The Yellow Wallpaper

Faith McCullough
November 18, 2008
Period 11
AP English III

The Yellow Wallpaper

In the story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins, the main character portrays a “true woman” who submissive, loyal, and faithful. She would be considered part of the cult of true womanhood. Though did all these things for her husband, John, he treated her as if she did not have any say or opinion at all, not even on her own health. John was certainly convinced that she was sick and had a nervous condition. It can be inferred that John made her obtain this nervous condition because being part of the cult of true womanhood could take a strain on one. She probably was just tired and exhausted from the work. Since he was a physician, everyone including their friends and family believed him. His wife did not even believe she was ill but he was the man of the household and the highest of authority, so she had no other choice but to go along with what he believed to true. Perkins reveals the woman’s separation but not entire divorce from the cult through the character’s diction and disobedience.
Throughout the story there were various moments, closer to the end, where the woman deliberately disobeys her husband because she is trying to find out different things about the nursery wallpaper. “He thought I was asleep first, but I wasn't…” (Page 9). When the woman was told to go to sleep she did not do as she was instructed. She was trying to expand her knowledge on what was on or in that wallpaper, and by making her go to sleep John was preventing this from happening. Another example of the woman defying her husband’s authority was when she creeps during the daylight just like the women in the wallpaper, knowing that she should not. “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once” (Page 13). Though she knows that her husband would be suspicious of her if he saw her creeping at night, she was willing to take that chance so she might find out more about the yellow wallpaper.
In addition to diction, Perkins’s main character conveys a tone of disobedience to disclose the woman’s separation with the cult of true womanhood. The main character’s tone suggest that she was ready find out things on her own and not have to rely on her husband. She was amenable to chance her relationship with her husband. He could have sent her to Weir Mitchell, a man that was just like her husband and her brother, but worse. Although she had to gamble her “freedom”, her disobedient behavior led her to a fascinating discovery that indeed shocked her husband.
In conclusion, Perkins uses the main character’s diction and tone to express her separation from the cult of true womanhood. She illustrates how being involved in the cult of true womanhood takes a toll on a woman and causes them to want to separate from the cult and become their own woman.