On Symbolism & Saying Volumes: The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story that unequivocally brings out the social shades of the 19th century, is today considered as a quintessential work of the feministic era. Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and first published in 1892, this story unfolds in the form of simplistic intimate writings in the journal of a married woman (also the narrator) as she spirals into psychotic illness. Between the reiteration of her husband’s treatment of her mental condition, and the account of her journey through emotional illness to madness, readers get to widen their horizons and consider this transition as a journey to ultimate freedom.

With metaphors and symbolism, Gilman starkly outlines various social issues from the patriarchal nature of society to awkward perception of mental illness at that time. This becomes evident right from the start of the story. The narrator begins by describing how her husband, John, and brother shun the idea of her nurturing a mental illness. Being a physician, John reflects the prevalent discourse of the time that assumed women’s inferiority as a natural condition that springs from their possession of a womb. They were considered to have low cognitive and physical skills, and it’s the undertones of precisely this notion that the reader senses in John’s judgement of his wife’s health. Instead of considering a proper diagnosis, he almost immediately dismisses her poor condition as a treatable state. The answer, according to him, is to zero down all physical activity. He believes she is merely capable of handling the bare minimum.

The narrator’s lack of resistance to her husband’s claims speaks volumes in itself—not only of her submissive attitude, but also of the generic behaviour adopted by women all over across various social situations (back then, and often still). Marriage and patriarchy almost always go hand in hand, it seems. Instances such as when she questions, “What is one to do?” are suggestive of the way in which women would naturally become scapegoats for an expected silence in every relationship of life. Gilman’s subtle penmanship points, paradoxically, to the balance achieved in a spousal relationship by silence laying heavier on the wife’s side of the scale. Jane accepts that she her word is not worth a penny, and this pushes her to resort to a personal journal to voice her real concerns. Her intrinsic need to break free from this psychological prison eventually does find an outlet, becoming evident in her perception of a woman trapped in the titular yellow wallpaper of her room.

As Gilman put it, “Nobody could climb through that pattern—it strangles so.” Being locked up in a house herself, Jane begins to relate to this figure she has discerned to reside behind the ugly shapes of the wallpaper. Her vivid descriptions of the wallpaper (through the narrator’s eyes) begin to depict the intertwined relationship of a woman and the societal expectations that entrap her on a daily basis.

Through this process, the story also pushes boundaries to explore a sense of psychological thrill, as Jane is pushed to the point of psychotic delirium due to negligence and lack of proper care. Struggling with postpartum depression, she experiences a journey to the brink of insanity as lack of congenial activity dulls her mind further. This is where another one of the many dimensions of the symbolic yellow wallpaper finds relevance. The pale, dull shade of the wallpaper at first glance reminds the narrator (and the reader) of an illness—of a dull state of mind induced by sadness and motivated by lethargy.

At the time when this novel was written, mental illness was unacceptable, and patients found it tough to get the right amount of positive reinforcement that could offer them a cure. Rather than roaming in radiant surroundings, Jane forcefully spent her days surrounded by dull and drab papered walls. As she is unable to make sense of the cumbersome pattern of the walls, the reader begins to wonder if similar is the case of her own mental state; no matter how much she tries, Jane cannot untangle the chains of her mental illness as long as she is stuck inside its confinement. It seems like the yellow wallpaper is after all a metaphor for Jane’s, and every other woman’s life story. Forever bound in the confines of their social and domestic obligations, they lack space to find their own reality or sense of freedom. Jane’s spiral into complete insanity so forth becomes understandable. Like the patterns on the wall which begin to make one’s head spin, Jane’s condition will inevitably eat her up as long as she dwells in it.

What then, is the end of a life led as such? The answer becomes clear as the narrator begins to find comfort in the horrid patterns of the wall as well as her own insanity. The Yellow Wallpaper wraps up with the narrator finally becoming a ‘creeping woman’, much like many others observed through her framed window. She, like many a female hysterical character captured across multiple literary texts, crawls and creeps and acts out by tearing down the wallpaper with her bare hands. Why? To set the discerned woman free.

The pinnacle point of the story, in my opinion, was the moment where Jane’s shoulder seemed to fit into the wall. This particularly short yet hefty instance is suggestive of all the observations and realisations made throughout the story.

On one level, it’s suggestive of Jane herself being the woman in the wallpaper who has been working to set herself free. This moreover is the peak point of Jane’s illness, where the boundaries between fact and fiction begin to fade, and she becomes one with what she has been relating to all along. Many may even believe this instance to be the real attainment of her freedom as she succumbs to who she really is. However, on a deeper level one begins to identify Jane as a mere representation of the plethora of women suffering from similar life situations. By fitting into the wall, she is becoming part of the reality of her world—she is fitting into not just the wall, but into the mad systems of society.