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Nadine Dare Professor Tuttle English 230 5 March 2009 A Mind of Her Own Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper looks into the mind of the narrator. She is the result of constantly being told she is sick while she does not believe the diagnosis and a victim of her treatment. The narrator considers everyone around her to be full of wisdom and good intentions while she herself is not. She sees herself as being a burden on them while trying to emulate their way of thinking. She is trying her hardest to be seen as a good patient to her doctor husband who is prescribing a common treatment at the time without knowledge of the possible harmful consequences of his course of actions. The Yellow Wallpaper has been a source of literary critiques for many years and feminist critics still lead the way in championing Gilmans achievement (Dock 52). They have gleaned this text for information to further their cause and it continues to keep their interest. Davison explains Greg Johnsons writings of how The Yellow Wallpaper functions as a Gothic allegory (Davison 47). In doing this he highlights the gothic themes that do arise in Gilmans work. This work has been compared to other classic works such as Delashmits comparison of the Yellow Wallpaper with Jane Eyre. In doing this he touched on the many similarities between the two texts one of which is how both characters visually see their denied selves. This is

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demonstrated in his line, Jane Eyre looks into a large mirror and sees her image floating toward her: Gilmans narrator observes her image emerging from the yellow paper. In each instance the image is without doubt a part of the denied self (Delashmit 32). I am going to look at a different aspect of The Yellow Wallpaper that touches on part of what Delashmit says in his article when he refers to the denied self. The narrator constantly denies herself in the face of others. She changes her convictions based on what her husband and Jennie say. I am going to demonstrate Gilmans narrators inability to openly think for herself while retaining her sanity. John does not believe that there is anything wrong with the narrator other than her own imagination and he believes that setting her in a situation where she cannot exercise her imagination will cure her of it. He has confidence in his skill as a doctor, therefore in his prescription as well. Being a physician of high standing he has not been subjected to his imagination preying on his mind as the narrator suggests when she speculates that John never was nervous in his life (Gilman 393). His patience of his wifes nervous condition begins to wear thin as it continues to persist. When they first arrived at the manor he deliberately chose to ignore his own dislike of the wallpaper in order to subject his wife to it. He says that it will help her disorder but he simply wants to control her psyche in an additional manner. He wants her to think about everything in her life in the manner that he chooses her to think about it. She should have no opinions of her own. He already has her full

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compliance despite her secret disagreement of his ideas, and she will not mention what would displease him. This would consist of an original idea or an outlet for creativity such as writing. An example of this is when the narrator admits to the reader that she, had no intention of telling him it was because of the wallpaper [that she had improved] . . . he might . . . want to take it away (Gilman 398). She is afraid that he will remove any object that she grows attached to just as her child, her freedom, and her friends were taken from her all in the name of for her own good. John is acting in a manner that would have been expected of him in 1892 when The Yellow Wallpaper was written. He does not realize that his wife is a unique person who needs to express herself. He behaves as though she should only express herself through him. This is what Delashmit is referring to when he states, domineering males are warring against [her] being . . . her unique self (Delashmit 32). John actively fights the narrators unique self, forbidding her from any activity especially those that she enjoys. He believes that this form of self expression and stimulation would be harmful to his wife. Trapped in a room that she hates, the narrator of Gibsons The Yellow Wallpaper begins to conform her way of thinking to that of those around her. John refuses to repaper the nursery initially because of the wallpaper, he laughs at her about the paper and tells her she is, letting it get the better of [her] (Gilman 393). The narrators response is to slowly begin to not only

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tolerate the wallpaper but to think of it fondly, giving her husband delight at her improvement in the process as is shown on pages 395 and 398. The others in the manor do not vocalize a problem with the paper so the narrator also begins to find it acceptable. Staring at the wallpaper for three months brings the narrator a new outlet for her desire to express herself. She no longer tells the household what she does and does not like, knowing that they will remove her comforts and direct her thinking in different direction. This causes her to obsess over the wallpaper and become more possessive of it as shown in, no person touches this paper but me not alive! (Gilman 401). The narrator has no way to express herself after being forbidden to write. The wallpaper is an outlet for her overactive imagination and there is no one to admonish her for this as she is secretive about it. She thinks about the paper without others to tell her how to think about it and she is unprepared for the intensity of her thoughts. With her imagination attacking her thoughts with such force, the narrator cannot determine between illusion and reality. She became trapped in thinking without direction after being subjected to that direction for all of her life. She was never allowed to explore her own thoughts and this denial intensified them. The narrator escapes by denying one self and merging with another (Delashmit 32). In this other self the narrator has found a way to think for herself without anyone elses direction. She can do as she pleases without the worry of disturbing her husband because that concern was part of

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her previous self. Johns reaction to this development depicted in, Now why should that man have fainted? But he did . . . (Gilman 402). John did faint simply because of his wifes actions. It occurred through a combination of realization, that being one of them. He also noted for the first time that she actually was ill contrary to his belief over the years. Most importantly however, he found his wife thinking on her own power without direction. He had trained her to think only through his careful direction and he was horrified and guilt ridden at what he had helped to turn her into: A mad woman creeping on the floor. He did not know how to cope with this so to keep from trying, he fainted. Gilmans narrator was unable to openly think for herself while retaining her sanity. The only method of doing this was through losing her mind and leaving her rational self behind. Her husband did her a great wrong without knowing it when he trained his wife to think only through him and to repress any other ideas. This repression is what caused the narrator to go mad. The wallpaper was merely a tool that she used to help her discover what she had been repressing and with no alternative activity she avidly examined these blocked ideas. The Yellow Wallpaper serves as a warning for men against overly restricting their wives in an attempt to protect them and as a testament to the power of repressed thoughts and ideas.

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Works Cited Davison, Carol Margaret. "Haunted House/Haunted Heroine: Female Gothic Closets in "The Yellow Wallpaper"." Women's Studies 33.1 (Jan. 2004): 47-75. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Bracken Lib, Muncie, IN. 5 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db= aph&AN=11794606&site=ehost-live>. Delashmit, M., and C. Longcope.. "Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper." Explicator 50.1 (Fall91 1991): 32. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Bracken Lib, Muncie, IN. 5 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=aph&AN=9203092922&site=ehost-live>. Dock, Julie Bates, and Daphne Ryan Allen. "`But One Expects That': Charlotte Perkins Gilman's `The Yellow Wallpaper' and the shifting light." PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 111.1 (Jan. 1996): 52. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Bracken Lib, Muncie, IN. 5 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db= aph&AN=9512292366&site=ehost-live>. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. An Introduction to Literature. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York: Pearson, 2880. 391 402.