The Yellow Wallpaper reading by Gilman gave us a look into the struggles women faced at the time, but also shed light on some stigma around mental health. The first like that really surprised me was when the wife claims that her husband, John the physician, laughs of course at her serious remarks about her health, but claims “one expects that in marriage”. At this point, i notice that the wife struggles with her own mental health, but this issue is brushed aside by her husband. He claims that nothing is wrong, just that she needs to exercise and sleep and she will be fine. However, the wife notes that she feels unreasonably angry sometimes, and her husband, using his job title as a physician as authority, shuts down her concerns.
Next, I thought it was interesting that the wife realizes that those around her believe that her choosing to read and write somehow contributes to her sickness, and she believes she “must not let them find me writing” p. 650.
In terms of the yellow wallpaper, I believe that it is representative of the world around her, and also the world inside her own mind. For example, she begins by expressing her hate for the wallpaper, as she also first discusses her mental health. Next, she gradually begins to become more comfortable with the wallpaper and sees good things about it. I believe this is her struggling mental state taking over her perceptions and reality. Before falling off the deep end, she tries to bring up her struggles to her husband, but her shuts this argument down, even saying that for his sake, for her sake, and for their child’s sake she should not bring up her issues. This is representative of the way that women’s opinions, beliefs, and arguments were quieted throughout history, and they were expected to take care of the house and the family, disregarding their own wellbeing. This process continues as she claims to see patterns in the walls moving, and even a woman behind the wall “trying to escape”. At this point, the woman is stuck. She is not only completely delusional, but the people around her, especially her husband and his sister seem to be completely cut off from her life.
On page 654, she even goes to the extent of saying she is feeling remarkably better, but in my mind this is her mental illness taking over. It happens in the same way that she becomes fond of the wallpaper. Her perceptions are distorted due to her opinions and struggles being silenced and shut off for so long that to some extent, she loses touch with reality, feels disconnected, and is forced to struggle in the battle of her own sanity and wellbeing alone.
I also think that only so much can be trusted from her own account. It is obvious that she has some type of mental issue so it is hard to tell when things she is expressing are real or an exaggeration. I didn’t think about this until reading your post, but I wonder how much of her situation caused her to get to the point she is at now. I assumed that she was always like this but it is very possible that because her husband is always gone and she is left alone very often, which she talks about, that that is the reason she is in the mental state she is in.
I agree that “The Yellow Wallpaper” provided great insight into the mental health struggles women dealt with due to their inferior role in society prior to gaining the right to vote in 1920. The narrator’s attempt to tear down the wallpaper in order to free the trapped women (which she created in her mind) epitomizes her mental health struggles she experiences as a result of her husband’s control over her life.