"The Yellow Wallpaper" Analysis

In the chosen excerpt of, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, she effectively presents the narrator’s state of mind through symbolism, sensory imagery, and characterization. Throughout the short story, Stetson introduces themes, each permeating within the story and manifested in her character, making the narrator’s state of mind a thoughtful and personal reflection, all of which can be extrapolated from the given passage.

The narrator, postpartum, struggling with her mental health, is diagnosed by her physician husband/brother to a three-month-long period of isolation therapy. She is confined to her room, with nothing to entertain her other than an anomalous wallpaper, in design, color, and smell. In addition, she is offered no mental outlet or solace, as she is strictly forbidden from writing, which she is only able to do furtively in small increments. The consequence of this isolation, juxtaposed with her lack of outlet would cause immense boredom to anyone, thus, our narrator turns to the only thing of interest in the room: the wallpaper. Initially, it is of little consequence to her, simply an eyesore, yet as time progresses, the wallpaper casts a captivating spell upon the narrator, and its first physical manifestation comes in the form of its pervasive smell. The author uses the smell of the paper itself to represent the narrator’s fixation as a result of her imprisonment, both mental and physical. The bulk of the excerpt is devoted to the narrator’s ramble regarding the smell of the wallpaper. The narrator says that it “creeps all over the house,” a term that is also used to describe the woman that she sees stuck in the wallpaper. The smell cannot be described by the narrator, despite her efforts, other than being a “yellow smell,” very characteristic of the paper itself. Thus, the smell represents the first physical manifestations of the paper and its hold on her. While her relationship with the paper was strictly mental beforehand, the paper has exerted a form of physical influence on her, such that the rate at which her mental condition worsens is expedited, all represented in her relationship with the wallpaper. As her isolation is prolonged, her fixation grows, until she is consumed, her only care in the world becoming the wallpaper. 

Stetson uses the women in the wallpaper as a symbol to represent the narrator’s own sense of confinement, and her utter fanaticism. The narrator describes her mysterious creeping women, saying “I think that woman gets out in the daytime,” and that “I can always see her.” The woman trapped in the wallpaper, whether tangible or a figment of her absurdity, is a figure that grew increasingly clearer to the narrator, as her own condition worsened. And now the figure is plain as day to the narrator, no longer a supposition, a representation of her full-blown insanity, she insists that the woman is trapped in the wallpaper, as if it’s her prison, only being able to creep about during certain times. This woman is a manifestation of the narrator’s own confinement both physically, and as a slave to her mental illness– it has consumed her. As a result, this conveys the narrator’s state of mind to the reader. While initially she showed supposed signs of improvement, now, she has lost her mind, and the audience perceives her mental state as such. All of this is made evident by the woman in the wallpaper. The woman who ‘creeps’ is an image very similar to the narrator herself, as she mentions that like the women in the wall, she “creeps” at night, slaving away in observation of the wallpaper. In this manner, the audience can envision the narrator as a prisoner– not only being trapped physically in the house, but trapped with her thoughts. The lady in the wall represents the narrator’s insanty, and how she feels trapped. It represents the turning point in her mental. Preceding the passage, the narrator still showed signs of sanity, yet all such signs have been quieted, her insanity made evident as a result of her confinement. 

The shifts within of the text, both in content and thus, in the effect upon the reader, is representative of the narrator’s state of mind– her internal incongruity. The excerpt begins with the narrators own declaration that she is, “feeling ever so much better!” and that her physical state has been on an upwards trajectory. Yet as the passage progresses, she slowly pivots to her fixation on the wall. Following a break in the text the content of her entries has shifted, and with it, the tone. She immediately takes on a fanatical voice in her writing as she says, “I’ve seen her!” The two separate excerpts represent the incongruity within the narrator. She feels almost an obligation to get better, and while she knows her condition has been worsening, she does not want to admit it. She lies to herself, wanting to believe that her condition has been improving, while in reality she has lost her mind, manifested in a hyperfixation upon the yellow wallpaper, and a certain creeping woman. She declares that she feels “better” while evidently, she doesn’t. This hints at her internal shift and incongruity, which is something she never fully admits to herself. Later, the switch into a passionate ramble about the women in the wallpaper represents the two sides of her mental, one that wants to believe what she is told, and that she needs to be here for the betterment of her health, and the other side, completley devolved into madness. One of these two eventually consumes her. These two identities are evident within the passage and represents her discordant state of mind

Upon analyzing the given excerpt, the narrator’s state of mind has been made clear. Through symbolism, sensory imagery, and characterization, the author conveys this state of mind to the audience. Her crescendo to her insanity, its full-blown form, and her own hesitancy to admit such are all aspects of her mental that are represented. All this the author does, ultimately presenting a fanatical and discordant state of mind within the narrator.

–Noah