Imagination vs. Practicality in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Introduction: A Dichotomy of Mind

The characters of John and Jane in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" can be seen to represent a clear dichotomy of practicality and imagination. As the story progresses, we can see that, though the two states of mind can certainly coexist in harmony, when one tries to repress or overwhelm the other, it can lead to dire consequences (Gilman). The events of the story make "The Yellow Wallpaper" an exaggerated example of how, when a problem is not fully understood, the solution can lead to precisely the opposite of what was intended.

The Nature of Practicality and Imagination

Practicality serves an important purpose in life. It keeps our heads from floating off into an imaginary bliss while there is work to be done. It is the basic principle that allows a person to get up in the morning and go to work, or for a mother to care for her child even when she is utterly exhausted or ill. The practical side of human personality accepts that there is work to be done and that any outside influence may lead to distraction. It enables us to follow this line of thought to its inevitable conclusion: that not "playing by the rules" and getting the work done will lead to far more pain and suffering down the road than the task at hand can possibly cause.

On the other hand, imagination is what sets our minds free from the daily grind of work and responsibility. As the old saying goes, all work and no play makes for a very dull life and very dull people. Imagination can even serve practical purposes — it can enable a person to conjure solutions to problems by developing new philosophies, inventions, and organizations. However, if imagination is allowed to run unchecked on a constant basis with nothing to keep it in check, the world would fall apart: children would not get fed, work would not get done, paychecks would not come in, and the toilets would not get fixed. Imagination is not easily denied, though. "The Yellow Wallpaper" shows us that imagination is a far more volatile trait than practicality (Gilbert). If repressed, imagination will come back with such a vengeance as to remove all capabilities of practicality, even if the desire for practical things may have been present to begin with.

Jane's Suppression and Its Consequences

At first, Jane seems like any other nineteenth-century physician's wife: she is submissive to her husband's will, and so ignorant of her own needs that they begin to manifest in psychotic episodes ("A Tragic Triumph"). She is a writer, but this occupation is seen as an aggravation of Jane's "affliction," so she largely refrains from writing. Not only is writing forbidden, but any activity or company that might stimulate Jane mentally — inspiring her or engaging her imagination in any way — is strictly prohibited. Though she does find time to compose this memoir, she must keep it a secret: "There comes John, and I must put this away — he hates to have me write a word" (13). Despite these efforts to suppress and control her, Jane's imaginative nature slowly finds a way to express itself.

John, Jane's husband, is the picture of professional practicality. A diagnosis has been reached for his wife: "[h]e knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him" (14). He views her "imaginative power and habit of story-making" as something to be avoided because he believes it aggravates Jane's condition. However, what he does not realize is that forcing her to suppress this easily excitable imagination is precisely what is generating her illness (Gilman; Notaro; Snyder). Because John is a practical man by nature and by profession, he has no genuine understanding of creative impulses or of the personalities that typically harbor them. Since he himself does not experience the need to express himself creatively, he cannot possibly know how much damage his prescribed treatment is causing his wife.

The harm caused by Jane's suppression is so great that she is wholly consumed by it, and she is unable to see how dysfunctional the more practical elements of her life have become (Gilbert; Snyder). In the three months she spends in the house, she is only moved to mention her son twice, and even then, it is in a context that remains essentially self-centered. The first time she mentions him, she says, "Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous" (14). She is really only thinking of herself and how nervous the child makes her. She does not dwell on her lack of maternal instinct or her absent sense of responsibility to her child (Notaro). It seems as if the demand of practical thought and emotion — as opposed to her more natural creative tendencies — has undermined her ability to function in either state of mind (Snyder).

John's Blindness and Jane's Descent

In the meantime, John has convinced himself that his remedies are helping, and so he perpetuates Jane's rapid downward spiral into insanity ("A Tragic Triumph"). Though Jane has mentioned at least twice that the rooms on the bottom floor are much prettier than the "nursery," John continues to insist that she remain in the very room that is contributing to her decline. It is possible that if Jane had even some small thing to inspire her — such as a pleasant room — she would spend her time while John is away clandestinely writing fiction, and thereby saving herself (Gilbert; Snyder). Instead, she occupies her hours sleeping, and the only mode of expression she allows herself is journaling her plummet into madness, which is hardly creative enough to be cathartic. John refuses to acknowledge that Jane is not improving, even in the face of her constant mention of trouble with the wallpaper early in the story. Waking to find her examining the wallpaper in the moonlight is still not enough for him to consider another avenue of treatment, and so Jane continues her descent into madness.

Conclusion: The Fragile Balance

Whether or not these two opposite interests exist within the same mind or within the same house, the message is relatively clear: practicality and imagination coexist in a state of fragile balance. If that balance is disrupted and one side begins to dominate the other in a dramatic fashion, a serious struggle will ensue. Both traits must give way to the wisdom of the other without overwhelming it — very much like the classic yin-yang symbol. If only Jane had been allowed to write, it could have operated as a release valve for her mind. Just as a hyperactive child will run himself ragged and collapse into sleep once the energy has run its course, imagination will eventually be spent and the capabilities of practicality will resume. "The Yellow Wallpaper" shows us that this is not a reciprocal process, however, and that practicality must occasionally allow the hyperactive child of imagination to run wild — or else it will lead to spontaneous mental combustion.

Works Cited

"A Tragic Triumph: A Look at Individuality in 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'" Online. Internet. 18 November 2006.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper."

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper." The Forerunner, Oct. 1913. Online. Internet. 18 November 2006.

Gilbert, Kelly. "'The Yellow Wallpaper': An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman." American Literature Research and Analysis Website. Ed. Dr. Jim Wohlpart. 27 July 1998. Online. Internet. 18 November 2006.

Notaro, Anna. "Space and Domesticity in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman." Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 10 (1999): 59–68. Online. Internet. 18 November 2006.

Snyder, Beth. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper': A Poetics of the Inside." Domestic Goddesses. Ed. Kim Wells. August 23, 1999. Online. Internet. 18 November 2006.