The Deeper Meaning of The Yellow Wallpaper - 1257 Words

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, is the disheartening tale of a woman suffering from postpartum depression. Set during the late 1890s, the story shows the mental and emotional results of the typical rest cure prescribed during that era and the narrator’s reaction to this course of treatment. It would appear that Gilman was writing about her own anguish as she herself underwent such a treatment with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1887, just two years after the birth of her daughter Katherine. The rest cure that the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper describes is very close to what Gilman herself experienced; therefore, the story can be read as reflecting the feelings of women like herself who suffered through†¦show more content†¦Mitchell’s treatment of the typical female seeking his world famous rest cure. Wagner-Martin states that the rest cure depended upon seclusion, massage, immobility, and overfeeding; . . . [it] had at its ro ot complete mental inactivity (982). Carol Parley Kessler, in her essay on Gilman’s life, quotes Dr. Mitchell’s prescription to Gilman as, never touch pen, brush, or pencil (Kessler 158). Gilman subjects her narrator to the same prescription. You can tell from the story that the narrator wants to write and that she thinks that being allowed to do so would help her mental and emotional condition. She says, I think . . . it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me (Gilman 81). Kessler further explains that Dr. Mitchell’s treatment only made Gilman’s depression worse and that eventually she ceased to follow his regimen (158). The character she creates in The Yellow Wallpaper also fantasizes about ending her regimen saying, I wish I could get well faster (Gilman 81). Both seem to view the rest cure as an unwanted interruption in their lives. It should be no surprise then that Gilman draws from her own experience and Dr. Mitchell’s treatment. She even finds a way to incorporate him into the story as a kind of threat to the narrator. The narrator in the story is thinking about the reaction of her husband, who is also a doctor, to her slow convalescence, if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall (Gilman 82).Show MoreRelatedThe Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism Essay901 Words   |  4 PagesSymbols Correlating Meaning As human beings, we play the cards that are dealt to us in this world. In life, every person goes through their individual ups and downs and occasionally may break down to the extent of not knowing what to do with oneself. In the short story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† which takes place in the late 1800s, focuses on the first person narrator who is an infatuated woman. 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