Symbolism in the Yellow Wallpaper

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Symbolism in the Yellow Wallpaper
Summary

This essay will explore the symbolism in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” It will analyze the wallpaper’s representation of the protagonist’s mental state, societal constraints, and the broader theme of female autonomy and liberation. At PapersOwl, you’ll also come across free essay samples that pertain to Storytelling.

Category:Literature
Date added
2020/05/06
Pages:  3
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In Charlotte Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the storyteller is found at the highest point of an old home in a room decorated in a yellow wallpaper. The lady depicted had recently given birth to a child but is presently experiencing what she describes as a “nervous condition.As the lady stays in the room, she becomes fixated on the yellow wallpaper of her room. Inside the strict components of the story are images that demonstrate the hidden message of the story such as the references to the yellow wallpaper, the home, and even writing in her notepad.

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“The Yellow Wallpaper,” symbols are given that portray the message’s underlying meaning within the precise factors of the story such as the room, writing in her notebook, and the yellow wallpaper. Understanding Jane’s experience as that of a Lacanian-diagnosed psychotic foreshadows Gilman’s dismissal of the Victorian obsession with presiding over normality and further explains the complexities of Gilman’s representation. The narrator writes in her note-pad all through the story, keeping it secret from her family, and taking it out only when they leave the room.

What Does the Journal Symbolize in The Yellow Wallpaper

The journal symbolizes a trace of stableness in, what is by all accounts, a profoundly persecuted life of the storyteller. One case of said abuse is evident in the story when the narrator proclaims, “There comes John, and I should put this away,he would rather not have me say a word.” As the story closes and the storyteller has began to end her composition sessions, she goes crazy. The room that the storyteller is remaining in is all by itself at the highest point of the house, and has nothing but a bed that is nailed to the floor and the yellow wallpaper that she shows a strong distaste for, which is evident in the text when she describes it as repellent, almost revolting: a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others. This wallpaper symbolizes the constraint of the storyteller by her spouse, and in the long run, opportunity from said restraint. This room, which is secluded from other parts of the house, seems to be her place to write when she is alone; however, she trusts that her spouse’s sister “supposes it is the composition which made me wiped out. The essayist may gather from the previous statement that the separated room is an image of a place of refuge for theher. She was endeavoring to wrap up the wallpaper back to remain behind it and the room was her solitary thing keeping her family out.

Despite the fact that the storyteller was crazy at this point, the reader can gather that by securing herself in the room and her family out, she felt safe there. When asked about repapering the room by his wife, John would only give concocting reasons. He realized that she was resentful about the paper and still would not transform it. Many would argue that John is a patriarchal bully because of this. However, many people also fault the narrator for her illness, seeing her not as un-obedient but rather submissive to her doctor/husband. The storyteller’s announcement that “regardless of you and Jane. Furthermore, I’ve pulled off the vast majority of the paper, so you can’t return me” demonstrates that she has understood that the wallpaper was simply a way her husband persecuted her from life, and by in removing herself from the four yellow walls, she is able to be free. But while Jane’s interpretation holds some value, it fails to take consideration into the many instances in which Jane displays a strong fighting spirit against John’s medical advice.

With respect to writing in her notepad, some may question that symbolizes defiance, rather than security. Others may consider that the yellow backdrop symbolizes the storyteller’s mental instability, and not constraint. Despite the fact that the focuses expressed are coherent to a degree, there are grounds to adopt an alternate strategy to the imagery of said images. The individuals who trust that the narrator’s room is an image of detainment may see the room along these lines as a result of its dullness, the way that the bed is fastened to the floor, and the truth of the storyteller not being allowed to leave the room. What readers need to see is that the room isn’t detaining the storyteller, her husband is. The room symbolizes security for the storyteller in light of the fact that, as expressed beforehand, the room is the only space where the woman can write and think on her own.

“The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Gilman, depicts a lady who is gradually going crazy and suffers from a psychological breakdown at the store’s end. Subsequent to analyzing the short story, basically, one must notice the utilization of imagery in the story. The detached room that the storyteller remains in symbolizes an asylum, giving the narrator time to compose when her family is away. The storyteller writing in her notepad symbolizes the dependability in the their life that gradually disintegrates as the story closes. Last, but not least, the awful yellow wallpaper symbolized the abuse that the storyteller experiences from her husband, and when at last evacuated, the opportunity. The images shown in “The Yellow Wallpaper” give the story a more grounded basic significance, and to the narrator, by her, a feeling that she was not totally insane, but rather a woman who discovered freedom in something as monstrous as a yellow wallpaper.

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Symbolism In The Yellow Wallpaper. (2020, May 06). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/symbolism-in-the-yellow-wallpaper/