Question

Discuss the husband John’s attitude and behavior toward his narrator wife, especially in terms of her illness. What is the wife’s illness? From what the narrator tells us, how does her husband see himself? What treatment does he prescribe? How does the narrator feel about her husband?

Answer 1

Answer:

The wife has emotional problems that her husband calls nervous depression and a slight propensity for hysteria. For this illness, the husband prescribes an isolation-based treatment, where the wife is trapped in a room with bars. The husband sees himself as very careful and charitable, but the narrator sees the husband as an executioner.

Explanation:

"Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story written in 1982 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American feminist writer and intellectual. It is written in the form of a diary, with the intimate reflections of a woman with emotional problems, classified by her husband and doctor as "a passing nervous depression - a slight propensity for hysteria." The two move to a cottage where she can rest, breathe fresh air and heal from her illness.

Housed in a room with bars, the woman immediately bothers with the yellow wallpaper that decorates the room. Forbidden to make the effort or the things she likes (like writing), she spends most of her time trying to decipher the strange pattern of seemingly meaningless drawings. She puts a lot of mental energy into it and trying to hide her true thoughts and feelings from her husband, as he does not understand her, especially as regards the way the wallpaper bothers her.