FIghting Against Society: Historical and Social Connections

     The connections in “The Yellow Wallpaper” can be very vague, but when you really analyze the writing they become very clear.  Throughout the short story, Gilman makes many hints at the way Jane was treated by her husband and other men.  Back in this time that this was written, women were seen by society as weak and that they belonged in the house all day long. And Gilman herself was also a women’s rights activist so it would make sense that she would write about trying to stop it. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is very much like a fight against women being stepped on by society.  “Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!” (pg.11), is almost like saying that Jane was done being downgraded and she was stepping over him to show that she was just as strong.  Therefore, “The Yellow Wallpaper” connects to the women in the 1800’s trying to gain their rights. 


http://evolutionofwomenscitizenship.weebly.com/1800s-womens-movement-issues.html- this site helped me understand women's rights in the 1800's

http://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/19thcentury/womenandequality/- this site talked about women and their equality

 

 

Historical and Social Connections: connections that you can make with the short story that have to do with history or society

Helping The Women be Heard: Symbolism

       When you sink deep into the words that Gilman wrote in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, there is a whole new meaning to everything.  The way she describes the room the protagonist, Jane, stays in or how in depth she goes to talk about the women suffering behind the yellow wallpaper itself.  One person could see this as just writing a short story, but I see more.  “Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.  Then in the very bright spots she keeps still and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard.” (pg. 9)  But the women she talks about, is perhaps the society Gilman was living in at the time.  Where women were seen as weaker and smaller than men, and their opinions and words were locked inside and ignored by everybody.  These women in the wall are trying to show society that they are more, but they are trapped inside and can’t get out as society does not care.  And the protagonist in the short story wants to help these women stuck in the wallpaper. “As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the patter, I got up and ran to help her.” Maybe this was Gilman’s way to say, she is trying to help the women of this time be heard.

 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/symbolism?s=t- this site better helped me understand what I was looking for

 

 

Symbolism:  something represented by a character or meaning in a short story

Weak and Timid, Intelligent and Logical: Theme

     While reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” I noticed the way that the main character is seen and treated differently than John was treated.  The main character is seen as a weak and timid girl that was seen in a state of insanity.  But John was always seen as a logical and intelligent physician.  I’m sure this type of view that society gave was normal in the late 1800’s, but what if both men and women were seen as the same?  Both genders would be treated the same by society, one wouldn’t be seen as a second-class citizen.  Many times the main characters depression would be ignored by her husband, and he would just laugh at her.  “John is a physician, and perhaps—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dad and a great relief to my mind)—perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see he does not believe I am sick!” (pg. 1)  If both men and women were equal, her depression could have possibly been helped, but society’s view on women changed that.

http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/introduction.html- This site gave me information on how women were treated in the 1800's

http://www.flowofhistory.com/readings-flowcharts/the-early-modern-era/the-industrial-revolution/fc114- this site also gave me information on how women were treated




                                       

Theme:  the moral of the story, or the meaning

THe Women in the Wallpaper are Real! : Protagonist

     The protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a woman named Jane.  Many physicians, such as her husband and brother, claimed that Jane has a temporary nervous depression.  So she was placed in the attic of a house, that had a horrid yellow wallpaper decorating its walls.  But some people may consider this room more of a sanitarium, then just a normal room she stayed in.  When she describes the room it sometimes has jail like characteristics, “He said that after the wall-paper was changed it would be the heavy bedstead, and then the barred windows…”(pg. 3).  But nonetheless she stayed in this room all day long, where some would say her nervous depression only got worse as she examined the walls all day, especially the yellow wallpaper.  After some time she even said she saw a woman or many women behind the wallpaper, “The front pattern does move--and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!  Sometimes I think there are a great many omen behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over” (pg. 9).  This can be seen as a hallucination caused from her “insane” state, but what if the women she sees are the women of society.  Locked behind the wallpaper, they have no freedom.  What if she’s becoming locked in the wallpaper just like all the other women?

http://mr-gadget.hubpages.com/hub/WOMEN-RIGHTS-FROM-1800-TO-PRESENT- this site showed me how women were viewed by society throughout different years

http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm- this site also showed me women's history

protagonist: the main character in a short story who has a lot do with the conflict

A Reader, a Writer, and an Activist :Gilman's Background

     Woman’s Rights Activist, Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 in Connecticut.  At an early age she learned how to read and she spent most of her time reading books her father had selected for her.  She always did well in school, and she ended up attending the Rhode Island School of Design.  During her adulthood she married Charles Stetson, and one year later they had their daughter.  But not long after she gave birth she suffered from Post-Partum depression, and many people saw her as in a state of “hysteria”.  Later on she divorced her husband, and even sent her daughter to live with other family so that she could work on her career as a writer.  And this time period was also when she wrote one of her most popular writing pieces, “The Yellow Wallpaper”.  But many people thought that this writing piece was mainly inspired by her severe depression, as she says things like “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition”(pg. 2) that hint at her condition.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman - Site gave me information about her early age and adulthood

 

 

 

http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-perkins-gilman-9311669 - Gave me facts about Gilman

 

 

 

Gilman:  a woman's activist and a writer that wrote the popular short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper".