In the late 19th century, when women challenged traditional views that excluded them from political and intellectual life, medical and scientific experts tended to use women's gender weaknesses as a basis for justifying the need for gender inequality. The famous American female writer and artist Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) had a deteriorating health condition, for this reason, doctors forbade her from continuing her profession, however, in her horrifying short stories she wrote In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte vehemently rejects this notion. "Yellow Wallpaper" is a powerful indictment of medical and social conventions that limit women's careers and inhibit women's creativity.
"The Yellow Wallpaper is not only a deafening horror novel, but also a powerful critique of the medical profession, and one of the foundational works of American feminism," said Manon Parry, head of the U.S. National Library's Medical History Division.
Charlotte Anna Perkins met Walter Stetson at the age of 21, and the two married in 1884 and had a child three years later . After the birth of her daughter Katherine, Charlotte began to suffer from depressive symptoms. She was tired of married life and the narrow circle of raising children. Like many mothers of that era, she longed for freedom of thought and for greater and more creative achievement. However, her husband asked her to stick to traditional marriage and family life, which made her increasingly pessimistic and depressed.
Charlotte went to psychiatrist Sirius Vail Mitchell for a consultation. Like many physicians, Mitchell is passionate about women's issues. He believes that there are huge differences between men and women, which is an indisputable fact. He also believes that neurasthenia is common among women who try to transcend their physical limitations. For this reason, he recommends a "rest therapy" that prohibits patients from reading, writing, not allowing them to earn money by themselves, and not allowing them to talk to others. As Charlotte said: "Live as best you can. Home life...never touch a pen, paintbrush, or pencil for the rest of your life."
During Charlotte's treatment, she became increasingly distressed and depressed. Fearing that the therapy would be damaging to her health, she made a big decision: end the treatment, end the marriage. Shortly after breaking up with her husband, in the summer of 1890, Charlotte wrote her novel The Yellow Wallpaper in the heat of Pasadena, California.
The narrator of the story is a female patient who is being treated by her physician husband John in "rest therapy". Because she was diagnosed with a mild mental disorder, she was prohibited from holding children and from engaging in physical and mental work. Her husband spared no expense to send her to a recuperation in an old Gothic building in a remote suburb with fresh air and elegant surroundings, despite her repeated protests that "I don't like this house at all." The room is a spacious, bright and well-ventilated luxurious bedroom for convalescence. The walls are covered with yellow wallpaper. There are some criss-cross grids on the wallpaper. The grids have patterns including people's heads. Nursery room with iron fence around the windows. The heroine is isolated not only physically, but also mentally, and her physician husband prohibits her from engaging in mentally demanding activities like writing. Over time, this enforced isolation and prohibition of the pursuit of ideas cost her dearly, and instead of getting better, her condition deteriorated dramatically, and her mental condition worsened. As she could only see so few things around her, she became more and more confused and puzzled by the dazzling colors and intricate patterns of the wallpaper on the wall. Over time, she began to see some weird and twisted shapes. Eventually, she saw that behind the wallpaper Imprisoned a woman who was trying to rush out. At the end of the novel, the husband finds his wife frantically circling the house full of shards of wallpaper she tore from the wall. Witnessing this scene, he faints.
Although "rest therapy" was a very popular treatment for mental illness at the time, and it did have a good effect on many people, the protagonist of this article was driven to madness. This event has a high degree of background in the late 19th century. The symbolic and universal significance of 's is a reflection of the situation in which men suppressed women and men held an absolute dominant position in society at that time, and women were only subordinates of patriarchal society. Although the doctor's husband is kind-hearted and loves his wife, he is disobedient and disrespectful to his wife's wishes. He forcibly treats her according to a fashionable and popular plan. He simply and uniformly erases his wife's personality and unintentionally becomes the culprit that causes his wife's mental disorder. .
"Yellow Wallpaper" is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on the author's own experiences and encounters, and rewritten after certain artistic processing. Due to its authenticity and the radical views it contains, the novel has received mixed reviews upon publication, and is considered Gilman's most challenging novel to patriarchal society, an early work that embodies feminist ideas. The novel has been strongly criticized and opposed by many people, especially the psychiatrist, including the doctor who once treated Charlotte. Ironically, after many years, the famous doctor finally acquiesced to Gilman's point of view, No longer treat patients with "rest therapy".
Charlotte herself believes that her work "is not to drive readers crazy, but to prevent readers from suffering from madness". She criticizes the "rest therapy" she has experienced in the form of stories and criticizes the patriarchal society. The overbearing behavior of prohibiting women from reading, writing and other literary activities highlights the devastating consequences of society's excessive regulation of women's behavior. This behavior is actually a repression of women's emotions and a stifling of their potential creativity. Fortunately,
the symbolism of "writing" in the real-life "Yellow Wallpaper" is intriguing. In male-dominated Western cultures, writing is exclusively male, a symbol and extension of male reproductive behavior and creative abilities. In other words, women cannot engage in writing that is monopolized by men. The heroine in the novel is banned from writing by her doctor’s husband and becomes a character who is only subordinated to men as a wife. This is a subordination to the mainstream social model at that time. However, submissive The consequence is the physical and psychological breakdown of the female subject.
In the years following the novel's publication, Charlotte has had a successful career and a happy personal life. In 1900, she married her cousin, George Hughton Gilman, and became a well-known female author, often invited to speak on women's rights and financial independence. Her influential work included several books, several essays, several poems, a novel, and Herald magazine, which featured her articles from 1909-1916.
Although some 19th-century readers did not appreciate the message of "Yellow Wallpaper", the novel resonated widely in the surging women's movement of the 1970s, becoming a highly cited study of the feminist movement and women's psychology. The novel has been re-published and republished many times, and more than a century after it was written, it still attracts many readers.
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