Class Response #2: Mental Disorders in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

When Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote one of her more popular short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” she certainly used a lot of references to a person with a mental disorder.  After reading the short story, one can find countless examples of mental disorder such as depression, paranoia, and more.  The story also deals with woman’s issues, being written by a woman at a time when equal rights weren't so incorporated with the law.  The story consists of a woman who is “sick” according to her husband and family, and keeps a journal describing how she feels about the world around her.  The main character narrates the whole story, causing the story to be seen through her point of view.  The reader sees what the narrator is going through and how she feels about the situations she is put in. 

After being sheltered in a room for quite a while, as her “physician” prescribed, she begins to go insane.  For instance, we can see that the narrator starts losing control over her own thoughts and ideas, “And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.  I don’t like it a bit.  I wonder – I begin to think – I wish John would take me away from here” (Gilman 244)!  With this, we can see how heavily the narrator relies on her husband John to take her away from her room.  She starts to see things that make her feel uncomfortable and wants to get away from it all, therefore losing control of reality.

Along with the losing of her thoughts, the narrator continually shows a growing obsession with eliminating the wallpaper of her room.  She begins to feel obligated to remove the yellow wallpaper that bothers her so much, but later gets used to it, becoming overly obsessive about it, “I’m getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper.  Perhaps because of the wallpaper. It dwells my mind so” (Gilman 243)!  The narrator constantly refers back to the wallpaper when writing in her journal, and all of her continuing thoughts lead back to and revolve around it. 

Throughout the story, from the growing obsession, and lost control of her ideas, the narrator also gains a sense of paranoia.  The narrator, being stuck in the room for so long, takes into account everything that could possibly be bad from the wallpaper.  She insists that the wallpaper even smells, “But there is something else about the paper – the smell! I noticed it the moment we came into the room, but with so much air and sun it was not bad” (Gilman 247).  Here, we can clearly see that the narrator is becoming paranoid with her surroundings.  She persistently believes and explains that there is something behind the wallpaper.  Some may say for certain that she has gone insane. 

Additionally, the narrator starts hallucinating in several parts of the story.  From the wallpaper, she incorporates the idea that a girl hides behind it and often moves it.  The “woman” behind the wallpaper apparently gets out from her hiding place every once in a while, “I think that woman gets out in the daytime!  And I’ll tell you why – privately – I've seen her!  I can see her out of every one of my windows” (Gilman 248)!  Undoubtedly, the narrator’s mind is playing tricks on her and she is creating her own world and people, based off of her surroundings.  The narrator unquestionably shows signs of hallucinations. 

Finally, the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows many different occurrences of that of a mental disorder.  The author’s life which consisted of depression and dealing with woman’s issues, has influenced the concept behind the story.  The main character gains many different symptoms of a mental disorder after being left in a room, ordered by her doctor.  With growing paranoia, growing obsessions, losing control of her mind, and hallucination, the main character in the story obviously was dealing with a dramatic case of mental depression.

Works Cited

Kennedy, X.J, and Dana Gioia. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Fourth Edition. Boston, Columbus, Indianapolis, New York, San Francisco, Upper Saddle River, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Dubai, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris, Montreal, Toronto, Delhi, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo: Pearson, 2012. Print.

View the horrifying and interesting "The Yellow Wallpaper" HERE.