Feminist Literature Analysis Essay on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's the Yellow Wallpaper

Introduction

The yellow wallpaper is a short story which focuses on illuminating on Charlotte Perkins contextual view. The text covers the American feminist having different autobiography transformation. The bitter story unveils how a young lady Ann J. Lane who incidentally lands in the hands of an husband-doctor. The young lady falls in love with this particular doctor. The story narrator ends up being diagnosed to be suffering from temporary nervous depression a situation caused by profound Hormonal childbirth aftermath. "Yellow Wallpaper" is work of fiction of Gilman's account peculiar subjection to complete Silas Weir Mitchell, whom treatment mode is typified notorious convention late Victorian doctorate of the female. The rest of the cure for Mitchelle is a deliberate assumption for women inferiority to men, their hysteria source is mind overuse despite it's a physical or even neurological cause posited but hardly located. Air-treatment physically, massage, rest mild exercise was prescribed and even feeding affects a cure. Dependence on male physicians and their authority is a basic requirement isolating and prohibiting contrary to live company.

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The goal of this literature is to point out the caliber of voices women possess within the community of men dominion. Women have been brought out to be of less importance compared to men in the humanity, the language of the woman has been used as a powerful tool in accentuating men's power over females in the community. Literature world has been presented from males' viewpoint though women continue to bring out their views through writing forms. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper text points out the women feelings are expressed through textual view, either talking imitating men or failing to talk at all. Having all these expectations, men are brought out to have various experiences which outcompete women leaving women with no choice but seeking the way out such as themes such as mental infection and working on self-expression.

The author uses mental illness as a major theme of addressing real-life suffering associated with it. As the context opens up, men oppression to women as well as mental illness takes a distinct angle. At the story offset, the author declares man as dominant in her marriage as an obvious thing. The author says "John and I" as she puts it down in her diary. Within her self-thoughts, she seems to readily accept and adore man to be superior in her life. After the author makes it clear to the reader on her obvious life, she catches up with deep imaginations which later unveil her prison life this is seen when she refers the house to be "a haunted house".

Her antipathy towards her husband is revealed in minor paths which are not easy to notice, "John laughs at me, of course". The author presumes that John's thought toward her ideas is an obvious phenomenon.

Imprisoned mentally to her machinated husband, the main character of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the quintessence of the struggles women face is freedom seek ever through. This story is termed psychological thriller of different types. From a feminist point of view, it is an annotation on women state in the early 1800s, the author even struggles to penetrate through men administrative society. John the context protagonist's husband, janes thoughts as well as Jane's writings. The environmental setting also reveals how women have been viewed as part of the inferiority complex. The chains of this particular context reveal how women have been imprisoned by men.

John has been brought out as a male character who has complete control over his wife. Having absolute over a spouse, the wife is seen as been inferior "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage". The protagonist's husband sees her ideas to be ridiculous, he hardly takes them serious even for the important ones. The only point John comes to senses is when the protagonist runs mad which was too late for her salvage. John's laugh to his wife has been portrayed to be acceptable by the society. At a later stage, John realizes his mistakes and behaves like a woman: "Now why should that man have fainted?" having seen his wife in a delirium state which symbolically shows breaking the total control he has over her. He later faints stereotypically as a shocked lady. Through acceptance of her delirium john breaks the society view over women hence bridging the traditional gap which existed before. John further reduces the bond by reversing the social implications for women control. he accepts to be termed a woman rather than holding tight to the social norms.

Helping the author's expressions regards feminist are Jane's dialogue and thoughts. Having desires for expressing thoughts and ideas acts as a tough breakthrough to society barriers "I did write for a while in spite of them." As a self-motivated woman, depression presses her till she is filled with desires to express herself through writing at this point she is very exhausted that she needs to hide her thoughts to her husband and also the entire society.

She feels pressed against the wall by the society to suffer at the hands of her screwed husband: "he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more". Her husband no longer takes his responsibility in taking care of her. This leaves her in the jargon of self-imprisonment and a sense of being useless, the society caps her in worshipping and thanking her husband for abandoning the need to make her own decisions. In this kind of life, she feels mentally oppressed by her husband as well as society.

Majority of the story is built within a room that is filled with chaos and madness from the main character; Jane's surroundings depict the feminist views. Her prison environment makes her wish the impossible especially when she wishes that the walls should be repapered, her husband refuse her wishes stating "that after the wall-paper was changed it would be the heavy bedstead, and then the barred windows, and then that gate at the head of the stairs, and so on". Despite Jane being oppressed by her prison environment, her husband hardly shows a sigh of relieving to this particular woman he doesn't care replenishing the environment instead he decides to keep her behind her bars. Emphasize on feminist has been brought out through the wallpaper itself.

"At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars!" the paper represents a psychological prison even though not the real bars and gates. Her thoughts are direly restrained on this paper. She is attracted to it but she has been unable to unlock herself from the shackles of this environment. This draws out the women locked on paper. The protagonist remains jailed psychologically until the climax of the story when most papers have been plucked.

Conclusion

The whole context has been used as a powerful instrument for the author's feminist view, demonstrating both physical and mental torture women face at the current moment. These conclusions are drawn from John's reactions, Jane's thoughts and the story setting. Throughout the story, Gilman talks about psychological scuffles and women imprisonment in society. Within her mind, there is a need for women to be set free from men embodiment and societal views on women. The author tries to raise an alarm to society and showing the need for women to be set free. Women views should be considered too. The author concludes the story by showing how through struggles the society view and personal imprisonment can be changed.

References

Lanser, Susan S. "Feminist Criticism," The Yellow Wallpaper," and the Politics of Color in America." Feminist Studies 15.3 (1989): 415-441.

Bak, John S. "Escaping the jaundiced eye: Foucauldian Panopticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's" The Yellow Wallpaper."." Studies in Short Fiction 31.1 (1994): 39-47.