'Yellow Wallpaper' Essay

Yellow Wallpaper Persuasive Essay

A life of confinement can drive a person crazy. In Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, an anonymous woman is put under the Rest Cure, an old treatment for postpartum depression which drove many women insane. In Ms. Gillman’s story, the narrator writes journal entries about her life, feelings, and her relationship with her husband John, slowly growing insane. Throughout these entries, it becomes clear that the wife is treated inferior by her husband. Charlotte Perkins Gillman's The Yellow Wallpaper successfully demonstrates women's subordination to men because John dismisses all of his wife's concerns, limits her self-expression, and lets her do nothing independently.

To begin with, John completely disregards all that his wife requests of him. “You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?” (Gillman 1). John is a physician, yet he refuses to acknowledge his wife’s ailment. “‘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’” (Gillman 11). Despite his wife’s adamant requests to change the wallpaper, John shows no regard for how much it troubles her. John may love his wife, but he does nothing to calm her concerns.

In addition, John refuses to let his wife express herself. “There comes John, and I must put this away – he hates to have me write a word” (Gillman 4). John's wife expresses herself through writing, but must hide it from her husband. “I don't feel able. And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way - it is such a relief!” (Gillman 9). Despite the trouble that her writing entails, John’s wife is desperate for some form of self-expression. Despite their loving relationship, John wholly disapproves of his wife expressing herself.

To top it all off, John’s wife has almost no independence in her everyday life. “He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special...