Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s literary work The Yellow Wallpaper is often considered an important early work of American feminist literature that illustrates general social and physiological attitudes toward women in the 19th century which are still relevant today, even in spite of their enormous age. There have been a number of analyses of this literary text, and various interpretations have been offered. In this essay, I want to take a new critical approach, reasoning and exploring how the symbols of the text describe and emphasize the persecution of women. I have chosen three of them, that is, the wallpaper itself, the color yellow, and the two windows, which serve as essential elements for effectively and efficiently illuminating the theme of women’s suffrage in the nineteenth century as I still consider this problem to be topical.
I will begin with an analysis of the wallpaper itself. It is undoubtedly the most prominent symbol in this story, which also acts as the main element of the text. In general, the wallpaper represents the mindset of the protagonist. Further symbolic effects can be observed by their impact in showing how women were generally perceived in the 19th century. This can be argued in physical and mental aspects. Physically, the wallpaper is a kind of physical trap for the protagonist. Because of her husband’s compulsory resting treatment, she was trapped in a room in which the wallpaper apparently shut her off from the outside world. This argument is supported by the line “I have never seen the worst newspaper in my life,” which refers to her hatred of the wallpaper and the physical limitations it brought (Newman & Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper, p. 12). As the story progressed, she got the feeling that she couldn’t get any better in this room because the wallpaper was distracting to a certain extent from her rest.
Other than the wallpaper, there was really nothing she could do in the room, so she had no choice but to constantly look at the wallpaper to reluctantly “explore” its detail (Newman & Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper). Another clue, one might further argue, is that the physical changes in the wallpaper can be seen as having a direct bearing on the sanity of the protagonist; when the character of the wallpaper changes or gives the signs of progress, the protagonist has similar changes. Conflicting patterns, angles, and curves can effectively reflect the protagonist’s emotions. In addition, wallpaper can also be seen as a kind of psychological trap for the protagonist.
At the end of the text, when her illness has reached its worst level, she tears down the wallpaper to free the “woman” behind the paper. This is symbolic because it does not really show that what she saw was not only figurative but that, in fact, “she” behind the wallpaper was also herself (Newman & Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper). Her emotions were really captured by the whole social atmosphere that the wallpaper symbolizes. She had no choice but to accept it. Indeed, we see that the wallpaper made her create her own madness, not other factors.
The clear choice of the color “yellow” also brings another critical symbolic effect. For a long time in history, yellow has been seen as the color of sickness and weakness, which correlates to some extent with the madness from which the protagonist suffers. It also tells us how difficult it was for women to face oppression and struggle in everyday life. The protagonist made a more detailed description of the color: “The color is disgusting enough, unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the model is tormenting.” (Newman & Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper, p. 15). Acting as a symbolic metaphor for how women are limited, the adjectives describing color really speak indirectly to how the inequality of women, brought about by men, can be “disgusting.” What men have done to women can also be “unreliable.” (Newman & Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper). Other adjectives, such as “infuriating” and “tormenting,” can also be seen as reflecting women’s feelings in the 19th century, especially given the close relationship between color and wallpaper.
Yellow also went well with the other two sub-symbols, sunlight, and moonlight, showing the conflicts between men and women. The text indicates that the sunlight does represent the actions committed by John, such as his dominant schedule and the male-dominated nature of the family. Each morning, John only prescribed medication to the main character without any additional concerns. Instead, he continued his daily routine, in turn forcing the protagonist to follow every schedule that John set. This was also when the value of the “yellow” plays wasn’t outstanding, given the sunlight. But at night, the balance changes. The women, in turn, can achieve equal status with their husbands at night when “daylight” procedures are not followed.
Based on the captioned designations, one can assume that Gilman used such symbols to show how women were severely restricted in the 19th century. The characters relate directly to each other with definite meanings for each. The author did offer several basic ideas, including the equality of women and men in society and her call for an end to a male-dominated society. Overall, The Yellow Wallpaper can be proven to be a feminist text confronting humanity in the 19th century. Thus it becomes obvious that thanks to such a peculiar system of images the author was able to show the problem of inequality interacting with the subconscious of the reader. Every detail of this novel is logically justified and plays its role, which also shows the skill of the writer.
Works Cited
Newman, H. & Gilman, C.P. The Yellow Wallpaper. Rain City Projects, 2003.