Social Symbolism In Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

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During a time where postpartum depression was characterized as just a nervous disorder, Charlotte Gilman wrote a short story about her experience with the unsuccessful rest cure doctors prescribed their female patients. Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is fictional autobiography that she had hoped would expose the ineffectiveness of the rest cure her neurologist, S. Weir Mitchell, prescribed her after the birth of her daughter. The Yellow Wallpaper is a filled with many elements the female gothic genre is known for, one of which is spatial symbolism. Spacial symbolism is often used to foreshadow or reflect a characters emotional state. Authors of female gothic genre would use spatial symbolism to reflect what was going on in their character’s…show more content…
One of those sprawling, flamboyant patterns, committing every artistic sin. It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide - plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions” (266). Jane’s description of the wallpaper at the beginning of her story is describing herself emotionally and mentally, while also describing in some areas her marriage. The use of flamboyant patterns that commit every artistic sin could very well describe Jane’s love for writing. Writing was an art for her, something she loved to do but was told by her husband and doctor that she should not pick up a pen or paper to write. It is almost a crime by Jane not write since she is a writer and it was her one way of releasing any pent up emotion she had.This need to write but being restricted from it could almost be seen within the wallpaper itself. Plunging off at outrageous angles and destroying themselves in unheard contradictions could very well describe Jane at the moment and be a foreshadow of what is to come. Jane is slowly destroying herself with the help of John by allowing herself not write and keeping herself locked in her…show more content…
Her marriage could be described as dull, uneventful. John made sure to keep her separate from society, keeping people away so they could believe his marriage to Jane was going along normal. However, from inside the marriage it was a whole other story. Pronounced enough to cause irritation could go two ways. John is irritating Jane by keeping her isolated and treating her like a child by putting her in the nursery. Or, it could be Jane irritating John. Jane is supposed to be taking care of the house and her new baby, but instead she is having to be taken cared of because of her nervous disorder. She could also be annoying him with all of her questions and her demands to be moved to another room or leave the mansion all
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