The Significance of Psychological Trauma in the Yellow Wallpaper and the Boat - Paper Example

Many authors have explored psychological trauma while writing some outstanding literature. According to Markman, the motivation of such authors premised on their personal experiences with trauma at various stages of their lives. Other authors have explored this theme to illuminate some of the untold experiences that people undergo in the society. For example, Perkin Gilman authored The Yellow Wallpaper in the backdrop of her previous with nervous depression. Gilman uses a narrator in the story whose psychological trauma is similar to Gilmans childhood depression. By illuminating the effect of psychological trauma in her life, Gilman sought to raise her voice regarding the existence of this condition among people, particularly women, in her society. On the other hand, Alistair MacLeod authored The Boat to elucidate the effect of psychological trauma on the life of the narrators father. An analysis of psychological trauma in both the Yellow Wallpaper and The Boat reveals its significance in the development of the stories.

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Objectives

This paper seeks to explore the significance of psychological trauma in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Boat. It also discusses coping strategies that people develop in moments of stress.

Research questions

In this regard, the paper will respond to the following research questions:

What is the significance of psychological trauma in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Boat?

While exploring the two texts, describe the coping strategies that people under stress develop

Significance of the study

The significance of the texts in developing this work premises on their exploration of psychological trauma as an important theme in the stories. Psychological trauma results from violence, abuse and loss of a loved one and usually causes devastation to the affected individuals. Trauma may lead to inefficiency at work or encourage truancy at school. According to Markman, victims of psychological trauma can be aggressive towards their friends and relatives. Unless proper mechanisms are enforced to protect people trauma, the victims can experience various forms of depression. Thus, the exploration of psychological trauma by the author helps in raising public awareness and enhancing the need for interventions. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator experiences insanity which forces her to rest and avoid work. She defies the medical prescription and proceeds to write a journal. Eventually, her condition degenerates into full-blown mental disorder. In The Boat, the narrators father experiences psychological trauma following his inability to afford a good education. He ends up fishing in the seas to sustain his family against his wish. Thus, the two texts are important in illuminating the significance of this theme.

Methodology

A comparative analysis of the two texts will be carried out in the study to determine areas of convergence or divergence around the psychological trauma. In will explore the texts to reveal how the victims respond to the challenge. In this analysis, the study will establish who the victims are, including their gender. Such analysis will be important in understanding the perceived biases on the part of the authors and determine their motivation in perpetuating the theme of psychological trauma.

Part Two: Comparative analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper and The Boat

There is no better manifestation of the psychological horror that married women go through than in Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper. The narrator is in a state of madness, and her husband believes that it is time they go for a vacation following the birth of the first child. This leads the couple to settle for a colonial mansion despite the narrators reservations. John believes that converting upstairs into a bedroom would facilitate the circulation of fresh air to help in the narrators recovery process. The damaged room trouble narrator because it looks like an abandoned nursery. According to the narrator, it is characterized by barred windows, torn wallpaper, and scratched floors. However, she is not sure of the circumstances that could lead to the destruction of the room. The mystery around the yellow wallpaper leaves no doubt about her anxiety. Anyone who touches the paper is sure to have yellow smears on the skin and/or the clothing. Moreover, the paper undergoes mutation during the moonlight. The patterns and designs that the paper presents are intriguing. Throughout her stay, she notices a figure that eventually mimics a woman creeping in the wallpaper (Trinastic, 15). Her attempt to free the woman leads the latter to strip the paper off the wall. When the narrator and John are about to leave vacation, she locks the room and strips the wallpaper in the same manner as the woman in the figure does. John arrives and finds her in a state of profound madness. John faints following the drama. However, she continues to circle the floor as she steps on top of Johns body.

In The Boat, Alistair MacLeod reveals the narrators lifes journey as a boy in a finishing community in Cape Breton. It is the 1940s, and the narrator is in a dilemma of choice. He is the only boy in the family. His sisters have abandoned their home for the cities, where they attend classes and enjoy romance. The narrator abandons school and joins his fathers fishing business. He wishes to remain with his father so that they can fish and support the family (MacLeod 2). The death of his father causes a moment of psychological trauma. The narrator must decide to either continue with the familys business or pursue education. The Boat is imbued with sadness, loss, and regret (Guilford 3). It embodies a deterioration of cultures and decay in values. The narrator expresses apparent love for his father despite his disorderly nature and occasional temperance towards his wife. His preoccupation revolves around the sea, books, and education. The lack of a better education forced the narrators father to venture into a job that he didnt desire. However, he seems to love fishing despite his fathers desire that he should go to school. Upon studying, he realizes that he does not enjoy being a university professor. Somehow, he appears to enjoy his fathers fishing occupation.

