Reflection on the Yellow Wallpaper

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Julian Reed Prof. Paul Spitale English 112 In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman describes a woman that seems to be completely insane. She somehow does not fit society’s ideal of a woman. The narrator's relationship with her husband is very strained, and ultimately determined by the narrator's husband. Her husband always treated her like a little child. He did not allow her to express herself, and kept her locked away to a restricted room. "The Yellow Wallpaper", lead me, the reader to believe that the sole reason for the narrator's fall into insanity was due to the limitations and restrictions commanded by her husband. Her husband, the doctor, used a number of tactics that subsequently drove the narrator to the brink of madness. One of which was completely isolating her from the outside world. He moved her away from her friends and family into a small country home with bars on the windows, set by her husband for her own safety. He left her by herself so the she can “cure” herself; as if the isolation would do her some good. By her being alone she does not a connection to the outside world. All she had were her thoughts and the ugly yellow wallpaper with "pointless patterns," "lame uncertain curves," and "outrageous angles". Even though she often expressed the desire to move to a room that was much more pleasant and better suited for her needs. He pushed her further into isolation by his unwillingness to respect her needs and desires. Another tactic that he used to drive the narrator to a point of madness is by forbidding her to work or write. By that heinous act he is causing the narrator to lose her mind. She has nothing to look at. She has nothing to do except stare at the walls. He took away any form of self expression. Which eventually lead to her delusions. The last tactic that the narrator’s emotionless husband used to cause her to be on
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