Breaking Down and Breaking Free

Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is one of the most haunting pieces of feminist literature that I have ever read. At the surface, the piece is a dark tale about the horrors of insanity; however, what Gillman subliminally stresses is the notion of being a prisoner in marriage. The story takes us along the shocking reality of what it was like to be a woman in the early 19th century, and we see the narrator’s breakdown through her own eyes by means of her journal entries. The loving bias she writes of when she refers to her “very careful and loving” John is revolting to the reader, as he or she is able to see him as the patronizing and obsessive husband that he is (425). Throughout the course of the story, the narrator complains about her inability to live her own life, but instead of ever placing the blame on John and his rules, she has been brainwashed into believing that she has a nervous condition that puts her at fault for her unhappiness. The entries are full of dramatic irony, as the naïve narrator is unable to see her subjugation as what it really is.

The narrator does not complain so much about being locked in the room, but it is the room itself that she dislikes. She comments on the dullness of the decor, the strange and intriguing pattern on the walls, and the “repellent, almost revolting” yellow wallpaper (426). Not only is the room ugly, but it also resembles a prison as the previous owners have barred the windows and there is a gate with which John can control her access to the rest of the house. When she asks her husband why they cannot sleep in the lovely room downstairs, he dismisses her without another word and maintains that he knows best. This sort of behavior may seem doting and caring in her eyes, but to the reader, his actions are condescending and controlling.

It is enough that John has her locked away in an unpleasant, dirty, and disturbing upstairs room, but the story goes far beyond the physical constraints in her life. What causes her ultimate deterioration is her inability to think for herself. In many ways, she lives her life acting like a timid child afraid of the wrath of her father. Although she finds her only solace in writing, she fears doing so in front of John because of his disapproval. Not only is he against her expressing her thoughts, but several times throughout the story he also urges her to refrain from using her imagination at all. He believes that exerting her mind will only worsen her condition. She tries to force herself to believe that she is happy despite the utter lack of control in all aspects of her life. Whenever she has a desire it is perceived as ludicrous, whenever she wants to express herself she can only confide in her journal, and whenever she feels unhappy, she is led to believe it is her “nervous condition” acting up again. Although a fully-grown adult woman, the narrator resembles a child in her ignorance of her husband’s inexcusable behavior and in her complete faith that he only cares for her best interest.

Inevitably, the narrator falls into the clutches of insanity. Despite John’s constant nagging that thinking and dreaming would only worsen her health, her ultimate downfall comes from the repression of her mind. She begins suffering from hallucinations as she sees women trapped inside the yellow wallpaper, attempting all possible means to escape their torturous dooms. Within these repressed women, she sees reflections of herself, and by the end of the story, it is as if she and the women in the wallpaper have all merged into one. Finally, while peeling off the grungy wallpaper, she feels liberated, and despite her insanity, she is able to conjure up the courage to directly accuse John for her prisoner-like lifestyle. It becomes clear that the disgusting wallpaper is symbolic of the chains with which her husband controls her, and only once she peels it off is she able to psychologically break free and become more than merely a face behind a formless pattern (703).