The yellowish color is affiliated with the weakness, and the powerlessness that she is feeling. The actual pattern of the wallpaper at first symbolizes the twists and winds of society and the difficulties of fitting in and following the rules. Eventually, once Jane studies the pattern and finds the order, she believes she understands it’s meaning. As the nights go on and she continues to study the paper, she finds that the pattern is like a prison, trapping everything inside it. She reflects her feelings of imprisonment by her husband, onto how she interprets the wallpaper.
In The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story by Charlotte Gilman, the symbol of the yellow wallpaper itself portrays a role into the main characters spiral into madness. To the main character, Jane, the wallpaper is at first a nuisance, then an obsession, and finally salvation. Jane becomes overwhelmed from the confided space with the wallpaper and begins to spiral into a deeper depression than what she started with and eventually loses her mind. The material of the paper itself represents Jane's everyday life, the illogical pattern that comes about in it, reflects the absence of logic in her mind and the very colour of the paper depicts the illness that yellows her sight and imprisons her within an unpredictable life, these things all playing a role in Jane's insanity. The wallpaper is at first a great annoyance to Jane as she claims that it is confusing and contradicting.
In Moore’s “Which is More That I Can Say”, the role-reversal of the search of identity reinforces the image of the dynamic of fear that both mother and daughter have. Mrs. Mallon’s presence in the short story is described as something repelling and invasive towards her daughter’s decisions in life. Abby, having shaped her identity privately tries to alienate herself from her mother’s stronger character in order to have proper control of her life. Mrs. Mallon showing a risk taking behavior, sees her daughter as “a women who expects too much” due to her performance of actions in life. At the end due to the inability of Abby to succeed in her liberty, she witnesses lack of strength and the fear her mother has at the Blarney Stone.
Atwood then comes to present Moira in a more vulnerable position after her first and failed attempt to escape Gilead. The aunts are the ones controlling her at this point by physically hurting her so she could no longer have the ability to escape because “her feet would not fit into her shoes, they were too big” and this shows Moira being controlled and dragged around very roughly. Atwood has done this to inform that reader that if a woman gives in to resistance or tries to give themselves a little control, there will be consequences but, not bad enough that they can’t play their role as it doesn’t require them using their feet and Margaret has shown Moira as an example because of her rebellious attitude. During Moira’s second escape, she has been presented very heroic towards Offred and the other Handmaids because of her bravery. This event shows Moira gaining more control over her body and giving in to resistance by attacking Aunt Elizabeth with the pointed lever and saying “Ill puncture your
Another coinciding element found in Medea was vengeance. She seeks out the one who hurt her and did whatever she could to make sure he felt worse than she ever did, even at the expense of her own children. While both women crave independence, they are denied the environment in which to successfully follow through with this need. In each of the stories one can feel a sense of sympathy for each woman because they were not raised to survive successfully in their respective societies. Neither were able to deal with relationships, and rely instead on their innermost qualities of their character to get through.
An unreliable narrator is one whose narration is not credible and their audience may not always believe what the narrator is telling them. The point of view Charlotte Gilman’s first person narrative, The Yellow Wallpaper, allows the audience to see the struggle of sanity versus insanity within the narrator. Gilman leaves the reader questioning the narrator’s reliability, due to the narrators declining mental stability. The narrator’s skewed perception of her mental health unfortunately means the serene environment will not provide the rest needed to recover from her depression. Such isolated atmosphere and forced solitary confinement eventually envelops the narrator in her insanity.
The wallpaper like John is a confine in which neither woman can escape from. The many heads in the wallpaper are the activities that the narrator wants to do such as writing, seeing her Cousin Henry and Julia, and sleeping downstairs. “I don’t like to look out the window even- there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast”(434). The women creeping outside are women like the narrator who are oppressed and have to do things in secret just like the narrator secretly tried to
I found this writing to be a very heartbreaking insight into the plight that Laura faces. It forced me to take a closer look at some of life’s basic needs that I take for granted like education, food, decent living conditions, and being able to earn a living without assistance from the government. Laura’s situation is a just one example of how difficult being illiterate and at the mercy of the welfare system can be. It is as if she’s trapped, due to her lack of education, and has no way
These images of identity and self free radical not from inherent feelings of worthlessness in Lucy. Instead, they are the merchandise of the reactions of others whose cruelty makes her believe she is "undesirable" as a person because of the undesirability of her body. Even Lucy's father fails to visit her often in the infirmary because he cannot bear to witness his daughter's physical condition. Lucy initially internalizes these reactions of others, as did the narrator in Bone Black, until she learns to define herself irrespective of outside(a) reaction, attitudes, and
She states that her imperfections are what she’s made up of and to let the reader think about who they are as a person. Her journey to find her identity “tormented” (Line 82) and worried her. She was afraid of what others may think of her from both cultures. The more she thought about her life, the more she felt drawn “back into the darkness of the Tiruvella house” which in her view point was the “shelter of memory” (Line 86-88). She uses details like that to connect to the reader by bringing up her past “filled with ghosts” (Line 47).