Anyone who has dealt with depression knows that unexpressed anger is exhausting and destructive. She tells us, “ But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control so I take pains to control myself – before him, at least, and that makes me very tired” (Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper 548). When she expresses anger or frustration at his medical choices or attitude, his patronizing response stifles her. This is a deeply ironic statement, since love should make us more sensitive to the needs of a loved one, not less. She cannot communicate her distress because “ he is so wise, and because he loves me so” (Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper 553). (This is almost a tease for ‘gaslighting’ (Dirks) but is not confirmed). John dismisses the vapors of his “ blessed little goose” (Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper 549). My brother is also a physician…and he says the same thing. “ If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter…what is one to do? She does not, however, trust her own judgment, since, She is acutely perceptive, sensing, early on, jarring dissonances in the situation, for example, the availability of a “ colonial mansion” for short-term rental (Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper 547). She laments, “ I wish I could get well faster.” She regrets feeling “ basely ungrateful” for her husband’s care (Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper 548).

The narrator is characterized as sympathetic and self-deprecating character, rather than a self-indulgent malingerer. Gilman’s story also advocates indirectly for all mentally ill individuals: for their humane, thoughtful, and personalized treatment (Gilman, Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”). Gilman, regards women as deserving of greater consideration than was accorded to this “ little girl” (Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper 553). She responds with the only weapons she possesses: writing in her secret journal, weeping, whimsy, apparent submission, dissimulation, withdrawal, and eventually, dissociation.

Gilman the yellow wallpaper