Jonathan Aispuro 1/18/20

Love For Wallpaper

The immense emotion given through two completely different stories is astonishing. A

complex array of one’s perspective to a world that is solely constructed by the mind of the

speaker. Finding the truth by connecting each piece given throughout your journey of reading.

An incredible feat of finding similarities with the meanings of both being intertwined in some

ways such as being easy to piece together like dealing with family or others are more perplexed,

needing to be processed more thoroughly. The perspective of the main characters plays a vital

role in what convoluted imagining of what is or what will happen in the story. The turn of events

capture bizarre twists grabbing the reader to further figure out the puzzle the author has put

together. By understanding how the authors were able to tangle the definition of insanity into

topics through expressive/descriptive story telling. For instance, contemplating everything that

would make a person sound crazy, but twisting it into such a way to tell of their feelings toward

the event that plays out. Yet, there are still heartfelt moments in the stories that give the

characters more of a personality for readers to believe the realism as it goes on. Having

connections with the reader that builds something they can relate to thickens the impact of what

happens to the characters either interacting with one another or in their part of the story.

By showing depictions of events that could happen in real life it will strengthen the

connection for the reader to be invested into the story by flashing the incentive of wanting to

keep reading. It arises the question to begin thinking of the hidden deeper meaning behind each

word, phrase, or incident in the characters lives. The importance of this knowledge is crucial

since it will leave a mark in the reader’s memory. Having them remember a certain part and

think of different interpretations of message possibly finding the author’s hidden intended

purpose. In other words, revealing the intentional purpose of what is happening in the short story.
Which could be calm as the characters interaction or the frightening mental state that the

characters are in.

The mental state of one’s being is crucial because if it is of a loved one who is making it

more difficult when trying to help the issue then this idea can influence more concepts of what

the character’s perspectives in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman can be.

Looking at other’s point of view on the whole matter instead of just the main character when

taking this into consideration would change the idea of the husband, named John, not being

completely supportive of the narrator who is his wife. Instead, it will give more of an idea that

John is treating his wife differently to make her feel better and not taking everything that she

says to the fullest because he believes he knows what he is talking about because he has the

support of being a “physician” with his brother who is “also a physician” (Gilman 1). Meanwhile

the wife needs to take either “phosphates or phosphites” (Gilman 1) that was given to her by the

husband and insured by his brother. This makes her less reliable only looking at that perspective.

In addition, she adds on to the fact that she is troublesome in some moments. Gilman states the

narrator feels, “I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time” (4) as she refers to a random nature

that she has which can question whether to find her credible or not. Similarly, the narrator of the

story “The Progress of Love” by Alice Munro, is named Fame or Euphemia who also carries

anger towards a man and questions herself. The narrator Fame/Euphemia goes on to explain how

hard it is for her to accept she was wrong and cannot stand to believe her own credibility. Munro

writes, “how hard is it for me to believe that I made that up… I haven’t stopped believing it. But

I have stopped telling that story” (273). She refuses to acknowledge she made up a story because

it seemed so true to her. The narrator then goes into a rage of detail when she releases her anger
at the man for doing things he had no idea would impact her so much. In the text Munro writes,

“After I lashed out at him like that, he said, ‘You don’t need to be so tough on us.’ In a moment,

he said, ‘Was this your room when you were a little girl?’ He thought that was why the mention

of sexual shenanigans had upset me” (274). This is another perspective being shown of the

narrator by focusing at his point of view and understanding that it is not his fault for the things

that he did in her childhood bedroom. Since it was his home now with no recollection of the

previous owner’s past. The previous owners, being her parents, with the place being her home.

This home that she grew up in further solidifies the hatred towards the treatment of the home that

the man caused.

Moreover, the consistent behavior of these two characters during these moments is of not

getting caught up with your emotions and thinking logically even when it is about a loved one or

things/objects that you cherish dearly. Both, the husband John in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by

Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Fame/Euphemia in “The Progress of Love” by Alice Munro, seem

to have a profound understanding of protecting loved ones even though they may not agree with

them. As is the case for John since his wife speaks in the text, “ personally, I disagree with their

ideas” (Gilman 1) then later the narrator realizes the things John has done for her and tries to

understand his way of thinking, yet still believing it in her own way. She is willing to open her

mind a little to see the other side of the situation, but later goes back to her old beliefs in thinking

that she needs to get rid of the yellow wallpaper if she wanted to become better. Further, she

justifies it by believing that her family will stop worrying about her and starts having the same

mentality of a strong determination to correct the wallpaper. She continues to repeat the same
action to try to make something different occur. The process of doing the same thing and trying

to get different results is the definition most commonly known for insanity.

