After reading The Yellow Wallpaper, I was left with a sense of chilling finality and a disturbing view of what life was like in late 19th century England. There is no doubt that the message Gilman was trying to get across is intended to shock as well as to inform. The primary purpose of the story is to create a social commentary on the role of women in society.
One idea that seems constant throughout the work is change. Through her journal entries, we see the narrator slowly morph from someone that just needs a little rest and relaxation to a soul on the edge of insanity. The major factor in this transformation is the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom. At the beginning, she sees the wallpaper as an ugly menace, and she cannot find any discernible pattern to the lines, dubbing it completely random. Later, the narrator finds that she can see shapes in the wallpaper; there is the shadow of a woman behind the original pattern "creeping around." Finally in the moonlight, she notices that the original pattern is gone, and in its place are the bars of a cage, and the woman behind is rattling, trying to get out. This wallpaper is representative of life in that time period. When first glanced at, life is random, a piece of art with no pattern. But past the veil of normal life is a woman behind bars. Society in England expected women to act a certain way and be subservient to men. The woman trapped by the pattern of society and trying to escape it represents what the narrator is going through. Her husband John, though a kind doctor, simply does not see that she is an imaginative person and forcing her not to write and to avoid all contact with the outside world is the worst possible thing for the condition. He sees her as his pet, and does not listen to her protests concerning her own well-being, making all of her decisions for her. As a result of his overbearing insistence of his "medical opinion" she feels helpless and trapped within her own life.
Eventually, she realizes the that the woman in the wall is her inner self longing for escape, and she becomes determined to free it. Even though it does not say explicitly in the story, I believe that she killed herself to escape from her prison. She rips off much of the wallpaper in a desperate attempt to free the woman. After this symbolic freedom, when the narrator is clearly disturbed in the head, she makes many references to a rope. "I've got a rope up here that even Jennie did not find. If that woman does get out, and tries to get away, I can tie her! But I forgot I could not reach far without anything to stand on...But I am securely fastened now by my well hidden rope-- you don't get me into the road there." It is in this journal entry that she finds the only way to free herself from the trap of society is death. In an effort to peel off the wallpaper that she can't reach from the ground, the narrator hangs herself by the rope to reach it, killing herself. As she is hanging there, she notices in the pattern how "...all those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths shriek with derision." At the end, John faints because he sees her body hanging there, bringing a dramatic and twisted end to the story.
The climax is yet another commentary on society. The narrator says "I've got out at last, in spite of you and Jane." This name has not been mentioned before in the work, so I believe it is the narrator's true name. Jane is a common name, the epitome of a normal woman. She refers to her old self, the one that was still held by the constraints of society, in the third person because she is finally free. No longer Jane, she is now the shadow in the wall, escapee of the prison that contained herself and so many other women that felt trapped in their own lives. Sadly enough, she paid a terrible price for her own release: death. This unsettling social commentary really made me think about what was expected from people back then and what is expected from us today. Just like in 19th century England, there is a cultural norm that we are expected to follow. The question is, do we go along with this facade of trying to be what people expect us to be, or do we break free of the constraints of society and be ourselves?
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I really enjoyed reading your response. You are so insightful and articulate in the way you describe the story. I was interested to read that you thought she killed herself. I tossed the idea around, but because it still describes her crawling over her husband’s body at the end, I decided it was more of complete insanity, maybe even to the point of no return. I also thought the mention of the rope so many times was peculiar though; maybe you’re right. I was especially interested in what you said about her tearing down the wall paper and using the rope to help her reach. That draws a very clear parallel to death and refuting society. Suicide as her only option to escape the expectations of her husband and all of people of the time.
I completely overlooked the fact that she refers to Jane at the end of the story. I guess each time I read it I keep assuming that was Jennie. I love that Gilman chose Jane because it represents all the regular women of society. For that matter, John is the classic male as well. Choosing these typical names generalizes this story to the thousands of other women who were subjected to this treatment by just another John. I also found it interesting that you decided her original state to be curable by a little rest. It’s hard to tell exactly what state she is at various parts of the story. I would like to hear the story from John or Jennie’s perspective to maybe help clarify this question.
The question you posed at the end is really fascinating. I think it’s a mixture of both. Part of Modernism is breaking free from the constraints of the expected (which has been strongly incorporated into our current culture), but I still think there are unspoken rules that even Modernism doesn’t phase.