Importance of Conflict and Plot to a the Yellow Wallpaper

515 Words3 Pages
There are many features that contribute to the quality of a story. It is important for authors of stories to take these features in to account in order to produce a story able to captivate the interest of the readers while leaving the desired message with the reader. Both conflict and plot are necessary elements of a satisfying story. Conflict is essential to a story because it is the feature that keeps the story moving. Without conflict there would be nothing to create suspense, nothing to play on the emotions of readers and force them to feel sympathy or compassion towards the characters. Conflict also stimulates readers into developing their own opinions or stances on the conflict allowing for them to empathize and relate to the characters. Getting readers to empathize with characters creates a deeper interest in the story by allowing the reader to personally relate the story to their life or experiences. “The Yellow wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, uses conflict to get us to sympathize with the narrator, Jennie. It uses both external and internal conflict. This story follows the mental deterioration of Jennie and reveals the internal struggle of Jennie with herself. It shows her psychological conflict as she fights her illness, primarily her fighting the images she sees in the wallpaper and the affect they have on her. Gilman illustrates external conflict between Jennie and her husband. Jennie’s husband forces Jennie to follow certain practices, such as staying in the nursery or banning her from writing, which he believes will help her recover from her mental illness. Jennie struggles with the rules her husband enforces and what she wants herself, the freedom to live and write as she pleases. The second feature that is crucial to a story is plot. Having a well-structured plot is important in order to keep the ideas in a story organized and well

More about Importance of Conflict and Plot to a the Yellow Wallpaper

Open Document