Use Of Postpartum Depression In Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

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Short stories are thought of as shortened life lessons or entertainment. They're written to expand imaginations while telling people about the world and all it contains. One individual could argue that these stories, in addition, illustrate the author's emotions and past. One such story that shares those feelings in a personal way is the The Yellow Wallpaper. Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper is her emotional account of having postpartum depression in the late 1800's. This will be proven in the four following paragraphs. One paragraph will summarize The Yellow Wallpaper and then will give a definition of this postpartum depression. The next paragraph will contain a short biography of Charlotte Gilman and what the scientists in the 1800's didn't know. The last part will connect what…show more content…
Gilman had the symptoms of postpartum depression. According to Literature for Composition, Gilman had an emotional past, growing up without a father. She later went on to marry an artist who isolated Charlotte to the point where she was forced to flee. As part of her recuperation process she penned The Yellow Wallpaper which seem to hold an air of cathartic release. When applying the actions Gilman took and emotions she had, she most likely had postpartum depression. She probably wrote her story, The Yellow Wallpaper, to illustrate her feelings when dealing with the depression. She was describing herself in the story when she said, “I don't know why I should write this. I don't want to. I don't feel able. And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way – it is such a relief. But the effort is getting to be greater than the relief” (750.) Unlike Gilman's actual life, her fake character runs away from the depression by becoming insane. The one thing that remains firm is the fact Charlotte Gilman most likely wrote this story as her personal account of dealing with depression and the relief she got from “escaping” the

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