"The Yellow Wallpaper": In the Mind of a Disturbed Wife .
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is told from a feminist point of view, but I believe the story has a deeper meaning when read through the disturbed wife's eye. The story's distortion from the pure, female perspective, into the disturbed wife's eye changes what the reader sees. The entire story is told from the mind of the disturbed wife, the narrator. Her vivid illustrations of descriptive elements enhance the reader's perception of the particular kind of insanity that afflicts the disturbed wife. .
"A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and .
reach the height of romantic felicity John laughs at me, of course, but .
one expects that he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and .
seen and put down in figures." (469) .
This passage, which occurs at the beginning of the story, describes the distinct point of view of the narrator. She describes this house with an intense feeling of discomfort. She believes that the mansion incorporates external instruments of restraint suggestive of a prison or mental ward. John, her husband, laughs at her opinions regarding the house and her feelings toward the area. Her comment, "but one expects that," implying within a marriage, conveys the narrator's helplessness and perceived inability to change her uncomfortable situation. She shows us that her husband does not approve of her feelings or beliefs because he is not superstitious, and being a doctor, John only believes something if it is documented. His lack of concern for her feelings only drives her deeper into madness. .
A complex meaning lies within these next lines, which begin to show us her abysmal thoughts. .
"I'm getting really fond of the room in spite of the wall-paper. Perhaps because .
of the wall-paper. It dwells in the mind so!" (474) .
Here, the narrator explains to the reader her feelings for a particular room that she has been forced to live in, as it grows on her.
