Introduction to Patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
During the period when Charlotte Perkins Gilman started writing, social norms divided gender spheres, making men responsible for earning and women for doing household chores, the reason behind the depiction of patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Men were responsible for making critical decisions. They were supposed to be practical and women imaginative. If some individuals from the opposite faction tried to avoid those norms, they were considered unconventional, rebellious, or mentally unstable. “The Yellow Wallpaper” depicts this realization of a female character of those inherent gender norms which not only limit her movement but also muffles her imaginative power. This anonymous wife of Dr. John, who is seemingly suffering from some psychological ailment, thinks on the same conventional pattern. Pitting the practicality of men against the fruitless imaginative ability of women, Gilman shows how gender norms transform women’s psyche, making them think men are always right, become obedient, and are willing to sacrifice their comforts and talents against so-called patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper” showing rationality despite, ultimately harboring a mental conflict.
Patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
One of the major gender norms of those days was that patriarchal thinking or opinion was always superior to that of women. It is still the same in some societies as it is about patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. At that time, it was, however, more pervasive. The anonymous wife, though, knows full well the cause of her ailment and its cure, yet she does not speak out to John about why she is being treated in that way. She cannot say it in the face of John, who himself is a physician. And top it all, her brother, too, is a renowned physician, who agrees with John. This is really going to put her at odds if she contradicts their opinions about her situation. Her husband John “does not believe that I am sick,” she says adding, “I disagree with their ideas” (648). She knows the treatment that “congenial work, with excitement and change”, would cure her, but she cannot face both the male doctors. Even she is not allowed to pen down her thoughts. This is a gender norm that a woman should not contradict a rational and practical man and should keep her mum in every case if there are two male members. This clearly means that she is to be an obedient creature, showing the domination of patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
Obedience to Patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Obedience to men was also considered a virtue and an accepted gender norm. It means a woman is to be at the beck and call of a man. He can treat her with love or reproach her over nothing. John treats his anonymous wife in the same way. Sometimes he fondles her with love but at other times reproaches her for her suggestions of changing the room or over her thinking about her ailment. This obedience borders submissiveness despite insulting laughs “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage,” she says clearly referring to it as an inherent gender norm (Gilman). She has been taught to expect such sarcasm and tolerate it. Even if she is reasonable in her talk, John flatly refuses to accept her opinion. She knows that he is right, as it has already been set as another gender norm. Her obedience creates a sort of conflict in her mind. Despite her obedience, she stays on the opposite pole, thinking that she has busied herself with her imaginative creativity of fancying the shapes of the yellow wallpaper. The writer has used the extended metaphor of making yellow wallpaper a tool of her creativity to highlight her mental conflict about patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
Stifling Creativity Due to Patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
Although this creativity does not let her sleep or take a rest and makes her become excited, she has to keep it muffled due to the gender norm of sacrificing everything for men. Despite suffering from such an acute mental illness which could be cured by busying her mind or leaving her alone, she thinks in terms of the gender norm of providing traditional feminine comfort to John. She says, “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort” and thinks herself a burden on him (Gilman). Despite the fact that she has suggested him change the room and also mentioned the reasons, John does not accept. She then agrees with him in the same conventional way. Although there are conflicts in her mind about these contradictions, she carries on living with these inherent gender norms of not rejecting patriarchal suggestions. The problem of her mental state of mind gets worse so much so that even John faints by the end of the story when he sees her plight of crawling on the floor, a typical weakness of patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The conflict has taken its toll on her in worsening her ailment and from John by making him faint to see her plight.
Conclusion
This clearly shows that the patriarchal setup was so much ingrained in women’s psyche that despite knowing themselves as being oppressed not only in keeping their voices muffled but also in restricting their movements and keeping them mental patients, they never tried to break these shackles. The anonymous wife clearly knows the ailment, knows how to cure it, and also knows her creative power, but she does not demure in the face of the so-called suggestions of the two practical male doctors. She harbors a mental conflict, making her mental ailment worse than before, bordering delirium by the end of the story. Gilman, through this allegorical tale, seems to suggest that women, too, can think rationally, and if their suggestions and opinions are treated at par with that of men, they can find solutions to several of their own problems. That is why it is clear that this anonymous wife knows the cure for her ailment – freedom from patriarchy in “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
Works Cited
- Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Literature. n. d. Web. 07 Jul. 2017.
Relevant Questions about Patriarchy in “Yellow Wallpaper”
- How does the theme of patriarchy in “Yellow Wallpaper” influence the protagonist’s mental state and her perception of reality throughout the story?
- In what ways does the patriarchal society depicted in “Yellow Wallpaper” restrict the protagonist’s agency and autonomy, and how does this impact her eventual descent into madness?
- Can you identify specific symbols or metaphors in “Yellow Wallpaper” that serve to critique or expose the oppressive nature of patriarchy in the context of the story?