Directly coinciding with the main object of the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”

which is of the pure hatred created by a woman who has to keep looking at a yellow wallpaper

over and over again. Embedding itself deep into her psyche. Her mind shifts the idea that the

wallpaper does not make any sense as she is getting different results each time she studies it.

This embraces the anger once when she stares at the yellow wallpaper. Gilman explicitly

describes the yellow wallpaper as “the color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean

yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (2). The repulsive description of this

wallpaper stated immediately at first glance introduces the reader to the main problem the

narrator faces. It then gives a visual image for the reader to connect with the narrator by

imagining what she sees. This grows into a manifestation of her mind that is developing over

time into something greater. The narrator’s obsession increases with discoveries being made

every time her and the yellow wallpaper part ways. The narrator elaborates “behind that outside

pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous”

(5) further providing evidence that she is an example of the definition of insanity. Seeing the

wallpaper each day, looking at the same waves changing to appear as an “optic horror” (5).

Believing that she has found something that nobody else has noticed, but her, it is stated in the

text “peculiarity about this paper, a thing nobody seems to notice but myself, and that is that it

changes as the light changes… I am determined that nobody shall find it out but myself!” (7).

Even watching it at night she expresses to the reader her dedication for finding what is wrong

with the wallpaper. Hyping herself up on how she was able to see another characteristic of the
wallpaper and thinking to herself that she is the one to find it, instead of anyone else in that

place.

As she continues to take more of her time to concentrate on this one moment for herself

and getting close to reaching the calm satisfaction of her own life. It does not seem to be easy to

make it go away and only seems to become more powerful to the point that a woman seems to

appear from the wallpaper during the night. The narrator expresses “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” (8). The narrator was obsessed with the wallpaper to the point that

she started to see things appear to be coming from it. Staying up late leaves the narrator with a

lack of sleep that would eventually lead a person to start to see things. This could be the cause of

it or she might be using her imagination to see something beyond the yellow wallpaper.

According to the text, “I don't want anybody to get that woman out at night but myself” (9) she

wants others to have a lack of knowledge about this woman. Implying that the narrator wants the

others to she her point of view only. Making her be right about everything and proving everyone

that they were wrong about her. Having the reason of only making her the only person to get the

shadow woman implies more on that her mind is making an excuse to make herself feel better

and what she is saying a reality which is pointing more towards the narrator being crazy until she

relieves herself and others of that horrendous yellow wallpaper.

Correspondingly, the narrator goes into further detail in describing an encounter she had

with the supposedly woman; she states “as soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to

crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her. I pulled and she shook, I shook and she

pulled, and before morning we had peeled off yards of that paper” (9). Instead of the shadow
 ​ allpaper. In reality, she was ripping the wallpaper
being beyond the yellow wallpaper it is ​the w

apart and this could be her subconsciously destroying the wretched paper. Could it be that her

mind was able to make up a scenario so that she can have the guts to do what she always wanted

to do. Doing everything she can to pull it even using her “teeth” which started “hurt” her

afterwards (10). Yet after all that work there might have been some significant damage that she

was not expecting and comtemplating suicide once more in the story is a serious thing, but this

time she is talking about herself and not about the yellow wallpaper as she reveals “I am getting

angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window” (10). After everything, she

lived and showed herself off to her husband, John that she was ok and that he had nothing to

worry about. Proving her point to them that they were wrong and that they overreacted.

To conclude, these short stories are able to mold into different ideas after being read

multiple times. After each reading, one can make different inferences and each read can become

its own experience with the stories having a more unique impact with the additional information.

In its core, the authors had a set of ideas that wanted to be more than what is shown in the page.

Seeming like an iceberg in the water it only a small portion only to see above the water. Only to

find out that underneath it is a ginormous piece that can only be seen if looked more closely.

Turning off the lights of what is directly on the page and thinking why there was a choosing

these words, phrases, or interactions of the characters. Letting the freedom of no wrong answers

to open up the mind of the reader. Discovering what is truly going on in each portion and as a

whole. A sense of power is being given while the author is demonstrating the definition of what

it means to be insane, but still wanting to believe that your sanity is there and that your family is

either not understanding the situation or trying to help the situation. Letting everything go and
wanting to think about how others feel instead of being selfish about their own emotions.

Realizing both sides of the argument to make a rational judgment of what is happening as you

read for the first time or read again. And doing so, acknowledging that things are not directly

told to the reader but are inferred through the dialogue or key moments. Furthermore, the stories

served their intended purposes which were to tell stories that can be turned into much more that

was shown from the pages. The sensation expressed each character offering more of a dynamic

of secrecy, but with some care towards each other. The authors relied heavily on using symbolic

text or imagery to get the point across.

 Bibliography

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. ​The Yellow Wallpaper​. 1892.

Munro, Alice. ​The Progress of Love.​ 1986.