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Katelyn Cress

Sally Lahmon

English 1101

22 June 2018

Silence Is Loud

In an ideal world, women would shape their entire lives around what is

convenient for their significant other and never question a man in the chance that she

may threaten his superiority. Psych! In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins

Gilman, the author explores the dangers that ensue when an individual is denied

freedom of expression. The narrator is ultimately driven insane by the dismissive nature

of her husband and the inability to demonstrate intellectual and emotional freedom.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Gilman allows us to dive deep into the narrator’s

disheartened and delicate mind. The narrator has recently been diagnosed with

“temporary nervous depression -- a slight hysterical tendency” (1). Her husband, John,

often disregards the concerns she has surrounding her illness and silences her

imaginative perspective. This leads the narrator to seek an emotional escape through

writing as a way to feel a semblance of freedom.

The narrator is aware of the vast differences in character between her and her

husband. She expresses, “John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with

faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to

be felt and seen and put down in figures” (1). To contrast John’s realistic and stern

nature, the narrator herself displays an imaginative and open mind. When the narrator’s

mind prospers, her beliefs are often discouraged by her husband and written off as
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“such fancies” (2). However, John appears to be intimidated by his wife’s bold mind and

fears that it has the potential to carry her away; so, he attempts to contain it. “He says

that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making, a nervous weakness like

mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and

good sense to check the tendency” (3).

The narrator often finds herself complying with John’s unattainable perception of

her, rather than exploring her own intellect and emotional capacity. “He is very careful

and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction” (2). She harbors brief

moments of clarity where we catch glimpses of her seeing through John’s loving

exterior, into his controlling ways. Still, she disregards her own feelings of irritability

toward her husband as she believes they are a result of her illness. “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” (1). John’s demanding disposition leaves little room for

compromise, concealing, as well as disregarding the feelings of his wife. “Really dear

you are better!" "Better in body perhaps -- "I began, and stopped short, for he sat up

straight and looked at me with such a stern, reproachful look that I could not say

another word” (5). She notices her husband’s lack of concern and general disinterest for

her well-being. “He asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving

and kind. As if I couldn't see through him!” (8). Recognizing his wife’s sensitive

perspective, John frequently smothers her emotions through fear and intimidation. “John

says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don't want

to go there at all” (4). She is forced to conceal her fears in order to make it appear as

though she is getting better; not for herself, but for John’s benefit. “He said I was his
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darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake,

and keep well” (5). John’s repressive nature prevents his wife from having the means to

establish her freedom and compels her to become a compliant shell of a woman.

To ease her mind, she is encouraged by her husband, the physician, not to

engage in any social interactions, and to evade all strenuous work and activities. But,

she loves to write! “Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that

congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to

do?” (1). The conflict in what she feels and what she is made to do is beginning to take

its toll. During rare instances, when she gathers the confidence to voice her concerns to

John, he insists that he knows better. He is a physician after all. “Of course if you were

in any danger, I could and would, but you really are better, dear, whether you can see it

or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color, your appetite is

better, I feel really much easier about you" (5).

Despite her husband’s orders, the concept of writing is too enticing for the

narrator to resist the temptation. “I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is

dead paper and a great relief to my mind” (1). Even though the narrator has found an

intimate activity she relishes, she feels the necessity to keep her secret love affair with

writing between her and her journal. She hesitates revealing her pastime out of the

possibility that she will be whisked away by her unimaginative husband. The narrator

spends the isolated days of summer writing about the yellow wallpaper that covers the

room in which she is confined. The reader becomes aware that the wallpaper is

becoming a part of her fantasy. She describes the wallpaper as, “One of those

sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” (2). As the narrator spends
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most of her days alone, the yellow wallpaper demands her attention. Her obsession with

the “strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (2) wallpaper flourishes as she is

finally able to feel something. “Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be.

You see I have something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch” (6).

In the end, freedom from her repressive husband comes at the expense of the

narrator’s sanity. All of the narrator’s vitality is devoted to scrutinizing the yellow

wallpaper in an all-consuming fashion. As a result of her total isolation and restrained

mind, the narrator surmises there are women trapped inside of the wallpaper,

desperately attempting to get out. “I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I

did?” (9). She begins to associate herself as one of the women trapped inside of the

wallpaper, longing to escape. In an attempt to free the women, the narrator furiously

tears down the wallpaper and reveals the peace she feels now that she is free. “It is so

pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please!” (9). She has finally

liberated the women confined within the wallpaper and released herself from the

controlling nature of her husband. "I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane.

And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!"” (9).

While reading “The Yellow Wallpaper”, how many women thought to themselves,

I really wish I had a husband like John? I suppose if you were dating in the 1800s, John

was a real catch. Gilman essentially captures everything that I attempt to avoid in a

relationship through her suffocating portrayal of marriage in the nineteenth century.

While John’s chauvinistic behavior may have been considered normal for the time, I

struggle to overlook the harm that ensues as a result. A relationship should always be a

partnership between equals. Gilman makes it evident that the narrator’s relationship
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with her husband is anything but equal. John possesses all of the characteristics that I

despise in someone I wish to build a life with. Similar to the narrator, I have an

immensely whimsical and open mind that craves expression. I need a husband who

embraces my vivid and inventive ideas, not one who suppresses them to the point of

oblivion. Gilman effectively emphasizes everything that I never want in a relationship.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” beautifully and desperately illustrates the destructive path

that can be carved when a woman is refused the power of freedom of expression and

silenced in all aspects by her husband. The narrator is inevitably forced to relieve her

mind in the only way in which she knows how: through the wallpaper. All of the madness

that occurs is at the hands of a controlling husband who sought to keep his wife from

utilizing her mind in any way and engaging in the things that she loves. So, John, was it

worth it?
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Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” New England Magazine, Jan. 1892,

pp. 647–656.