“The Yellow Wallpaper” 8th period analysis

Group 1: Setting House Alone Quiet tall hedges Walls with gates that lock Room Big and airy Big windows Rings on the wall Chipped paint Flamboyant paint Yellow wallpaper “The most beautiful place….separate little houses for gardeners and people.’’ (1) It’s a big airy room….windows are barred for children, and there are rings and things in the walls.”(2) One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.’’(2) The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smoldering unclear yellow, faded by the slow-turning sunlight.”(2)

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… Room “sunshine galore” (2) around the head of bed According to narrator: “as far as I can reach” (2) Nursery playroom gymnasium Blames condition of room on “children” Barred windows Bed Bolted to the floor Scratched floor “been through the wars” (3) Chewed “gouged and splintered” (3 ) “This bed will not move!” (9) “Plaster itself is dug out’ (2) Rented summer home or insane asylum? (2) Yellow Wallpaper Optic horror (4 ) Stripped off in spots especially

Group 2: Characters Narrator John Jennie Mary She is imaginative. “He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making, a nervous weakness of mine…” (3) She is sick and wants to get better. “I wish I could get better faster.” (3) She is secretive. “There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will.” (5) John He is cruel. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” (1) He is careless. “He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him.” (2) Jennie She cares for the narrator. “Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me.” (3) She is responsible and has good work ethic. “She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper…” (3) Mary She is motherly. “It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby.” (2)

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… Narrator Jane? Married to John Suffering from postpartum depression Rest drives her further insane Writes in journal even though prohibited, causing her to hide it Wants to find reason in random pattern of wallpaper Creeps along wall John “Physician of high standing…perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (1) Diagnoses narrator with “temporary nervous depression” and “slight hysterical tendency’ (1) No patience “Practical in the extreme (1) Treats her like a child

Group 3: Narrator’s description of the wallpaper The narrator unconsciously sees herself in the wallpaper. She describes the woman as being sad and trapped behind bars, similar to her being trapped in the house by the locked gates. It can be inferred that she sees herself in the wallpaper when she says she sees the woman in every window. Because of the woman’s mental illness she does not know that she is seeing her reflection. “The front pattern does move… and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard” “I think she gets out at daytime! … I can see her out of every one of my windows!”

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… “The paint and paper look as if a boy’s school had used it. It is stripped off-the paper-in great patches all around the head of my bed” First description of wallpaper. “One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” She is talking about the uncertain curves, outrageous angles, and a revolting color yellow. “There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down” “I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design” This is when she first saw a figure. “It is always the same shape . . . it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern” She is describing the womanly shape. “‘I’ve got out at last . . . in spite of you and Jane! And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’” Identifies herself as woman in paper This is when she finally broke down and ripped the paper off and set herself free!

Group 4: symbolism The woman behind the wallpaper symbolizes the narrator herself. The narrator is trapped in that house for the summer because she is ill, according to her husband John. There are windows in her room in that house with bars on them like she is in jail so the narrator thinks of herself as the woman behind the wallpaper. The narrator is also able to go outside during the day and look at the garden and other things and in the story the narrator explains how the woman behind the wallpaper gets out during the daytime. “She just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard” (7) “I think that woman gets out in the daytime” (7)

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… The woman in the wallpaper represents two things: The narrator’s insanity It becomes worse as her description of the wallpaper becomes clearer “Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day” “The woman behind it is as plain as can be” Women trapped in societal confinement and trying to escape “wallpaper strangles those who try to escape”

Group 5: quote analysis Within this story, the patterns on the wallpaper are symbolic of the bars/prison of a society that the main character lives in. During the day, she is left alone and is free to do as she pleases, such as write. However, when night falls and her husband returns, she put to go back behind the “pattern”, abide by his rules. The women within this story has ‘torn’ away both the physical and symbolic wallpaper. In letting go of the last strands of sanity, she has made herself free to the influence of her husband and society. In her insanity, she is free than she has ever been.