Why is John often absent from the house where his wife is staying?
The narrator describes her sense of personal failure at being unable to function as she believes John expects her to. He is frequently absent from the home, and she is often too exhausted to write and too nervous to see their child, who is cared for by a nanny.
Why did John faint in the Yellow Wallpaper?
John faints because he is overcome with terror once he witnesses his wife’s shocking state. The nameless narrator creeps to avoid suspicion as she attempts to free the imaginary woman trapped inside the wallpaper. Her creeping is also a physical manifestation of her helplessness as a voiceless woman.
Who is John in the Yellow Wallpaper?
John. The narrator’s husband and her physician.
Why does the narrator become distrustful of John and Jennie?
When the narrator surprises Jennie, alone in the nursery staring at the wallpaper, Jennie tells her to be careful because “she had found yellow smooches” on the narrator’s and John’s clothes. The narrator begins to feel suspicious of Jennie (and John), believing them to be studying the pattern of the wallpaper, too.
Why does the narrator bite the bed?
The bed doesn’t move. The narrator gets so enraged that she bites it. She gets angry enough that she contemplates jumping out the window, only to find that the windows are barred. The narrator is happy that she can now creep around the room as she wishes.
Why does the narrator peel the wallpaper off?
The wallpaper was her only impediment to freedom and so she decides to permanently destroy it to ensure she would never be trapped behind it again.
What is wrong with the bed Yellow Wallpaper?
The bed represents being not just trapped, but being stuck, as in the inability to move or change anything, and also has obvious sexual connotations.
What is ironic about the ending of The Yellow Wallpaper?
What is ironic about the ending of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is that it’s the narrator who is supposed to be hysterical, yet her husband is the one who faints. Throughout the story, he has been the voice of cold, scientific reason.
Does John die in the Yellow Wallpaper?
According to the narrator, John survived. Fainting is an interesting action on its own account. He has suddenly fallen insensible. Discovering his…
What is the irony in the Yellow Wallpaper?
Dramatic irony is used extensively in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” For example, when the narrator first describes the bedroom John has chosen for them, she attributes the room’s bizarre features—the “rings and things” in the walls, the nailed-down furniture, the bars on the windows, and the torn wallpaper—to the fact that …
What is the mental illness in the Yellow Wallpaper?
Gilman’s short story is a straightforward one. The narrator is brought by her physician husband to a summer retreat in the countryside to recover from her “temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency”.
What is the moral of the yellow wallpaper?
The moral of the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is that lack of activity and mental stimulation worsens, rather than cures, a woman’s depression. The story illustrates that women should be treated as intelligent partners in devising a cure for their own mental illness, not treated as children.
What does the yellow wallpaper say about gender roles?
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman is showing her readers that the male doctors were not listening to their female patients. It is these patronizing attitudes that Gilman is fighting against, and she does so by illustrating the ways that rigid gender roles have a negative effect on both women and men.
What is the author’s purpose in the Yellow Wallpaper?
If by the author’s own admission “The Yellow Wall-paper” was intended as a cautionary tale regarding the dire consequences of applying the so- called rest cure to treat “nervous” women, it cannot be over-emphasized that it is, after all, a tale, and therefore does not follow the “objective” rules or intentions of what …
What does the yellow wallpaper say about the gender hierarchy of marriage?
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator and her husband John can be seen as strong representations of the effects society’s stereotypical gender roles as the dominant male and submissive female have within a marriage.
Why does John treat the narrator like a child in the Yellow Wallpaper?
He treats her more like a child. He suppresses her writing, one of the ways she expresses herself. In this case, he literally silences her voice, saying she should not work and not even think about her condition.
How is John controlling in the Yellow Wallpaper?
John advocates self-possession: being in full control of your self, although McGowan believes that John struggles with it; we see that more and more as the story develops, especially as the narrator’s fascination with the paper increases. Eventually, it allows her to set her self free.
How does John generally treat the narrator?
John is dismissive of the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” He is her husband and also acts as her doctor, and in her first journal entry,…
What does the ending of the story suggest about the woman behind the wallpaper?
The ending of “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggests that the woman behind the wallpaper is a manifestation of the protagonist’s imagination and that the protagonist herself is the woman who has been trapped.
Why does the narrator hate the wallpaper at first?
The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” hates the wallpaper at first for its dilapidated condition, its confusing and irritating pattern, and its sickly color.