Psychological trauma in women is an inevitable phenomenon in the patriarchal society in the time and place of The Yellow Wallpaper. The narrator depicts a woman as thirsty of freedom but cannot access her freedom unless she seeks the consent of a man. Perhaps, the narrators madness is a protest against the medical oppression of women (Trinastic 16). When she tells John about her condition, he is quick to dismiss her that it is temporary depression. She recognizes her husbands high standing in the medical practice, but she is openly surprised that he can easily dismiss her condition without paying attention to how she feels. Her troubles are further cemented by her brothers support of Johns assertion. In such depiction, she attempts to arouse some attention to the overt discrimination of women in this society. The narrator admits being treated to phosphates where she is expected to keep off from work. She admits writing for a while regardless of the conditions she is subjected to.

On the other hand, The Boat illuminates psychological trauma in the narrators father. He feels imprisoned by the kind of work that he does when he could, otherwise, be enjoying another profession altogether. His father lives a life of regret because he failed to acquire an education that would guarantee him a better occupation (Guilford 7). Towards the end of the play, it is evident that the narrators father lived a life that his wife desired. In this regard, he reveals the importance of living a life desirable to an individual rather than submitting to the wishes of other people. This is because every person experiences the agony of living with the consequences of decisions. For the narrators father, fishing becomes his available means of survival even though he is tormented by the horror that comes with the activity. His disorganized life and the cigarettes depict him as an individual that had consigned his life to fate. The frustration of the narrators father can also be deduced in the manner he rejects his sons idea of abandoning school for the seas. His father is apparently cognizant of the dangers of staying in the waters during fishing.

Madness is a means, which women can manifest some of the setbacks they face in a society that is male-dominated. In The Yellow Wallpaper, women are prevented from doing work. Arguably, women are not allowed to write because writing is perceived to be a way in which women can express their anger and outburst regarding the limitations that men place on their way. The narrator reports that throughout her writing, she did not want anyone to notice what she was doing (Trinastic 16). She writes secretly in the absence of John, who is obviously opposed to her idea of writing. She keeps this idea from Jennie, whom she describes as a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper. Gilmans lack of freedom leads her to insanity.

Meanwhile, the relationship between the narrators father and his wife The Boat exudes some element of psychological trauma. The Boat depicts both the father and the mother as a pair of contrasts. While the mother is clean and orderly, the father is depicted as a whole mess. According to the narrator, the room was filled with books, but he would not allow his wife to move or change them (11). The mothers kitchen is spotless while the fathers room is messy. To bring the nature of the room into perspective, the narrators mother refuses to sleep in the same room with her husband on the account that it is dirty and disorderly (Guilford 8). The relationship between the couple is apparently severed by the nature of a father whose only preoccupation is fishing. Such a relationship may have traumatized the father of the narrator.

The psychological trauma in The Yellow Wallpaper mirrors Gilmans childhood experiences. When she was only seven years, she encountered depression and sought medical advice (Trinastic 9). Her physician recommended a rest cure for as a prescription that would enable her to have adequate rest. During that time, the patient was not allowed to hold a pen and write. She was subjected to mental stimulation exercise that would take only two hours each day (Trinastic 9). Gilman found such diagnosis tormenting because it reduced her workmanship significantly. She defined the prescription and commenced work. In a way, The Yellow Wallpaper is reflecting Gilmans genuine experience with the condition that limited her ability to perform work in the most fundamental ways.

The concluding paragraph of The Boat describes a traumatizing manner in which the narrators father dies. He his body is found between two boulders at the base of rocky cliffs. At the time it is found, the body of the narrators father has been slammed several times against the boulders. According to the narrator, his fathers hands were shredded ribbons while shoulders separated in an attempt to get him out of the rocks (12). The narrator reveals that nothing is left of his father except some brass chains. It is death in the sea that is not only horrible, but also traumatizing. A look at the life of the father of the narrator reveals that he had developed a premonition for his life. His unfortunate death demonstrates earlier feelings that he had developed regarding his hatred for the sea (Guilford 11). From the onset, the narrators father desires a happy life out of the seas. However, he is not lucky to attain it because of his lack of educational empowerment. Thus, it explains his love for books and a penchant for educated people. The fact that his daughters abandoned their home for the cities may have pleased him eve...