Break Out: The Yellow Wallpaper

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The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an eye opening story about a woman that goes into a brief psychosis after having a baby. The woman was diagnosed with what is commonly known now as postpartum depression and prescribed rest and limited stimulation from any work. The story is written like journal entries from the narrator, which she had sneak to write. The story is actually semi-biographical, as the author went through a similar ordeal after she had a baby.

Women of the late 1800s suffered from too little stimulation while women of today suffer from too much stimulation. Working women are only granted twelve weeks of unpaid maternity leave, through the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This can't be enough time for a mother to spend with her newborn baby. In addition, with the leave being unpaid, many women can't afford to take the whole leave and miss three months of pay. Many people in general are beginning to feel the effects of over-stimulation from working long hours for unfair wages in jobs that they don't like. The disruption of the American Dream and middle class ambitions is the result of businesses not providing raises to meet the increase of living costs.

My point being, times have changed and we have new social issues to tackle, yet how they affect us has remained the same. Thankfully, how we deal with these issues have changed somewhat. Postpartum depression is at least a widely recognized disease that is researched. The story has a hand in bringing to attention the inadequacies of the treatment of postpartum depression and general depression in women. The men, who are doctors, in the story are supportive, but condescending about the woman's condition. She tries to tell them about how she feels, but they act as if they know best and discounts what she says, instead encouraging their agenda. In turn, the woman hides her feelings and I think this is what furthers her psychosis. Her obsession with freeing the women from the yellow wallpaper reflects her need to be free and she eventually sees herself as a woman broken free from the wallpaper.

The story can be found here or here. Happy reading everyone, until next time.