The Yellow Wall Paper – Social Darwinism
3. Is the ending of “The Yellow Wall-Paper” a positive one or negative one for the narrator? Is it a matter of triumph for the narrator? Or is the narrator coming completely undone? Does Gilman’s essay “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wall-paper’ provide any clues with which to answer this question?
For the narrator, I believe the end of story is absolutely positive. She says to her husband, “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!” (803) Knowing basic grammar, we recognize that the exclamation points automatically show that she has strong feelings about what she is saying or feeling. We can conclude that she feels triumphant is being “free”, so to speak. In her mind, she is free from being held in a room that she had no desire to be in, free from depression and sad emotions, and free from being told what to do so much by her husband and family members. Perhaps she thought that she’d accomplished getting her sense of self back. Maybe she no longer feels trapped or confined to what other people think is right for her life. I can see how it would seem that she is completely coming undone. Her mind grew chaotic and she would start crying for no reason. She wanted to be alone and developed an obsession with the pattern on the wallpaper as she says, “…I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design.” (795) Gilman’s essay about her story behind the story gives clues to why the story ended on a positive note for the narrator. She enlightens us on something that truly happened in her life that is very serious – a type of mental illness. Gilman’s continuous and severe nervous breakdowns led her to go see who he thought was the best specialist for nervous diseases. That specialist gave her advice to follow that would make her mental state even worse. With her deciding to go against that same advice, she wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper” in which she defines the reason behind