Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper
“And woman should stand beside man as the comrade of his soul, not the servant of his body” (Jone).The author of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is Charlotte Perkins. According to research she was a writer and social reformer, Born on July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a writer and social activist during the late 1800s and early 1900s. She had a difficult childhood. Her father, Frederick Beecher Perkins was a relative of well-known and influential Beecher family, including the writer Harriet Beecher Stowe. But he abandoned the family, leaving Charlotte’s mother to raise two children on her own. Gilman moved around a lot as a result and her education suffered greatly for it.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman married artist Charles Stetson in 1884. The couple had a daughter named Katherine. Sometime during her decade-long marriage to Stetson, Gilman experienced a severe depression and underwent a series of unusual treatments for it. This experience is believed to have inspired her best-known short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” (Charlotte). Charlotte committed suicide in 1935.
The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” was about a women that falls into a nervous breakdown because of her husband. He tries to control her and she goes with it. She just starts getting tired of it as time goes by. She is always talking about this ugly yellow wallpaper and that someone was behind it. At the end of the story person is her, she gets out of the “yellow wallpaper” and gets enough with her husband. Using female criticism, the reader can analyze Charlotte Perkins-Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper” through Character: John ; Jane, and dialogue.
The dialogue that the characters use describe everything about female criticism. For example, “body in body perhaps–” I began, and stopped short, for he sat up straight and looked at me with such a stern, reproachful look that I could not say another word (The Yellow Wallpaper). John looks at her in a disturbing way, so she stops talking and never finishes her conversation. She feels threatened, he basically controlled her with his look. By her not continuing to say what she had to say by the look that he gave her, he feels more powerful towards her. Another example is when John said “What is it, little girl? Don’t go walking about like that–you’ll get cold”(The Yellow Wallpaper).
John is calling Jane a little girl which she is not. By saying this he disrespects her in every way.Next, Jane expects to be put down by the things she says. For example, in the story she says ‘’John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” (The Yellow Wallpaper). Jane can be blamed for some of the female criticism because she is expected to be put down, she doesn’t do anything about it neither says anything about it.
In the story she also says ‘’ he doesn’t believe me am sick” (The Yellow Wallpaper). By this she is trying to say that she is getting tired of John putting her down.Finally, John puts Jane down by his actions and the things he says. For example, ‘’john doesn’t really know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (The Yellow Wallpaper).
In other words John doesn’t care that Jane is ‘’sick”. He listens to her say that she is sick and tells her to go to the doctor but she doesn’t mean that kind of sick. She is sick of him and the way he treats her. In the story John refers to Jane as a little girl many times. For example, he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down to the cellar, if I wished, and have it whitewashed into the bargain (The Yellow Wallpaper).
In conclusion, using feminist criticism, the reader can analyze Charlotte Perkins-Gilman ‘’The Yellow Wallpaper” through John, Jane, and the dialogue throught the story. Jane is really put down by her husband, he is always trying to take control of her. Women should learn that no one should ever control them even if they really love that someone, that they should be independent and not have to rely on other people for support.Works CitedCharlotte Perkins Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper. Oct 25.
2011″Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” Oct 27. 2011. About.comhttp://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-perkins-gilman-9311669Jone Johnson Lewis. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman Quotes.” About.com. Oct 26.
2011 http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/c_p_gilman.htm
