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HawCC English 100 Cause-and-Effect Essay
Sickly Yellow
Halena Kapuni-Reynolds
In Charlotte Perkins GilmanÕs short story ÒThe
Yellow Wallpaper,Ó the female narrator goes through
a temporary nervous depression due to childbirth;
in an attempt to help, her husband prescribes for her
a treatment where she is conÞned to an old nursery
room with yellow wallpaper for three months. There,
she can only speak to her husband and sister-in-
law. Instead of curing her, the treatment has various
negative consequences on her mental health. The
narrator goes through many psychological issues
before entering into a state of insanity. ÒThe Yellow
WallpaperÓ epitomizes the ways that forced change
can lead to ruin and destroy a personÕs identity.
Throughout the story, the narrator becomes
increasingly cautious of the outside world. In the
beginning, she craves for company because she is
alone. When she asks her husband John to Òask
Cousin Henry and Julia down for a long visit,Ó Òhe
says he would as soon put the Þreworks in [her]
pillowcase as to let those stimulating people aroundÓ
(142). John is convinced that by keeping his wife
away from family and friends, her ÒconditionÓ
will improve. The result of this isolation is that the
narrator becomes anti-social, and does not want to
leave the room at all: ÒI donÕt want to go out, and I
donÕt want to have anybody come in till John comesÓ
(153). She begins to lose trust in everyone and herself,
as indicated by this passage: ÒI have found out
another funny thing, but I shanÕt tell it this time! It
does not do to trust people too muchÓ (142). This is
proof of her distrust, as she will not describe what she
has found within her own diary.
As her isolation continues, the yellow color of
the wallpaper consumes her thoughts. When she
Þrst enters the room, she immediately notices the
Òrepellent, almost revolting; a smouldering, unclean
yellowÓ wallpaper (140). She does not like the
wallpaper one bit, but because she is in that room all
day, she is forced to look at it. She states: Òit dwells on
my mind so!Ó (144). While in the room, the narrator
notices patterns in the wallpaper that only she can
see (146). In many other instances, she repeatedly
mentions the yellow wallpaper in her journal entries,
thus illustrating her obsession with the wallpaper. Her
Þxation is clearly evident when she writes: Òthe only
thing I can think about it is the color of the paper!Ó
(150). She also believes that she can smell the color,
which has a Òyellow smellÓ (150). Due to her isolation
in the yellow room, her brain is consumed with the
color and her senses become entangled with the smell.
The narratorÕs conÞnement is what ultimately
drives her insane. After staring at the print for such
long hours, she comes to believe that there is a woman
lurking within the wallpaper. By the end of the story,
she peels the wallpaper off to let the captive woman
out: ÒI got up and ran to help her, I pulled and she
shook, I shook and she pulled, and before morning
we had peeled off yards of that paperÉThen I peeled
off all the paper I could reach standing on the ßoorÓ
(152-153). The narrator is so focused and determined
to help the woman in the paper that she Òlocked the
door and [threw] the key into the front path[;]Ó when
John Þnds the door locked, she does not open it for
him, instead saying that the key is Òdown the front
steps, under a plantain leafÓ (154).
In the end, the narrator ÒbecomesÓ the woman
in the wallpaper. She creeps around the room and
continues to do so even when her husband, at the
sight of her, faints: ÒIÕve got out at lastÉNow why
should that man have fainted? But he did, and right
across my path by the wall, so that I ha[ve] to creep
over him everytimeÓ (154). The fact that she continues
to creep around the room, and over her husbandÕs
body, is further proof that she is out of her mind.
The narratorÕs mind becomes a mess due to her
treatment, which, ironically, does not treat her for
depression, but instead, has a very negative effect on
her mental health. While she is in a crazed state, she
states to her husband: ÒIÕve pulled off most of the
paper, so you canÕt put me back!Ó (154). It is possible
to imply from this that she believes she is the woman
in the wallpaper and that she feels as though her
husband was keeping her as a sort of prisoner. She
has to put up an act for her husband, as the woman he
wants her to be. The narrator is Þnally able to tell her
husband what she feels only when she Þnally enters
psychosis.
ÒThe Yellow WallpaperÓ shows the importance of
someone being able to express themselves to others.
If the narratorÕs husband had simply listened to her,
she would not have had to enter insanity to tell him
how she feels. Her husband was trying to make her
into a different woman. This worsened her condition
because he was trying to change what deÞned her as
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