Victoya Mcdermott

"Unpacking a quotation"

  "John doesn't know how much I suffer. He knows there is no reason to, and that satisfies him".

    John wants to be in control, he wants to be the one that's always right or always knows what he's talking about. He wants her to be submissive so he can therefore feel like he actually is the man in the marriage. This quote proves that john does now really listen to much of what his wife has to say, and he doesn't value her opinion or brushes it off. During the time the story was written, this was how women were viewed. They were to always obey their husbands as if they were kings, listen to their every word because men were homered more then women at this time.

   I think this lead her to depression. The fact that she couldn't say or do what she wanted to without johns permission or the fact that she couldn't be around her son much because john thought she was sick and unstable. This is what encouraged her to write "the yellow wallpaper". It was her way of saying how she feels in a way only she would understand, just in case john or anybody else was to find it. They would just think she really hates the nursery and it's wallpaper.

  The wallpaper reminds her of herself, "unnoticed" or "unheard". John is always dismissing her, using pet names, treating her like a child instead of his wife, just like he dismissed the idea of changing the wallpaper or changing rooms. So she tears down the wallpaper hoping it will set her free make her more independent instead of following behind a man. When the narrator mentions in the end "I've got out at last, so you can't put me back", then she mentions "now why should that man have fainted, and right across my path" . That man she refers to is john and her getting out means she is free, free from being his shadow or his lap dog. She is proud of her freedom from john, it's likes breath of fresh air. She doesn't have to worry about upsetting him or doing something he doesn't like. She can be herself and make her own decisions.