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Brittani Hammond, 090142
Professor Lisa Robson
30.146 Intro to English Literature
Due Oct. 7, 2009
The Importance of the Narrative View in Explaining the Effects of Gender Inequality in
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, The Yellow Wallpaper
The narrative voice in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is an
extremely influential factor in developing several themes, additional to the obvious theme of
insanity. As a special bond between the main character and the reader is formed through the
main character’s intimate point of view on her husband, her condition, and her treatment as she
slips further and further into her insanity, the issue of gender inequality and its repressing effect
on the entire female gender is exposed. It is the inner thoughts and emotions of a woman bearing
first-hand experience to the patriarchal society of the late 1800s, that allows the reader to develop
a thorough understanding of the effects of the female repression and lack of identity existing
within the female gender during this time.
The contrast in the ways in which the main character behaves around her husband and the
way she views her husband is the first aspect of the text that points towards the idea of gender
inequality. John plays the role of the stereotypical male figure of the 1800s – one of dignity and
respect, but also one of dominance and practicality. When his wife falls ill, he believes that her
condition is only a “temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency” (76), despite
her beliefs that it runs much deeper than that. The main character’s repression under John
becomes evident when she tries to speak to him about her feelings of depression and unease,
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only to have him patronize and belittle her, referring to her as a “blessed little goose” (78).
Instead of becoming outwardly angry with her husband, and insisting that he is incorrect, the
main character simply agrees with him, evidencing the lack of opinion that she has in the
relationship as opposed to the abundance of control that he possesses.
Because of the main character’s subdued reactions to the denial of an opinion, one may
draw the conclusion that the main character is satisfied with this life of dominance, or even miss
the concept of her repression altogether - if the story had been told from any other point of view.
It is the voice of the main character that informs the reader of her unhappiness and prompts him
or her to identify with her situation. It is she who communicates to the reader that she truly does
not agree with her husband’s ideals, but must accept them, as that is what proper women did in
an era where women were held inferior to men.
As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the main character’s insanity stems from
the absence of a true identity. From beginning to end, a negative correlation between the
character’s obedience and her insanity becomes apparent. As she becomes more and more
insane from the weight of the inequality, she begins to set herself free – to release herself from
repression. At the beginning, the main character obeys all of John’s commands. On her
husband’s orders, she moves away from her female connections, into the unfamiliar walls of an
isolated farmhouse. She resides, alone the majority of the time, in a barred up and unappealing
room that she cannot stand. She accepts his diagnosis as nothing more than temporary
nervousness, which can be cured by rest and nothing more, even though she knows that, “John
does not know how much [she] really suffers. He knows there is no reason to suffer and that
satisfies him” (77). As the story progresses, however, the main character begins to write more
and more frequently, and to stay awake and study patterns in the wallpaper, forming whimsical
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ideas that are greatly discouraged by her pragmatic husband. As the end of the story draws near,
she follows these patterns beyond the line of sanity. She has reached her mental breaking point,
having been separated from the small tasks that she used to either express herself (visiting with
friends and relatives, writing stories) or keep her from thinking about her lack of identity
(housework, entertaining). She discovers herself and the source of her instability behind the
wallpaper, stating that she has “pulled off most of the paper, so that [John and Jane] can’t put me
back” (87).
Through her subconscious rebellion – or, insanity – towards her husband, the main
character finds her identity. Through the voice of a woman going slowly insane, the reasons for
her breakdown become clear to the reader. This was not a woman who could be easily dismissed
by the reader as a stereotypically unstable female. This was a woman whose mental condition,
combined with her desire to escape the patriarchal society in which she was raised, cracked
under the pressure. The contribution of the narrative voice was that of awareness. The narrative
voice highlights the issue of gender inequality in a situation, which, from the point of view of the
other characters, is solely focused on insanity. The main character tied the two themes together
to create an image that goes beyond husband and wife, to reflect the ideals of male superiority
present within the society of the late 1800s.
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Works Cited
Lessings, Doris. “Sunrise on the Veld.” Elements of Literature Third Canadian Edition.
Ed. Nancy R. Comley, Carl H. Klaus, Robert Scholes, and David Staines.
Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2004. 223 – 229. Print.