Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper
Original title The Yellow Wallpaper
Author Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Genre Novel , Bildungsroman , Historical Fiction , Domestic Fiction
Language English
Characters the narrator, her husband, John, her brother, her sister, in, law
Published January 1892
ISBN 978-0486298574
Book Summary
Essay Examples

Table of Contents

About The Yellow Wallpaper Book

The Yellow Wallpaper is considered a major work of American feminist literature. It is a classic and the most popular short story written by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman and published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. The short story depicts the attitudes and conducts about women’s mental and physical health in the 19th Century.

In the book, the writer challenges and questions the role of women, especially regarding their mental health and self-identity crisis and their right to autonomy or self-sufficiency. The book also raises some core questions and concerns about a woman’s role, particularly in marriage. It laid down the basis for first-wave feminism. Back then, women were not allowed to exercise their right to vote.

The story consists of different journal entries narrated in the first person by a woman who, with her husband, moved to an old mansion for the summers, and her physician husband suggested she move into an upstairs nursery. The husband restricts her from doing any work and writing and encourages her to eat, get some air, and recover from a temporary nervous disorder, marginalizing her freedom.

Book Summary:

The yellow wallpaper is a short story highlighting women’s mental health issues and facts that make them worse with time. The story begins with a woman having health issues who rented a summer house with her family. While staying there, she becomes obsessed with her room’s yellow wallpaper, which causes her descent into psychosis from her depression.

 At the start, the narrator tells her reader about her move to a rented summer estate, where she with her husband and her newborn shifted to overcome her nervous depression. Her husband, John, who is a doctor and treating her, recommends she move to the upper story or upstairs nursery to have a large room with a lot of air.

 The woman opposes going to the upper story and insists on staying downstairs, which he refuses. The narrator is inclined to write, and she loves writing, but her doctor husband also restricts her from writing and suggests complete bed rest.

 Despite the woman’s will to write and stay downstairs, her husband shifted her to the upper story in a large room with ugly yellow wallpaper. After hosting the Fourth of July, the narrator expresses that her feeling has become worse, and she develops an affiliation with yellow paper, which drives her insane; she sleeps at night and spends all day staring at it. After a few weeks, she starts believing that there is another woman trapped inside the yellow wallpaper that wants freedom and wants to come out.

 The woman locked herself in the room while her husband was out for work and started removing the wallpaper, and when her husband returned, he went upstairs and broke the door and found that the narrator was crawling on the floor. The narrator claims that the woman trapped inside the wallpaper has finally existed. As a reaction, John faints, which surprises her because he’s the one who restricts her from doing any activity that she likes and wants to pursue. Various essays on the yellow wallpaper highlight society’s core yet neglected issue: freedom of choice.

The Yellow Wallpaper Quotes:

A few famous quotes can be included in the yellow wallpaper essay thesis. The quotes are by the narrator herself.

“But I MUST say what I feel and think somehow — it is such a relief! But the effort is getting to be greater than the relief.”

“It does not do to trust people too much.”

“John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.”

“I never saw a worse paper in my life. One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.”

“It is the strangest yellow that wallpapers! It makes me think of all the yellow things I saw – not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things.”

“I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.”

Essay Structure of the Yellow Paper:

It is very important to get an idea about the book’s characters, structure, and storyline before you start writing an essay. Because this way, you can get a clear picture of every character.

It helps in drafting a well-structured and balanced essay. Below are guidelines that help you create an effective piece of essay on the yellow wallpaper.

Introduction:

The introduction is always the first interacting point and impression your writing has on your readers or audience. If it is well written, composed, and properly thought out, you successfully grab your readers’ attention and engage them. The yellow wallpaper essay introduction has the following points in it:

  •     It would be best to start your introduction with a phrase or quote from the book; it must be relevant and not diverted. A good introductory phrase is very impactful and helps develop the audience’s interest.
  •     Once you gain the reader’s attention, try to explain the book and your topic, keep it brief and concise tell the readers by using quotes or explanations from the book itself.
  •   Last but not least, the Thesis Statement ends your introduction. In the thesis statement, you will state your point of view or key points that you will explain later in the essay.

Body:

The body of your essay contains all the explanations and researched facts. You can explore the yellow wallpaper essay examples if you need more clarification on the topic. The body contains all the facts, properly researched explanation, and references from the novel; use all the relevant information, and avoid making any context remarks and explanations. Keep the body structure and transitioning between different paragraphs smooth and connected.

