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  • Essay / Analysis of the Narrator's Mental State in The Yellow Wallpaper

    In "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte's Gillman, readers follow the mental development of the anonymous narrator who deals with postpartum depression during the oppression of women in society at the end of the 19th century. century. Recently giving birth, the narrator's husband and doctor, John, quickly rushes to put her through the treatment known as the "rest cure." This treatment was complex and not very popular, because postpartum depression was at the time one of the mental illnesses for which diagnosis or proper attention had not been given. The narrator is locked in a room and prohibited from any form of physical activity which could quickly harm her health. She develops a strange infatuation with the wallpaper in the room as it becomes the only distraction she has and soon leads her to an obsession. The growing obsession with wallpaper shows readers the increasing effects of the illness and his mental state. There are elements throughout the development of her illness that Gillman uses to reflect the narrator's true feelings regarding the oppression and treatment of women at the time. Throughout the short story, the narrator goes from a seemingly sane woman to one whose mental health deteriorates to the point of paranoia and eventually descends into madness due to her postpartum depression. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The narrator's ability to continue reasoning with her husband while having doubts about his illness shows that she remains sane and in control of her mind. At the beginning of the short story, the narrator is presented as a normal societal woman who leads a middle-class life. During this time, women in society were often seen as only fulfilling the role of a perfect wife and mother whose job was to take care of the household as well as meet the needs of her children and family. husband. Her illness was in direct contradiction to these norms and so her husband decided to move the family out of town before the community considered them strange. The narrator seems doubtful and does not take the reality of her illness seriously as she shows signs of a “temporary nervous breakdown – a slight hysterical tendency” (Gillman 209). Her nervousness and difficulty caring for her baby were the first symptoms of her illness which only grew more complicated with time. The narrator obediently follows her husband's requests not to think about his conditions because it is "the worst" she can do to his mind. Unknowingly, the confinement treatment they had subjected her to was depriving her of simple pleasures, which was dangerous for her growing depression. Although she listens to her husband and stays in the room, she feels alone and decides to write in secret, thus deepening readers' knowledge of the progression of her illness. Her writings capture her feelings about the reality of her health, that she thought the treatment was too exaggerated and even joked about it because she feels fine but feels like they are treating her like a child. A few days pass as she is confined to the bedroom upstairs with a peculiar, almost mysterious feeling. She mentions to her husband how much she misses being outside, even at home, as she begs him, "so let's go down, there are so many pretty rooms there." He refuses to listen to her and affirms that she is indeed better thanks to her treatment. However, she does not feel the same way as she is tired of the room she is confined to. THEnarrator begins to suffer more symptoms of postpartum depression. as she falls into the paranoid illusion that the patterns on the wallpaper are moving and showing her blurry images in which she has been fully captivated. One of the effects of a complex case of postpartum depression is experiencing delusions which are false interpretations that an individual may believe to be true and this negatively affects their sense of reality. After being confined for a while in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the narrator continues to be extremely fascinated by the strange patterns and colors. Her descriptions begin to change as she progresses through her illness, first describing it as being confusing to the eyes and a repulsive yellow color (Gillman 210). The wallpaper becomes her only distraction and so she slowly becomes obsessed with it, describing its flamboyant features as she stares at it closely until she notices that she feels a menacing sensation that the wallpaper gives her. Captivated by the wallpaper, she mentions that she seems to know what it means to be a victim in the wallpaper. She continues to write and even sleeps before seeing the wallpaper shaken by a figure inside. The woman she sees who is supposedly trapped in the wallpaper is first described as being a blurred silhouette of a woman, and then is described as an ordinary woman who is only seen by the narrator when she sneaks into the wallpaper behind bars (Gillman 214). ). The narrator's delusional state of mind is evidence of her dangerously increasing depression, which prevents her from differentiating between what exists and what she has romanticized in her paranoid mind. Towards the end of the story, the individuals who care for the narrator and the house are reluctant to admit the level of madness with which the illness has affected her. They realize that she has truly become unhinged and obsessed with the wallpaper and refuse to remove it for fear of how she might react. However, they do not realize that the narrator has become too far advanced in her illness and is refusing to sleep only to check on the crawling woman on the wallpaper. The inability to sleep is another growing symptom that will affect her state of mind, as she will begin to have less rational thoughts. Her madness leads her to believe that the woman is hanging around during the day and is determined to let her escape her incarceration behind the wallpaper. The narrator is paranoid of the people around her and even hides her own thoughts in the journal she kept, showing that she no longer has rational thoughts or control over her mind. Believing she can let the woman behind the wallpaper escape, she tears down the wallpapers and begins to see other women crawling around looking at her. The narrator also believes that she was the woman trapped in the wallpaper when she writes, "I wonder if they all come out of the wallpaper like me?" (Gillman 220). When the narrator believes she has finally escaped the wallpaper, she crawls around the room in excitement, not knowing that her rational self has disappeared and the effects of her illness have taken control of her mind . Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.Get a custom essayCharlotte Gillman's short story gave an insight into the hidden emotions of a woman living in the late 19th century. The narrator's postpartum depression allowed readers to follow along and see how the illness slowly affected her state of mind and blinded her from reality. Readers first see a glimpse of her relationship and her feelings towards John as she.