Charlotte Perkins Gilman-The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Yellow wallpaper


“What is the matter? He cried.”For God’s sake, what are you doing!”
I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder.
“I’ve got out at last,” said I, “in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!”
Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time! (Gilman, 497)

I chose this quote to represent Jane’s freedom against her husband and society. First I will explain the oppressive life style she lived through. John secluded her in a room away from the world, with no way to communicate with anyone other than the people who are assisting her. She couldn’t read or write, she couldn’t cook or clean or do anything she loved to do. He locked her up against her will, and controlled her every move. You tell me, that wouldn’t make you angry? She was imprisoned in her own home, forced to abide by the rules of a man who knew nothing of her, forced to do whatever he said, forced to look at yellow wallpaper for weeks, forced away from the rest of society. You tell me if that’s not oppression?

“I believe there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those doing the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. “(Malcolm X). I believe that the oppression that existed in the Yellow Wallpaper between Jane and her husband John eventually led to her maturation, freedom, and emancipation. The conditions that she lived through led not to her insanity, but to her liberation. We know that through painful experiences that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Jane eventually wanted her freedom, and she took it.