Conclusion:

The conclusion contains your findings and final verdict about the topic mentioned in your thesis statement. The better way to start a conclusion is by quoting your thesis statement and then writing your findings. Write extracts of your finding, making them compelling and factfull, leaving space for your audience to interact and comment and give their suggestions.

Tips to Consider while writing an essay about the yellow wallpaper:

Writing any literal essay requires a clear understanding of the topic, especially when writing about books. It becomes more crucial to include all the detail while maintaining the essay structure and including relevant information. Here are some tips that help write a good essay.

Read the Book Thoroughly:

The first and far most thing to do when writing an essay on a certain book you must need to read the book thoroughly. Once you read it, you will clearly understand all the happenings and the book’s main theme. It also helps refer to the minute details and include them in your essay. It keeps you focused and relevant to the topic.

Find a Compelling Topic:

Everyone has their thought process and way to look at things from their lens. Therefore, there is no specific condition to stick to specific names; the following tips will help you name a good topic for your essay.

  •     Just pen down your whole essay and finish it. Once you finish it, you will have a clear picture of your essay’s Do’s and Don’ts; it is easier for you to craft a relevant name for your essay that goes with its overall theme.
  •   The thesis statement contains the main point or theme upon which your whole essay explanation stands; therefore, you can extract a good topic from your essay thesis statement.
  •     It doesn’t matter whether your title is short or long; if it s do justice to your essay, you can go with it.

Create the Outline:

Before you start writing and proceed with it further, create an outline for your essay. The outline contains all the relevant information and points you need to include in your essay. It helps you create an effective piece of writing that is concise, to the point, and contains all the facts and relevant information necessary for your essay.

It saves time, provides you with a clear focus line, and helps avoid any irrelevant information. If you want to write the yellow wallpaper essay, you should do some brainstorming, research, ink it immediately, and then rearrange it on paper.

Write the Thesis Statement:

The thesis statement for the yellow wallpaper may vary from person to person as per their perspective and way of perceiving things. It’s fine but keeps the thesis statement relevant and refrains from using out-of-context information. The yellow wallpaper thesis statement can be “the relation between creativity, madness, understanding, and freedom to do according to own will.”

Include a Lesson or Moral:

The yellow paper is regarded as the first expression to highlight feminism and its need to understand by society. In the first part, the narrator writes about her moving to a summer house to cure her mental issues after having a newborn, as suggested by her husband, her doctor.

 The narrator insists on making her own choices regarding the selection of rooms or writing her diary. Her husband instructs her to refrain from doing any of these and suggests her complete bed rest, but the narrator feels it is completely against her will and worsens her mental health.

She develops affiliations with the yellow wallpaper on the wall of her room. She feels that there is also another woman just like her trapped inside the yellow wallpaper and wants to come out and get rid of it.

 The narrator locked herself up in the room, tore down the yellow paper from the wall, and believed the woman living inside the wallpaper existed. That fact faints the husband, as when he broke the door of her room, he saw her crawling on the floor, and she worsens her mental condition.

 

Certain limitations and restrictions end a person’s freedom and self-identity, limiting the chances of growth and badly affecting mental health. Moves against free will and one’s freedom of choice decrease the productivity of any individual.

Conclusion: Proofread your Work:

Make proofreading an essential part of your writing process; it points out any mistakes and errors in your essay and helps in rectifying them. Also, check the smooth transitioning and connection between different paragraphs of your essay.

 The conclusion of the Yellow wallpaper can be written as follows; the yellow wallpaper laid down the foundation of early feminism inclusions in the literal work. It shows how mental health problems can destroy a person’s individuality, freedom, decision-making, and productivity, especially if the victim is a woman. It affects her and her family.

FAQs:

What Is The Theme Of The Yellow Wallpaper?

The main theme of the yellow wallpaper is gender roles, their importance in general, in their description, and in reality. It also identifies the need for self-expression and highlights the effects of the oppressive nature of gender roles.

Who Is Jane In The Yellow Wallpaper?

Jane is most likely the narrator’s name, who narrates and tells the whole story as it happened. The narrator claims that she is now free from her marriage, society, and anything that represses her mind.

What Is The Point Of View In The Yellow Wallpaper?

The point of view in the yellow wallpaper is a first-person narrator, where the narrator gives insight details about the conscious and thought process of a woman dealing with depression and the things that make it worse.

Who Is The Main Character In The Yellow Wallpaper?

The narrator herself is the main character, describing and giving insight into a woman’s condition and feelings, things that make her depression worse.

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How Setting Plays a Significant Role in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
...In conclusion, the setting in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is crucial for the themes of the story to be fully disclosed and developed. The setting does more than just provide an environment for the events in the story to take pla...
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