Social/Historical Conections

Social/Historical Connections: The Yellow Wallpaper makes a historical connection to the world because it related to the mistreatment of women in the 1900s.

      The Yellow Wallpaper is a story that took place in the 1900's about a woman named Jane who is being controlled by her husband. Since Jane was diagnosed with a nervous disorder, her husband, John, forced her to stay locked in a room on the second story of their house in the woods. While she was stuck in this room her husband would constantly control her and force her to rest (Gilman 2). Typically in the 1900's men "controlled" women and it was hard for them to stick up for themselves and make their own decisions. It was thought that men were to go out and work while the women stayed inside and cooked and cleaned. Rather than clean, while John worked everyday,he forced Jane to stay in her room and rest. Also throughout the story when John refers to Jane as a child and calls her things such as, "little girl"and "little goose", it could be seen as mistreatment of women (Gilman 6).  Since the writing of this story took place during this time period it is no surprise to see John treat Jane the way that he treats her.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/women_in_1900.htm : This Website gives facts, examples, and even shows tables on how men were thought to be superior to women in the 1900's.

http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm : WIC.com provides with a lot of information explaining thoughts on women in the 1900's.

Symbolisim

Symbolisim: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. Some symbols used in the yellow wall paper are the wallpaper and the nursery.

     In The Yellow Wallpaper, the yellow wallpaper itself is an example of symbolism. At night, while Jane is wide awake she sees a lady creeping in the wallpaper. During the day the lady Jane sees at night is no longer visible . I think the lady in the wallpaper symbolizes Jane. Just like the lady, during the day Jane is forced to rest and she is constantly being watched over by her husband. At night when everyone falls asleep, a new state of mind comes out in Jane. Since everyones asleep at night she isn't being watched over and it allows her to think, write, and do as she wants. When Jane stares into the wall paper and sees this woman, I think she is seeing a reflection of herself (Gilman 7). Also throughout the story he calls her names such as little goose, that suspect us to think he treats her more child than the adult that she is. Coincidentally, when Jane and John move into their summer house, out of all of the possible rooms in the colonial mansion, John placed her in the nursery (Gilman 1). This also connects to the treatment of women in the 1900's. Another theme this story demonstrates is the Sunlight vs. the Moonlight. During the day, Jane is constantly being pushed around and watched over because of her nervous disorder. At night, everyones asleep. She no longer feels controlled and she is in another state of mind now that she's not being watched over.

http://www.novelguide.com/the-yellow-wallpaper/metaphor-analysis : Novelguide.com lists many different symbols included in The Yellow Wallpaper, it also explains why they symbolize something.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/liselle.htm : This website consists of a lot of beneficial details and facts on The Yellow Wallpaper.

Protagonist

Protagonist: the leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text. In the yellow wallpaper the protagonist is Jane and throughout the story she faces many things that destroy her mental capacity.

      In The Yellow Wallpaper, Jane, the main character and the narrator of the story is the protagonist who faces many struggles throughout the piece. The first antagonist she faces is her husband, John. When this story was written it was believed that those who were sick with a mental illness should be locked away (ParrishCo.).  Since she was diagnosed with a nervous disorder, John brought her to a house in the woods for the summer to rest. At this house she was forced to stay locked a room on the second floor with bars on the windows. Being trapped in this room for such a long time she came into contact with her other antagonist, the yellow wallpaper. Throughout the story Jane develops an obsession with her yellow wallpaper. After staring at it for so long it it began to drive her insane. While reading, Jane constantly mentions the wall paper and house the color, patterns, and even the smell urks her. As the story goes on her fascination for the wallpaper gets worse, and worse. Even to a point where at night she continuously crept around her room, pressing herself against the wall paper until there was a mark left from her shoulder. Throughout the story these are the antagonists that drive our protagonist, Jane insane (Gilman 5). After reading background on the author of The Yellow Wallpaper- Charlotte Gilman- we begin to assume that the main character, Jane is based off of herself. Throughout the story she makes relations between Jane and herself, such as not having her own child, someone always watching over her, and even suffering from a disorder (Gilman 1).

http://parrishco.com/academic/a-literary-analysis-of-the-yellow-wallpaper/ : It gave me an example of a Literary Analysis and included background information on the time period of when The Yellow Wallpaper was written.

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-p-o-v-story-told-describe-main-character-311685 : This web site gives a variety of reasons suggesting why Jane is the protagonist of the story.

Theme

Theme: Theme is the subject in a piece of writing. The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates a theme that can teach us about the time the story was written.    

       The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates a theme that can teach us a lot about the life in the 1900's. In the story the main character, Jane, has no control over her life. Her husband-John-basically controls her. She can't leave her house, write in her journal, or even see her own child because they believe she is suffering from "Female Hysteria" and needs lots of rest. While they just believe she needs rest, the main character believes there is something wrong with her. Rather than listen to her, they completely shut her out. In the story, both Jane's husband and brother are both Physicians who do not believe Jane is sick, but they forbid her from working until she is "well again". On the other hand, "Jane believes that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do her good" (Gilman 1). This also leads us back to the mistreatment of women. At the time The Yellow Wallpaper was written men were believed to be superior to women (Novelguide). Since Jane's husband and brother were both males they thought their thoughts about Jane's condition were right, rather than believing Jane, a female, who was the only one who actually knew how she felt.

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-yellow-wallpaper/study-guide/major-themes/ :This website consists of many themes and details to support it that will help you find informations faster.

http://www.novelguide.com/the-yellow-wallpaper/theme-analysis :This website also consists of plenty of themes to choose from. It also has reasons why The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates that theme.
is the subject in a piece of writing. The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates a theme that can teach us about the time the story was written.

Biography

Biography: A story about someones life. This biography will tell about Gilman's early life and why she wrote the way she did.

          Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. She grew up living a rough childhood. Her father, Frederick Beecher Perkins, left Charlotte's mother to raise their 2 children on her own. As a result, Gilman moved around a lot which caused her education to suffer greatly. In 1884 she married artist, Charles Stetson and they had a daughter named Kathrine. During their marriage , Gilman experienced severe depression and had to go through several treatments because of it. It is believed that these incidents influenced her short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper." Aside from being a writer, she was also a feminist who called for women to gain economic independence. In 1900 she got married for the second time to her cousin, George Gilman. They stayed together until George's death in 1934. The following year she was diagnosed with breast cancer and committed suicide on August 17, 1935.





http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/gilman.html : Website consists of many interesting details and facts about Charlotte's life that are very informing.
http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-perkins-gilman-9311669 : Biography.com is a well known website with true facts, I used it because I knew it would be resourceful.

Citations;
- "The Yellow Wallpaper" An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
-Biography