THE YELLOW WALLPAPER
Introduction
The yellow wallpaper is a story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story is considered one of the American feminist literatures. The yellow wallpaper shows the attitudes different people had towards women in the 19th century. People had different attitude towards the physical health and mental health of women during this time. The story is written in epistolary style. It includes a collection of journal entries that are written using the first person. The entries are written by a lady who has been confined by her physician husband.
The author of the story has used the story to convey different messages. For example, the author has used the story to show the gender inequality in the society. Apart from using the themes, the author has used interpretation to critique the medical treatment of depression during this time. He has also used character motives, settings, language and symbol to critique the treatment of various diseases in the society. This paper analyzes how the author has used the different factors above to criticize the treatment of depression during 19thcentury.
Discussion
First, the author has used interpretation to critique the treatment of depression in the 19thcentury. Different people have interpreted the story differently. For example, feminist critics have condemned the medical profession of the 19th century. This is because the physicians and doctors were not able to offer patients the right kind of treatment. For instance, the physician did not offer appropriate treatment to the narrator in the story. The narrator suffered from depression, but she did not get the right treatment. The doctors advised the narrator to stay in the house instead of interacting with other people in the society.
The narrator was not allowed by the physician to work and engage with other peoples in the society. Instead, the doctor argued that the patient should remain isolated from other people in the society. In addition, the doctor claimed that the patient should try to be a mother instead of being separated from her child. Patients having depression are supposed to be provided with proper treatment and care. For example, the patients are supposed to be provided social support so as to help them recover quickly and also make the outcome of the treatment effective. The treatment of depression in the 19th century was not inline with the treatment of depression in the modern society. This is because the patient was not provided with social support and any other kind of support and this affected the outcome of the medical process.
The isolation of patients having depression increased the level of depression as the patients had to struggle to overcome loneliness as evidenced by the narrator. The narrator did not have the right support and this made her more depressed as she had to overcome her loneliness by viewing wall papers. Moreover, the physicians did not respect the patient’s autonomy when treating depression. The patients were not allowed to make decisions regarding their medical treatment. For example, the patients were not allowed to make decisions about their life and the kind of care they need. Lack of autonomy affected the treatment of the patients as the patients were treated against their will. The physicians also do not respect the patients (Grin Verlag 2011).
Lack of autonomy is evidenced by the narrator. The physician did not allow the narrator to make the right decision about her life and treatment. The narrator wanted to work and interact with different people in the society, but the physician wanted the narrator to remain isolated from other people in the society. The author has described the narrator using a language that portrays the narrator as irrational. The physician viewed the narrator unqualified to offer information about her condition and treatment.
The narrator suffered depression and sought medical treatment from a physician who had specialized in rest cure. The physician urged the narrator to live a domestic life instead of working. The narrator was not allowed to touch a pencil, pen and brush. The patient did not agree with the physician’s decision and went against the physician’s diagnosis and continued to work. Hence, failure to consider patient autonomy when making medical decisions affected the outcome of the treatment as the patient did not follow the doctor’s instructions. Thus, the medical treatment of diagnosis during the 19th century was not effective as shown by the author (Troll 2009).
Apart from using interpretation to criticize the medical treatment of diagnosis, the author has also used character motives to criticize the treatment of depression during this period. Character motives are techniques that are used to portray characters. The personality of a character in a story can be revealed through various means. First, the personality of a character can be portrayed by his or her own words, actions and even thoughts. It can also be portrayed through how he or shed interacts with other people.
The author has used the characters to criticize the medical treatment of depression during the 19th century. The characters show various behaviors that show the treatment of depression during this time was not effective. For example, John who is a physician does not offer the right treatment to her depressed wife. John forces his wife to stay away from other people in the society and locks her in an isolated room.
In addition, John does not provided the right support to her wife as a physician and this worsens the situation as she is more depressed. Also, John does not understand the effect the treatment has on her wife and this hinders him from providing the right care and quality treatment. Further, the actions of the narrator show that the treatment of depression in the 19th century was not effective. This is because patients were not offered quality care and did not make medical decisions and decisions about treatment. The narrator rejects the treatment offered because it is not helpful (Schorkhuber 2008).
The author has also used symbols to criticize the treatment of depression during the 19thcentury. The author has used various symbols that have different meaning. For instance, the author has used the yellow paper to symbolize the structure of medicine in the society. The wall paper shows how the kind of treatment she gets is ineffective as she finds herself trapped in the traditions and medicine. The medicine provided for depression during this time was rest cure. In this case, the patient was required to perform domestic chores, but not any other kind of job. The medical structure in the society is not well developed and this affects the quality of services doffed to the patients. Later in the story, the narrator escapes after seeing other women escape. The yellow wall paper is soiled and unclean yellow at first, but later it forms formless patterns. The narrator tries to stare at the patterns so as to be able to determine how they are organized. Later, the narrator discovers desperate women escaping in a sub pattern (Gilman 2008).
Further, the author has used themes to show how the medical treatment of depression was ineffective during the 19th century. The author has explored various themes in his work. For example, the author has analyzed the disadvantaged of the resting cure. The author incorporated resting cure as a treatment for depression in his work to show how the treatment is ineffective. The author showed how a mind that is affected by anxiety can deteriorate when it is kept from healthy work. The resting cure had a negative effect on the narrator. This is because the narrator suffered from anxiety and depression because of lack of health work. This in turn affected her mental healthy and life.
The narrator discontinued the treatment as it had more harm to her than benefit. Gilman used his work to criticize any kind of medical care that did not consider the interest of the patient. For example, the resting cure did not consider the patients interest as the physicians were not allowed to take into account the patients view on the treatment. For exampled, the physician, did not allow the narrator to make her own decisions and this led to poor treatment. The physician considered the patient as a passive object of treatment. The relationship between the patients and physicians was not good during the 19th century as shown by the narrator and the physician. The physicians abused the authority and failed to give patients autonomy (Gilman 1998).
Lastly, the author has used setting and language to criticize the treatment of depression in the society. The author wrote the story the yellow wall paper after suffering depression and failing to get proper treatment. Gilman was offered rest cure treatment during this time, but it did not prove effective. Though the author’s condition improved, she still felt the effect of the treatment for the rest of her life. The story the yellow wall paper is based on the experience of the author during this period. The author wrote the story after moving to California. Gilman has used imagery, symbolism and other literature tools to write the story. The use of imagery, irony and other tools has helped the author convey the message to the reader. For example, he has been able to shows the ineffectiveness of rest cure treatment and its effects on the patients (Gilman 1998).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the author has used various things to show how the treatment for depression was not effective. Most of the physicians used rest cure treatment to treat depression during this time. The patients were required to remain isolated from other people. They were also allowed to perform household chores, but work in the office and this affected the outcome of the patients. The physicians did not consider the patient autonomy and this hindered them from providing quality care.
Reference
Grin Verlag.Stylistic and Linguistic Means in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”. GRIN Verlag, 2011
Gilman,P.C.,Kivo,C.The yellow wallpaper. Cengage Heinle, 1998
Gilman,P.C.The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories. Filiquarian Publishing, LLC., 2008
Schorkhuber,V.Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”: an Analysis. GRIN Verlag, 2008
Troll,Y.Writing Oneself Into Existence: The Yellow Wallpaper and the Question of Female Self-Definition. GRIN Verlag, 2009
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