The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis Essay Example

the house as the symbolic body and spirit of man. ” He compares the house to the human body: the “noble and beautiful parts” exposed, the “ignoble but essential parts” hidden. Dr.Nazmi views the Italian villa as a “compact organism, with each work designed as if members were joined symmetrically to a central spine. ” These quotes represent essential parts of the human body used to describe the seven gables.

Another quote where the house symbolizes a body is “[…] the human dwelling is like the human personality: it consists of both body and spirit. ” Dr. Nazmi blatantly states that a house is like the body of a person, the physical parts of the house representing the body and the imaginative parts of the house representing the spirit. In The Yellow Wallpaper Gillman uses the moon to symbolize a woman.She proves this in The Yellow Wallpaper when she states “That was clever, for really I wasn't alone a bit! As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her. ” This quote shows that the woman appears whenever the moon comes out.

The moon symbolizing a woman is further shown by the Greek god Artemis. Artemis is a female goddess that represents the moon. The prototypical metaphors document mentions states; Whereas the (female) moon is weak, a mere reflection of the sun, much like the stereotypical woman who reflects or derives power from men. Similarly, like the stereotypical female, old age is portrayed as passive, a mere consequence of time, which holds the power or control over aging. Donald G. MacKay

proves the moon symbolizes a woman further when he includes that “[... ] old age and the moon are passive, soft, and weak (as the stereotypical female is). ” Gillman uses John to represent a stereotypical male. She proves this when she writes “Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down to the cellar, if I wished, and have it whitewashed into the bargain.

This quote shows John comforting the speaker as a stereotypical man should. He is also being obedient when he states that he will go to the cellar if the speaker wishes him to, obedience is associated with the stereotypical man as well. In the Yellow Wallpaper Gillman uses the bed in the Yellow Wallpaper to represent confidentiality. This is proved when Gillman writes “I lie here on this great immovable bed -- it is nailed down, I believe […]” This shows that the bed cannot be moved in any way. This is proved again in the quote “[…] there is nothing left but that great bedstead nailed down.

Confidentiality is something that cannot be taken away from you, much like the bed being immovable. Gillman uses the bars over the windows to symbolize restraints. She proves this when she writes “I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try. ”This quote shows the speaker trying to get free but failing due to the restraining nature of the bars.

Furthermore, prisons use bars over their windows as a way of preventing the prisoners from

escaping. Gillman uses the key to symbolize a limitation.She exemplifies this when she writes “I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path. ” She takes the restriction of the key and shows it being overcome when the narrator tosses it outside. Having the key in the narrator’s possession showed that she was in turn able to overcome the limitation. In The Yellow Wallpaper Gillman uses the door to the attic to symbolize a constraint.

This is exemplified when Gillman writes “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once. The narrator knows that she cannot creep in the daylight. If she was caught creeping then she could get in a large amount of trouble. This is why the door is always locked whether the narrator wants it that way or not.

In this short story, Gillman uses the yellow wallpaper to symbolize the mental situation of the speaker. Gillman uses words like “crazy” and “dead” to describe the condition of the wallpaper. She proves this further when she writes This wallpaper has a kind of sub-pattern in a different shade, a particularly irritating one, for you can only see it in certain lights, and not clearly then.But in the places where it isn't faded and where the sun is just so I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design.

Mold and the color yellow are commonly associated with decomposition. This means Gillman intends to convey the mental situation of the narrator as

decayed and rotten. Many of Gillman’s symbols in The Yellow Wallpaper can be used to represent oppression. Gillman’s main symbol of oppression is John. John is very belittling to the speaker.

This is shown when she writes “Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down to the cellar, if I wished, and have it whitewashed into the bargain. ” This quote shows John referring to the speaker as his “blessed little goose”, a term used when talking to younger children. This is further exemplified when Gillman writes “And dear John gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me upstairs and laid me on the bed, and sat by me and read to me till it tired my head. ” This quote shows John physically treating the speaker as a child.

John will not let the speaker make any decisions for herself. Even though he thinks he may be trying to help her, he is in turn holding her back. Another symbol of oppression used throughout the story are the bars that cover the windows in the attic. The bars over the attic windows keep the narrator from escaping. These bars prove that they are oppressing when the author writes “I am getting angry enough to do something desperate.

To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try. ” The bars are restricting the speaker from carrying out her plan to leap from the window.An additional example of oppression in The Yellow Wallpaper is the attic door. The door stays closed the entire day.

The only

person who has the ability to open the door is John. John decides to keep the door closed so that the speaker is not allowed to make any decisions for herself. Gillman symbolizes the door as oppression when she writes “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once.

” This quote shows the burden on the speaker for having to lock the door so that no one can figure out what she is actually doing.The house is a symbol of oppression in the sense that even though the speaker wants to move the furniture elsewhere, she cannot. This shows oppression when the speaker is not allowed to make her own decisions. Throughout the story Gillman uses some of her symbols to show the grain of independence. The bed is used as a symbol of because it cannot be taken out of the room. This can be compared to the speakers privacy in the sense that it cannot be taken away from her either.

“I lie here on this great immovable bed -- it is nailed down, I believe […]” This quote exemplifies how the bed is unmovable.An additional symbol that Gillman uses to show the grain of independence is the key to the attic door. The door is only opened when the key is turned in the lock. The key shows the freedom of the speaker. When the key is in the speakers possession, she makes her own decisions.

This is shown when the author writes “I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path. ”

When John realizes that he no longer has the key, he cannot be oppressive to the speaker. The grain of independence is proved when you read about the hardships and amount of time that the speaker had to go through to finally get the key.The final symbol of independence is the moon. The figure in the wallpaper is only able to come out in the moonlight. “That was clever, for really I wasn't alone a bit! As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her.

” The moonlight serves as an assistant for the woman inside the wallpaper. Throughout the use of this symbolism, I think that Gillman’s message overall is that we have the ability to defeat oppression. She shows this when she the speaker throws the key to the door.This shows the speaker putting her own freedom in no one else’s but her own.

John does not have the power to oppress the speaker now that he doesn’t have the key anymore. Through the duration of The Yellow, Wallpaper John has possession of the key. Due to the fact that the key is a symbol of freedom, this means that the speaker’s freedom is in John’s control. The speaker regains her freedom when she uses the key to lock the door and then throws it outside onto the path.

“I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path.I don't want to go out, and I don't want to have anybody come in, till John comes. ” When John comes and beats on the door, it

symbolizes him wanting to be in control of the speaker’s freedom again. What is the matter? " he cried. "For God's sake, what are you doing? I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder. "I've got out, at last, said I, in spite of you and Jane.

And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back! This last quote shows the speaker gaining the freedom that she has strived for since the beginning of the story.