Cameron Wilhelm
Maenhardt
English 2600
30 June 2013
In Sickness and Health – Analysis of “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Most everyone knows what it’s like to be sick, cuddled up in bed trying to recover from a
cold or illness. The clock seems to be going in reverse as a nice sunny day passes by. You can’t
help but think about the numerous activities and obligations you are missing. Perhaps the worst
part of this is sitting alone in your room, being isolated from others. Even if only for a few days,
your mind still floats adrift and over analyzes even the smallest of observations. I can only
imagine the trials one would experience being bed-ridden for an extended periods of time.
Charlotte Perkins Gillman does a chilling job of painting this picture in her short story, The
Yellow Wallpaper. Her work highlights some of the bizarre mental imagery that can be conjured
from such a situation.
Upon my analysis of this story, I feel that the best modern literary devices used are
Structuralism and Semiotics. These theories focus on the roles of particular objects, situations,
methods, people, or circumstances and how they are perceived either collectively or individually.
The analysis of the narrator’s observations of the wallpaper in her room, and the treatment
methods of the time period both display these literary theories.
An excellent example of Structuralism in the text is the significance of how the wallpaper
is perceived by the main character. This is what the story is built on. Structuralism claims that
the nature of every element in any given situation has no significance by itself, and in fact is
determined by all the other elements involved in that situation. (Siegel, Kristi). The Wallpaper
is thought to be significant only by the girl in the story; her husband does not regard the
wallpaper with the same significance or meaning. This is what alienates her. In the story, the
narrator distinguishes the wallpaper by not only the appearance but also by the smell of it, stating
“But there is something else about that paper – the smell! ... The only thing I can think of that it
is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell.” Perhaps the best example of a unique
interpretation of the wallpaper is when the narrator says, “There are things in that paper which
nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every
day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down
and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit”.
Semiotics is shown through the acceptance of the treatment methods used on the narrator,
regarded as a normal and healthy method of recovery by psychologists of the day. This modern
literary concept proposes that, “a great diversity of our human action and productions--our bodily
postures and gestures, the social rituals we perform, the clothes we wear, the meals we serve, the
buildings we inhabit--all convey "shared" meanings to members of a particular culture.” (Siegel,
Kristi). In Nineteenth Century, when the story was written, “the rest cure” was considered a safe
and healthy treatment to someone who has experienced "temporary nervous depression – a
slight hysterical tendency.” (Lavender, Catherine). This was considered an effective form of
treatment for the time period. This will be contrasted with how times and treatments have
changed overall. The treatment methods that were once considered effective are now absurd and
would never be used by psychiatrists or physicians.
The Author of The Yellow Wallpaper, Charolette Perkins Gillman, suffered for years
from a severe nervous breakdowns tending to melancholia. A specialist in the field prescribed to
her, "the rest cure". This treatment involves staying in bed for most of the day, having little to no
social interaction, and no writing; as the Author says, “never to touch pen, brush, or pencil
again." (Lavender, Catherine). The Yellow Wallpaper is merely and embellished story of her
experiences to illustrate the loneliness and isolation caused by being bed-ridden as a form of
treatment. The culture and knowledge of the time lead to the belief that this treatment type was
the most effective at the time.
The Yellow Wallpaper paints a vivid picture of the effects of isolation and confinement
on a person’s mental health. Charolette Perkins Gillman portrayed the main character’s thoughts
and feelings in a way that seems almost hallucinogenic in nature. The story displays various
examples of Structuralism and Semiotics through the significant analysis of the wallpaper to the
narrator. The wallpaper contains an element of Semiotics through the societal view of the paper
and how it contradicts from the narrator’s analysis. Semiotics is shown through the accepted
treatment methods used on the narrator, regarded as a normal method of recovery by
psychologists of the day.
Overall, the narrator’s behavior truly seem to resemble that of someone with an addiction
to mind altering substances rather than someone who is trapped with their own thoughts for an
extended period of time. I was truly impressed with the author’s ability to take such a simple
object and give it a haunting sense of life and realism. Although embellished at times, Charlotte
Lee Perkins experience in a similar form of treatment gives her not only credibility to write such
a work, but also left her with a strong and memorable enough of an experience to lead her to
write this chilling piece – “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
Works Cited
Dr. Kristi Siegel. “Introduction to Modern Literary Theory”. Associate Professor, English Dept.
Director, English Graduate Program. Chair - Languages, Literature, and Communication
Division. Mount Mary College. http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#struct
Catherine Lavender. The Department of History, The College of Staten Island of The City
University of New York. Last modified: Tuesday 8 June 1999.
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/whyyw.html