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The Yellow Wall Paper

The Yellow Wallpaper - Journey into Insanity In "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the dominant/submissive relationship between an oppressive husband and his submissive wife pushes her from depression into insanity. Flawed human nature seems to play a great role in her breakdown. Her husband, a noted physician, is unwilling to admit that there might really be something wrong with his wife. This same attitude is seen in her brother, who is also a physician. While this attitude, and the actions taken because of it, certainly contributed to her breakdown; it seems to me that there is a rebellious spirit in her. Perhaps unconsciously she seems determined to prove them wrong.As the story begins, the woman -- whose name we never learn -- tells of her depression and how it is dismissed by her husband and brother. "You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression -- a slight hysterical tendency -- what is one to do?" (Gilman 193). These two men -- both doctors -- seem completely unable to admit that there might be more to her condition than than just stress and a slight nervous condition. Even when a summer in the country and weeks of bed-rest don't help, her husband refuses to accept that she may have a real problem.Throughout the story there are examples of the dominant - submissive relationship. She is virtually imprisoned in her bedroom, supposedly to allow her to rest and recover her health. She is forbidden to work, "So I . . . am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well again." (Gilman 193). She is not even supposed to write: "There comes John, and I must put this away -- he hates to have me write a word." (Gilman 194). She has no say in the location or decor of the room she is virtually imprisoned in: "I don't like our room a bit. I w...

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