Journal 17: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Michelle Romero
Eng 48b
Dr. Scott Lankford

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper."

"At first he meant to repaper the room, but afterwards he said that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous patient than to give way to such fancies." pg. 835

In the story, this quote was meant to describe the woman's will for the wallpaper to come down, and her husband’s refusal to give her this. Socially and psychological, the principle of the matter is what lies beneath.

Who cares about the wallpaper? It is just wallpaper! ...Right? Wrong! The significance of the wallpaper is what it symbolizes. In this case, it symbolizes something which is all around the woman, yet something she cannot control. The wallpaper was chosen for her. To have something so close day in and day out, and yet be so far from having any affect as to what color it is, is ridiculous. It would be like teacher or school not being able to choose the curriculum, but have it instead be chosen by a third party having nothing to do with education. It would be like men deciding what is best for women....oh, that is exactly what it is. An unaffected third party can not know what it is to be someone or something they are not.

In this case, WHY can't she repaper the wall? After all, SHE is the one living in the room day in and day out for 3 months. If the room had Nazi symbols plastered all over the wall and a Jew was forced to reside in the room for any amount of time, I am sure he or she would go just as crazy as the woman in this story did.

The wallpaper represents the limitations or oppression of women. The text says, "At first he meant to repaper the room, but..." At first, he (John & on a larger scale, the dominant male society) meant to allow her to have her way. AT FIRST! BUT, then he thought about it twice! If she had her way once, she would want to have her way again. For whatever reason, this came as a threat to John so he decided finally that he would not repaper the room for her. He would not give her an ounce of choice or freedom in the unfortunate and probable event that she may have a taste of the freedom and want more. Besides, he only “meant” to let her have her way initially, he never decided. Good intentions are meaningless. That is oppression.

The second part of the quote reaffirms that the woman must be crazy. Of course, it is classic for the United States to blame the person/people they are oppressing as some sort of justification for self-elevation of the dominant male/white/rich society. The same happened to the blacks. They could not be free because they were "dangerous" and could not be trusted. In this case, the woman's judgment could also not be trusted, for she was too "nervous."

What I resent most, not in the text, but in the reflection of what the text says, is that at some point in history, mainstream society persecuted women or looked down on their abilities for something I feel makes them women to celebrate: their “nerves”. I think it is true in most cases, although I can not speak for every woman, that women are by comparison more emotional. I realize this is a loaded word for how it has often been used, but that is the point. Women have a unique ability to "sense" things, and in this story and in history that has been dismissed. Characteristics categorized as "female" are dismissed as being of less or no value. Instead I feel these unique qualities provide value to humanity if only society would accept it.

In regard to the text, I think Gilman reveals many, many deeply felt emotions in women as second class citizens. I can not imagine how women of her time felt in regard to these things, but I know that even I still feel very strong emotions as a woman in a "male" society in 2007, where I do not always understand what exactly it is that gets to me, but I just know that something isn't right. These nurtured "made-to-feel" emotions are DEEPLY woven into our American fabric.

After reading this story, I went and bought another book on other short stories from Gilman, which includes some selections from Women and Economics. (I will have to order Women and Economics).