The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper

Well the main theme for the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was women’s oppression in society back during their time. Women use to be treated like they were nothing more then a house wife and their main responsibility was to keep the house clean and food on the table when the husband comes home. Even today, if you look real close, you’ll find the women are still being treated the same. Women earn less money than men, are more likely to be the victims of violence in the home, are more likely to be disadvantaged by a relationship break-up, take more responsibility for work in the home, and so on.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” was mostly about a woman who suffers from Hysteria after giving birth to her child. So to help her feel better John, her husband, takes her to the country. Maybe the country air might help her relax her nerves, since its cleaner air. Well instead of making it better, it made her situation worse. John doesn’t let her do what she wants. He doesn’t let her leave the house, write, or move to a different room. The reason he says he does this is for her own good, but how does he know what’s good for her if he doesn’t listen to her when she complains about being uncomfortable in the room. Probably being treated this way, like a little girl, lead to her depression. This is a great example of how women were treated. The man always had his way no matter how badly it affected the women.

So she spends everyday for the next 3 months in a room with yellow wallpaper. This was pretty boring so she begins to write a journal. The only time she gets to write is when her husband is away. She also spends the whole day looking at the hideous wallpaper and starts to see things. Soon she doesn’t sleep at night because she believes that the wallpaper moves in the moon light. This is the beginning of her starting to lose her mind. John could have solved the problem here if he would have spend some time with, probably taking her outside for a little while so she can enjoy a bit of freedom. Also he could have had a talk with her and see how she was feeling, but since he was a doctor he believed that nothing was wrong and that she just need to stay home.

Little by little she starts getting