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Character Analysis: The Yellow Wallpaper
Throughout the text of The Yellow Wallpaper, one significant moment was when the narrator began to rip down the wallpaper. In the text it says, "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" We chose this part because it was a major turning point in the story. The main object of interest that the narrator has is finally being removed. We demonstrated this by having windows on all of the walls of the room. And we added bars on the windows. Behind them we made a night background scene to show that this was occurring at night. One window had a view of a full moon. One had a view of stars and one had a view of the garden. As far as the floor, we painted it white because that...show more content...
In the narrator's world, a white floor makes sense because it wouldn't take away any attention from the wallpaper. We also intentionally made the white floor somewhat imperfect and not so polished because we didn't want to give off the wrong look. If we were to make it completely white, without gaps, and take time with the strokes, then it would look too fancy and upscale. We were trying to give off the look that portrayed an old "nursery" that was tattered up by little boys. At least that was the cause of the rooms' disheveled manner according to the narrator. As for the walls, we took sheets of yellow paper and then darkened it. We did this by repeatedly running over it with brown and black colored pencils, which gave it a nice shadow. Doing this allowed the wallpaper to not look like a bright and pleasant yellow. This gave it an older and dirtier foundation. We also crafted a bed from extra cardboard and taped it to the floor. We made it just out of reach in relation to the upper wall of them room. We did this to signify the importance of the bed being bolted to the ground, and how limiting it
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In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" we are introduced to a woman who enjoys writing. Gilman does not give the reader the name of the women who narrates the story through her stream of consciousness. She shares that she has a nervous depression condition. John, the narrator's husband feels it is "a slight hysterical tendency" (266). She has been treated for some nervous habits that she feels are legitimately causing harm to her way of life. However she feels her husband, a physician, and her doctor believe that she is embellishing her condition. The woman shares with the reader early in the story that she is defensive of how others around her perceive her emotional state. This causes a small abrasion of animosity that...show more content... This hints at a perverse viewpoint the narrator has of the relationship. This can be likened to Gilman's impression of how society, when she wrote this story, oppressed women's equality. Perhaps Gilman implies that society's oppression of women's equality is perverse itself. Her loving husband, John, never takes her illness seriously. The reader has a front row seat of the narrator's insanity voluminously growing. He has shown great patience with the recovery of his wife's condition. However, the narrator is clear to the reader that she cannot be her true self with him. In the narrator's eyes she feels he is completely oblivious to how she feels and could never understand her. If she did tell him that the yellow wallpaper vexed her as it does he would insist that she leave. She could not have this. She has found purpose in this paper. Indeed she cannot be understood by anyone except the woman in the yellow wallpaper. Her creeping about is symbolic of her hiding, sometimes in broad daylight, from a world that looks at her as an outcast because she doesn't want to be a typical domestic ornament. Perhaps the yellow wallpaper acted as a mirror for our narrator. As she peered into the wall's secrets night after night her vanity gradually became insanity. She knew she could not free herself in the world she lived in. Gilman has made clear that the narrator has
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In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents the narrator, being the main character, as an ill woman. However, she is not ill physically. She is ill in her mind. More than any chemical imbalance that may be present; the narrator's environment is what causes her to go mad. The narrator is never directly introduced or ever called by a name. It is obvious that this narrator is a woman, married to a named John. His name is presented, and not hers, for a reason. It is to present the fact that within herself, within her marriage to John, and within society, she feels unimportant. Within her, she feels as though, she cannot be named like others can, as though she cannot be in the same human category. She doesn't see herself as...show more content...
She allows herself to believe all she is told. She also allows herself to believe that being treated as she is is going to make her better, when in fact it is only making her worse. Her being sent up in a room, like a penitentiary will add loneliness to her illness. Her being told not to write or not to go and see family and friends, again, adds to her loneliness. She is separated from society. Therefore, she feels as though she is alone in society. She gives into the fact that the male–dominated society would rather her alone, than be with lots of women and cause chaos. She gives into everything the world wants instead of listening to her inner self. She ignores herself, causing her to act out in madness. When one does not listen to one's inner self, he or she is then turning away from his or her conscience. It's like the "devil and angel" episode that has been seen in numerous cartoons. If the person listens to the little devil, it will end up being the wrong decision. It the person listens to the little angel, it will be the right decision. The narrator listens to almost neither. She allows what is happening to happen and does nothing but sit back. This would cause anger inside anyone. Her marriage also causes her to lose control. Even within the one thing that is supposed to hold strong, she is alone. Her husband, leaving her on a daily basis to work, insists that she cannot write nor visit friends and family. Thus, he leaves her alone during the day to sit
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