The Yellow Wallpaper

Morgan Mullen
11/17/08
Period 11

The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Response


This story is a work of realism with attributes of True Womanhood. The story is about a woman’s thoughts and activities of her everyday life in a new house which contributes to the realism aspect. The fact that the woman is sickly with a controlling husband brings me to the Cult of True Womanhood.
The main character or heroine of the story tells the readers of her life and never sugar coats the events. I believe she is in the middle class because they have rented a house very cheaply. She is a sickly woman that is very weak who can’t do much and is under constant watch. She stares at the wallpaper and memorizes it in great detail. In her descriptions she points out the pattern, colors, and what time of the day it was to get the different effects of the wallpaper. If this was an idealism piece the heroine would have described the wallpaper as a dainty yellow or something pretty or normal but this being a realism piece she described the house as it was, an old nursery with a moldy looking yellow wallpaper and rings sticking out of the walls and lines drawn on the wall. Her description makes the room seem gross but it is realistic and portrays the true side and not the ideal.
This story also brings in The Cult of True Womanhood. The heroine is sickly and can’t do much, as has been stated earlier; she was unable to complete the domesticity part of True Womanhood. She states, “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!” which shows her desire to help her husband and fulfill her duties as mother and wife but she can’t even watch her own child. There is also the attribute of submissiveness. When her husband was concerned she headed his words and followed most of his instructions. When she wanted to visit family or move to another room he made the decision on whether she could or couldn’t and it was mostly couldn’t. She followed his words with the exception of writing, which she must have loved because she continued to do it and hide it away from him. He was also very tightly strung and gave her no freedom because of her “ailment” but I believe the only ailment she had was the lack of freedom. Being in a household where they never let you walk, talk, think, or be human would be very stressful. She continuously asked her husband to visit family or move their room or get rid of the wallpaper but he refused to do so and turned it around to convince she was wrong. With this happening repeatedly it was only a matter of time she snapped from her voice being ignored and keeping her thoughts to herself afraid of hurting him.
In the end the heroine’s downfall was the yellow wallpaper and the lack of a voice to speak up to the expectations of True Womanhood. This was written in a realistic fashion and if it wasn’t the husband’s treatment to his wife would not have been written in that fashion. All the heroine’s words seem to be written from her mind and her true emotions.