Philippe Meister Dr.

Kelly Sultzbach Critical Theory: The Power of Making Meaning 21 September, 2013

Deceit Breaks Form: Shortcomings of Formal Analysis A formalist interpretation of The Yellow Wallpaper is necessary to admire the construction and artistry of the story. It can examine how the story employs formal elements and conventions to create a striking narrative, it can analyze the imagery and symbolism the author uses to explore inner process of the human mind, and it can analyze cultural meaning. However, a formalist interpretation is not able to extract the elements which make the story literary; and therefore, a formalist interpretation is not able to explain why this story is understood as the powerful force called literature. To understand the work and its literary power we must reach further into its affects, we must reach out into the areas that formalist critics dont consider to be their task; we must understand how the story documents history, appeals to the readers psychology, adds to the readers philosophy, and affects social conscience. This study must be done because a critic does not do justice to the concept of literature if we merely analyze the formal elements of the text. Brooks says that the formalist critic assumes that the intent of the author is in the text and takes the position of an ideal reader (24). Although ideals can incite clarity they cannot construct the human experience. Gillmans use of deception in The Yellow Wallpaper reveals possible shortcomings Brooks formalist assumptions and provides an opportunity for critics to see how the shortcomings of formalism may be supplemented with information about the author and the cultural climate. The deception in The Yellow Wallpaper creates a text in which meaning cannot be produced if one only looks at the text and does not connect the text the author and to the surrounding culture. The narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper deceives all characters as well as the reader. The narrator deceives so often that it is difficult for the reader to understand both what the woman in the story believes, and what the reader should believe. The most apparent lie or the most apparent truth in the story appears multiple times when the narrator talks about

Meister-2 John, It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so (Gilman 535) says the narrator. This line compels the reader to believe that our narrator would reveal her troubles to John if she thought it would help her. This claim doesnt become truthful because as the narrator tells us that she believes John loves her, the actions she describes are clearly constraining. The constraint the narrator feels is vocalized when she says, John was asleep and I hated to waken him, so I kept still and watched the moonlight on that undulating wallpaper till I felt creepy. (Gilman 535) At this point, the reader is aware that the narrators interactions with John hurt her more than him. The narrator lies to John only lines later when she says And that cultivates deceit, for I dont tell them Im awake O no! (Gilman 535) In surprisingly casual fashion, the narrator feigns a dislike for deceit. In this instance the reader is allowed to see the narrator embrace her deceitful behavior through the corny exclamation. Revealing deceit may be a rhetorical move for Gilman, but what is Gilmans purpose? Only a few lines later Gillman writes a deceitful line for Jennie. Jennie says the paper stained everything it touched, that she had found yellow smooches on all my clothes and johns. (Gilman 536) The way the dialogue is written Jennie purposely doesnt communicate to the narrator, but she communicates much to the reader; Jennie communicates to the reader that the story our narrator tells is missing important information. The reader is left in uncertainty as to how the clothes have been yellowed and how much the narrator knows. A few lines after the encounter with Jennie, the narrator says, I had no intention of telling him it was because of the wall-paper he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away. (Gilman 535) In this line the narrator tells a rationalized lie. All previously mentioned lies construct a relationship between the characters which leaves all information given to the reader suspect. Because the reader cannot trust the characters, the reader does not know where the story is deceiving. Has the narrator been crazed since the beginning? Since the reader experiences a circular reciprocation of deceit, the deception in The Yellow Wallpaper necessitates that the critic use outside information to interpret and critique.

Meister-3 Author information is necessary in order to understand the creation and reception of the literary piece The Yellow Wallpaper. Gilman writes that The Yellow Wallpaper was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked. When the critic accesses the authors motivations, many of our interpretive questions can be resolved. The deceit in the story can be deconstructed, and the appropriate emphasis can be given to the elements of the story that support the authors aim. In the case Johns love motivated actions, because we know Gilman wrote the story to raise issue of people being driven crazy, we can read the story as such. Rather than interpret the story as a feminist subversion, where the narrator is mocking John with an extreme emphasis on his love, the reader may determine that the narrator truly believes that Johns love is his motivating force. The reader knows that the narrator is being driven crazy because she has been pressured to play a role in a narrative that is not her own. By referencing Gilmans motivations we are given a necessary insight into the role of the narrators character helps us determine the meaning in the story. The cultural climate is necessary when interpreting the story because it is necessary to know what circumstances surround the writing. An ordinary statement, like the opening line It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer (Gilman 531) can carry many different significations, some of which are brought out in the story, but some of which can only be understood in a broader cultural context. In this example, ordinary may mean domestic, suburban, middle class, white, or a host of other significances and it is important that we are able to provide a meaning for the word ordinary as our author would like us to understand it and not only in the context of the text. Without a cultural knowledge the whole narrative of The Yellow Wallpaper would be odd, only if you know the position of domestication, the position of women, and the societal pressures at the time does any of the action in the story become meaningful. The nature of the narrators deceit in The Yellow Wallpaper encourages the reader to ask sociological, psychological, and philosophical questions that formalist critics arent prioritizing.

Meister-4 Since the truth of our narrative is in question, it is a textual hint that we need to explore our narrators motivations, and therefore explore the authors aims as well. In order to do this, we must use information exterior to the text. The authors history, the authors politics, the authors writing practices, the cultural climate, the reception of the genre, the ability to distribute text; all of these factors and more affect how our author perceives the purpose of her text and should be considered when we analyze it. It is the job of the critic to understand the formal elements of the text, but it is also the critics job to understand why the author chooses to use those elements; whether it is for symbolism and repetition in an endearing way or it is to create a symbolism and repetition for a campy critique. The deception in The Yellow Wallpaper shows the critic that they must use exterior sources in the assessment of literature. If we dont connect the text to the experience, or if we generalize the viewpoints like Brooks has suggested, the task given to the critic may be vain.