Symbolization Through the Personification of Ordinary Objects

Symbolization through the Personification of Ordinary Objects

Charlotte Gilman emphasizes her main character’s unique feelings in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by implementing an internal dialogue that effectively depicts this dramatically charged character’s intimate experience as she drifts into a gradual state of insanity. As the readers of Gilman’s story are allowed access into the inner psyche of this main character, the underlying theme of imagination over nature / reason emerges, thus making Gilman’s story a perfect example of Romanticism. John Cheever’s “The Enormous Radio”, on the other hand, depicts a story themed around revealing the less than perfect world of an upper-middle-class couple despite their effort to appear perfect. Through a mystical “ugly gumwood cabinet” radio that allows the couple to overhear the private conversations of their neighbors, an element of abstraction is introduced that defines this story as one of fantasy (85). While Gilman and Cheever’s stories are both geared towards strikingly different themes both authors’ employ a similar method of personifying ordinary objects in order to use those objects as fictional devices to serve as symbols for the feelings and interactions of their main characters.

Gilman personifies ordinary objects in her story “The