Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman\'s

Yellow Wallpaper

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN'S

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER:

SYMBOLS OF DEPRESSION

In 1886, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860 to 1935) wrote in her autobiography, "In those days, a new disease had dawned on the medical horizon. It was called 'nervous prostration.' This disorder involved a growing melancholia and consists of every painful mental sensation, shame, fear, remorse... oppressive confusion... A steady brainache that fills the conscious mind with crowding images of distress" (Hunt, 184). Obviously, Gilman was referring to mental depression, a disease which currently affects millions of Americans by disrupting their personal and professional lives to the point of madness. For Gilman, this disease brought much pain and confusion into her life, especially related to those around her who did not understand what she was experiencing. Of all the short stories written by Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper," published in 1892, best expresses the symbols of depression, for within it, one can recognize various motifs which reflect the mental dilemma of the narrator which is clearly Gilman herself.

In order to comprehend the nature of depression, a definition of the disorder is needed so that one can understand how it fits into the narrative flow of Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." According to Walter D. Glanze, depression can be described as "a mood disturbance characterized by feelings of sadness, despair and discouragement resulting from and often proportionate to some personal loss or tragedy." It is also "an abnormal emotional state with feelings of sadness, melancholy, dejection, worthlessness and hopelessness that are out of proportion to reality" (354). Thus, with a close reading of "The Yellow Wallpaper," almost all of these symptoms can be found in the text which Dale Bauer sees as "literary symbols inserted by Gilman so that the reader will appreciate the terrible nature of depression and how it affects the mind and the body" (178).

First of all, the female narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" relates that the summer home, "a colonial mansion, a hereditary estate... A haunted house," which she and her husband John have leased has an air of uneasiness about it (."..something queer about it") and that it has "stood so long untenanted," meaning that the house has remained empty for a very long time. Symbolically, the emptiness which the narrator perceives is related to her own mental emptiness, for the house has apparently been "dejected" by others in the past, due to its queer atmosphere; she too has been "dejected," especially by her husband who "does not believe I am sick" and equates her depression with "a slight hysterical tendency" (Hunt, 171). A little further on in the text, the narrator admits that the emptiness of the house "spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don't care -- there is something strange about the house -- I can feel it" (Hunt, 172), an indication that the house itself may be responsible for the narrator's "nervous condition" (Gilman, 1980, 167), or at least may exacerbate such feelings.

When the narrator begins to describe the wallpaper in the nursery (.".. A big, airy room with windows that look all ways..."), one senses that something "queer" is truly within the house. She says, "It (the wallpaper) is dull enough to confuse the eye... pronounced enough to irritate and provoke... The lame uncertain curves... suddenly commit suicide, plunge off at outrageous angles... The color is repellent... smoldering, unclean yellow... dull yet lurid orange... A sickly sulphur tint... " (Hunt, 172-73). Thus, this description relates overwhelming feelings of sadness, despair and much melancholy; certainly, the wallpaper is worthless, for it has been torn from the wall in large sections -- "It is stripped off... In great patches all around the head of my bed" (Hunt, 173). Walter D. Glanze provides some insight into this bizarre depiction of the "sulphur tinted" wallpaper: "With depression, the condition is neurotic when the cause is based on a conflict or situation that is identifiable, even though the person is unable to explain the over-reaction to it" (354). In this instance, the narrator's reaction to the wallpaper is a symbol of her depression, especially related to the colors she describes -- yellow, sickly sulphur. In one way, "the color of the wallpaper reflects the very nature of her depression, meaning that dull and lifeless colors tend to be associated with melancholy, one of the prime characteristics of mental depression" (Gilman, 1977, 245).

In several instances, the narrator, which is obviously Gilman herself, mentions that her "nervous troubles" are "dreadfully depressing" and admits that "Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able -- to dress and entertain and order things" (Hunt, 173). For the depressed individual, the ability to carry on with daily activities, such as getting dressed in the morning, taking a bath, fixing meals or getting ready for bed, are extremely hindered and can at times be almost impossible to accomplish. Thus, Gilman has inserted her own symbols to express her depression via the wallpaper -- "Nothing was worse for a nervous patient than to give way to such fancies" (Hunt, 173), i.e., her obsession with the colors and condition of the wallpaper in the nursery.

Gilman then describes what she sees outside of the window downstairs in the house -- "Out of one window, I can see the garden -- those mysterious deep-shaded arbors, the riotous old-fashioned flowers, and bushes and gnarly trees" (Hunt, 174). This description is also a symbol of the narrator's depression, meaning that the "deep-shaded arbors" and "gnarly trees" represent how a depressed mind reacts to the natural world, especially when the landscape is sullen, dark and overgrown with bushes and "riotous" flowers. Obviously, Gilman is attempting to express the idea that her conscious mind is overgrown and untidy, something akin to a garden in which no one has bothered to keep it orderly and well-maintained.

Shortly after this description, Gilman mentions that the floor in the nursery "is scratched and gouged and splintered, the plaster itself is dug out here and there, and this heavy bed... looks as if it had been through the wars" (Hunt, 175). And then she describes a particular aspect of the wallpaper that can only be seen when the light is just right -- "I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure that seems to skulk about... " (Hunt, 175). Once again, Glanze provides some insight into this "queer" situation: "Depression is often accompanied by hallucinations, delusions and confusion concerning... place and identity" (354). Clearly, the narrator is comparing her depression with the scratches and gouges in the nursery room floor and especially via her ability to see a formless figure in the wallpaper which certainly is a hallucination. Bauer relates that "when a person is suffering from depression, the eyes often see things that are not really there, things that are shapeless and innocuous under normal circumstances" (245).