The s Descent Into Depression And Madness - 1165 Words

1. Many signs throughout the novel specify Esther’s descent into depression and madness. Outside factors such as social pressures cause Esther’s descent into madness. Societal pressures to get married and be pure expedite Esther’s descent into madness. The stages of this are specified at first as Esther saying she feels â€Å"I just bumped from my hotel to work and to parties and from parties to my hotel and back to work like a numb trolleybus.† This feeling of being inexplicably unhappy and not having any motivation is the first stage of her descent into madness. This quickly progresses to her feeling more depressed and not being able to partake in activities she usually enjoyed. She slowly loses the ability to read and write which is a large step towards insanity. She fully descends into madness when she begins to have suicidal thoughts and actions, which she eventually tries to act upon. Her descent into madness was inevitable because she is suffering from a mental condition that would have caused her to go insane regardless, but her experiences and outside pressures drive her to madness more quickly. 2. The primary meaning of the bell jar in the novel is the unspecified mental illness that plagues Esther. She feels trapped inside her mind and in turn this causes her to feel hopeless and isolated. She says that no matter what she does she â€Å"†¦would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own soul air†. The bell jar could also symbolize the outside socialShow MoreRelatedPostpartum Depression And The Yellow Wallpaper1536 Words   |  7 PagesPostpartum Depression and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† The descent into madness by the main character in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† shows the impact of postpartum depression coupled with the oppression of women during the time period in which it was written.   The author, Charlotte Gilman, suffered from postpartum depression herself and is considered the model for the main character and what she goes through, as chronicled in an article she later wrote in 1913 entitled â€Å"Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper.†   TheRead MoreThe Effects Of Postpartum Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper1273 Words   |  6 PagesCharlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, is a short story, published in the late 1800s, about one woman’s descent to madness. Finding herself plagued with postpartum depression after the birth of her son, the narrator’s ailment is overlooked by everyone around her. Her husband, â€Å"...a physician of high standing..† (Gilman) describes the narrator’s illness as â€Å"temporary nervous depression...a slight hysterical tendency.† Her brother and male doctor, also agree with this diagnosis and because so,Read MoreAnalysis Of The Yellow Wallpaper1579 Words   |  7 Pagesthe nature of a nineteenth century woman’s descent into madness. After moving into a new place the narrator s mind begins to slowly degenerate because of the conditions of her environment; which completely affect her life and identity. The narrator a middle class woman moves into a colonial hereditary mansion for the summer. She lives with her husband John and two other adults. All three adults affect her mentality in different ways. John is the narrator s husband and is also a physician. Before theRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1523 Words   |  7 Pagesconflicts indirectly state the themes of gender role, freedom, madness, and women’s health throughout the story. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† starts off with the narrator, an unnamed woman, who is writing in her journal. Speaking in first person, the narrator of the story has recently given birth to her first child and has been diagnosed by her husband, a physician, as suffering from what seems to be post-partum depression or a â€Å"temporary nervous depression†. In order to be able to rest and be free of stress, herRead MoreThe Yellow Wall Paper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1107 Words   |  5 Pageswallpaper illustrates a physical manifestation of the narrator’s descent into madness due to loss of outside stimuli. The opening of the short story follows the female narrator being told she needs to rest to recover her health after recently giving birth. She notes, â€Å"if a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency – what is one to do?† (87). The beliefRead More A Woman Indefinitely Plagued: The Truth Behind The Yellow Wallpaper1318 Words   |  6 Pagescan get over her â€Å"temporary nervous depression.† She ends up staying in a large upstairs room, once used as a â€Å"playroom and gymnasium, [†¦] for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.† A â€Å"smoldering unclean yellow† wallpaper, â€Å"strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight,† lines the walls, and â€Å"the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes [that] sta re at you upside down.† The husband, a doctor, uses S. Weir Michells â€Å"rest cure† to treatRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper Analysis872 Words   |  4 Pagesabout the context that this story was written in. The historical context that this story was written in relates to the real world in today’s age. The story gives us as individuals living in a free world, some insight on how times were back in the 1800’s, how the story reflects to be a social and psychological topic in Gilmans and other women’s lives, and how the concept about marriage can give off a sense of limitation to women outside of the mother and wife role tying in on how that type of limitationRead MoreThe Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath851 Words   |  4 Pages The bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a bildungsroman fictional novel, and documents a first person account of Esther Greenwood’s struggle with depression from her late teens to early twenty’s. During Esther’s fin al path of destruction, her encounter with Marco leads her to one of many revelations about societies expectations for women and this reality along with many other factors sends Esther to her near demise. Before Esther’s encounter with Marco she was experiencing life in New YorkRead MoreThe Struggle For Sanity By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1528 Words   |  7 PagesYellow Wallpaper is a short story about the narrator’s life experience afflicted with a depressive episode since adolescence. The narrator tells the story of a slight hysterical tendency after marriage and the birth of her child, driven to near madness was ordered to remain in bed, a frequently prescribed period of inactivity thought to cure hysteria and nervous conditions in women. The story appears to take place during a time period where women were oppressed. Women were treated as second rateRead MoreThe Yellow Wall Paper ( Postpartum Depression )910 Words   |  4 PagesThe yellow wall paper was written in the 1800’s during that time women were vastly expected to serve their husband as housewives, not given the right to vote, make decision for themselves, work and even make enough money to support themselves. The husband is a doctor, while the wife suffers from severe mental illness. This is a husband who loves his wife and taught he was doing what was right to get her in a stable condition but unfortunately he made her become crazier, due to lack of stimulation