emerge from the design that do not exist at all.  The separation between what is reality and what is fantasy begin to blur and the narrative of the story becomes more disjointed.  As the speaker's mind unravels so does the sequence of the text.  The wall-paper itself if described to be taking on human abilities and the speaker is no longer able to establish it as an inanimate object.  The speaker is no longer concerned with healing, her only concern from this moment on is to understand the wall-paper.  

Response:
I believe that this quotation is most significant due to the irony it presents.  The "lack of sequence" and "defiance of law" are becoming more and more characteristic of the speaker's sanity yet she admits that these things irritate her.  The pattern that fascinates and consumes her also completely aggravates her.  The combination of these contradicting emotions is clearly mentally damaging this woman.  The description of her "normal mind" also reveals that she is on the brink of insanity.  The ability to view oneself objectively is not easy and is clearly impossible for an insane person.  The speaker's detachment from reality and herself identity portrays just how damaged this woman has become from following the "rest cure".  
The irony of this statement is that her goal is to be cured and achieve a "normal mind" yet the method of obtaining it is what is causing her to go mad.  If a person is treated as unstable and confined due to their instability then the problem will only be perpetuated by their limiting surroundings.  Gilman's use of irony lays blame on the "rest cure" and indicts the doctor who stood do strongly behind it.

1 comment:

  1. 20/20 I'd love to hear even more on the topic of "The speaker's detachment from reality and herself."

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