Реферат: Yellow Wall Paper And Women Role Essay

and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary

nervous depression ? a slight hysterical tendency ? what is one to do?"

Her husband is not the only male figure who dominates and oppresses her. Her

brother, also a doctor, "says the same thing" (Gilman 640-641).

Because the story is written in diary format, we feel especially close to this

woman. We are in touch with her innermost thoughts. The dominance of her

husband, and her reaction to it, is reflected throughout the story. The narrator

is continually submissive, bowing to her husband’s wishes, even though she is

unhappy and depressed. Her husband has adopted the idea that she must have

complete rest if she is to recover. This is a direct parallel to Gilman’s life,

wherein during her illness she was treated by a doctor who introduced her to the

"rest cure." She was instructed to live a domestic life, only engage

in intellectual activities two hours a day, and "never to touch pen, brush,

or pencil again" as long as she lived (Gilman 640). In this story, the

narrator’s husband, John, does not want her to work. "So I . . . am

absolutely forbidden to ?work’ until I am well again"(Gilman 641). John

does not even want her to write. "There comes John, and I must put this

away ? he hates to have me write a word"(Gilman 642). It is also a direct

allusion to Gilman’s personal experience that the narrator is experiencing

severe postpartum depression. Gilman suffered from the same malady after the

birth of her own daughter (Gilman 639). It is interesting that the room her

husband chooses for them, the room the narrator hates, is the nursery. The

narrator describes the nursery as having barred windows and being

"atrocious" (Gilman 641-642). The narrator’s response to the room is a

further example of her submissive behavior. "I don’t like our room a bit. I

wanted one downstairs that opened onto the piazza and had roses all over the

window, and such pretty old fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear

of it" (Gilman 641). Although she is practically a prisoner in the room,

she is given no voice in choosing or decorating it. She attempts to justify