How Did The Yellow Wallpaper Influence Women

1307 Words6 Pages
Arushi Ghai Ms. Meehan ENG 3U0-D October 22, 2012 Exploring Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper Influenced by women’s lives in the 1800’s A short story author of the eighteenth century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman is famous for her tough life and her personal stories such as The Yellow Wallpaper. A short story that includes gothic element, with a story of a women who has a nervous disorder and is controlled by her husband and is not allowed to do what she loves which is write. Gilman certainly proved herself as an creative writer, with the capability to create the life of a girl with issues and is depressed and unhappy. However with a closer read of the text, it becomes apparent that many of the themes and issues raised…show more content…
At one point at the at the end of the story, the narrator himself refers to how she is controlled by her husband and has no freedom to do what she wants." Additionally, her fathers love for literature influenced her, and years later he contacted her with a list of books he felt would be worthwhile for her to read".Clearly Gilman had a difficult life to deal with due to her father abandoning his family, and the lack of affection from her mother, which is the same feeling most women at that time felt but with their husbands. Since loneliness was a concept being drastically affected by her past at the time The Yellow Wallpaper was written, it is fair to say that it definitely had an impact on Gilman as she was writing her story.Another social influence affecting Gilman at this time was depression sine during that period lives of women was very upsetting since having no control over their lives and decisions usually would put a person under depression.Therefore, because of social factors such as loneliness and depression for the lives of women in the 1800's heavenly influenced during her writing of The Yellow Wallpaper to adopt the universal truth that a women should not be controlled by anyone, she should be able to have a freedom of…show more content…
Gilman looked to her own life for inspiration when writing The Yellow Wallpaper, incorporating three main influences from within it. Firstly, Gilman considered social influences to guide her in her writing, examining such aspects of womens lives during the 1800’s was very restricted as they were dependent on the male of the house to support the family. Secondly, the main themes within Gilman’s story was influenced by Britain’s political state at the time The Yellow Wallpaper was written. Finally, Gilman used her own personal childhood experiences to develop the characterization of the narrator herself. Without this closer examination of The Yellow Wallpaper, it is easy to view the story pouring out the feelings of a woman with a nervous disorder. Gilman probably never intended for her story to be so depthening . However, in doing so, the reader is presented with an unexpected and deeper sympathy towards the narrator. Indeed, it is easy to relate to the thoughts and feelings of the narrator, but by deconstructing Gilman’s influences for writing this story, the audience is reminded that the simplest of influences can be used to create a story with so much meaning and
Open Document