"The Yellow Wallpaper" by C.P. Gilman

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by C.P. Gilman was a piece of literature that truly confused me, and for that, I might not have as much to say about it as I did for Huck Finn or "Trifles", but I guess I will give it a shot.

One thing that really got me was the parallel of the narrator of this story and Bertha Mason of Bronte's Jane Eyre. Both of them are kept in the attic, and both of them are crazy. However, the similarties stop here. The narrator, I believe, is going insane because of her yellow wallpapered room, whereas Bertha Mason is truly insane and a menace--proved by her setting fire to Thornfield. Maybe people will argue, though, that the narrator is also destructive--basing their argument on page 649, where the narrator begins to destroy the wallpaper, believing that she is seeing people running around on it.

As I said above, I believe the nature of the narrator's illness is not herself--although she may have a bit of post-partum depression. I believe that her environment would certainly effect her because it alienates her from everyone and everything. Not only that, but our narrator is not even supposed to be writing her thoughts down. I don't think I could ever be so stunted by someone. And her husband--a doctor, honestly! What doctor subjugates someone to that hell of a lifestyle? I certainly wouldn't, but that's why I am not entering that profession.

I think a lot of people are stunted by their environments, but what do you think?