Discussion Board- Due 9/9 and 9/12

In your own words, discuss the relationship between the main character and her husband in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Consider how the relationship evolves or changes throughout the story, how it affects her mental state, and any Freudian concepts you see within the story. Your response should be at least 1-2 paragraphs (4-6 sentences per paragraph) and needs to include textual evidence from “The Yellow Wallpaper,” “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,'” and Freud’s first lecture, as it relates to your response. You must include textual evidence from at least one, if not more, of the aforementioned texts.

In the story “ The Yellow Wallpaper”, the relationship between the narrator and the husband evolves throughout the story. From the very beginning of the story the narrator complains about how her husband John, who is also her doctor, and how he belittles both her illness and  ignores her opinions and thoughts in general, quickly shutting her down. She continues to give an example of how John doesn’t really care for her work, “ It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work.” (pg.649) As the story continues the narrator talks about a yellow wallpaper in the nursery in which she is sleeping there and how hideous it is and creeps her out. John just keeps ignoring her and pays her little to no attention about this wallpaper. He just wants her to get better and back to her old self, “He said I was his darling and his ­ comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake, and keep well . He says no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me.” (pg.652) It gets to the point where the narrator is starting to get scared of John because she sees that John himself and his sister are also starting to look at the wallpaper weirdly. Nevertheless, they never brought it up and he just wanted to get better.

In Lecture 1 Freudian had a patient with similar symptoms as the narrator in “the yellow Wallpaper”. Freudian also had a patient who was suffering from hallucination, this patient of his had a dream about a snake crawling on her and then being paralyzed and seeing this. The narrator had a similar story of her seeing a lady out in her garden hiding and at night time she stays up making sure she doesn’t leave behind the wallpaper. She continues to say “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can’t do it at night,…”.(pg.654) This comes to show that she only sleeps during the daytime and stays awake during the night because she is afraid.