Heather McDaniels
Mrs. Rutan
AP Literature and Composition
18 December 2014
Locked Up
SILENCE. Loneliness. CrAzInEsS. All of these things are intense factors of isolation. When we hear the word isolation, we think of one thing: someone being locked up. They have no connection to the outside world and are often pushed over the “edge.” Isn’t that why they’re there though? Because they almost fell off the edge? No. The root of insanity is isolation itself. Charlotte Perkins Gilman expresses her intricate ideas on isolation throughout her story The Yellow Wallpaper. The author argues that many people are forced into isolation after hearing they are “sick,” when in reality it is the act of being alone with one’s own thoughts that truly makes a person require medical attention. Isolation does nothing to help a person in need, rather it harms them.
The walls are moving. They are not closing in on me, but they’re moving! All day I sit in this bolted down bed and stare at the walls. It’s the wallpaper. I see things in it. This is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story in a nutshell. Having the story be told as the main character writing in a journal speaks wonders to the author’s intricate mind and writing style. This allows us as readers to truly comprehend and identify what the character is going through. It puts us in the character’s shoes. As the story begins, it is a mostly reasonable adult speaking. There are some quirks and strange comments such as “that spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don’t care—there is something strange about the house—I can feel it,” (1), but this comment does not classify a person as insane. As the story continues and her time in isolation continues, we begin to notice how the character changes and evolves. She becomes progressively more insane-like saying things like “on a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to the human mind” (6) referring to the wallpaper, and it is obvious that she isn’t getting any better—she’s getting much, much worse. Our main character received her diagnosis from someone very close to her—her husband, John. He was the one who ordered the main character, Jane, to be shut in the room with the yellow wallpaper. Because she heard this from a certified “physician” (1), Jane had no reason to object. Isolation should never be considered as a treatment for mental issues and illnesses. Locking someone in their room who is struggling mentally and cutting off all ties to civilization can have the complete opposite effect on them.
There is also a major imbalance of power in this story. Right from the beginning it says that John “does not believe [she] is sick,” and that because he is a “physician of high standing,” she shouldn’t question his decision (1). It was John’s choice to lock her up in the room with the yellow wallpaper that had “windows barred for little children,” (2). It was John who decided to isolate her and she had no say in her own life. It was John who caused her to go off the deep end. Because John had power over Jane, he believed that it was his “right” to place Jane in isolation. Charlotte Perkins Gilman argues that if we don’t stand up for ourselves and tell people when we know for a fact that something is wrong, things will go sour. Women being considered weak and uneducated needs to come to a halt. Men would act irrational and treat women as if they were lower than them simply because they could. It was the norm in 1899 when the story was written. According to some men, women didn’t know what they were talking about—even if it the issue was within their own body. John told Jane that “there [was] no reason to suffer,” and Jane accepted that because she didn’t know what else to believe (2).
As the story progresses, we learn that John failed Jane. He was never right when it came to Jane’s illness. He overlooked her, called her irrational, locked her up, and then she became extremely sick. Her writing became painful to read. It was sporadic, confusing, and most of all it drove the reader nuts. Jane would go crazy saying that the wallpaper “creeps all over the house,” (7) and that it “laughed at her,” (8) making the story very confusing and hard to follow. The only thing Jane could focus on was the “creepy” yellow wallpaper (8). She was obsessed. She would stare at it and study it day in and day out until she completely lost it. Isolation caused her to become a full-fledged maniac.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman presented a direct argument on isolation and the imbalance of power between men and women. It was clear that because of her husband’s stubbornness and controlling personality, Jane suffered. She was isolated and only got worse. She wasn’t helped, she was, in a sense, killed. The Jane that everyone used to know became psychotic and lost in a mind of foolishness and helpless insanity. This is important to remember in today’s world because we have thousands of people who struggle daily with a mental disability and who are being deprived of the proper help.
Mrs. Rutan
AP Literature and Composition
18 December 2014
Locked Up
SILENCE. Loneliness. CrAzInEsS. All of these things are intense factors of isolation. When we hear the word isolation, we think of one thing: someone being locked up. They have no connection to the outside world and are often pushed over the “edge.” Isn’t that why they’re there though? Because they almost fell off the edge? No. The root of insanity is isolation itself. Charlotte Perkins Gilman expresses her intricate ideas on isolation throughout her story The Yellow Wallpaper. The author argues that many people are forced into isolation after hearing they are “sick,” when in reality it is the act of being alone with one’s own thoughts that truly makes a person require medical attention. Isolation does nothing to help a person in need, rather it harms them.
