Madness in Two Works, \"The Yellow Wall-Paper\"

¶ … madness in two works, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and "A Wilderness Station" by Alice Munro. Specifically, it will discuss how the central characters exhibit some form of madness or refusal to live in reality. It will explore the madness, and look at what role it plays in each story. Madness is at the heart of both these compelling short stories, and why the characters go mad is quite important to the ultimate understanding of both of them. They react to their situations by retreating into madness, which seems to be the only avenue open to their survival.

Both of these women use madness as a vehicle of escape from their real lives, and both of these characters suffer at the hands of others, which helps contribute to their madness. In "The Yellow Wall-Paper," the narrator's husband does not understand her or her illness at all, and he treats her like a child, allowing her no mental or physical stimulation. It is no wonder she goes mad, there is nothing else for her to do in the countryside while her husband is away all day. She says, "Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia" (Gilman). Here is the underlying cause of her eventual downward spiral into madness, her husband keeps her a virtual prisoner, and will not give her any freedom in the name of "love." Today, his behavior would be called mental abuse, and she would have many more options to explore. The same is true in "A Wilderness Station." Annie may or may not be mad, but the authorities believe she is mad, and that is enough for her to escape the abuse of her murdered husband, and her fear of his brother, the murderer, or is he? She writes, "I told them the very same lie that George told me so often in my dreams, trying to get me to believe it was me and not him. I am safe from George here is the main thing. If they think I am crazy and I know the difference I am safe" (Munro 45). Annie's husband was a cruel physical and mental abuser, and her madness is a vehicle for her freedom and liberation. She would rather be in prison than at the wilderness station, which says a lot about her own isolation and perceived prison back at the station. She has suffered at the hands of men, and so has the narrator in "The Yellow Wall-Paper."

Unfortunately, in the 19th century, when both of these stories take place, women had few rights and fewer advocates. If their husbands were abusive, there were few things they could do other than bear the abuse, commit murder, or go mad. Annie may have committed murder and gone mad to cover it up, using madness to ultimately gain her freedom from abuse and despair. The "Wall-Paper" narrator too uses madness as an escape from the lonely house where her husband has her cooped up alone, even without her child. This is not restful or helpful, it is destructive, and yet the husband does not take the time to really analyze his wife's feelings or fears. Her madness rests squarely on his shoulders, and her madness is a cry for help, and a vehicle to gain freedom and independence, even if it is in an asylum. At least she will have company, and someone who might understand her needs and wants.