"The Yellow Paper" Theme of Freedom Essay

Introduction

"The Yellow Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents the account of a woman who appears to struggle as she tries to align herself with the new role of a wife and a mother. The narrator is a married woman, but after the husband diagnosis narrator with a mental illness, she is confined in a house which makes her start seeing forms in the scary house yellow wallpaper, and due to fear the narrator becomes completely wild. This novel seeks to depict the relationship between men and women which tries to create a theme of male domination over a woman. The novel shows the woman seeks to attain her freedom which is the primary theme of "The Yellow Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Sigurdardottir, and Sigurlaug 22). This essay will try to depict how Charlotte Perkins Gilman has developed the theme of freedom in "The Yellow Paper."

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Freedom

Freedom is the power or having the right to act, think or speak in according to one's preference. Freedom allows an individual to do what they like without a limitation from another person. In "The Yellow Paper" novel the author depicts the narrator in the bondage of submission to the wishes and the will of the husband. Lack of freedom causes anguish and pain like it is depicted in the novel. The narrator suffers in silence due to a lack of freedom which makes her act like a mad woman. When people lose their freedom, they lose the will to life and freedom, on the other hand, creates unlimited will and energy to act or speak (Gravel 166).

Development of the Theme of Freedom in "The Yellow Paper"

The Theme of freedom in "The Yellow Paper" is well developed as the novel showcases how the narrator criticizes her bondage by the social pressures that have been imposed on her. The novel portrays the lives of women in the late 19th century which are determined by the social roles that were prescribed to women by the society and reinforced by men who dominated over women. The Novel of "The Yellow Paper" seeks to create social-cultural situation during the Victorian times where gender roles were clear, and men and women roles were distinct and specific. Due to the gender roles, women were supposed to submit to men's will like in the novel "The Yellow Paper" where the narrator is forced to stay behind in a scary house which made her insane. Through "The Yellow Paper" the author attempts to showcase the desperation of the intellectual women during the Victorian age. The novel shows that women were not allowed to showcase their intelligence or creativity which were suppressed by the dominating husbands. In this era, the author was not supposed to think or have her own opinion which at the time was considered redundant even if it existed. In the novel, the narrator suffers in silence because she has to depend on the decisions of the husband which limits her individual will to think or act based on her own intelligence (Kasmer 3).

The narrator is confined in a house during summer which limits her freedom of movement and makes her depression worse. The protagonist continued isolation from the community, and the lack of control over her life can be compared to being locked up in prison where everything is decided by others. In the novel, the narrator domination by her husband is depicted when she is instructed not to use her imagination which denies her the ability to express her thoughts through writing, and lack of freedom worsens the narrator's mental health. The novel "The Yellow Paper" shows that even medical science at the time facilitated the confinement of women as a means of treating insanity. The Victorian customs are harsh on women as they are denied freedom, and they have to be patronized by their husbands (Hohn 54).

Women's Submission and Limited Autonomy in the Victorian Era

The novel through the narrator depicts the life of women in the Victorian period as that of submission to their husbands. In this novel, the narrator is not depicted to have any occupation, but she yearns for freedom to be able to do as she wishes which does not happen as she is diagnosed with depression and she is further forced into isolation. At this time, women were not expected to work outside the home, and the only purpose of education then was to prepare women for their roles as lives (Sigurdardottir, and Sigurlaug 21).

Conclusion

In conclusion, "The Yellow Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman depicts woman domination by her husband where she is confined at home to take care of her child. The narrator depicts the room as small with small windows with rings which depict isolation. The narrator is denied the freedom to write or leave her room as she pleases which causes her distress and pain as she longs for freedom and the ability to do as she pleases. The narrator contemplates the thought of committing suicide which she perceives as the only approach through which she can be able to escape bondage and imprisonment by her husband. "The Yellow Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, therefore, depicts life without the freedom that women are forced into through marriage and how they long for freedom.

Works Cited

Gravel, Nicolas. "What is freedom?" Handbook of Economics and Ethics, ed. by J. Peil, and I. VanStaveren (2009): 166-174.

Hohn. Out of her mind: female insanity from the 1890s to the 1970s on the basis of women's social history in" The yellow wallpaper," The bell jar, and Surfacing. MS thesis. 2007. Pg 54-56

Kasmer, Lisa. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman's' The Yellow Wallpaper': A Symptomatic Reading." Literature and Psychology 36.3 (1990): 1.

Sigurdardottir, and Sigurlaug. Behind The Wallpaper The feminist point of view in the story" The Yellow Wallpaper." Diss. 2010. Pg 22