The walls are moving. They are not closing in on me, but they’re moving! All day I sit in this bolted down bed and stare at the walls. It’s the wallpaper. I see things in it. This is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story in a nutshell. Having the story be told as the main character writing in a journal speaks wonders to the author’s intricate mind and writing style. This allows us as readers to truly comprehend and identify what the character is going through. It puts us in the character’s shoes. As the story begins, it is a mostly reasonable adult speaking. There are some quirks and strange comments such as “that spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don’t care—there is something strange about the house—I can feel it,” (1), but this comment does not classify a person as insane. As the story continues and her time in isolation continues, we begin to notice how the character changes and evolves. She becomes progressively more insane-like saying things like “on a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to the human mind” (6) referring to the wallpaper, and it is obvious that she isn’t getting any better—she’s getting much, much worse. Our main character received her diagnosis from someone very close to her—her husband, John. He was the one who ordered the main character, Jane, to be shut in the room with the yellow wallpaper. Because she heard this from a certified “physician” (1), Jane had no reason to object. Isolation should never be considered as a treatment for mental issues and illnesses. Locking someone in their room who is struggling mentally and cutting off all ties to civilization can have the complete opposite effect on them.
There is also a major imbalance of power in this story. Right from the beginning it says that John “does not believe [she] is sick,” and that because he is a “physician of high standing,” she shouldn’t question his decision (1). It was John’s choice to lock her up in the room with the yellow wallpaper that had “windows barred for little children,” (2). It was John who decided to isolate her and she had no say in her own life. It was John who caused her to go off the deep end. Because John had power over Jane, he believed that it was his “right” to place Jane in isolation. Charlotte Perkins Gilman argues that if we don’t stand up for ourselves and tell people when we know for a fact that something is wrong, things will go sour. Women being considered weak and uneducated needs to come to a halt. Men would act irrational and treat women as if they were lower than them simply because they could. It was the norm in 1899 when the story was written. According to some men, women didn’t know what they were talking about—even if it the issue was within their own body. John told Jane that “there [was] no reason to suffer,” and Jane accepted that because she didn’t know what else to believe (2).
As the story progresses, we learn that John failed Jane. He was never right when it came to Jane’s illness. He overlooked her, called her irrational, locked her up, and then she became extremely sick. Her writing became painful to read. It was sporadic, confusing, and most of all it drove the reader nuts. Jane would go crazy saying that the wallpaper “creeps all over the house,” (7) and that it “laughed at her,” (8) making the story very confusing and hard to follow. The only thing Jane could focus on was the “creepy” yellow wallpaper (8). She was obsessed. She would stare at it and study it day in and day out until she completely lost it. Isolation caused her to become a full-fledged maniac.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman presented a direct argument on isolation and the imbalance of power between men and women. It was clear that because of her husband’s stubbornness and controlling personality, Jane suffered. She was isolated and only got worse. She wasn’t helped, she was, in a sense, killed. The Jane that everyone used to know became psychotic and lost in a mind of foolishness and helpless insanity. This is important to remember in today’s world because we have thousands of people who struggle daily with a mental disability and who are being deprived of the proper help.
Works Cited
Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. http://www.biography.com/#!/people/charlotte-perkins-gilman- 9311669.
"From Woman to Human: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman." From Woman to Human: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014. https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger- library/exhibition/woman-human-life-and-work-charlotte-perkins-gilman.
"NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness." NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
http://www.nami.org/.
"You Need to Have JavaScript Enabled in Order to Access This Site." 08 The Yellow Wallpaper Study Guide: LT201: Intro to Lit N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. https://online.butlercc.edu/courses/1176029/pages/08-the-yellow-wallpaper-study-guide.
Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. http://www.biography.com/#!/people/charlotte-perkins-gilman- 9311669.
"From Woman to Human: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman." From Woman to Human: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014. https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger- library/exhibition/woman-human-life-and-work-charlotte-perkins-gilman.
"NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness." NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
http://www.nami.org/.
"You Need to Have JavaScript Enabled in Order to Access This Site." 08 The Yellow Wallpaper Study Guide: LT201: Intro to Lit N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. https://online.butlercc.edu/courses/1176029/pages/08-the-yellow-wallpaper-study-guide.