Introduction
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a haunting short story that critiques the gender roles and societal expectations of the late 19th century. The author employs various literary devices throughout the story to convey her message.
Setting the Stage: Confinement, Gender Roles, and the Narrator’s Perspective
The novel’s protagonist is a woman confined at home because her husband thinks that is the best place for her to recover from her condition. As she has not been given a medical diagnosis to back up her symptoms, her husband, a doctor, thinks she is simply anxious and needs some time to herself. The female character gradually loses her mind and goes insane during the narrative.
The story’s intrigue stems from the author’s skillful use of words and imagery to paint a vivid picture, as well as from her choice of narrator, and her husband, John. These elements of literary technique help make the short story so fascinating, making it one of the most well-liked short stories among scholars. The author uses the first-person perspective, vivid description, and unique characterization to develop an intriguing narrative with multiple interpretations.
The Unreliable Narrator and Limited Supporting Roles
Characterization is among the key literary devices that Gilman employs, enabling readers to relate to and understand his work. “The Yellow Wallpaper” deviates from the norm because its characterization combines a main character with two supporting ones (Anasiudu 321). The passage is unusual due to the mental condition of the woman who relates it.
In the conventional sense, the author presents the reader with a tale penned by a person who is forbidden to write at all. She has to get some rest and stop writing until her mental state improves so she can function normally again (Perkins 5). However, she’s more intelligent than that, and she reveals that she writes undercover because it helps her preserve her sanity.
Preferably, she denies that she is ill and blames her troubles on John’s insistence that she is sick, even though he never listens to her when she assures him she is fine (Perkins 116). The woman’s portrayal as a writer stands out because, for the first time, the reader hears her thoughts in the words of a real author. For instance, she says, “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!” (Perkins 219).
However, she is experiencing mental illness, and there comes a moment where the reader begins to doubt whether or not she is telling the truth (Perkins 186). Readers are left wondering if she is improving because her misconception is not exposed until the very end of the novel. The reader only gets a sense that the woman is delusional from the yellow wallpaper, which she interprets in an extremely warped way, giving life to an inanimate thing.
The Yellow Wallpaper as a Symbol of Delusion and Oppression
Wallpaper is used as imagery because it represents an idea that the narrator seems to have presented out of reality. For instance, the author says, “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (Perkins 221). However, augmented reality only matches this experience, as the narrator experiences a delusional episode that heightens her perception.
When the narrator’s claims become increasingly fantastical, the imagery suggests something may be amiss with her. She has periods of fixation when she stares at the wallpaper, convinced that it harbors some dark secret (Anasiudu 322). Therefore, she gives the reader crucial information, warning them of an impending plot twist. Her normally even tone gets increasingly erratic and out of the ordinary as the reader becomes aware of the problem she is having.
Once the tension rises, she escapes in hopes of entering the wallpaper. John, who was correct the entire time, fails to recognize the woman’s deterioration because her cunning fools him. At the end of the story, he passes out from shock at the sight of his wife, who by then has become incomprehensible (Perkins 10). Like John, the reader is shocked to learn that the narrator has been experiencing mental illness. Her vivid description, initially seemingly true and understandable, does a good job of hiding the truth (Anasiudu 324). The same narrator establishes credibility by providing consistent, reliable details about the house, the narrator’s interactions with it, and the general course of her days.
First-Person Narrative and the Gradual Unveiling of Unreliability
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is written in the first-person narrative style, with the narrator taking center stage. The storyteller convinces readers that her account is credible through vivid imagery and description (Anasiudu 324). One of the main complaints leveled at fiction written from the first-person perspective is that the narrator is too unreliable to be trusted.
It is usual for a story’s narrator to present himself as an objective bystander to the events they are describing (Perkins 43). As a result, they cannot give a true picture of the situation as it stands right now. In order to completely understand “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the reader must first realize that the woman serves as narrator and portrays individuals and events from her point of view.
The author successfully creates a believable protagonist by providing detailed descriptions of the plot and the characters. The story succeeds in capturing the reader’s attention due to the narrator, John, her husband, and the use of imagery and words in the realistic representation. For instance, the narrator states, “I’m getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper. Perhaps because of the wallpaper” (Perkins 223).
Literary reviewers agree that these elements elevate the work to the ranks of the best short stories ever written. For a literary work to be fully appreciated by its readers, it is essential that each of the characters has a distinct personality. “The Yellow Wallpaper,” on the other hand, deviates slightly from the norm in terms of characterization due to the presence of only one primary and two minor characters. The passage is unique in that it is related solely to a lady with a mental disorder, which is not the case in other chapters.
One common technique is to have the protagonist tell the story from the perspective of someone who is not authorized to write (Anasiudu 325). As her mind is in a bad place right now, she needs to take it easy and put off writing until she feels better.
Message, Literary Techniques, and Enduring Relevance
The wallpaper is employed as visual imagery throughout the story to communicate a notion that the narrator appears to have come up with out of nowhere. The narrator undergoes a delusional episode resembling virtual reality, during which her vision is distorted to an absurd degree, thus referred to as experiencing “augmented reality” (Anasiudu 325).
When the absurdity of the depictions increases, the reader’s trust in the narrator inevitably wanes. She believes the wallpaper is haunted; therefore, she keeps her gaze fixed on it at regular intervals. By doing so, she reveals a key plot point, preparing the reader for an upcoming turn in the novel. For instance, the narrator states, “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (Perkins 221). The story’s arc allows readers to piece together what is going on in the woman’s life that is making her normally placid demeanor turn progressively tumultuous.
As the pressure mounts, she becomes more desperate in her search for a way inside the wallpaper. She was right the whole time, but John did not catch on because of her crafty evasions. Finally, upon meeting his wife, who appears incomprehensible to him, he collapses in horror (Perkins 10). Like John, you might be wondering why the narrator spent so much time in a psychiatric facility. She, on the other hand, gives a detailed account that rings true and is clear at first glance.
Conclusion
Charlotte Perkins Gilman employs a first-person viewpoint, detailed imagery, and distinctive character development to convey her message in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Gilman emphasizes the repressive character of patriarchal society by evoking a sensation of confinement and dread through the narrator’s perspective. While the characterization of the narrator acts as an indictment of the medical profession’s treatment of women, the vivid description of the wallpaper works as a metaphor for the woman’s own oppression. The story’s themes of segregation, persecution, and mental illness are still pertinent today, and Gilman’s use of literary tropes has contributed to the creation of a classic work of literature that appeals to readers even now.
Works Cited
Anasiudu, Okwudiri. “Literature, Idea and the Feminist Consciousness in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, vol. 5, no. 2, 2022, pp. 320-327. Web.
Perkins Gilman, Charlotte. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Open Library. 2022. Web.