The Yellow Wallpaper

In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the relationship between man and wife was extremely strange. First, I thought it was completely irrational to put the person he “loves” basically in solitary confinement. Sure, it was one of the cures for something like this at the time, but it obviously did a lot more harm than good. I think everyone knows the feeling that when you are in a room for so long, things start becoming intriguing, and they may not be as they seem. You’ll see something deeper than what it really is, or start imagining wacky things. Also, I can only imagine how claustrophobic she feels. It’s completely insane that she didn’t stand up for herself! She was in a room that she basically hated, with horrible wallpaper, she couldn’t see anyone (not even her child), and she had some kind of emotional problem. I feel very sympathetic towards her with the fact that this is her only option. Just because her husband is a doctor, he thinks that this is the best thing for her. But I believe that now in society, this would be looked down upon in many ways. Also, the relationship they had with each other was awfully strange. It was almost like he was her father and she was the innocent, helpless child. He is also extremely controlling towards her. Because she had this “illness”, she is too screwed up to be thinking for herself. Today, the class discussion was about feminism, and I think this plays a role in it some ways. Since the narrator is a woman, the man thinks that he is doing what is best for her and making her decisions for her. She has no say in the matter, and what he thinks is right is automatically what is going to happen. This shows the dominance of the male in the relationship and whatever they say, is what it is put into play.